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conffiles in /etc/default



Hello world,

Policy section 10.3.2 (version 3.5.5.0), says, among other things:

     [...] To ease the burden on the system administrator, such
     configurable values should not be placed directly in the script.
     Instead, they should be placed in a file in `/etc/default', which
     typically will have thesame base name as the `init.d' script.  This
     extra file should be sourced by the script when the script runs.  It
     must contain only variable settings and comments in POSIX `sh' format.
     It should not be a `conffile', but a configuration file maintained by
     the package maintainer scripts.  See Section 11.7, `Configuration
     files' for more details.

Why shouldn't files in /etc/default be conffiles?

Indeed, the original proposal of /etc/default (bug 66912), had a proposed
wording that included:

+     [...] Also, since
+     the `/etc/default/' file is often a conffile, the `init.d' script must
+     behave sensibly without failing if it is deleted.

Does this change have a rationale (and if so, could it be included in a
footnote), or should it be reverted?

Cheers,
aj

-- 
Anthony Towns <aj@humbug.org.au> <http://azure.humbug.org.au/~aj/>
I don't speak for anyone save myself. GPG signed mail preferred.

``_Any_ increase in interface difficulty, in exchange for a benefit you
  do not understand, cannot perceive, or don't care about, is too much.''
                      -- John S. Novak, III (The Humblest Man on the Net)

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