Re: debconf dilemma
Marcelo> namely, another tool can present the user with a more
Marcelo> sensibly designed list
itz> But, with this server (and yes, I tried both 4.[01]) I keep
itz> experiencing minor pixel corruption with scrolling. So, I _want_
itz> (and I sure expect to be able) to select xserver-svga.
Marcelo> I see your point, but nothing prevents the hypothetical "more
Marcelo> sensibly designed" tool to offer the user with the
Marcelo> possibility of either a) selecting the old X server if the
Marcelo> new one is known to be buggy with a particular hardware
Marcelo> configuration or b) presenting the user with a more
Marcelo> advanced|fine grained way of selecting the X server.
First, I doubt that a) is realistic. Why haven't the XFree project
themselves fixed the bug? Probably because it is not "known" to be
buggy, that is, because there are only a very few people who have seen
it, and it depends on their complete hardware configuration including
the bus, clock speed, and gods know what else, so it is irreproducible
for the maintainers. But for the people who have the bug it is
crucial that they can work around it by selecting another server.
As for b), if the system determined my card was S3V based and used that
information to filter down the choices just to
xserver-{svga,s3,xfree86} I would be happy. But I don't know if this
is presently possible with debconf - i.e. can the set of choices be
generated on the fly?
Marcelo> finally, debconf is a tool that allows the maintainer to get
Marcelo> information from the user, it's not a registry. You can go
Marcelo> ahead and change the configuration without using debconf and
Marcelo> your changes must be preserved.
Presumably all this matters only the first time X is installed, anyway
(afterwards it's trivial to simply upgrade the _existing_ server).
The first time, debconf's answer will be used by the setup script.
--
Ian Zimmerman, Oakland, California, U.S.A.
The easiest way to win an argument: ridicule your opponent's basic
assumptions by stating their negation and postfixing it with ", right?"
GPG pub key: 433BA087 9C0F 194F 203A 63F7 B1B8 6E5A 8CA3 27DB 433B A087
Reply to: