Re: debconf dilemma

[Ian Zimmerman <itz@speakeasy.org>]

Scott> But, neither was debconf purpoused to becoming documentation
Scott> for users during configuration.  Telling users to reference
Scott> something like README.Debian works in all situations except for
Scott> those in the very earliest stages of system installation.

Brian> I don't know how to answer a difficult question, because I need
Brian> to learn how to use the package first, which requires reading
Brian> the documentation first, which has not even been installed yet.

Scott> This could be accomplished with an apt-get download-only and a
Scott> script to grab the README.Debian, if it exists.

And here it is :-)

#! /bin/sh

PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
export PATH
package=$1

set -e

eval `dpkg-architecture`
apt-get -qq --download-only install $package
deb=`ls /var/cache/apt/archives/${package}_*_$DEB_HOST_ARCH.deb`
trap 'rm -rf readreadme$$-$package' EXIT INT QUIT TERM HUP
dpkg --extract $deb readreadme$$-$package
readme=`ls readreadme$$-$package/usr/share/doc/$package/README.[Dd]ebian* 2>/dev/null`
if [ "x$readme" != "x" ]; then
        zless $readme
fi


-- 
Ian Zimmerman, Oakland, California, U.S.A.
Hypocrisy, arrogance and manipulation: sure-fire ways to earn hatred.
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