Bug#403391: debian-policy: scripts as configuration files: should vs. must
Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> writes:
> Here is the patch that I'm applying. If anyone objects, yell now.
Actually, looking at this further, I see the Policy was never updated to
mention the /etc/cron.hourly directory. I'm fixing that as well. Here's
the new combined patch.
--- orig/policy.sgml
+++ mod/policy.sgml
@@ -6388,12 +6388,13 @@
via cron, it should place a file with the name of the
package in one or more of the following directories:
<example compact="compact">
+/etc/cron.hourly
/etc/cron.daily
/etc/cron.weekly
/etc/cron.monthly
</example>
As these directory names imply, the files within them are
- executed on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis,
+ executed on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis,
respectively. The exact times are listed in
<file>/etc/crontab</file>.</p>
@@ -6401,13 +6402,12 @@
All files installed in any of these directories must be
scripts (e.g., shell scripts or Perl scripts) so that they
can easily be modified by the local system administrator.
- In addition, they should be treated as configuration
- files.
+ In addition, they must be treated as configuration files.
</p>
<p>
- If a certain job has to be executed more frequently than
- daily, the package should install a file
+ If a certain job has to be executed at some other frequency or
+ at a specific time, the package should install a file
<file>/etc/cron.d/<var>package</var></file>. This file uses the
same syntax as <file>/etc/crontab</file> and is processed by
<prgn>cron</prgn> automatically. The file must also be
@@ -7206,10 +7206,13 @@
</p>
<p>
- Note that a script that embeds configuration information
- (such as most of the files in <file>/etc/default</file> and
- <file>/etc/cron.{daily,weekly,monthly}</file>) is de-facto a
- configuration file and should be treated as such.
+ As noted elsewhere, <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts,
+ <file>/etc/default</file> files, scripts installed in
+ <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file>, and cron
+ configuration installed in <file>/etc/cron.d</file> must be
+ treated as configuration files. In general, any script that
+ embeds configuration information is de-facto a configuration
+ file and should be treated as such.
</p>
</sect1>
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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