Bug#751809: pdnsd: Config in /usr/share/pdnsd violates FHS, POLA

[Helmut Grohne <helmut@subdivi.de>]

Control: severity -1 wishlist

On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 08:38:33PM +0000, Chris Nehren wrote:
> I've installed pdnsd on a system in testing for rolling out
> to production.  The configuration that this package currently
> uses, with the configuration in /usr/share/pdnsd, violates Debian
> Policy section 9.1.1 (filesystem hierarchy), FHS specifications
> for /etc and /usr/share.  The configs are definitely not read-only,
> and thus do not belong in /usr/share.

$ apt-file search -x '^/usr/share.*\.conf$' | wc -l
3230
$ apt-file search -x '^/usr/share.*\.conf$' | cut -d: -f1 | uniq | wc -l
854
$

Are you sure that 850 packages are suddenly rc-buggy without anyone
noticing?

> Arguably the entire AUTO_MODE configuration system should be
> removed because it is a blatant violation of both the FHS (and
> Debian Policy by reference) and POLA.  In no circumstance would I
> expect to find configuration in /usr/share, ever.

Also look into /lib/systemd/system, there are tons of configuration
files as well. No, this really is not a FHS violation unless the only
way to override these configurations is to change /usr, but you can
simply change the one in /etc. Not a bug.

> This is related to something else I found, which I'm not
> sure whether to file as a separate bug.  When I use my
> own configuration instead of the bizarre /usr/share/pdnsd
> configuration, the init scripts makes assumptions that are not
> made clear: specifically, that pdnsd needs to drop privileges
> to the autocreated pdnsd user and that I must enable the
> status socket.  The privilege dropping is obvious, but it
> should still be made clear to the administrator when using
> their own configuration.  Without these settings, pdnsd and
> its init script don't function properly.  If this should be
> filed separately, I'll be glad to do so.

If you break it, you take the pieces, no?

I kinda fail to see a bug here. For the most part it appears to be a
documentation issue. Can you point out a use case that is not served by
the package or a part of its documentation that you'd like to see
improved?

Helmut