Bug#292401: kdm_config override /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc which is a conffile
On Fri, Mar 04, 2005 at 11:48:36PM +0100, Bill Allombert wrote:
> If you prefer, read <http://release.debian.org/sarge_rc_policy.txt>:
> (which is the official definition of RC)
> 3. Configuration files
>
> Packages must not modify their own or other packages conffiles
> programmatically. (The only correct way to modify a conffile is
> the user running an editor specifically; if anything more automated
> is required or useful, configuration files must _NOT_ be handled as
> conffiles)
The policy seems to be referring to making automatic changes on
conffiles in _maintainer_scripts_. During upgrade/install of packages.
I would see the kdm kcontrol module as an editor optimized for editing
kdmrc. It would be silly to totally ban all GUIs that edit conffiles, even
if they do not store the structure perfectly as is after save.
> You miss the point, it is not only a config file, but a *conffile*:
I don't think that the policy requires that an *editor* must keep
a *conffile* in a easy to merge format.
> Alternatively, you could stop shipping /etc/kde3/kde/kdmrc at all,
> provide a non-config file /usr/share/kde/kdmrc, change kdm to read
> /usr/share/kde/kdmrc if /etc/kde3/kde/kdmrc does not exist.
> That mean people having a /etc/kde3/kde/kdmrc won't get the change
> from /usr/share/kde/kdmrc, but currently they won't either if they
> use kcontrol. I don't know if it is better.
Moving /etc/kde3/kde/kdmrc to /usr/share/kde/kdmrc might be a good
idea, during the discussion of this bug in IRC it was noticed that
atleast some php packages have gone this route. However, I would
be relucant to torture the buildd's with only this fix.
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