Bug#403026: TeX Policy, TEXMFSYSCONFIG and TeXlive

[Frank Küster <frank@debian.org>]

Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> wrote:

> On Don, 14 Dez 2006, Frank Küster wrote:
>> Consequently, the files that are now below /etc/texmf/texlive could be
>> at their "ordinary" places instead, 
>> 
>> /etc/texmf/texlive/dvips/config.ps -> /etc/texmf/dvips/config
>
> [...]
>
>> Maybe shared configuration files are not a bad idea, I should look up
>> the Debian Policy about that.
>
> Sound bad:
> ---
> 10.7.4. Sharing configuration files
> -----------------------------------
>
[...]
>      If two or more packages use the same configuration file and it is
>      reasonable for both to be installed at the same time, one of these
>      packages must be defined as _owner_ of the configuration file, i.e.,
>      it will be the package which handles that file as a configuration
>      file.  Other packages that use the configuration file must depend on
>      the owning package if they require the configuration file to operate.
>      If the other package will use the configuration file if present, but
>      is capable of operating without it, no dependency need be declared.

I don't know which programs will not work at all with their
configuration files.  Some are needed for sure (pdftexconfig.tex), other
might be mandatory (config.ps?)

>      If it is desirable for two or more related packages to share a
>      configuration file _and_ for all of the related packages to be able to
>      modify that configuration file, then the following should be done:

This is probably not needed except in special cases.  For the libpaper
thing, we might have to provide a script that does nothing but call the
libpaper hook. 

> So we have three options:
> - Move all the stuff to tex-common
> - eliminate tetex and move all the stuff from /etc/texmf/texlive/ to
>   /etc/texmf

(and assume we will never get miktex)

> - leave it as it is

I do not understand which particular problem with Debian Policy we have
here, it's just the usual "configuration files require thorough
consideration" thing.  And I don't have energy for thorough
consideration ATM.

But we should probably not make any changes wrt libpaper before we have
sorted this out (and not for etch, anyway).

Regards, Frank
-- 
Dr. Frank Küster
Single Molecule Spectroscopy, Protein Folding @ Inst. f. Biochemie, Univ. Zürich
Debian Developer (teTeX/TeXLive)