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Re: What do I use to reconfigure the network /after/ initial install on Etch?



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Celejar wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 20:50:41 +0100
> Joe Hart <j.hart@orange.nl> wrote:
> 
> [snip]
> 
>> You want vi? change /etc/prefereces/editor to symlink vi and then visudo
> 
> '/etc/alternatives'

Oops.  I don't use it so I don't know it's name.  Sorry about that.
> 
>> will run vi.
>>
>> I suppose one should use update-preferences to do that, but that's one
> 
> 'update-alternatives'
> 
>> of the "tools" that hide how things really work.  Just like editing the
>> /etc/network/interfaces compared to running a tool to edit it for you.
>>
>> Again, one of the reasons I switched to Debian is so I didn't have all
>> these fancy little tools.  Everything is stored in text files that can
>> be edited with one's favorite editor.  That's the way it is, and that's
>> the way it should stay.
> 
> I disagree with you about using update-alternatives. That is the
> 'official' way of manipulating the alt. system. The README in /etc/alt.
> sends you to the update-alt manpage, and update-alt does more than just
> manipulating that one symlink. For example (from the manpage):
> 
>>  It  is often useful for a number of alternatives to be synchronised, so
>>        that they are changed as a group; for example, when several versions of
>>        the   vi(1)   editor   are   installed,  the  man  page  referenced  by
>>        /usr/share/man/man1/vi.1 should correspond to the executable referenced
>>        by  /usr/bin/vi.   update-alternatives  handles this by means of master
>>        and slave links; when the master is changed, any associated slaves  are
>>        changed  too.   A  master link and its associated slaves make up a link
>>        group.
>>
>>        Each link group is, at any given time, in one of two  modes:  automatic
>>        or  manual.  When a group is in automatic mode, the alternatives system
>>        will automatically decide,  as  packages  are  installed  and  removed,
>>        whether  and how to update the links.  In manual mode, the alternatives
>>        system will not change the links; it will leave all  the  decisions  to
>>        the system administrator.
>>
>>        Link groups are in automatic mode when they are first introduced to the
>>        system.  If the system administrator  makes  changes  to  the  system’s
>>        automatic  settings, this will be noticed the next time update-alterna‐
>>        tives is run on the changed link’s group, and the group will  automati‐
>>        cally be switched to manual mode.
> 
> Also:
> 
>>  Since the activities of update-alternatives are  quite  involved,  some
>>        specific terms will help to explain its operation.
> 

That may be true for some things, but IMO, not for everything.

Earlier today I was helping someone install GNU/Linux to replace their
Windows XP, and they needed the latest java (1.6.0) and it wasn't
available as a package (that I could find), so rather than wiping out
the java that was installed on the system (I had previously installed
sun-java6-jre), I simply downloaded the jre from sun and installed it to
/usr/local/bin, then changed the symlink /etc/alternatives/java to point
to it.

I figured that way, if the java package ever updates, it will fix that
link and use the updated version.  Perhaps I went about it the wrong
way, but it worked.  I don't really know if apt will overwrite my link
or not when the time comes.  I guess time will tell.  She'll come
running to me when it breaks.

I'm still a bit new to Debian, so I don't always do things the
"recommended" way.  I am learning.

Celejar, let me ask you this, is it better to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf by
hand to implement necessary changes or should one use dpkg-reconfigure
xserver-xorg exclusively to build that file?

What is the point of having all info stored in plain text files if one
is supposed to only use tools to edit them?  They might as well be
binary.  Or is it perhaps so other tools can easily read them?

Regards,

Joe

- --
Registerd Linux user #443289 at http://counter.li.org/
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