Re: Resolutions to comments on LSB-FHS-TS_SPEC_V1.0

["H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@transmeta.com>]

> > I agree.  I also don't think it's a big deal.  What's important is that
> > all of the MUA's get compiled so that they look for the mail spool in
> > /var/mail.  If /var/mail is a symlink to /var/spool/mail, or /u3/mail,
> > or something else --- that's fine.
> 
> Adding that symlink can be done easily by the admin of a machine. Why
> do you already want to do it on the distribution level?
> 
> I'd either want the standard to move everything to /var/mail and
> abandom /var/spool/mail or to keep with /var/spool/mail.

For interoperability reasons.  It is not good if people can't use
binaries or scripts from another distribution.

> The move to /var/mail would take some time for the Linux community until
> it is finished. The end result would be that (just like now with /var/mail)
> some admins will add a link from /var/spool/mail to the new /var/mail to
> be compatible with old Linux systems or DEC machines.
> 
> So the move to /var/mail will get us some confusion in the Linux community
> and at the end we will have the same situation as now: some admins will
> have to add a compatibility symlink. We achieved nothing...
> 
> Please think about it and stay with /var/spool/mail.

	-hpa