Re: [gentoo-dev] reorganization of /var/lib gentoo-related files

On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 12:00:35PM +0100, Fabio Rossi wrote:
> On Wednesday 31 December 2008, Marius Mauch wrote:
>
> > The same could be said about /var/lib/init.d, /var/lib/dhcp,
> > /var/lib/iptables or several other packages that aren't hosted by
> > Gentoo. In the other direction, if the packages are eventually used on
> > other distributions/systems, should they then use another path?
>
> The path could be configured of course but, again, I see a few chances of
> having this tools outside gentoo, the proposal is based also on this idea.
>
> > Mind that this only addresses the FHS part of my mail, you haven't
> > really answered my question: What's the benefit of changing things?
> > Change for the sake of change is rarely a good idea (unless you work in
> > PR/marketing ;)
>
> The main benefit is a cleaner filesystem, I don't know your opinion but I hate
> to see sparse files around the tree and waste time in discovering their
> source :-) Moreover IMHO it gives me the impression of a better design.

I'm the first to admit I'm an organization/directory junkie, but have
learned that 'cleaner' is certainly in the eye of the beholder.  What I
see as disorganized chaos a flat-filer sees as visibility heaven.  This
has nothing to do with good design (although you would and I used to
argue that) and everything to do with personal taste.  It could even be
argued that the proposal is poor design, forcing Gentoo-specific
programs to follow non-standards, discouraging them from ever integrating
seamlessly with anything non-Gentoo.

This is Gentoo's living room and it generally lives there alone.  Don't
force it into a small corner for no reason.


--dc