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On Fri, Feb 28, 2014 at 7:47 PM, William Hubbs <williamh@g.o> wrote: |
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> |
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> Patrick thinks that all configuration files belong in /etc, and what has |
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> happened is, some packages are placing default configuration |
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> files in /lib or /usr/lib and allowing them to be overridden by files |
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> with the exact same names and paths in /etc. His argument is that only |
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> libraries belong in /lib or /usr/lib. |
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> |
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I didn't get that vibe from what was quoted in OP. Maybe there's |
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something missing. But let's be real here: if I install something and |
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want to configure its system-wide bits, the first place I go is ALWAYS |
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/etc. When I don't find it there, with the rest of the system config |
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files, my day gets a little worse and I lose a bit of time trying to |
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interrogate a search engine for the answer. And that's annoying. |
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That sucks. |
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I don't particularly care about the history, or the politics, or what |
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upstreams think they have the right to decide for me. Sure, it might |
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be "only" convention, but even then it's still valuable by merit of |
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allowing you to make (often correct) predictions about where to |
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configure your shiny new daemon and by reducing cognitive load (no |
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need to remember that "Okay, so bonehead has its config in |
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/usr/lib/bone/head/ and sillyd has it's config in /var/silly/comedy/, |
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and...where was riced.conf, again?"). |
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> I disagree with this based on understanding how the config system in |
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> these packages works. Also, I don't think a distro should do this type of |
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> patching if the patches are not accepted upstream. |
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> |
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I somehow get the sense that you're talking about specific packages, |
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but more generally: If there's some legitimate reason the config can't |
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go where configs...go (like the package hardcoding the path to the |
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config without any overrides possible (which sounds absolutely |
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moronic, IMO. What if you want to temporarily test a new config?)) |
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then sure, let it live where it lives. But for stuff where they're |
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already able to be overridden by a version in /etc anyway? I don't |
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think "if users are supposed to be able to modify it, the config |
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should be /etc" is an unreasonable position to take. |
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Reducing user pain isn't an all-or-nothing exercise. |
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Cheers, |
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Wyatt |
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