[Javier Kohen <root@jkohen.tough.com.ar>] libc/639: Filesystem Hierarchy Standard compliance.

[Andreas Jaeger <aj@arthur.rhein-neckar.de>]

We've received the appended bug report where the author points out a
discrepancy between FHS and glibc for _PATH_MAILDIR.  FHS uses now
/var/mail but formerly /var/spool/mail was used - and is used by glibc.

FHS version 2.0 from October 26, 1997 says:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5.7  /var/mail : User mailbox files

This directory contains user mailbox files stored in the standard UNIX
mailbox format.


BEGIN RATIONALE

This directory was relocated from /var/spool/mail in order to bring FHS
in-line with nearly every UNIX implementation.  This change is important
for inter-operability since a single /var/mail is often shared between
multiple hosts and multiple UNIX implementations (despite NFS locking
issues).

END RATIONALE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shall we ignore this change or follow it for glibc 2.1?  I'm in favor
of keeping it the way it is since I don't think the FHS is widely
adopted yet (or is it used by RedHat 5 and Debian 2.0?).

Andreas
-- 
 Andreas Jaeger   aj@arthur.rhein-neckar.de    jaeger@informatik.uni-kl.de
  for pgp-key finger ajaeger@alma.student.uni-kl.de

---

• To: bugs@gnu.org
• Subject: libc/639: Filesystem Hierarchy Standard compliance.
• From: Javier Kohen <root@jkohen.tough.com.ar>
• Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 20:11:26 -0300
• Resent-Cc: gnats-admin@gnu.org
• Resent-Reply-To: bugs@gnu.org, Javier Kohen <root@jkohen.tough.com.ar>
• Resent-To: libc-gnats@gnu.org

>Number:         639
>Category:       libc
>Synopsis:       Possible change to _PATH_MAILDIR at /usr/include/paths.h file.
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       low
>Responsible:    libc-gnats
>State:          open
>Class:          change-request
>Submitter-Id:   unknown
>Arrival-Date:   Fri May 22 23:10:00 EDT 1998
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Javier Kohen
>Organization:
>Release:        libc-2.0.6
>Environment:
Host type: i586-pc-linux-gnu
System: Linux jkohen.tough.com.ar 2.1.102 #1 mar may 19 17:48:01 ART 1998 i586 unknown
Architecture: i586

Addons: crypt linuxthreads localedata
Build CFLAGS: -g -O2
Build CC: gcc -B$(common-objpfx)
Build shared: yes
Build profile: no
Build omitfp: yes
Stdio: libio

>Description:
AFAIK, the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard says that _PATH_MAILDIR shall be "/var/mail", but the current value is "/var/spool/mail". That's all I want to report. Thanks.

>How-To-Repeat:
>Fix:
Just modify the line that define _PATH_MAILDIR in /usr/include/paths.h from:
#define _PATH_MAILDIR "/var/spool/mail"
to:
#define _PATH_MAILDIR "/var/mail"

















>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted:

---