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Re: The purpose of /etc/default ?


Jari Aalto wrote:

> The question is, is the /etc/defaults in Cygwin proper place to store
> the non-user editable files that are ment to be used only as
> "templates", which new upgrades will always overwrite.
> 
> Would it be better to reserve whole /etc off limits and make it user's
> territory. Perhaps the defaults would be better stored under the
> individual packages, like in
> 
>     /share/<package>/defaults
> 
> Or along with the documentation? This would be more near to the
> instructions (README*) where the seup of the program may be explained
> in full:
> 
>     /usr/share/doc/<package>/{examples | defaults}/

Putting them in /usr/share/doc/package-<VER>/ is just clumsy because
then you have to use scripting to determine the right <VER> which
changes with each package version.  It's so much simpler for the
postinstall/preremove if the location is a constant. 
/usr/share/package/defaults/file.conf would work though.

But, there is already an established precedent for unpacking default
config files in /etc/defaults -- I count 15 existing packages that use
this directory.  Since it looks like there is no definitive standard for
this kind of thing one way or the other, I can't see any real reason for
redoing all that work and moving them elsewhere other than just to be
pedantic.

It will end up being like the move from /usr/{man,doc} to
/usr/share/{man,doc} -- there are *still* some old packages that use
/usr/doc, and thus the unknowing user has yet another potential place to
look for docs.  Of course in that case there was a real reason to move
(FHS) and in the case of examples it's not something the user would
necessarily care about.  But I still don't see a compelling need to move
them.

Brian


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