[ On Wednesday, August 30, 2000 at 05:32:16 (-0600), Richard Stallman wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: HTML format documentation
>
> Here is an idea. Suppose that the default for sysconfdir were computed
> from the actual value of prefix, as follows:
>
> If prefix is `/usr', use `/etc'.
> Otherwise, use $(prefix)/config.
>
> Would this be a good approach? Can it be implemented correctly and
> generally using ordinary Make? (Perhaps it could be done using a
> command that runs `sed'.)
I think that would satisfy my needs sufficiently.
(anyone interested in using "--prefix=/" would probably also want the
default to be "/etc" in that case too...)
I would like to see a more comprehensive change in the direction of
encouraging developers to never use "make install" to install
configuration files in their live run-time locations, of course.
Whether "make install-sysconf" is used to install live config files, and
whether it uses an administrative script that's part of the installed
product, doesn't really matter to me too much either way, though I think
it would be a good thing for the Coding Standards to offer these as good
ways to solve the resulting dilema faced by those who want to just
install a package hand have it work by default.
--
Greg A. Woods
+1 416 218-0098 VE3TCP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <robohack!woods>
Planix, Inc. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Secrets of the Weird <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
