On Fri, Dec 20, 2024 at 09:55:17AM +0100, Samuel Thibault wrote: > Josh Triplett, le jeu. 19 déc. 2024 19:05:56 -0800, a ecrit: > > Samuel Thibault wrote: > > > Ansgar 🙀, le jeu. 19 déc. 2024 16:21:03 +0100, a ecrit: > > > > And it is actively harmful as if one edits the example configuration to > > > > have a useful configuration as dpkg will start annoying admins with > > > > "the example configuration has changed; what do you want to do" > > > > messages. > > > > > > Yes, but the thing is: I *do* want to see that message, to make sure > > > what changed upstream and fix my manual configuration accordingly. > > > > There are (at least) two different models of handling configuration > > here; people used to one model find the other to be awkward and cause > > problems, and vice versa. > > > > In the model where you augment the default system configuration by > > adding files in /etc, you ideally don't *need* a complete copy of the > > configuration file. > > Yes, that's why having both the ready-to-be-modified model *and* a .d/ > directory fits both cases.
I'm talking about the "empty /etc" model here, which is why I'm trying to find a solution so that people who *want* the file-full-of-comments have it, without installing it for people who *don't* want it. > > Then, we could have a package (e.g. "etc-commented-defaults") with an > > on-installation trigger for that location, which automatically copies > > over the defaults to /etc if they don't already exist, updates them if > > they match the defaults, and (ideally) has a ucf-style mechanism for the > > case where they've been changed. > > But isn't it what we already have? If I don't modify the example in /etc No, the model I was describing would have *no* file in /etc if you remove `etc-commented-defaults`. The point here is to support the users who want an empty /etc and the users who want files full of commented-out defaults. Right now, the model we have is "some packages use the empty /etc model, some packages install commented-out defaults, and there's no consistency". I'd love to move to the model of "all packages use whichever model the sysadmin prefers". - Josh Triplett
