--On Fri, Jul 3, 1998 7:09 pm -0500 "Rob Browning" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Shaleh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >> app should look for a app.gtkrc file in /etc or somewhere else. But I >> would like a more broad discussion on what we feel a conffile is. I >> feel that /etc is getting filled w/ many useless conf files that could >> prolly go elsewhere. On many commercial UNIX systems, /etc is a place >> to find system level config like rc scripts and inittab. I know a few >> people I have talked to were surprised at how crowded Debian's /etc was >> (I was after my first install also). > > There have been big arguments about this in the past, but those were > mostly related to a slightly different question about what the > difference between a conffile in the dpkg sense, and a "configuration > file". > > To answer most of *your* question, Debian takes a strong position on > /etc, and this should be considered a strength rather than a weakness. > Basically *any* file that records local configuration information goes > in /etc., no exceptions. In particular, as people have mentioned before, it is important that /usr can be considered read-only after install. Although current dpkg styles do not take advantage of this fact, future ones will. A 'data file' which the user should never (in normal use) need to modify can happily live in /usr. A configuration file which, in normal use of the package, might be modified by the administrator, should be in /etc. (Again, comments, anyone? Did I get that right?) Jules /----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------\ | Jelibean aka | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | 6 Evelyn Rd | | Jules aka | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Richmond, Surrey | | Julian Bean | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | TW9 2TF *UK* | +----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------+ | War doesn't demonstrate who's right... just who's left. | | When privacy is outlawed... only the outlaws have privacy. | \----------------------------------------------------------------------/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
