On Wed, Jan 27, 1999 at 10:35:54PM +0100, Remco Blaakmeer wrote:
> > This is not quite the case. FHS 2.0, like previous versions, aims for
> > somewhere between best practice and the common (Linux) practice.
> > Mostly Linux, actually, because Linux generally has a much cleaner
> > filesystem hierarchy layout.
>
> This being the case, why does FHS 2.0 specify /var/mail while most (all?)
> Linux distributions are currently using /var/spool/mail (which makes
> /var/spool/mail the 'common practice')? Is /var/mail really so much
> better?
Only if compatibility across unices (and unix-like platforms) is desired.
As far as I'm concerned as long as /var/mail is not required to be
anything more than a symlink, the use of /var/mail is a good idea. It
also allows the REALLY simple upgrade path of:
if [ ! -e /var/mail ]; then
cd /var
ln -s spool/mail mail
fi
>From that point, if the user wants to as I would, they might:
# cd /var/spool
# rm /var/mail
# mv mail /var/mail
# ln -s /var/mail mail
And at some point after they were sure they didn't need a symlink even,
they could remove it. Of course, I would most likely just do steps one
and three myself as I DON'T use /var/spool/mail anyway. Procmail is very
happy delivering to ~/Mailbox and in the case of knghtbrd, that user (me)
has chosen to change the delivery to $HOME/.mail/INBOX/ which is Maildir
format.
--
"I'm working in the dark here." "Yeah well rumor has it you do your best
work in the dark."
-- Earth: Final Conflict
