David W Noon wrote:
On Fri, 03 Jun 2011 01:00:02 +0200, Volker Armin Hemmann wrote about
Re: [gentoo-user] Cleaning redundant configuration files:
There is a simple rule in computing:
NEVER remove user created data
That is utter rubbish. Obsolete data can be dangerous, so once it's
genuinely obsolete it should be gone.
If that were true, why would it even be possible to delete data?
that also applies to config files.
And obsolete configuration files are even more likely to be dangerous
than general data.
I think the rubbish is in your post. IF, big IF for a reason, the
config file is obsolete, the user should know that and can delete it
themselves. Also, if a package is updated and it is such a huge update,
the config tool is going to let the user know about the changes. Let's
see, openrc comes to mind on this one since it was recently done. Some
config files were moved, done away with and justs plain old changed. In
that case, portage told us what files could be deleted, what had to be
changed and such. .
I hope you realize that if the devs were to decide to do this that they
would also listen to the users. You seem to be the only one that wants
config files deleted by default. The devs are most likely to see it the
same as we do because they have a clear understanding of what Gentoo is
all about. In case you need a reminder, the person responsible for
administering their system sits in the chair. Portage just helps the
person in the chair. As far as I know, portage has never deleted user
data. Anything that is changed by the user becomes user data and the
user owns it from then on. As some already know, I been using Gentoo
since about 2003. It's not like I am new here. I don't recall portage
ever deleting a users data, ever.
I like the idea of having the option to remove config files but NOT by
default as you seem to suggest. If you take this to the devs to have
this added to portage's feature set, I would put in my $0.02 worth. I
would expect that they would have much more than $0.02 worth to add to
the idea. I feel requesting it as a default behavior would be the death
of the whole idea. Care to request it and see what happens?
Dale
:-) :-)
