> Anyway, how does debian handle this mess? (I'm asking because debian > users usually brag about how they only need to install once)
Right, this, and how it is easy to type "apt-get install foobar" ;-) First, since Debian has more expert users than Mandrake, they are able to handle the problem, and they give good bug reports, with precise description, patch and so on. I don't say that people are not competent, but, there is more developer ( ~ 900 packagers ) than here. Mandrake cannot do much about this. The secund is that each default configuration option is in the configuration files. For exemple, with /etc/ssh/sshd_config , instead of putting " #PasswordAuthentication yes", because this is the default, they put "PasswordAuthentication yes" ( notice the # is not here ). This way, they don't need to touch to the config file. If a new package change the default option, it still will have the same config, and so, still behave the same. There should be a lot of similars rules and some other magic, and all of them are on the website, and I think that Mandrake should do the same ( a QA chart, with very precise guideline for packaging . Maybe a wiki ? ). Last idea, a /etc in CVS ? With a drakconf module to restore configuration ? Mick
