On Friday 20 May 2005 12:28, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: > On 20-05-2005 10:46, cobaco (aka Bart Cornelis) wrote: > > On Friday 20 May 2005 09:42, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> >> c) Provide your hack only as a "tweak"
> > that's the current situation I think, no?
> No. Your hack replaces the file, ignoring any and all local changes.
my hack does nothing in itself, the gconf path file is not being changed
behind the admin's back, or on the packages initiative.
_The_admin_is_the_acting_party_
the debconf question is just a convenient means for the admin to act (in the
simple case where there are no local changes, and just replacing is ok)
As far as replacing the local changes, there normally shouldn't be any (as
the sysadmin is supposed to define any of his sources into one of the
following 2 path files (which don't exist, but will be looked for, by
default)
include /etc/gconf/2/local-mandatory.path
include /etc/gconf/2/local-defaults.path
There might still be changes off course but this should be rare (and I'd
expect the admin of the box to not replace the file in that instance)
Also desktop-profiles basically provides an alternative way to manage
(amongst others) gconf configuration sources. If you choose to use it, I'd
expect you to move managing of any extra sources you have over to the
desktop-profiles also.
-> I guess this really needs a conversion script (definately doable, i'll
have to look at that)
-> I should probably add something about this in the debconf note (if that
stays) to make that clearer
> Also, your hack is tied to the packaging scripts, so is only invoked by
> running dpkg-reconfigure and interacting with debconf.
I don't see how that's a problem in itself:
- in order to use desktop-profiles to manage gconf configuration sources the
default path file needs to be changed (simple fact)
- The above is not done by default, but there is a means provided that the
admin can use to do so (in the case that simply replacing the file is
enough)
- The above means has a hook in the installation through which the admin can
start it (NOTE: starting that means is an action by the admin, not the
package)
- Exactly what the actual mechanism is, I don't see as being relevant, as
long as it does what it needs (though obviously some mechanisms may be
better then others, and that's open to discussion)
You're interpretation of policy would imply that simply providing a hook
with which the admin can change something during installation, or when
running dpkg-reconfigure is against policy (and thus implicitly somehow
bad),
If that's the case it definately shouldn't be IMO, as invoking the hook is
an admin action, which is allowed to change config files (or am I missing
something, I don't see how this is fundamentally different from providing a
cfengine script for the admin to run)
> A self-contained and (to my belief) idempotent tweeak is now provided
> here:
> http://cvs.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/tweaks/oldtweaks/oldtweak
>s/gconf/?cvsroot=tweaks
>
> I suggest including the above script below /usr/lib/desktop-profiles/bin
hm, this tweak uses cfengine, I don't think you can assume in general that
cfengine will be installed (for CDD's possibly, but otherwise?)
also the
include /var/cache/desktop-profiles/$(USER)_mandatory.path
should _replace_ the 2 lines
xml:readonly:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.mandator
include /etc/gconf/2/local-mandatory.path
not be appended after them:
Those 2 sources are known to desktop-profiles by default, and thus will be
managed by it (they will be included twice if they're also included in the
system wide path file, which doesn't hurt in itself, though it does make
things more complicated as you then need to be aware of both mechanisms)
idem with the
include /var/cache/desktop-profiles/$(USER)_defaults.path
line, that should replace the 2 lines
include /etc/gconf/2/local-defaults.path
xml:readonly:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults
for the same reason
> and mention its existense in your README.Debian. README.Debian is the
> first place to look for Debian-specific info - not the manpage and not a
> debconf-note (which is by nature optional).
ack, added note to readme
> I recommend *not* putting it below
> /usr/share/doc/desktop-profiles/examples as that is discouraged as a
> location relied upon by other packages and the local admin (forgot where
> but mentioned in Debian Policy somewhere).
it isn't _relied_ on be anything, the admin is perfectly fine ignoring it
altogether, and/or writing his own path file. In the latter case he should
include the 2 directives
include /var/cache/desktop-profiles/$(USER)_mandatory.path
include /var/cache/desktop-profiles/$(USER)_defaults.path
somewhere in the path file (respectively before and after the user sources
for) in order to have the sources managed by desktop-profiles work as
expected
> I also recommend *not* putting it below /usr/sbin as its use is too
> narrow to clutter the general sbin namespace.
agreed
--
Cheers, cobaco (aka Bart Cornelis)
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