Martin Oldfield <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Raul> Note that most packages do not require such a state machine. > > True, although I note the obvious fact that this is a special case of > a state machine with a simple transition matrix: if the verification > script returns 0 on OK, and -1 on error:
Sure, but that's not the issue. The issue is defining a proper interface. We're trying to define something which, fundamentally, is very simple. We shouldn't bury it in massive complexity. > Raul> I'm not convinced that installation scripts are the right > Raul> place for packages which do require such complicated > > Please do you have an example of where this breaks ? It would be nice > to know if it's just difficult, or there's a major conceptual cock-up. Huh? We already have a number of postinst scripts which do configuration by running package-supplied executables from /usr/sbin. On the one hand I suppose it would be nice to have these executables support the same variety of input mechanisms that we're providing for dpkg's scripts. On the other hand, I don't think it's wise to require that software supplied in debian packages can only be configured by programs which use a debian-specific interface. Fortunately, we don't have to. It should be sufficient to have the option of dealing (or not) with such configuration programs. > Raul> For the case of bulk installation (many machines being > Raul> configured) you only need to provide for the simple case. > Raul> It's probably sufficient to provide for one or two simple > Raul> cases, then also give the *option* of running some smarter > Raul> program at postinstallation time. > > Isn't it better to have a single tool which scales well ? I appreciate > that this is much more difficult, but I don't see that it's > impossible. You're saying that we should take full responsibility for writing all configuration code for all packages which will ever be used on the system? That's a good way of choking off development until we come to our senses. -- Raul -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
