Sam, Russ, Bill, Thanks for your input. To be quite frank I still don't see how the interpretation of allowing configuration files outside of /etc can be supported based on the policy text.
Ultimately I'm just concerned about the UX aspects of admins suddenly having to go hunting for config files all over their system when packages start implementing this config-in-/usr business en mass. I don't really mind if we go that way but then policy needs to be updated and some convention or mechanism[1] put in place to make working with config by hand as easy as it's been in the past, but that work is on the devs pushing the project in that direction. [1]: Josh had an interesting idea over in a relate d-devel thread: "sysadmin configuration of sparse-/etc vs prepopulated-/etc?" https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2023/09/msg00192.html Perhaps by having /usr/etc which must mirror where files go in /etc? Right now different packages seem to put files in random places, some in /usr/share some in /usr/lib. Madness. If this becomes more common I fear it's going to cause a lot of friction for root users. Remember: those are the ones with the power to just uninstall Debian and replace it ;) </s> On Thu, Sep 14, 2023 at 09:41:00AM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote: > Configuration file has a very specific meaning in Policy: it's a file that > the local system administrator changes in order to configure the software. Sorry, I don't buy that. Policy is kind enough to have an explicit definition for what it means by "configuration file" in 10.7.1. Definitions: > configuration file > > A file that affects the operation of a program, or provides site- or > host-specific information, or otherwise customizes the behavior of a > program. "A file that affects the operation of a program" pretty clear cut to mean exactly the type of files at issue here. Policy goes on to suggest that such a file might typically be intended to be edited by the admin: > Typically, configuration files are intended to be modified by the system > administrator (if needed or desired) to conform to local policy or to > provide more useful site-specific behavior. Note how this is not a requirement for a file to be captured by this definition. So I maintain that the current policy text doesn't allow configuration files outside of /etc. --Daniel
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