Re: Explicit config patch 7.2B4

On Tue, 2001-12-18 at 22:27, Vince Vielhaber wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Dec 2001, Christopher Kings-Lynne wrote:
> 
> > > Using Apache and modssl under debian linux, the certs live in
> > > /etc/apache.  Similarly, crypto keys for Nessus live in /etc/nessusd.
> > > So /etc/postgresql would be reasonable.
> >
> > Just a note from a FreeBSD (ie. a decent filesystem standard layout) it
> > horrifies me to see post-install packages put stuff in /etc/.  Of course,
> > whomever writes the FreeBSD port will override this default and put it in
> > /usr/local/etc/pgsql.
> 
> Which is why I avoid rpm, deb, package, etc.  The support nightmare it
> causes when vendors start upchucking various bits and pieces of the
> program all over the drive.  Then the poor user tries explaining what
> he did or tried to do in /var, /etc, /opt and a bunch of other places
> (up to and not necessarily excluding the trunk of the car) and figuring
> out something as simple as where a certain file is so the permissions
> can be verified or where the include files and libraries happen to be
> hiding.
> 
> No, this is not an invite for the discussion of whether or not vendors
> should or should not scatter files all over the filesystem.  It's only
> a statement of what it causes on the support end - no, not all people
> contact the vendor of the os when they have a problem with a program.

Funny, I have exactly the same opinion about stuff scattered all over
the filesystem, but that's one of the reasons I like debian. They don't
scatter stuff, they organize it.  And, at least to me things make sense
that way.  Config files are under /etc.  All of them.  For every
package.

Since it's utterly impossible to get a whole bunch of different people
to agree about where stuff belongs, or even to have a rational
discussion on the topic, having the distros impose this sort of thing by
fiat seems to be the only way to get any kind of consistency at all.

Honestly, I really don't give a damn what filesystem layout I end up
using, as long as it's reasonably simple and logical.

However I will say that personally, I like having a path that's less
than a gigabyte.  Debian delivers that for me.  But hey, to each their
own.

ObFlame: BSD sux.  That little devil looks kinda fruity to me, and I'll
bet Tux could whup his ass.

-- 
Andrew G. Hammond     mailto:drew@xyzzy.dhs.org  
http://xyzzy.dhs.org/~drew/
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"To blow recursion you must first blow recur" -- me