Re: compile-time configuration, etc.

"D. J. Bernstein" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Paul Jarc writes:
>> If you want to re-unpack the tarball, save any changes you've made first.
>
> No. The user has to be able to upgrade programs without destroying his
> configuration.

We weren't talking about upgrades.  We were talking about reinstalling
the same version.
cd /package
tar xpf admin_foo-1.0.tar
edit compile-time configuration; run package/install
tar xpf admin_foo-1.0.tar

At this point, what should we expect about the compile-time
configuration files in admin/foo-1.0/ (which won't be used by other
versions of admin/foo anyway)?  I say it is acceptable for them to be
restored to their default contents.  (Not only acceptable, but helpful
in the much more common case of first-time installation.)  Most
packages - including yours - behave this way.  Stefan's is the only
one that behaves differently, AFAIK.

> The easy way to do the right thing is to have the user edit a separate
> configuration package.

For run-time configuration, sure.  That's what I do for svclean.  But
we're talking about compile-time configuration (conf-cc, etc.).


paul