On Tue, Jun 04, Bernhard Voelker wrote:
On 6/3/19 1:50 PM, Thorsten Kukuk wrote:
Put the default, by a Linux distributor shipped configuration files somewhere below /usr, and /etc only contains the overwrite.
My first feeling: I'm (often) not a fan of such big changes - like in this case.
If you did read the full document: it's not a big change, in many cases, it's only consequently using the functionality many packages provide already today.
a) You started with this point as source of the problem: "rpm cannot merge properly". Has anyone tried to enhance / fix it?
I don't know for RPM, but in general, yes.
b) Then: "Others have the same problem", e.g. Fedora. What do they do? I mean other rpm-based distros can't ignore the problem.
They have the same problems and all have their own workarounds. As documented in the document: https://github.com/thkukuk/atomic-updates_and_etc/blob/master/README.md#exis... Up to now, they do the same as we: ignore the problem. That's why the DNF develoers are very interested in this.
Do they have a workaround or solution which is "good enough"?
No, else I wouldn't have started this discussion.
c) The proposal: "place defaults in /usr, and sysadmin overrides in /etc".
This means that each application has to support this. Regardless of whether the idea is good or bad, this means redundant code.
Correct. But luckily, many libraries and applications support this already, we only don't make use of it.
And this also means that openSUSE would diverge quite a lot from other distros, and - more important - from upstream. It's a long and rocky way to persuade upstream projects (with their limited time) to do changes which are from their perspective "a packaging problem in RPM".
No, it's not a package problem in RPM, it's a config update problem of upstream. And we have currently the same discussion with the fedora coreos people.
The point that some programs have already gone this way does not mean that it is a good general solution for the whole system.
If you did read my proposal: correct, there is not one solution for everything. That's why I devided the problem into four cases.
For the user, this means information in spread places: if she wants to know the details about a setting in her file in /etc, she has to navigate to the well documented twin in /usr. IMO with this, "/etc is not /usr-friendly" (tm). ;-)
Please look at Tumbleweed today: about 75% of configuration files are in /etc about 25% are spread over /usr Tendency is to even move more away from /etc to own directories somewhere in /usr. The claim "Everything is in /etc" is completly wrong today, we have many, many places were you have to look for configuration files already today. That's why I wrote, we need a well defined directory structure.
As a summary: I don't doubt that you have done your homework upfront, but from this email I have the impression that the a) and b) have not been investigated deep enough.
My impression is, you didn't read my proposal, else you would know that a) and b) were investigated deeply. Thorsten -- Thorsten Kukuk, Distinguished Engineer, Senior Architect SLES & MicroOS SUSE Linux GmbH, Maxfeldstr. 5, 90409 Nuernberg, Germany GF: Felix Imendoerffer, Mary Higgins, Sri Rasiah, HRB 21284 (AG Nuernberg) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse-factory+owner@opensuse.org