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Date:      Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:44:18 +0000 (GMT)
From:      Robert Watson <rwatson@FreeBSD.org>
To:        Alexander Leidinger <Alexander@Leidinger.net>
Cc:        Remko Lodder <remko@FreeBSD.org>, freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: Removal of /etc/skel, your opinions please
Message-ID:  <20071130124258.P56931@fledge.watson.org>
In-Reply-To: <20071130101651.4h9nvpztkwcg8o84@webmail.leidinger.net>
References:  <17978.194.74.82.3.1196407530.squirrel@galain.elvandar.org> <20071130101651.4h9nvpztkwcg8o84@webmail.leidinger.net>

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On Fri, 30 Nov 2007, Alexander Leidinger wrote:

> Quoting Remko Lodder <remko@FreeBSD.org> (from Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:25:30 
> +0100 (CET)):
>
>> On Thu, November 29, 2007 10:47 am, Alexander Leidinger wrote:
>>> Quoting Remko Lodder <remko@FreeBSD.org> (from Wed, 28 Nov 2007
>>> 22:21:06 +0100):
>>> 
>>>> Dear arch@ members,
>>>> 
>>>> I would like to remove /etc/skel from the BSD.root.dist mtree file since 
>>>> it is no longer being used and I would like to remove unused items.
>
>>> Not an objection, just something to think about: Do we want to deprecate 
>>> the use of "adduser -k /etc/skel"? I know you said you just want to remove 
>>> the directory, and every admin is allowed to create it again, but by 
>>> removing the directory from the mtree file, we give a signal into the 
>>> direction of deprecation.
>
>> You do have a point there actually :-), what we can do in the install phase 
>> (initially "make distribution", later on when the system is already 
>> installed, manage this through "mergemaster") is install all files from 
>> /usr/share/skel to /etc/skel and actually use it.
>> 
>> If we dont want to do that, why should we keep on carrying the directory 
>> then?
>
> I have a local patch to adduser which adds /usr/local/share/skel (so 2 
> directories are used by default). Now I think it may be better to change 
> this to use /etc/skel instead, and to do it in a way that /etc/skel 
> overrides /usr/share/skel. Looks more usable to me. What do you think?

Sounds like a quite reasonable argument could be made for having mergemaster 
install and manage /etc/skel so that when sites customize /etc/skel, 
mergemaster can be used to manage those customizations over time. 
Alternatively, mergemaster could manage /usr/share/skel.

Robert N M Watson
Computer Laboratory
University of Cambridge



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