Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 15:12:34 -0700 From: Mike Porter <mupi@mknet.org> To: Rich Morin <rdm@cfcl.com>, freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: documenting nonexistent files Message-ID: <0011301512340A.11309@mukappa.home.com> In-Reply-To: <p0500191fb64c3df347f8@[192.168.168.205]> References: <4910.975533445@axl.fw.uunet.co.za> <00113006572909.11309@mukappa.home.com> <p0500191fb64c3df347f8@[192.168.168.205]>
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On Thu, 30 Nov 2000, Rich Morin wrote:
>
> I have refrained from including any descriptive information
> that would cause the format to expand past one line per item.
> My feeling is that the README2.examples file (when created)
> and the comments in the example files themselves are better
> suited to deal with detailed (read, long-winded) explanations.
>
That sounds like a good idea.
> Sorry; I wasn't clear. There should be an "example-saving" script
> that runs when the FreeBSD distribution is being build. Otherwise,
> the files in /usr/share/examples/etc won't be reliably present, let
> alone current copies of the originals.
>
If such a script is implemented into build- or install-world, then I think my
prior comments about which version to use could be safely ignored.
Otherwise, this is exactly the sort of problem that can arise if a user tries
to copy something from /usr/share/examples/etc/defaults to /etc/defaults when
the file already exists in /etc/defaults. I guess in theory mergemaster
should be able to take care of such things, but one cannot always count on
such "automated" functions to happen correctly. Adding functionality to
mergemaster might be easier; locally, it should be possible using
MM_PRE_COMMAND or MM_EXIT_COMMAND to have mergemaster also process
/usr/share/examples/etc.
<snip>
>
> localtime + binary reference file for localtime(3)
I remeber you asking about this file.... see also tzfile(5). From tzfile(5):
" The time zone information files used by tzset(3) begin with the magic
characters ``TZif'' to identify them as time zone information files,"
- From "less /etc/localtime" (after answering "yes" the check of your
sanity....):
"TZif^@^@^@^@^^@^@...."
Unless I miss my guess, this file is created for you by sysinstall when you
set you time zone, and is then used to help c programs process time via
localtime() and its relatives. tzfile(5) explains a lot about what the
various bits mean, but since it isn't really pracitcal to edit this file by
hand, I'm not sure what you can actually DO with this information.
> skel / ???
/etc/skel is the "traditional" (or "old") location for the initial users home
directory as created by adduser. (see adduser.conf) FreeBSD uses
/usr/share/skel instead, but most Linuxen still use /etc/skel. (perhaps
"old"="SysV-ish" and "freeBSD"="BSD-ish" would be more accurate an assesment
(at least would tend to explain why linux uses that and BSD doesn't, as Linux
is typically SysV-ish)? Someone with more BSD experience than me would have
to comment on that.) In any case, /etc/skel (or /usr/share/skel) is where
you put things that need to appear by default in new user's home directories
(for example, a system-wide .login or .profile or .cshrc. This is also a
convienient place to have ~user/public_html linked to the web servers root
directory. I think given that freeBSD's adduser defaults to /usr/share/skel
you might safely indicate that it is (obs.).
(I'll leave it to your editorial skills to condense that to a one-liner...)
( oh yeah, hope that helped.....)
mike
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