Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 17:17:57 -0700 (MST) From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> To: gpalmer@FreeBSD.org (Gary Palmer) Cc: joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: root only: (was Re: comments on this change please.) Message-ID: <199610240017.RAA10899@phaeton.artisoft.com> In-Reply-To: <20300.846114025@orion.webspan.net> from "Gary Palmer" at Oct 23, 96 07:40:25 pm
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> Whatever happens with this thread, I hereby nominate Messer Terry > Lambert to answer any/all questions from irriated users who find that > their configuration files are no longer in /etc, where they have been > for several years. > > I, for one, don't care how well we document it, because I know that > people DO NOT READ THE !$*&! DOCUMENTATION, and prefer e-mailing daft > questions. So I nominate terry@lambert.org for the post of `where did > my /etc files go' answerer. > > Now do you see why it shouldn't be moved Terry? Gee. When you put it that way... I think we should get rid of passwd.db and go back to flat files so that we avoid confusing users who use "vi" instead of "vipw" on the password file (like they did for several years before they installed FreeBSD). > It may be the > `architecturally pure and clean' (or however you spell that word) > thing to do, but we also have to operate on the principle of least > surprise here ... people aren't going to expect /etc to suddenly > become /var/conf or something. I know I, for one, object to it being > moved ... it's become ingrained into my head to look in /etc or > /usr/local/etc, and I've only been working with unix for 5 years or > so. I'd feel real sorry for people who have been working with unix for > longer. You only care because that is how you do system management. You only do system management that way because there is not an effective framework to use for system management. There is not an effective framework to use for system management because the system files are spread all over the place, and they are not data driven. The system files are spread all over the place, and they are not data driven, because you care too much to allow the necessary intermediate steps to take place to fix the problem. Catch-22. If I am a farmer, and I have a field of rocks, I have to start moving rocks before I can plow. I have to eventually move all the rocks, so moving your favorite rock or Jordans favorite rock or Terry's favorite rock is order irrelevant.. Eventually all rocks must be moved; just because I (the farmer) move your rock first doesn't mean I am showing favoritism. To put it another way: to get ahead, I eventually have to leave the chair in which I am sitting. Progress implies change. Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.
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