From owner-freebsd-current Wed Feb 10 11:32:13 1999 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id LAA07766 for freebsd-current-outgoing; Wed, 10 Feb 1999 11:32:13 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from awfulhak.org (awfulhak.force9.co.uk [195.166.136.63]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id LAA07740 for ; Wed, 10 Feb 1999 11:32:03 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from brian@Awfulhak.org) Received: from keep.lan.Awfulhak.org (keep.lan.Awfulhak.org [172.16.0.8]) by awfulhak.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id TAA14584; Wed, 10 Feb 1999 19:32:01 GMT (envelope-from brian@Awfulhak.org) Received: from keep.lan.Awfulhak.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by keep.lan.Awfulhak.org (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id SAA00447; Wed, 10 Feb 1999 18:40:13 GMT (envelope-from brian@keep.lan.Awfulhak.org) Message-Id: <199902101840.SAA00447@keep.lan.Awfulhak.org> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.0.2 2/24/98 To: John Fieber cc: jack , Matthew Dillon , current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Heads up! /etc/rc.conf.site is dead. In-reply-to: Your message of "Wed, 10 Feb 1999 00:39:34 EST." Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 18:40:12 +0000 From: Brian Somers Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > On Wed, 10 Feb 1999, jack wrote: > > > If /etc/rc.conf only contains changes from the defaults when > > man something_or_other tells the user to find and edit > > something_or_other_flags in /etc/rc.conf the entry won't be > > there to edit. > > Why must it contain only changes? Is there any reason it > couldn't be a copy of the default rc.conf on a new installation? > Over time and upgrades it may get a little out of sync with the > default file, but by then the user/admin will most likely be > familiar enough with configuring the system that it won't exactly > be a stumper. > > And how about this: stick a big comment at the top of > /etc/rc.conf suggesting that the user consult > /etc/defaults/rc.conf for a complete list of tunable parameters. > > Even in the worst case, the system behavior is exactly as it was > before any of these changes came about. Exactly ! I've got the equivalent of /etc/defaults/rc.conf in /usr/src/etc at the moment. What have we gained ? What are we trying to gain ? The fundamental problem is not going to go away. When people upgrade, whether it's via ``make install'' or via sysinstall, they're still going to have to hand-install /etc, maybe with some help from mergemaster or a local script. If they don't, they'll be burned by a changed default value. What we've got now in -current is a place to put default variable values rather than having to make /etc/rc* behave reasonably if /etc/rc.conf isn't updated... not much of a gain IMHO. As long as the /etc/rc* files don't complain if /etc/defaults doesn't exist, i'll be happy. It's a waste of space when you've got /usr/src, and only confuses things. > -john -- Brian Don't _EVER_ lose your sense of humour ! To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message