Subject: Re: BSD == NIH
To: Jay Maynard <jmaynard@texas.net>
From: The Grey Wolf <greywolf@starwolf.com>
List: current-users
Date: 03/16/1999 10:48:02
Jay,

I don't think it's so much a "NIH" thing as much as a "we've been using
something friendlier since we put it in".  'sides, BSD got so much "NIH"
bs from other vendors when they tried to contribute that maybe it's time
the shoe went on the other foot.  (okay, maybe not, but there are probably
a few people out there who might agree.)

If you want to call it anything, call it historical precedent.  BSD has
been doing things differently for _years_.  Just because (yes you could
argue both directions on this) "everyone else is doing /bin/sh as a login
shell" does NOT imply that we need to blindly follow them, "industry
standard" or no.  There are plenty of other things we should be worrying
about than changing a shell to conform with some standard (improving
security, performance, and perfecting the install scripts come to mind).
Should I also be carrying my dollar bills all facing the same direction?

I do not see a compelling argument to change root's shell, technical
or otherwise.  Ask them at install time, or let them edit it themselves.

At install time would actually be perfect, since this is a do-it-once-
and-forget-about-it kind of thing.  A passwd file typically lasts the
physical life of a system.

I don't think I've reinstalled from scratch in four years, and I've
never had an install script for SPARC that worked sufficiently reliably,
so I did all the groundwork etc. from scratch.  My passwd file has not
been replaced in that time.


				--*greywolf;
--
Bought the planet (paid cash).