Subject: Re: PROPOSAL: NetBSD System Packages
To: Jonathan Stone <jonathan@DSG.Stanford.EDU>
From: Hubert Feyrer <feyrer@rfhs8012.fh-regensburg.de>
List: tech-pkg
Date: 09/30/1998 23:47:55
On Wed, 30 Sep 1998, Jonathan Stone wrote:
> >Sad to say, that's not what pkgsrc does right now. 
> >There are several packages that intentionally leave things left over for
> >users to do after the pkg_add, although these manual steps could be
> >avoided easily. I'm talking of things like editing config files. 
> Oh, sure.  sysinst doesnt do much better here It does have a UI to do
> necessary config'ing in /etc/ for network (FTP or NFS) installs, and
> it _has_ to set up fstab, but thats about all.

Yeah, so it gives full (...) functionality.
We have some pkgs that put every file into place under a certain
directory, but won't touch system configuration file.

I'm still thinking that if I pkg_add imap or something, it should do *all*
the work, not let the user manually deal with some files. 


> I meant not bothering the naive users with frills for the install of
> the pkgs, whatever they contain.

That's what I'd say, too.
Unfortunately, we don't support a "-C(lue)" switch that does that
additional work for these pkgs, and clueful people don't want some pkg
mucking with their system's config files. 


> There's already serious talk of better tools for config'ing /etc;
> maybe you pkg people could keep in touch with that, and piggy-back off
> the same tools.

Putting pkg-specific information into some external tool doesn't make any
sense to me. If anything, we should supply "CLUEFUL.sh" files that do
automatically for newbie users what clueful users would do by hand with
their systems then. 


 - Hubert

-- 
Hubert Feyrer <hubert.feyrer@rz.uni-regensburg.de>