On Wed, 16 Dec 1998, Todd Vierling wrote:

> : The major change has to do with moving $PREFIX
> : so that it does not cover etc and var, and adding a configuration
> : directory. 
> 
> Also, please note the move from /pkg to /usr/pkg, and the reasoning I
> explained for this.

That was exactly the change I was referring to. I confess at this
point I don't entirely understand the reasoning. Perhaps you could
restate it for me?

> : Also, I want to stress again the importance of having One True
> : Configuration Directory on a system, regardless of where programs
> : come from.
> 
> Very well; I'll edit to mention only /etc.

Excellent!

> PLISTs will not contain entries for /etc and /var except to do the
> "copy-if-not-there" action in /etc and "@exec mkdir" for /var.  This is
> already done for many pkgs.

Right; that sounds good.

> : Basically, it looks like we would have to drop this requirement:
> : 
> : > 3. It must be possible to have the package system install files in a
> : >    separate area, where they are not mixed in with the standard system
> : >    binaries.
> 
> Huh!?  Why would it "have" to be dropped?
> 
> Not only should this not be dropped, this should remain the default(!) as is
> currently is.

It's not the default in our new system, though. How do you get the
package configuration, score, spool, etc. files out of /var and
/etc as the proposal stands now? (What I mean by `install files in
a separate area' is *all* files, including those under /etc and
/var.)

> Packages which have an _intent_ to replace the functionality of system
> binaries (BIND4, Sendmail 8.9, ...) should not, and _cannot_, require that
> the user symlink /usr/pkg to /usr.

Right.

> This requires a separate scheme whereby
> such pkgs know how to move the system binaries out of the way no matter
> where the replacement ones exist on the system.

Why not just pkg_delete the system binaries (because you got a
PLIST with them when you installed) and pkg_add the new ones?

> Doc for `HOWTO-share-pkgs' would probably be best here.

Might as well just make it a HOWTO-share-things-in-general doc;
there's nothing special about packages that doesn't apply to
non-package files as well.

cjs
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