Date:        Tue, 28 Dec 2004 11:01:00 -0500 (EST)
    From:        Todd Vierling <tv@duh.org>
    Message-ID:  <Pine.NEB.4.61.0412281056140.18800@server.duh.org>

  | This sounds trivially easy to fix:  make the pkgsrc-supplied scripts more
  | lenient by setting the rcvar =NO before slurping in rc.subr/rc.conf.

Yes, initially I'd thought that would work too, but it turns out not to.

It is possible for rc.conf to get read just once, and not once per
script (depending upon how things are configured), in which case the
setting in the script would override the setting in rc.conf - which is
not exactly what is wanted.

Or at least that's how I recall the counter argument, but even if I don't
have it quite right, I am sure that the real argument totally convinced me
at the time.

All this really was discussed before, even I, with my pathetic memory,
remember that.   The solution that (I believe) has been implemented was
the outcome - the best that can reasonably be done, even if it isn't
as great as you'd like it to be.

  | It shouldn't have to involve copying files around, one at a time, in the
  | case of binary package defaults.

The automated way doesn't - you simply tell pkgsrc (in mk.conf) to
install the rc.d scripts for you (and if you don't like the default
location, where to install them), once, and forever after it does what
you want (all but editing rc.conf for you).

  | We don't do that for base system rc.d
  | scripts; why should we require that for pkgsrc?

That's because for the base system it is possible to ship defaults/rc.conf
with appropriate default values in it.   That can't be done for pkgsrc,
we have no idea what will be needed.

  | The defaults should make it as easy as possible to integrate pkgsrc packages
  | into the running system.

I think they do.   The operative words are "as possible".

kre