On Tue, Jan 25, 2005 at 10:26:42PM +0100, Pavel Cahyna wrote:
> 
> > You can set openssh as the default as a whole group of wrappers (like
> > "pkg_alternatives manual openssh"), which could select all the binaries
> > provided by it as the defaults for ssh, ssh2 and rsh.
> > 
> > But you can tune each independent wrapper to suit your needs (as in
> > "pkg_alternatives -w manual bin/ssh /usr/pkg/bin/openssh-ssh" or
> > however the binary could be called).
> > 
> > Hope this helps,
> 
> I still find it a bit insufficient. Mainly because of a lack of larger
> wrapper groups. Imagine ssh - this is not only the bin/ssh program, but
> also the tools like ssh-agent, ssh-keygen, etc. Having to select them
> individually is too much granularity IMHO.  All those should be in one
> "wrapper group". Debian's alternatives have this - they call it "link
> groups" and they are referenced by their "master link". If the master link
> changes, all other links in that group (the "slave links") change too.

I started with an implementation similar to this one.  Was hard to manage
and introduced some limitations.  Although I agree that in some respects,
was nice.

> Also, I read:
> "If running as `@ROOT_USER@', the system configuration file is modified;
> otherwise, the user configuration file is changed."
> 
> Isn't this a bit stupid? Why not allow root to be able to modify his own
> alternatives configuration?

I forced root to use the system-wide database so that 'sudo vi' and
similar commands always use a known list of alternatives, instead of
possibly looking in the user's home directory.

-- 
Julio M. Merino Vidal <jmmv@menta.net>
The NetBSD Project - http://www.NetBSD.org/