[augeas-devel] Re: New example at creating a lens

[Free Ekanayaka]

Hi,

|--==> On Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:23:13 +0200, Raphaël Pinson <raphink at gmail.com> said:

  > From what I understood, this is using rpm scriptlets (an equivalent of
  > Debian's maintainer scripts) with an Augeas syntax to modify
  > configuration files. I don't know if Jeff could give more info on
  > this.
  > http://rpm5.org/community/rpm-devel/3678.html

That's interesting, thanks for the insight.

  >>This sounds like a nice idea. The main problem I see is the work
  >>overhead for the maintainer.

  > Yes, although I see that as a temporary step before these files go
  > upstream, which should be imho the ideal situation : making Augeas a
  > standard to manage config files in Unix systems, and having each
  > project file their own lenses.

I might be wrong, but I have the feeling the Debian Policy tends to
foster medium or long termed solutions, or "temporary" ones only if
there's no "Right Solution" at sight.

The point is probably that even if the lens gets merged upstream, that
doesn't make much difference. If we allow other packages to modify the
configuration file provided by some package, that package has to
ensure that upgrades happen smoothly and that the semantics of the
modification is preserved.

[...]

  > The use of foo.d directories has greatly improved this situation
  > (xinetd, php, apache, etc.), but there are still a lot of situations
  > where editing a single file is mandatory.

Definitely.

  >>However this a general problem, non strictly augeas-related, and
  >>actually augeas would provide a good base to tackle it. So all in all
  >>I'm for pushing the idea to debian-devel.

  > OK. I see the use of Augeas in packaging as a parallel to the use of
  > debconf. Something not mandatory, but recommended for a specific need
  > where nothing else really fits the need.

I agree, debconf can actually benefit *a lot* from augeas, that would
significantly simplify and standardise configuration scripts.

Ciao!

Free