The FHS /usr song

[Ralf Corsepius]

On Mon, 2007-03-05 at 14:52 +0100, Enrico Scholz wrote:

> >> > The bottom line is: Don't %config/%config(noreplace) files under /usr.
> >> 
> >> 1. When will you finally understand that rpm's %config has nothing to do
> >> with configurating a system. %config only specifies rpm's behavior upon
> >> handling of backups upon install.
> >
> > First of all, since I didn't even mention the word "configuration" in
> > the above (fully quoted), please stop jumping to conclusions. Secondly
> > if a packager specifies %config* in the specfile he assumes that
> > something outside his control will regularily modify this file, so rpm
> > needs to properly cater for that.
> >
> > And that's what's relevant *the assumption that this file has to be
> > outside of the packager's control*. Now you tell me what kind of files
> > these are. We don't usually %config* stuff under /var (in fcat we
> > don't even mention 99% of the logfiles in package manifests), so that
> > leaves us with ...? Yes, say it ... It's not that difficult ...
> 
> Files which are touched by rpm %scriptlets. In some cases
> (e.g. fonts.dir), the relocating to /var would be a cleaner solution but

Similar, but more interesting: /usr/share/info/dir

If you have a close look into it, it is an ordinary info-document. i.e.
customizable, partially containing static contents, partially containing
dynamic contents (Note: customizable text! It is not automatically
generated - You can put your company's "intro blurb" into it, if you
like to.)

In a similar situation are the various other "doc" systems (html indexes
etc.)

Also worth mentioning: alternatives, ldconfig and prelink.

> would require lot of work.
Whether you like it or not, the X11-mkfontdir stuff is a very simple,
but effective way of implementing a simple distributed database.

So yes, if you'd want to change this, upstream would be the correct
address to change this.

>   But e.g. for /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive
> and perhaps the icon-caches this would be just overkill.
> 
> Such files are handled best with %config and some %verify magic. %ghost
> might work too but it is some kind of exotic rpm feature with sometimes
> unexpected/unspecified behavior.
Exactly.

Ralf