Re: What should go in dot files

[Izumi Tsutsui <tsutsui%ceres.dti.ne.jp@localhost>]

> Now that the earth-shattering issue of aliases has been solved, I'd really
> like to hear your arguments as to what and why should go in the dot files
> under /etc/skel. Why are no aliases allowed but BLOCKSIZE is?

Again, no BLOCKSIZE in skel files. I have no idea about it.
If you want to remove BLOCKSIZE from files in src/etc/root/,
you should ask it to admin users in a separate thread.

Anyway environment variables often change misc command
behaviors and they are documented in man pages, but
sometimes it's hard to find necessary variable names.
In that case commented out examples in skel files could
be used as a search key for Google.

For example, some third party binaries requires
XAPPLRESDIR=/usr/pkg/lib/x11/app-defaults
(until PR xsrc/26357 is resolved)
to pull the default settings, but it's hard to find it
if users install apps by pkg_add(8) as INSTALL notes suggested.

On the other hand, aliases don't affect any setup procedures
and we have already mentioned csh(1).

Putting misc descriptions into skel files might be a great idea,
but I don't think we can maintain it properly, as afterboot(8)
is being outdated (no dhcpcd(8) in it, for example).

> Would you share your thoughts on this matter?

If you are using skel files prepared by useradd(8) and really
want to put certain changes, posting actual patches is a good start.
Otherwise I have no further comment to bikeshed painting.

---
Izumi Tsutsui