Andrew Brown spake thus: (Tue, Nov 06, 2001 at 10:18:34AM -0500)

> >Maybe we should create a /conf for the user-changed config files, and move
> >that kind of stuff there. We could symlink from /etc for compatability.
> >But this is getting into a different discussion....
> 
> what's wrong with replacing the thing the pkg looks at with a symlink
> that points to a file in /etc?  that way, *all* your config files
> actually live in /etc, and if you need to, you can add more symlinks
> later, in different places, to use the same config files for (eg)
> newer versions of the pkg.

I've done this to a certain extent, and it's annoying as all heck.
Here's an example problem:

I want to start thttpd on boot, but I think putting everything I want to
install from pkgsrc in /etc/rc.local is tedious.  So, I add "thttpd=YES"
to /etc/rc.conf.  That does nothing because rc reads only /etc/rc.d, not
/usr/pkg/etc/rc.d and /usr/X11R6/etc/rc.d if they exist.  So I symlink
/usr/pkg/etc/rc.d/thttpd to /etc/rc.d/thttpd.  That generates errors,
because /usr isn't mounted when rcorder is run.  So, I move
/usr/pkg/etc/rc.d to /etc/rc.d-pkg, symlink /usr/pkg/etc/rc.d to
/etc/rc.d-pkg, and symlink /etc/rc.d-pkg/* into /etc/rc.d; same for
X11R6.  Now, and with suitable "blah=NO" defaults generated for the
packages that have things in an rc.d that I don't want to run, it works
without errors.

Am I doing this right?  Is there a FAQ I missed?  How do other people do
this?

If /etc/mk.conf had a CONFDIR variable, defaulted to /usr/pkg/etc, then
that would allow most people the flexibility to change things as they
see fit.  The small number of packages that replace or duplicate base
system functionality (postfix, sendmail, ssh, host..) are special cases,
but pkgsrc-land should all be kept in /usr/pkg.  

<tangent>

By the same token, given pkgsrc's special duplication of certain
components of the base system, doesn't it make sense to integrate those
into the boot process if they exist?

</tangent>

--N.

--
Nate Johnston                           nmj3e@alumni.virginia.edu
"Nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecuna possit."  -Cicero