Re: [gentoo-dev] Some suggestions

[Chris Gianelloni <wolf31o2@gentoo.org>]

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On Mon, 2003-09-08 at 11:57, Nathaniel wrote:
> 1. etc-update should check modify dates and overwrite if not modified.

I think everyone can agree on this one.

> 2. Part of the problem is that make.conf has so many options (ie. its a
> large file.)  What if we split it up into smaller files... Something
> like:
> 
> /etc/make.conf.d/USE
> /etc/make.conf.d/CFLAGS
> ...
> /etc/make.conf.d/FEATURES
> etc...
> 
> I would guess that a large portion of users never modify the features
> and other settings of make.conf.  This way, etc-update could update only
> the portions that need updating without overwriting USE flags, etc. 
> This would also make it easier to parse the files for any automated
> install (GLIS), etc.

I definitely like this idea.  It would then be possible to keep all the
comments in the files (and man pages), while still maintaining user's
settings.  Plus, sections which have not changed from default (such as
FEATURES in your example) would be overwritten automatically by the
"new" etc-update.

> 3. Another option is to have a file that contains the users settings,
> seperate from config files themselves... For instance, what if we had a
> file, say /etc/customsettings, that contained all the updated options
> for config files.  It could perhaps contain a syntax like the following:
> 
> /etc/make.conf:USE="X gnome gtk alsa"
> /etc/make.conf:FEATURES="distcc sandbox buildpkg"
> /etc/conf.d/net:IFACE="dhcp"
> 
> Then etc-update could not only replace the old file with the update, but
> could also update it with the user's specific values.  It could find the
> line with the "USE=" text and replace it with the full customized
> replacement.

This seems a bit too complex IMHO.  I REALLY like your second idea,
though, and would love to see it implemented.

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Developer, Gentoo Linux
Games Team

Is your power animal a penguin?

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