[arch-general] [arch-dev-public] [RFC, after the fact] initscripts config

[Yclept Nemo]

3) Personally this depends on the final rc.conf, is [1] or [2] going
to be it? I don't enjoy visually collating options across rc.conf
(terminal #1,vim) and rc.conf(5) (terminal #2,man). So if after
actions (2), and (4), nothing remains but "esoteric" options, then
sure, go ahead and do whatever you wish: remove them all or include
everything.

[1] http://projects.archlinux.org/initscripts.git/tree/rc.conf?id=ae28554e561517815c07330b2b7d5ee5de2f6dc7
[2] http://projects.archlinux.org/initscripts.git/tree/rc.conf?id=5b062674869c97018871b1f91c0b22d27ae900f7


4.1) Are we going to ship default (possibly empty) replacement
configuration files, which currently may not exist on many systems,
and add these to the backup array? This includes (/etc/vconsole.conf,
/etc/locale.conf, /etc/hostname).
4.2) To be clear, is there going to be a separate configuration for
the HARDWARECLOCK and TIMEZONE variables?

>>>d) The new format does not require a bash interpreter to be read

4.d) I think this is a terrible justification. A programming language
embedded in a configuration system grants a lot of possibilities. That
in and of itself can generate much controversy. On one hand, it might
be better to enforce a strict separation between configuration and
code, thus requiring the removal of code into wrapper scripts. On the
other hand, blurring such a line could while providing extensibility,
in certain situations encourage faux-pas configurations better suited
to wrapper scripts. Then is the faux-pas inherent to the programming
language or the context of the configuration file? In my defense, I
refer to [3] which lists many incorrect idioms.

Also there is a sound way to read configuration files written in a
programming language - simply evaluate the code.

In any case, to preserve compatibility with systemd, the new files
(/etc/vconsole.conf, /etc/locale.conf, /etc/hostname) should not
contain bash.

[3] mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/

5) With the plethora of changes, each for different reasons, I think
there is justifcation for a comprehensive news item summarizing
changes to each variable:
LOCALE -> /etc/locale.conf
HARDWARECLOCK -> deprecated
USE_BTRFS -> esoteric, removed for cosmetic reasons
etc...