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

[Tom Gundersen]

On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 6:24 AM, Yclept Nemo <orbisvicis at gmail.com> wrote:
> 3) Personally this depends on the final rc.conf, is [1] or [2] going
> to be it?
> [1] http://projects.archlinux.org/initscripts.git/tree/rc.conf?id=ae28554e561517815c07330b2b7d5ee5de2f6dc7
> [2] http://projects.archlinux.org/initscripts.git/tree/rc.conf?id=5b062674869c97018871b1f91c0b22d27ae900f7

At the moment it is [1], so if no one tells me otherwise, that's it.

> 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).

I'd be against it, as it seems pointless. But it would be Dave's decision.

> 4.2) To be clear, is there going to be a separate configuration for
> the HARDWARECLOCK and TIMEZONE variables?

There already are. That's the problem. HARDWARECLOCK is configured in
the third line of /etc/adjtime (see hwclock(8)), TIMEZONE is
configured by pointing the /etc/localtime symlink at what you want.

>>>>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.

It also makes it impossible to reason about. Or to parse from another
language than what it was defined in.

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

But there is no sound way to then change the options and write them back.

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

These files can all be read by bash, but are strictly defined. This
means we can know their format and update them in a sound way.

> 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

Sure.

> USE_BTRFS -> esoteric, removed for cosmetic reasons

Won't kill this one, but I get your point.

-t