Re: Synergy

[Adrian Chadd <adrian@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

In article <m31xw3qzu0.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Kurt B. Kaiser wrote:

> To me, one of the key points about an OS is how well the package
> management system works and how much time is going to be spent keeping
> the system current with the errata.  I can understand why it's
> necessary to drop support on older releases, but how easy is it to
> upgrade to the next release and then keep it patched?  Right now too
> much time is spent with mergemaster grovelling over /etc.  Why should
> I have to merge passwd and group files because a system user or group
> was added at the new release?  Why not have separate files for system
> and user?

Have you seen debian's solution? There's a command you run which looks at
the base / package user/group requirements, compares it to the running
passwd/group files, and tells you what needs to change. it then asks you
if you'd like to do it or not.

It wouldn't be that complicated to code up for FreeBSD. Packages could then
add in their own hooks to "request" a set of users/groups in a certain config
before completing the installation.

It'd certainly be a step closer to a decent package environment and I don't
believe its that complicated. It'd be tedious to go through all the ports
and "modify" them to deal with it.


2c,



Adrian

-- 
Adrian Chadd			<angryskul> learning is bad
<adrian@xxxxxxxxxxx>		  <angryskul> it just makes the people around you dumber
(angryskul == alfred@irc)	    <angryskul> :(