X move - app-defaults?

[Mike A. Harris]

Bill Nottingham wrote:
> app-defaults used to be in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults, for all
> arches.
> 
> Now, with the directory move, they are in *either*
> /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults, or /usr/lib64/X11/app-defaults.

Yes, the rpm packages are all currently using the insane upstream
defaults.  Unfortunately, some folks upstream have expressed
complete disinterest with maintaining any sort of FHS compatibility
in the standard X distribution.  What's worse, is that passing the
normal flags to ./configure to get things where you expect them,
has no effect, because they don't bother using $(datadir) to plant
the data files where they belong.  Instead they use $(libdir)/X11
or some other custom hack, which varies from tarball to tarball,
etc.

The upstream goal, is that if you just type ./configure with no
options, when you build and install X, all of the files go where
upstream wants them to go by default - rather than going to
/usr/local/* which is the normal place for autotooled packages
to put things unless you override the defaults.

I think this is a disastrous short sighted decision personally,
and it will make things much more complicated for all OS vendors
out there that require FHS compliance.

I am going to do what I can do to try to patch things to go where
they should go, and to try to get my patches accepted upstream,
but it's hard to say wether they'll go for this or not.  I was met
with a strong resistance to mentioning "FHS", however I did explain
that they don't need to know or care about FHS, so long as the
defaults are set sanely, as our configure options ensure that
we get FHS so long as the upstream autotooling uses the right
variables in dir paths.

No response so far.

> Shouldn't they continue to be in a constant directory (and
 > really, shouldn't that be under /usr/share?)

Yes, and yes.  :)  I am currently in the process of changing
all of the packages to use /usr/share for all architecture
independent data files, which so far involves hacking up
Makefile.am and/or configure.in, then running aclocal,
automake and/or autoconf, with a dash of salt, baking in
an oven preheated to 500F for 30 minutes, and then serving
with a side order of coconut shrimp, and garnished with
a sprig of parseley.

Keep checking the menu every few hours to monitor progress.
;)