rpmconf and new feature to configure application

[Miroslav Suchý]

Hi,
I just built into rawhide new rpmconf(8) which has new feature - to 
configure application.

Background:
After each "yum upgrade/install" you should resolve .rpmnew/.rpmsave 
files. Rpmconf(8) will help you with that. But it will not help you with 
initial configuration. Especially with installation of layered 
applications. In such cases installing rpm packages is not enough. You 
must then configure whole application. And the command is different for 
each application. It is:
   spacewalk-setup for Spacewalk
   katello-configure for Katello
   sh setup-broker.sh for OpenShift Broker
and something else for projects I even do not know.
And sometimes you need to run upgrade script, sometimes you need to 
re-run installation script.

Idea:
If you put all this upgrade/installation scripts on one pile (i.e. 
Fedora distribution) it is mess. But if rpmconf can handle 
rpmnew/rpmsave files, can it help even here?
If each project/package will provide idempotent installation/upgrade 
script, then rpmconf can just run each time rpmconf is executed.

So I put in rpmconf this code (little bit simplified here):
         if [ -x /usr/share/rpmconf/$PACKAGE ]; then
                 /usr/share/rpmconf/$PACKAGE
         fi

File /usr/share/rpmconf/$PACKAGE can be interactive or not. Obviously it 
should not ask question which has been answered in past. But do whatever 
you want and need. Only real condition is that it must be idempotent.

While I have ideas for more complicated solutions, I decided to keep it 
simple and stupid. At least for start.

If you want to use this feature, just put in your spec file:

Requires: rpmconf-base
...
%files
%{_datadir}/rpmconf/%{name}

where %{_datadir}/rpmconf/%{name} is that idempotent executable.

I am open to your feedback and suggestions. And if I stabilize it during 
F20 and somebody find it useful, then I may propose it as F21 feature.

-- 
Miroslav Suchy
Red Hat, Software Engineer