Per-Product Config file divergence

Tue Mar 11 12:15:31 UTC 2014

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On 03/10/2014 11:27 PM, Kevin Kofler wrote:
> Toshio Kuratomi wrote:
>> The idea is to allow config file divergence via the alternatives
>> system as that already provides us with a commandline tool and
>> some structure to build on.  We'd still have to write a few
>> pieces to complete the picture but it seemed to be a better
>> starting point than using rpm Conflicts between config-packages.
> 
> Alternatives is a horrible solution to this problem. (In fact,
> alternatives is a horrible solution to ANY problem it is used on.)
> 
> What's wrong with just dropping the defaults in /etc in the
> Product's live kickstart? (Yes, that assumes the Product is
> delivered as a live image. We really need to do away with those
> non-live installers. They only cause problems and have no practical
> benefits.) That's how we have always set /etc/sysconfig/desktop in
> the KDE image: 
> https://git.fedorahosted.org/cgit/spin-kickstarts.git/tree/fedora-live-kde-base.ks#n10
>
> 
Those files should then never be automatically written to again, letting the
> local system administrator customize the settings to his or her
> liking.
> 

The primary problem is that we need to be able to address the
potential for packages that *aren't* part of the default install to
handle differing config based on the Product upon which it is being
installed.

For example, let's say that theoretically, Fedora Cloud doesn't
install very many packages at all. Normal operation would be to pick
and choose other packages from the repos later. We need a mechanism
that says "if I yum install this package onto Fedora Cloud, I should
get a default that's sensible for Fedora Cloud, which might or might
not be the same as is sensible for other Products".