Bug 797315

Summary:	Incorrect location of defaults
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	Peter Backes <rtc>
Component:	glibc	Assignee:	Jeff Law <law>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX	QA Contact:	Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity:	unspecified	Docs Contact:
Priority:	unspecified
Version:	16	CC:	fweimer, jakub, law, schwab
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Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
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Last Closed:	2012-02-27 19:52:06 UTC	Type:	---
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oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description Peter Backes 2012-02-24 22:05:49 UTC

Incorrect location of defaults

Description of problem:
Defaults are located at /etc/default/nss, which is a debianism. The correct location on fedora should be /etc/sysconfig/nss

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
glibc-common-2.14.90-24.fc16.4.i686

How reproducible:
always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. (glibc-common is installed by default)

Actual results:
defaults stored in /etc/default/nss

Expected results:
defaults stored in /etc/sysconfig/nss

Comment 1 Jeff Law 2012-02-27 19:52:06 UTC

I don't see a good reason to change this given that the upstream maintainers have explicitly placed this file into /etc/default and other Fedora packages are using /etc/default and moving it now just ensures confusion and a maintenance headache for everyone with existing installations when they upgrade.

Is there a particular reason why it's important to move this file into /etc/sysconfig?

Comment 2 Peter Backes 2012-02-27 20:27:09 UTC

(In reply to comment #1)
> I don't see a good reason to change this given that the upstream maintainers
> have explicitly placed this file into /etc/default

Well, they had to choose whether to place the file into /etc/default, which is used for this purpose on Debian, but not Fedora, or into /etc/sysconfig, which is used on Fedora, but not on Debian.  So IMO this must have been a random choice, not an explicit one.

> and other Fedora packages are using /etc/default

I know only of grub2 and shadow-utils. grub2 is a fairly new package; the old grub legacy placed its file in /etc/sysconfig.  I think grub2 and shadow-utils are wrong in the same way, and filed respective bug #797314 and bug #797316 together with this one.

> and moving it now just ensures confusion and a
> maintenance headache for everyone with existing installations when they
> upgrade.

Yes, but only for existing users who actually modified these files. The opposite is true for all other users including new users, who might find it confusing that some of these files are in /etc/default, while others are in /etc/sysconfig.

> Is there a particular reason why it's important to move this file into
> /etc/sysconfig?

No

Comment 3 Jakub Jelinek 2012-02-27 20:34:42 UTC

(In reply to comment #2)
> (In reply to comment #1)
> > I don't see a good reason to change this given that the upstream maintainers
> > have explicitly placed this file into /etc/default
> 
> Well, they had to choose whether to place the file into /etc/default, which is
> used for this purpose on Debian, but not Fedora, or into /etc/sysconfig, which
> is used on Fedora, but not on Debian.  So IMO this must have been a random
> choice, not an explicit one.

The upstream decision to put it into /etc/default had nothing to do with Debian and its conventions.

Comment 4 Peter Backes 2012-02-27 21:35:23 UTC

(In reply to comment #3)
> The upstream decision to put it into /etc/default had nothing to do with Debian
> and its conventions.

I don't know about the exact background of the decision, but if you do, please share your knowledge.

Do you know any other specific reason, in addition to those voiced above already, why the file has to reside in /etc/default and moving it to /etc/sysconfig would be incorrect or problematic?