Configuration and State

Posted Jan 14, 2022 16:48 UTC (Fri) by jccleaver (guest, #127418)
In reply to: Configuration and State by rfunk
Parent article: Relocating Fedora's RPM database

> Configuration files go in /etc. State currently goes in /var.

There's an argument that updated "permanent state" should go in /etc/, since package install/removal makes changes to things in /etc/ as well. Consider /etc/shells, which may be updated by the installation of a new shell package. Or any of the myriad other caches and records in there.

I'd support a move from /var/lib/rpm to /var/rpm, but I'd sooner suggest /etc/ than a new top-level directory for this. The prohibition on binaries in /etc/ is about executable programs, not binary caches or records -- especially not of things that correlate explicitly with package install/removal.

Configuration and State

Posted Jan 15, 2022 15:33 UTC (Sat) by luto (guest, #39314) [Link]

Having /etc/shells be modified by installation of a shell is IMO a mistake. One could construe shells(5) as a *cache* indicating what shells live in /usr/bin, in which case it should live in /var/cache. Or one could construe it as administrative policy, in which case package scripts have no business touching it, and /etc/shells should be an optional override of /usr/etc/shells.