server distributions

[Tom Metro]

David Kramer wrote:
> Tom Metro wrote:
>> One example of this is the way they configure apache2 sites using 
>> /etc/apache2/sites-available/ and /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/ 
>> directories. It's a good organization scheme, but you won't find 
>> information on it at apache.org.
> 
> Sometimes "standards-conformant is better than "better".

Generally, yes, but in this specific example the Debian package didn't 
break with existing standards, it simply provided extra infrastructure 
to ease the management of sites. The failure was in not making 
documentation readily available for that enhancement. Had I not found 
the documentation, it would have been easy enough to ignore the 
enhancement and work directly with the config file using documentation 
from apache.org.

A lot of valuable details get worked out by the people who build 
packages that can greatly ease the initial setup of an application. From 
sensible default configurations to interactive setup scripts. Polish 
that the upstream developers generally don't have the time to add, or 
can't, because they need to support not just multiple distributions, but 
often multiple operating systems.

These enhancements typically do make the packages better, without making 
them non-standards-conformant.


>> What's really needed is a package-specific wiki, tied-in to the web UI 
>> for browsing packages. That way for any given package in the 
>> distribution, you know exactly where to look for the 
>> distribution-specific notes.
> 
> You mean like /usr/share/doc/*...

No. I mentioned the README files in that directory, and the problem with 
it is that it is inconvenient to access it. You can't do 'man apache' or 
equivalent to view it. I bet lots of users don't even know those files 
exist.

A centralized wiki would be both more visible, and more user friendly. 
Chances are it would also be better maintained.


> ...for almost 1,000 packages on the FC6 install on my server?

1,000 packages on a server? Wow. I have about half that on my mail 
server, and it has a bunch of unused cruft waiting to be cleaned out.


>>> With the "official" distro,  I  know where  everything  gets
>>> installed  and what files need attention.
> 
> rpm -ql foo

dpkg-deb -c /var/cache/apt/archives/foo.deb

But even easier is just browsing to the file listing at packages.debian.org.

  -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/

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