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RE: System configuration during install


From: Lawrence, David (STEI)
Subject: RE: System configuration during install
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 21:31:26 -0700

Tom,

Thanks for the comments.  I believe I understand your and Raja's comment
related to boot-time configuration: just don't do that ;-).

You bring up another point that I was working towards.  My intention was to
wrap up the autotools project in an RPM for the end-user's use.  It appears
that with the use of the -rpath argument required by libtool for shared
libraries that to build the project I need to have it install the binaries
before I can create a binary or source RPM.  This does change my
configuration where I already have an older version of the software
installed.

For a typical application, this isn't a problem because it isn't usually
running at this point.  For a system daemon like mine the probability is
high that the daemon is running on my system.  I believe a developer should
run what they produce.

Is there a recommended process for creating RPMs (source and binary) when
the files installed replace those that are currently installed on the
system?  Should I be stopping the current daemon during the pre-install
section and restarting it in the post install section?  Or leave it
unstarted until the user runs the post-install step that changes the system
configuration?

I am already building using an rpm tree under by home directory.  But it
would appear that RPM wants me to place the files into their install
location before the binary RPM is built.  Is this a hard requirement or is
there a work-around?

If I've moved too far off the context for the automake distribution list,
where would you recommend I post these RPM related questions?

David G. Lawrence
Smart Technology Enablers, Inc.
1121 Rancho Drive
Ojai, CA  93023
(805) 649-6660
(805) 649-6667 fax
address@hidden
www.enablers.com



-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Tromey [mailto:address@hidden
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 8:48 PM
To: Lawrence, David (STEI)
Cc: 'Raja R Harinath'; 'address@hidden'
Subject: Re: System configuration during install


>>>>> "David" == Lawrence, David (STEI) <address@hidden> writes:

David> I did not mean to offend by offering the example, I was only
David> trying to outline my desire within the terms I understood best.

Don't worry, I don't think you offended anybody.

David> If possible, I would like to support the widest range of
David> systems possible with the constraint that I don't as yet
David> understand how they vary.  Would you be able to suggest a
David> reference that I could review about portable configuration
David> techniques for adding and removing dameons to a system's
David> initialization process?

I doubt there's any such reference :-(

David> I would think that other developers of system daemons must have
David> already faced this issue when porting to autotools.  Maybe you
David> could also suggest a project I could inspect that needs to
David> perform this function?

I think most people handle this by writing a document for their
project that says "once `make install' is done, here is how you can
set things up..." -- with instructions on a system-by-system basis (or
even relatively generic, assuming the user understands his own
system).

System integrators like Debian or Red Hat then put the appropriate
commands into their spec (or whatever) files.

Most programs aren't system daemons.  Requiring special steps for
these is the status quo.  That is, I think the state of the art here
is fairly primitive.

FWIW I think Hari is right when he says that most people would be
suprised if `make install' changed the boot-time configuration of
their machine.  RPM builders would be especially suprised -- they use
`make install' while building RPMs.

Tom



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