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Re: profile.d [was Re: UMASK 002 or 022?]



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Hi,

Brian Mays <brian@debian.org> writes:

> > How is MANATH different from CVSROOT? What's the problem with setting
> > the latter in /etc/profile?

[ snippage ]

> Packages should not *need* to set environment variables.  All
> applications in a package should work correctly, by default, without
> requiring *any* environment variables to be set.  Therefore, no package
> should need to set an environment variable.

OK, using $CVSROOT as an example, I agree that the environment variable
doesn't *need* to be set.  But it's a helluva lot more useful when it
is set.  The cvs package even asks you for the $CVSROOT when you install
it.  When I first installed, I was under the misconception that it would
be setting an environment variable somewhere.

I'm not trying that argue that there are packages which *need* envvars
to be set -- I can see now from the Debian policy that it's not allowed
and I can understand why.  The reason I think this is useful is that
it's a standard location where an admin knows that (s)he can change
default values.

The alternative could be an `update-environment` script in a similar
vein to `update-inetd`.

- -- 
Graeme.
graeme+sig@mathie.cx

"Life's not fair," I reply. "But the root password helps." - BOFH
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