Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 20:00:26 +0200 From: Eivind Eklund <eivind@FreeBSD.org> To: Robert Watson <rwatson@FreeBSD.org> Cc: Nik Clayton <nik@FreeBSD.org>, cvs-committers@FreeBSD.org, cvs-all@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/games/fortune/datfiles freebsd-tips Makefile Message-ID: <20010615200026.A66465@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <Pine.NEB.3.96L.1010615133859.47461G-100000@fledge.watson.org>; from rwatson@FreeBSD.org on Fri, Jun 15, 2001 at 01:43:23PM -0400 References: <20010615190541.A65742@FreeBSD.org> <Pine.NEB.3.96L.1010615133859.47461G-100000@fledge.watson.org>
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On Fri, Jun 15, 2001 at 01:43:23PM -0400, Robert Watson wrote: > > > Modified files: > > > games/fortune/datfiles Makefile > > > Added files: > > > games/fortune/datfiles freebsd-tips > > > Log: > > > Add a new category of fortunes, 'freebsd-tips'. Useful hints, advice, and > > > pointers to areas of the system that might not be apparent on first > > > inspection. > > > > I think this is extremely cool, but have one fairly strong objection. I > > think this is useful enough that it should be trivial to enable (without > > having to know about the file and setting it up) - maybe as a sysinstall > > toggle to enable it on login. > > Well, while I think this is spiffy, I think enabling it for all logins by > all users is obnoxious in and of itself :-). Anyone else here get > endlessly irritated by that need to constantly disable "tips" every time > they log into a windows machine, start a windows application, etc? Yes, so we should not do it like that. I'm not sure what would be the optimal way to enable this, but I'm fairly sure somebody will come up with an idea for how that won't have us running away in disgust sometime during the next 6 months ;) > Currently, we don't have a framework for mapping global configurations > into individual logins. The closest thing that might be a reasonable > match is the existing fortune stuff in login files. I commented them out > a while back because the occasionally stupid one (such as "Core dumped." > which looks very stupid), or long one caused problems and looked > stunningly unprofessional. How about just adding another commented out > entry in the .login skeleton file, and documenting it somewhere visible. This is a good start, at least. > Given that none of these files read in rc.conf, that wouldn't be a good > place to put it, and most other global files in /etc are managed out of > CVS, where creating local differences actually causes notable increased > management overhead. /etc/profile should be modifable on a per-system basis, just to give one example of a possible place to put it. Yes, this is created from a cvs file, but if we can't handle mods here, I think it is better to look at fixing the tools (Doug! How are committing those patches to mergemaster I sent you coming along?) than to bend over backwards for the limits in those tools. > I won't attempt to speak to the tips authorship/credit issue, except to > say that there is lots of precedent for fortune entries to have credit > given. There is, IMO, a significant difference. The fortune entries in question are quotes; they were not written to be placed there, but were taken by somebody else and put there. It normally is not the person that is quoted that submitted the entry; and it is NOT common to have the submitter of a fortune entry credited. Writing tips is somewhat rote work; it is, IMO, much more like submitting other people's quotes than like suddenly having written something brilliant and having someone lese discover it and submit it. Besides, attributing quotes may be necessary for copyright reasons, and at least as a courtesy towards the person that is quoted (unasked). This is normally not so for tips. Don't look at the file format - look at the context :) Eivind. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message
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