update-alternatives
Charles Wilson
cygwin@cwilson.fastmail.fm
Sun Jun 26 23:12:00 GMT 2005
Buzz wrote:
> Well? What's up? Anybody there?
>
> Do I need to provide more info?
I think it's a neat idea, but I don't think update-alternatives should
use it. I plan to, eventually, borrow some of the ideas you mention and
integrate them into a similar program distributed as part of the
alternatives package. The reason I'm planning to do it that way rather
than use your version directly, is because I don't want the
"alternatives" package to have to manage TWO different databases.
Further, since the "alternatives-wrap" program would be a cygwin prog,
it can unwrap chains of symlinks itself and exec the actual target
without using execvp(). Plus, alternatives itself needs to be smart
about when to use a wrap executable, and when to use "normal" symlinks.
e.g. scripts should never be the target of a wrap, unless wrap is
smart enough to parse sh-bang headers, and exec("/bin/bash -c
real-target $@"). Regardless, sometimes you want alternatives to swap
out man pages and such, and alternatives would definitely need to know
NOT to use a wrap proggie in those cases.
So, (a) alternatives isn't set up, YET, to use any sort of wrap prog,
and (b) when it is, it probably shouldn't use your wrap, directly.
Worse, I'll need to come up with some extension to the database language
used in /var/lib/alternatives/*, or add mucho smarts to
update-alternatives, before even considering to use any wrap prog.
I think your wrap program is a fine tool, and I'd encourage you to ITP
it (or submit it for inclusion within the cygutils package; IMO it's a
good candidate for that). I just don't think it does, exactly, what the
alternatives package will eventually need.
--
Chuck
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