[Pkg-exim4-users] fragility of split (was minor comment on exim README.Debian)

[Ross Boylan]

On Sat, Feb 25, 2006 at 07:18:37PM +0100, Marc Haber wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 03, 2006 at 02:45:52PM -0800, Ross Boylan wrote:
> > On Wed, 2005-12-21 at 10:59 +0100, Marc Haber wrote:
> > > On Tue, Dec 20, 2005 at 02:33:26PM -0800, Ross Boylan wrote:
> > > > On Sat, 2005-12-17 at 16:01 +0100, Marc Haber wrote:
> > > > > On Mon, Dec 12, 2005 at 02:03:35PM -0800, Ross Boylan wrote:
> > [snip]
> > > > First I need to understand exactly what the fragility issue is about.  I
> > > > understand that something like a double definition will mess things up;
> > > > I'm not sure why that is less likely to happen (or be easier to debug?)
> > > > in the unsplit than the split case.
> > > 
> > > In the unsplit case, the local admin somehow edits the
> > > exim4.conf.template (probably by executing update-exim4.conf.template)
> > > and is aware that exim might break _now_.
> > > 
> > > In the split case, the breakage will occur on next daemon reload,
> > > which might be later, and noticed by somebody else, who is not even
> > > aware that exim's configuration was touched.
> > > 
> > > > I presume if you run update-exim4.conf.template you have about the same
> > > > problems as a user of unsplit,
> > > 
> > > Yes. But you know that your exim might break _now_, and the breakage
> > > is a immediate effect of explicitly touching the config.
> > > 
> > 
> > Would it be possible and desirable for breakage to occur noisily at
> > installation time?
> 
> At an unknown third-party package's installation time?

Yes.  For example, if packages that messed with exim's setup restarted
exim, forcing the breakage to be visible then.  This would require
some cooperation from the other package, perhaps limited to using a
standard macro to modify the setup (dh_exim_setup?).


> 
> > The problem would be to be sure that this operation occurred after
> > another package dropped an exim snippet in place.
> 
> Yes.
> 
> > Hmm, maybe this belongs on the -dev list.
> 
> On which -dev list?

pkg-exim4-devel