Re: AW: [MiNT] drive letters (was: Kernal que

[Michael Schwingen <rincewind@discworld.dascon.de>]

On Wed, Feb 03, 1999 at 06:48:19PM +0100, Konrad Kokoszkiewicz wrote:
> Yes, but some people think that headless adapting to "modern" standars
> is a Good Thing. I would suspect that this comes from thinking that our OS
> is "worse" than other ones hence it needs "adapting".

Correct. Not headless, but when there are established standards, and it
makes sense to comply with them, then why not do so?

> MiNT is not "worse" or "better", than another OS. Its filesystem structure
> is not "worse" or "better". It is just different. We do not need adapting
> to Linux, because we do not develop Linux. We develop MiNT.

Correct. However, since we are using a unix-like filesystem setup, we should
make it as unix-like as possible as long as it makes sense - I see no reason
why files should be put in a different location on my Mint system than on my
other computers (running Linux, Freebsd, Solaris). Adhering to an
established standard makes it easier for people with a unix background to
find things on a MiNT system - and you can use the available documentation
unmodified, eg. for installing dialup networking and other stuff.

> The position of wtmp file doesn't really matter. But it DOES matter, if it
> is traditionally established by a most common distribution. Releasing an

Yes, the position *does* matter. Placing it in /etc requires that /etc is
writable. There are reasons why the FHS is as it is - some may not matter on
a single-machine setup, but they make sense nevertheless.

> incompatible distribution will end up with a situation, where most users
> will have TWO wtmp files (just an example) because ports will appear for
> both distriutions for some time. And paths are hardcoded in software.
> Such a move can't be done before shared libs are done.

It can be done, and I think it should be done - the user must simply be told
about the problem. A simple symlink in the old position will keep old
programs working.

cu
Michael
-- 
Michael Schwingen, Ahornstrasse 36, 52074 Aachen