From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
Subject: Re: [9fans] Re: [sources] 20070410: % cat
	>/sys/lib/dist/changes/1176262206.1.txt << EOF
From: "Russ Cox" <rsc@swtch.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:41:55 -0400
In-Reply-To: <13426df10704121125m1fe1450fw51fdeea162d4cea4@mail.gmail.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Message-Id: <20070412184155.C99371E8C1C@holo.morphisms.net>
Topicbox-Message-UUID: 45c8cc2c-ead2-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025

/cfg is intended for machines with per-node configuration.
If you have 1000 machines that are functionally identical,
you're not supposed to write /cfg directories for any of them.

But if you have one machine that is supposed to do something
a little different (like run a venti server, or be an auth server),
then you can put those differences into /cfg/$sysname/cpurc.

What /cfg replaced was a giant

	switch($sysname){
	case this
		...
	case that
		...
	}

in /rc/bin/cpurc.  It's definitely a step forward for that
situation.

The Plan 9 distribution has always been "this works
well at Bell Labs; you might need to change it to suit you",
and that applies to /cfg as much as anything else.

/cfg is just a pragmatic solution for one use model.
If you are running large clusters, you will want something
different.  But most Plan 9 installations are not large clusters.

I for one am glad that people can edit cpurc instead of
having to agree on a general startup script mechanism.
Otherwise we might end up with something like /etc/init.d.

Russ