Re: adding a toplevel zsh.spec.in file

[Adam Spiers <adam@spiers.net>]

Oliver Kiddle (opk@u.genie.co.uk) wrote:
> I very much agree with Bart on these points.
> 
> If we are going to have default /etc/z* files in a generated rpm package
> they should be as minimal as possible. We should stress the point to
> people installing zsh that they should only put things in global setup
> files that really should be in them. My definition of that is only
> things which are necessary for the specifics of the local setup so only
> adding a few things to the PATH and setting any variables necessary for
> programs to run.
> 
> Adam Spiers wrote:
> 
> > > }   HISTSIZE=1000
> > > }   HISTFILE=~/.zshhistory
> 
> > Why is this messing with your preferences?  It's only setting a
> > default which each user can override, surely?
> 
> Maybe a user can override it but it isn't necessarily obvious whether
> the significant value for these variables is the first or last value
> they get. I never trust these things until I've checked them out. I also
> sometimes like to know that I have a clean zsh when I run it as a
> different user or whatever.
> 
> If we want to provide examples of clever zsh startup files which enable
> all the bells and whistles,

The scripts I'm talking about are far far away from enabling bells and
whistles.  They just have a few things to smooth the edges of an
otherwise very raw installation.

[As an aside, I sometimes wonder why we don't make a
bells-and-whistles out of the box install of zsh much more easily
obtainable.  After all, the vast majority of people only use zsh for
its bells and whistles.]

> I think it is much better to put them on the
> web page where they can clearly be labeled as what they are.

Or in the example startups, but commented out.  Remember, if we
provide a decent set of RedHat (say) startup scripts, it's likely that
within two years every recent RedHat box will have them installed, and
most people aren't going to be looking at the zsh web site when
they're editing them.

> Anything in the distribution is likely to be taken as something
> which is supposed to be installed in /etc.

Which is exactly what StartupFiles/RedHat/* would be, no?