Re: exim's OS/Makefile-Linux

>On Tue, 13 Aug 1996, Ian Jackson wrote:
>
>> I think this should have the following settings:
>> CONFIGURE_FILE=/etc/exim.conf
>> BIN_DIRECTORY=/usr/local/sbin
>
>Those look like rather personal preferences to me, rather than something
>"standard" for Linux, so I am not convinced they should be in the system
>configuration file.

I agree. There are many different Linux installations out there, and they are
all different. Even system files like utmp have been found in at least three
different places, so there's little hope that everybody will have picked the
same place for their software.

>> I think also:
>> COMPRESS_COMMAND=/usr/bin/gzip
>
>Is this the standard place where gzip lives on all Linux systems? I'm
>loath to make a change if it is not.

It's probably the most common of the "standard places", but not everybody has
it there. Ditto with everything else.

There seems little point in making this sort of change to the OS makefile in
Exim. If Ian or anybody else wants to distribute Exim as, say, a Debian
package, then presumably they can include the necessary patches to make sure
that the paths match the setup they've chosen for their system. Otherwise
you might just as well leave it alone and accept that it won't be what
everybody wants.

>Sigh. I had /var/spool/exim as the basic default once upon a time.
>Someone persuaded me to change it to /usr/exim/spool. As this is an
>administrator's decision rather than something basic to the OS, I do not
>think it should be in the Linux Makefile.

No. Surely the hassle to a potential Exim administrator of taking thirty
seconds to remember where his mail spool is and make the change himself is
less than the confusion that you could conceivably get by having different
defaults for things like this on different operating systems.

phil