Bug#442029: Opencity & policy: violates 9.1 & 10.7 MUSTs

[Thanasis Kinias]

scripsit Cyril Brulebois:
> severity 442029 normal
> thanks

I'm not going to get into a reversion war over this; that's just a bit
too Wikipedia-esque.  So the bug's Normal.  Let's move on.

> It is not shipped, stop arguing about non-existing problem.

[...]

> Also, stop arguing about should be done *if* this or that file were
> shipped. It is not (right now). Fullstop.

My patch _does_ ship them, and I was explaining why it ships them where
it does and not under /usr/share/games/opencity/docs:  because of my
interpretation of the FHS requirement to put documentation _if
installed_ in /usr/share/doc.

This is all rather pointless, though.  I've posted a patch that fixes
all the problems.  Can we, rather than continuing a IMHO
not-very-helpful argument about how important the problems are, just
_fix_ them?  

[...]

> I'm not sure you want to modify the following:
> ,---[ config/graphism.conf excerpt ]---
> | #=====================>    Residential model files <======================
> | 10=graphism/residential/r_zone/r_zone.ac
> | 11=graphism/residential/little_house/little_house.ac
> | 12=graphism/residential/easybuilding/easybuilding.ac
> | 13=graphism/residential/family/family.ac
> `---
> 
> IMVHO, that doesn't fit into the following context:
> ,---[ 10.7.1 Definitions - configuration file ]---
> | A file that affects the operation of a program, or provides site- or
> | host-specific information, or otherwise customizes the behavior of a
> | program. Typically, configuration files are intended to be modified by
> | the system administrator (if needed or desired) to conform to local
> | policy or to provide more useful site-specific behavior.
> `---

To me it's clear that the upstream author distinguished the files under
config/ from those under, say, graphism/.  I agree that _I_ wouldn't
want to modifiy config/graphism.conf, because I don't want to change the
models used by the program.  But IIUC if I wanted to use a different model
for, say, residential building 13, this is where I would modify the
config.  You might argue that this file _oughtn't_ be modified, but
that's not really the point.

> I however agree that some values of the config/opencity.conf, like
> FullScreen, UseAudio, and MsPerFrame could be kept as default there, and
> overridable through /etc/opencity.conf, and/or on a per-user basis using
> a dot file, or using a commandline argument. But it is not *that*
> obvious to me that it fits the context defined just above.

Well, it _is_ quite obvious to me.  AFAICT there is no provision for
using a per-user dotfile and there is no (documented) command-line
option for changing any of the settings you mention.
config/opencity.conf is the only way to do it, and these are settings
that a site would reasonably want to modify.  I agree that there
_should_ be a provision to set these things by other means, but I don't
see that upstream has implemented that, so we MUST follow policy and put
the config file under /etc.  If we're doing that, it's no more work to
put config/graphism.conf -- which upstream clearly considers a config file
like config/opencity.conf -- in the same place.  My patch does this very
easily as well as making the appropriate symlinks to
/usr/share/games/opencity/config/{graphism,opencity}.conf.

Is there a good reason _not_ to put them under /etc?  or is this just a
question again of whether or not this bug is Serious?  If the latter,
let's drop it and work on fixing things instead of arguing.

[...]
> > No, Policy 9.1, a `must'.  FHS is very clear about where documentation
> > files go.  It is _also_ a violation of 12.3 `should', but the `must'
> > obligation to follow FHS would make that largely irrelevant.
> 
> Yes, it is so very clear that you didn't quote it. I'll do.
> 
> ,---[ /usr/share : Architecture-independent data ]---
> | Any program or package which contains or requires data that doesn't
> | need to be modified should store that data in /usr/share (or
> | /usr/local/share, if installed locally). It is recommended that a
> | subdirectory be used in /usr/share for this purpose.
> `---
> 
> ,---[ Specific Options ]---
> | …
> | doc	Miscellaneous documentation (optional)
> | …
> | It is recommended that application-specific, architecture-independent
> | directories be placed here.
> `---
> 
> Again, a recommendation isn't a requirement. We end up again with a
> “should”. No violation again.
[...]

I read it differently.  You don't quote the sentence with the `must' in
it:  «The following directories, or symbolic links to directories, must
be in /usr/share, if the corresponding subsystem is installed:».  I
understand that to be that documentation _if installed_ (which is
optional) MUST be in /usr/share/doc, not someplace else.

Likewise, game data _if installed_ (games being optional) MUST be in
/usr/share/games, etc.

Again, I'm sorry, but this IMO not a useful argument.  Can we just fix them
instead of arguing about shoulds and musts?  I think what's most clear
here is that Debian policy isn't as clear as it might be about the
point.  It is _very_ clear where things are intended to go, just not
what's SHOULD and what's MUST.

I'm sorry if my initial posts on the subject struck you as
inappropriate; my only intention was to address and fix problems I found
with a Debian package.  I had done the work to fix the issues and wanted
to share it with the Games Team.  We have different interpretations of
the question of whether following FHS for docs' location is a MUST or a
SHOULD, but I don't _think_ we disagree that it is at least a SHOULD --
and so constitutes in that case a bug, if not a RC one.

I'd really prefer not to argue further about the FHS severity.  Let's
just improve Debian; that's what we're here for, no?

-- 
Thanasis Kinias
Doctoral Candidate, Department of History, and
  Instructor, Professional Enhancement Programs
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, U.S.A.
.
Je ne viens d'aucun pays, d'aucune cité, d'aucune tribu.  Je suis fils de la
route, ma patrie est caravane, et ma vie la plus inattendue des traversées.
  -- Amin Maalouf, _Léon l'Africain_
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