[Scrollkeeper-devel] localstatedir fun (was Re: gnome-utils omf/ScrollKeeper installation)

[Dan M. <da...@ea...>]

(I am cc'ing this to scrollkeeper-devel, just in case somebody there knows
the perfect solution.)

You need to set localstatedir to /var/lib.  For example, the spec file for
gnome-core uses:
%define localstatedir   /var/lib

Unfortunately, I can't find the perfect solution to this problem.  The FHS
says we should put things under /var.  However, we are not supposed to
make localstatedir default to /var because things are always supposed to
go under $prefix unless the builder explicitly states otherwise.  I see
this as an inconsistency between the autoconf concept that things always
go under $prefix and the FHS standard that things like /var and /etc are
not under $prefix.  So, I don't think there is any way to make everybody
happy at once.

I don't really like the fact that every package which has OMF metadata has
to be built with --localstatedir=/var/lib.  I'm not sure what the best
solution is though.

Another option would be to not use the -p option to scrollkeeper-update at
all.  In this case, scrollkeeper-update would use the default database
directory it was installed and configured with.  However, this means that
when one builds an RPM, it would try to update the existing database in
/var/lib.  While this is practically fine, it is conceptually broken.  
Further, it would not build a database under the RPMBUILDROOT, which is
also conceptually broken.  There is also some practical value to building
a fresh database under RPMBUILDROOT, as this may help one identify
breakage or view the database for debugging purposes.

So, I think the only solution which satisfies the idealogical constraints
of autoconf, building binary packages such as RPMs, and using the FHS
properly is the method we have chosen.  It has the unfortunate side effect
that people will have to start using --localstatedir=/var/lib for any
package which ships with OMF metadata.  I know this is lame, but I think
it is The Right Way, and I will point my finger at the FHS and autoconf
which seem to have different models for how things work.

Dan



On Mon, 19 Feb 2001, John Fleck wrote:

> Dan,
> I've turned on ScrollKeeper/omf installation in all of the docs
> directories in gnome-utils. I believe I've done it correctly, by
> copying exactly what you did in gnome-core. However, I get
> ScrollKeeper installation errors in both gnome-core and gnome-utils,
> as follows (at least the errors are identical :-):
> 
> >scrollkeeper-update -p /usr/var/scrollkeeper
> >mkdir: cannot make directory `/usr/var/scrollkeeper/TOC': No such
> >file or directory
> 
> Laszlo suggested this morning that I needed to set
> --localstatedir=/var in autogen.sh. That also did not work:
> 
> >scrollkeeper-update -p /var/scrollkeeper
> >mkdir: cannot make directory `/var/scrollkeeper/TOC': No such file or
> >directory
> 
> I'm guessing it needs to be --localstatedir=/var/lib, which is where
> the scrollkeeper stuff actually is? Or do I have a problem in my
> scrollkeeper installation?
> 
> Cheers,
>