FS#38399 - [clamav] pkg should provide default conf files in their "live" home locations

Attached to Project: Arch Linux
Opened by John (graysky) - Monday, 06 January 2014, 19:10 GMT
Last edited by Gaetan Bisson (vesath) - Wednesday, 08 January 2014, 07:30 GMT
Task Type Feature Request
Category Packages: Extra
Status Closed
Assigned To Gaetan Bisson (vesath)
Architecture All
Severity Low
Priority Normal
Reported Version
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date Undecided
Percent Complete 100%
Votes 1
Private No

Details

Request to modify the PKGBUILD to provide the needed config files. This request is a departure from the "do not modify upstream" thinking but doing so allows:

1) Convenience: the creation of files needed to use the software (i.e. users MUST do this manually which seems wasteful when the pkg can provide them.
2) Consistency: many other Arch packages such as open-ssl for example provide skel config files out-of-the-box.

/etc/clamav/clamd.conf
/etc/clamav/freshclam.conf

Additional info:
* package version(s) clamav-0.98-1
   provide_conf_files.patch (1 KiB)
This task depends upon

Closed by  Gaetan Bisson (vesath)
Wednesday, 08 January 2014, 07:30 GMT
Reason for closing:  Implemented
Additional comments about closing:  clamav-0.98-2 in [extra]
Comment by Gaetan Bisson (vesath) - Tuesday, 07 January 2014, 08:03 GMT
I do like the idea of packages working out-of-the-box with sane defaults. And we have been patching the configuration sample files with sane defaults anyhow.
I've put clamav-0.98-2 in [testing] and will let it there for a few days just to make sure everybody is happy with the changes. Please let me know what you think.
Comment by John (graysky) - Tuesday, 07 January 2014, 12:53 GMT
I like it with one reservation: you have removed all the comments in the upstream config files. Just like with /etc/ssh/sshd_config, some users may wish to customize these files. I think the expected state is for the package to leave the comments from the respective .sample files intact, just uncommenting a distro default. With the notable exception of the "Example" line for this particular package which as I understand it from the wiki page, needs to be commented out for the software to run. It makes no sense to leave that uncommented to me.

Your thoughts?
Comment by Gaetan Bisson (vesath) - Tuesday, 07 January 2014, 20:09 GMT
The comments are still in the sample files.

Before, we heavily patched those sample files to match Arch's configuration; this was a bit ugly and quite useless since the user still had to remove the Example line and copy those files to their propre names (without the sample suffix).

Now, we ship vanilla upstream sample files, together with minimalistic files that make the software work out of the box. I think this is much cleaner. If a user needs info to configure clamav, they can always find it in the sample files. At the same time, our default configuration is now concise and easier to read/edit/maintain than a 100+ line sample file.
Comment by John (graysky) - Tuesday, 07 January 2014, 20:30 GMT
I agree that the clean files are a step forward, but they seem to a departure from how other package config files are supplied with Arch package as I mentioned above. My vote (if I have a vote) would be to use the upstream .sample files as our config files that have been modified with distro defaults but leave the comments intact. If it helps decrease the activation barrier for implementation, I have attached them. Whatever you decide to do, thank you for maintaining!
   clamd.conf (17 KiB)
   freshclam.conf (8.4 KiB)
Comment by Gaetan Bisson (vesath) - Wednesday, 08 January 2014, 07:29 GMT
Maintaining clean files is easier than patching upstream's sample ones.

And it seems to me that from a user perspective the result is the same anyhow:
- those who just want to run clamd out-of-the-box will not know the difference;
- those who wish to configure clamd will have to select which options they want to bring over from the sample file to the configuration file, or to just copy the sample file over the configuration file - but it is their responsibility to do so and it shows that Arch itself only maintains a minimalistic configuration file.
Comment by Gaetan Bisson (vesath) - Wednesday, 08 January 2014, 07:30 GMT
Thanks for your input though.

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