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From: dgy@rtd.com (Don Yuniskis)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: pine problem
Date: 11 Jun 1996 07:38:13 GMT
Organization: CICDO
Lines: 34
Message-ID: <4pj7p6$p0k@baygull.rtd.com>
References: <4p9mqc$g7p@stratus.skypoint.net> <31B8A8B4.17D8@www.play-hookey.com> <Pine.3.91.960608004308.6313K-100000@fog.cs.odu.edu> <31BA6125.2E05@www.play-hookey.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: seagull.rtd.com

In article <31BA6125.2E05@www.play-hookey.com>,
Ken Bigelow  <kbigelow@www.play-hookey.com> wrote:
>Jamie Bowden wrote:
>> On Fri, 7 Jun 1996, Ken Bigelow wrote:
>> 
>> > If you force an override to a common file, customization will become
>> > impossible.
>> 
>> You can setup a common .pinerc in /etc that all users will be bound to,
>> but they will be able to change anything not explicitly set there.
>
>Personally, I would prefer to set up a default .pinerc file in everyone's 
>home directory. Or, you may be able to do it by adjusting the .mailrc file 
>that everyone gets when you add a user. You can adjust any of these dot 
>files by going into /usr/share/skel and editing these master files -- 
>dot.mailrc, etc. Perhaps if you put a dot.pinerc file in this directory it 
>would also get copied out to new users. If I ever allow user access to my 
>site I'll have to try that. If it works, there's your default file.

This is the approach I have taken with all of the ports (etc.) that
support "rc" files of one kind or another.  When I build the port, I
create a sample "dot.foorc" file listing *every* "command", it's
"default" setting and some commentary explaining what the command
does and is used for.  I also take the time to include comments
indicating which order these "startup files" are examined (since
many programs will source several of them in a predefined order
*or* will take the first one found in a predefined list of files).

Yes, it's tedious but you only have to do it once.  And, it serves as pretty
good "terse" documentation.  I've found many deficiencies in man pages
this way (undocumented commands/settings, incorrect defaults, etc.)

--don
managed