[dev] Re: missing conf.php

[Ruben van der Steenhoven]

Michael M Slusarz wrote:
> Quoting Ruben van der Steenhoven <ruben_donotspamme at webmeesters.nl>:
> 
> | Hi all,
> |
> | ever so often, these mailinglists get the well-known question 'i am
> | missing conf.php'.
> | Now before you say: see (...)/docs/INSTALL, hear me out please.
> |
> | Wouldn't it be a good idea to provide all modules with a conf.php.dist,
> | that contains one line telling the user that the file should be
> | generated by the admin module.
> |
> | Imho, this would serve two goals:
> | 1. You all would get less questions about the missing file, and
> 
> Could not disagree with you more here.  By not having the conf.php.dist file
> there, we should be forcing readers to read INSTALL.  Putting information
> specific to how to generate conf.php in conf.php.dist not only leads to
> duplication of information, but it provides even _less_ motivation to read
> the INSTALL file where the question is answered.  Not to mention you are
> going to get people who would simply copy conf.php.dist to conf.php and
> then wonder why the $conf variable can't be found...
> 
> Simply put, there really is no reason why a user shouldn't be reading the
> INSTALL file.  Having an extra file in the config directory that says 'read
> the INSTALL file' seems like overkill to me.  I believe we strive to
> provide as clear documentation as possible, but there is really not much
> you can do for those users who already ignore the documentation we have.
> 
i agree with your strive to get the users to read the INSTALL docs, but 
by the frequency of this question turnig up in all the horde lists, i 
think your approach doesn't do what you wanted, and then it may be time 
to rethink your position.
FYI: i am only playing Devils Advocate here, because i want to get this 
discussion going to see if we can come up with a good solution.

> | 2. At least in my set-up the directory rights are set so, that the
> | apache user cannot create the file, so when installing a new module, i
> | would always have to go in as a superuser and create the file myself.
> 
> I would rather have to copy/paste into the config directory than have the
> conf.php file be automatically written.  This would seem be a bit more
> secure anyway.
the fact that ppl have to copy the .dist files to .php's already 
fullfils the security issue imho.

> 
> michael
> 
> ______________________________________________
> Michael Slusarz [slusarz at bigworm.colorado.edu]
> The University of Colorado at Boulder
>