[horde] 5.2 upgrade : fatal error while editing prefs for imp

[Nels Lindquist]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On 9/3/2014 1:12 PM, Michael M Slusarz wrote:
> Quoting Nels Lindquist <nlindq at maei.ca>:
> 
>> On 9/1/2014 11:43 AM, Michael M Slusarz wrote:
>> 
>>> You did NOT read the instructions at the top of the file.  Do
>>> NOT copy prefs.php to prefs.local.php.
>> 
>> Wait, what?
>> 
>> The file explicitly states not to modify prefs.php directly, but
>> it doesn't mention anything about not copying prefs.php to 
>> prefs.local.php in order to have a template for overrides.
> 
> * See horde/config/prefs.php for documentation on the structure of
> this file. * * IMPORTANT: DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE! * Local overrides
> MUST be placed in prefs.local.php or prefs.d/.
> 
> The definition of local overrides is in horde/config/prefs.php,
> which is explicitly referenced.  Seems very clear from the name and
> the definition that prefs.local.php contains ONLY local overrides,
> not a copy of prefs.php.

I don't have a definition of local overrides in my
horde/config/prefs.php file.  I searched for "ocal overrides" and
there's exactly one instance of it, which is identical to what you've
quoted above.

There *is* an example prefs file which I clearly should have paid more
attention to, but in my defense I'd argue that nine comment lines out
of 260 or so at the top of the file makes it pretty easy to downplay
its importance.  I don't think the inference required to realize that
copying the "default" prefs file as a template to work from is
verboten is necessarily as obvious to your average sysadmin (for whom
that kind of behaviour is normal and expected with many applications
and services) as it is to a developer who is intimately familiar with
the system.

>> If this is problematic, it needs to be documented more
>> explicitly.
> 
> Suggested text would be great.

I would be happy to provide some suggestions.  Let's do it in one go,
though, so there are a couple of other things I now realize I could
use clarification about first.

- From the top of horde/config/prefs.php:

"If you change these preferences in a production system, you will need
to delete these preference entries in your backend; entries in the
backend have priority over the default entry."

Is it safe to assume this refers solely to users' stored preferences
which likely include previous defaults, or is there anything more to
worry about?

Also, just to confirm, my understanding of the order of preference
loading is config/prefs.php, config/prefs.local.php,
config/prefs-[virtualhost]*.php, config/prefs.d/*.php and then users'
stored preferences, with the last-loaded preference being the
effective one.  Is that correct, and true across all Horde
applications as well as core?

And lastly, if [virtualhost]*.php files are placed within
config/prefs.d/ do they have the same effect as
config/prefs-[virtualhost]*.php files?

Thanks very much.


- -- 
Nels Lindquist
<nlindq at maei.ca>

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.20 (MingW32)

iEYEARECAAYFAlQIoVkACgkQh6z5POoOLgTFHgCfWIcfgeS44qvVRjg9NDCFV8BX
JYQAn0Bpkob4vBSlAgp3iRgj3a2aLrIc
=Gl5a
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----