Forum OpenACS Development: Re: Move openacs4.tcl AOLserver config file to real location

Ivan, you've misunderstood what we're talking about here.

We are neither mandating nor even suggesting putting anything into /etc/, /usr/, or anywhere else in particular in the user's file system. What we are discussing, is where to locate the AOLserver config file in the OpenACS CVS repository. Joel and I seem to have agreed that etc/nsd.tcl or etc/config.tcl or something like that is the best place.

If we do that, what it means for the user, is that when a user checks out OpenACS from CVS, or downloads and untars the OpenACS release tarball, he can put it anywhere he wants. But if he, say, untars OpenACS into /web/mysite/, then /web/mysite/etc/nsd.tcl will already be there, in the suggested and immediately useable location. There is no reason that he should have to manually copy the nsd.tcl we give him from some other random location into /web/mysite/etc/. He can move thigns around if he wants to. But the new docs are going to recomend using that location for the AOLesrver config file, so we might as well actually put it there.

For the vast majority of people who will be happy with the standard OpenACS AOLserver config file and it's standard location, it's much easier and simpler to just have it there ready to go right out of the tarball. That way, those folks automatically get the benefit of OpenACS best practices. And for the minority who want to do it there own way, they can, this change makes absolutely no difference to them. But there's no reason to force people to "roll their own", which is what we're doing now.