[cups.bugs] [LOW] STR #3067: State information belongs in /var/lib/cups, not /etc/cups

[LaMont Jones]

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[STR New]

Section 5 of the FHS describes the /var hierarchy, and notes that /var/lib
is for "Variable State Information"

"
Purpose

This hierarchy holds state information pertaining to an application or the
system. State information is data that programs modify while they run, and
that
pertains to one specific host. Users must never need to modify files in
/var/
lib to configure a package's operation.

State information is generally used to preserve the condition of an
application
(or a group of inter-related applications) between invocations and between
different instances of the same application. State information should
generally
remain valid after a reboot, should not be logging output, and should not
be
spooled data."
Looking at /etc/cups/printers.conf, the following variables appear to be
State, and _NOT_ configuration:

State
StateTime
StateMessage

The timestamp in the '@ Written by cupsd on YYYY-MM-DD...' line is also
far more state-like than configuration, unless the timestamp is
specifically because of user configuration changes.

Similar logic can be applied to the other files.

Link: http://www.cups.org/str.php?L3067
Version: 1.3.9