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

[Michael R Sweet]

LaMont Jones wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 11:09:33AM -0800, Michael Sweet wrote:
>>  Moreover, we do not want to
>> separate the printer (and class, and scheduler) state from the
>> corresponding configuration files, and users MUST be able to edit the
>> configuration files manually as needed, which is the opposite of what the
>> FHS says about /var/lib.
> 
> IOW, FHS is subordinate to the CUPS project.  Got it.

Um, no, just that the CUPS configuration files fall into a grey area
not addressed by the FHS.  Depending on how you interpret the spec
and who you talk to that is involved with writing/updating the FHS,
CUPS can either put things in /etc/cups or /var/lib/cups.  Since we've
used /etc/cups for years now, all of the information is user-editable,
and most of the information is static configuration data, we're
sticking with /etc/cups as the default.

Like I said in my full response in the bug, you can use the
--with-serverroot configure option to switch to /var/lib/cups if you
like and we won't be offended.  If you do this, I would recommend
adding a symlink from /etc/cups to /var/lib/cups for existing users
and tools that are hardcoded to look in /etc/cups...

Also, if the FHS is ever updated to address "managed configuration
files" that are both user and program edited, we'll be happy to update
CUPS to use the new directory as the default on Linux.

-- 
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Michael R Sweet                        Senior Printing System Engineer