[Tfug] Automatic Update?

[Bexley Hall]

--- Jim Secan <jim at nwra.com> wrote:

> At 12:03 PM 9/18/2006 -0700, you wrote:
> >But, the best solution, by far, is just to hack the
> >sources.  I'd imagine a single strftime() call
> >someplace that needs another 3 characters added
> >to the format string  :-/
> 
> This illustrates an interesting split in the Linux
> user approach to the Linux fiddler approach (no
> denigration intended,

None taken!  :>  I don't run linux.  ;-)

> just can't come up with a better word).  As a Linux
> user, modifying the /etc/logrotate.d/yum file to
> rotate the yum log file is a nice clean engineering
> approach that lets me get back quickly to using
> Linux to do my real job. 

Sure!  Though "credit" for that concept lies with
the original UNIX design philosophy (build tools
from tools) and isn't Linux-centric.  MS learned
this lesson with NT -- when sysadm's complained that
there was no scrpting ability (i.e. let ME build
a tool using other existing tools)

Note that there's nothing to say that *you* had to
make the change.  But, if there's something wrong
with the implementation, then feedback to "whomever"
solves the problem The Right Way -- for *everyone*!

Since the sources *are* available, it *can* be
fixed (unlike Apple/MS/Sun/SGI/etc. approaches).

> Yeah, yum's log output is still "broken," but 
> this approach allows me to avoid the coding/testing,
> swearing, recoding/retesting (loop several times)
> effort.

Well, in this case, I doubt it would be THAT bad  :>
But, your point is well-taken.

In my case, I prefer "open" systems since they are
"enablers" -- I *can* fix a problem, if I so desire,
without relying on someone else to do so (and then
having to *embrace* ALL of his/her/their "fixes"
even if I don't want or need them).

> Since I'm a Fortran guy I'd have to drag out my c or
> c++ fake book to make the changes.  The beauty of 
> Linux is that there are usually several ways to
> fix a problem.  Downside is finding the one that
> fits (as in finding the correct FM to R).

And, due to the "build tools from tools" philosophy,
knowing if your "fix" won't ultimately end up
BREAKING something else down the road (e.g., imagine
something that reads those log files and "does
something" as a result... suddenly there is an
entry it can't understand -- or, a time format that
it can't parse!)

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