On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 11:57:59 +0200, Michael Prokop wrote:
Is it possible for grml scripts to use the debconf's method to interact with the user? I mean, debconf allows us to define the frontend that we feel most comfortable to use, be it readline, dialog or xdialog, etc.
Seems currently all grml scripts uses dialog. It looks nice, but I have to say I really hate dialog. I prefer readline, nice and simple. And most importantly, it leave a clear trace of what questions were asked and what choice/answers I've made.
,---- [ http://www.fifi.org/doc/debconf-doc/tutorial.html ] | Debconf should be used whenever your package needs to output | something to the user, or ask a question. I'll assume you already | have a package that does this and you want to convert it to use | debconf. `----
For me debconf is something for use with Debian packages, not for user scripts.
Oh, I didn't mean that user scripts use the debconf mechanism for configuration, but rather, honor/use debconf's frontend method:
,----- | One of debconf's unique features is that the interface it presents | to you is only one of many, that can be swapped in at will. There | are many debconf frontends available. | | The dialog is the default frontend. | | The readline is the most traditional frontend, this looks quite | similar to how Debian configuration always has been: a series of | questions, printed out at the console using plain text, and | prompts done using the readline library. `-----
There are also modern X GUIs using the gtk or Qt libraries...
Switching from dialog to debconf would break the OS compability, the scripts could not be used outside of Debian then. As I use some of my scripts on other platforms as well that's nothing I really want to do. Especially as it will become even harder for contributors to make patches against scripts, because they would have to learn about debconf first - whereas dialog is pretty straight forward.
Ok, it is more complicated than I thought. Ok then, it is your call. Hope you use a wrapper for dialogs and implement a readline frontend someday. BTW, using a wrapper for dialog will allow you to use xdialog or other dialog compatible interfaces to provide a modern X GUI interface instantly.
thanks