From: utzoo!decvax!cca!ima!johnl
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Title: Re: "." files and defaults
Article-I.D.: ima.240
Posted: Sat Oct 23 18:24:05 1982
Received: Sun Oct 24 00:49:19 1982
References: microsof.2394

As noted elsewhere, Microsoft's scheme of /etc/defaults/<pgmname> is
a nightmare for maintenance.  At Interactive (Interactive Systems Corp.
of Santa Monica, CA, that is) we have a much more convenient scheme of
"attribute" files.  All the attributes of some class of things are
collected in an attribute file, e.g. /etc/ports for terminals,
/etc/filesystems for disks, and so forth.  Attribute files are composed
of stanzas, each with a name.  Here with the filesystem file for my
small Onyx box:

default:
	vol     = DISK0
	cyl     = 90
	skip    = 3
	dumpdev = /dev/rmt0-3
	dumpden = 780
	dumplen = 300

/:
	dev   = /dev/rp02
	mount = automatic
	check = 1
	free  = true

The default stanza sets defaults, other stanzas override them.  A standard
set of routines is used to read attribute files, with each program picking
the attributes it wants.  The file above is used by fsck, df, dump, restor,
mount, unmount, and some other odds and ends.  It's taken quite a while to
convert groups of programs (e.g. getty and init had to be rewritten to use
the new stuff rather than /etc/ttys) but it's just amazingly handy now
that it's here.

John Levine, IECC, PO Box 349, Cambridge MA 02238; (617) 491-5450
decvax!cca!ima!johnl, harpo!esquire!ima!johnl, ucbvax!cbosgd!ima!johnl,
yale-co!jrl (all uucp), Levine@YALE (Arpa).