Re^2: Config files in CPAN modules?

[doom]

This suggestion (provide both a system-wide and user-specific config) is very sensible and helps alleviate the central problem, but I don't think it eliminates it. What should the installer do when confronted with an existing system-wide configuration file? Overwriting it is harmless only if all customization has been confined to the user-specific files. Most likely, you're stuck with doing something like silently creating a "config.new" file, and leaving "config" alone. For extra-credit, you could examine the existing config file to see if it differs from the default (compare MD5 hashes?) and overwrite if no customization has been done. And if you want to go above and beyond, you could try to merge your changes into the existing file.

Note: asking the user about this in the middle of an installation is to be avoided on penalty of death. Think about someone using CPANPLUS to install a module with a cascading series of dependencies involving dozens of modules. What if every other package wanted to politely ask a question about something?

[mr_mischief]

I like the opposite -- save the original as 'config.orig' or 'config.old', or perhaps 'config.2006-07-21' for example. Then, save the new one as 'config'. It's pretty common, and it gives me a point of reference when I go to customize the new one.

What's really best, though, is when a package recognizes an obsolete config file and saves a 'config.old', a 'config.defaults', and a 'config' that has all the options from 'config.old' updated to match the new format and adds any settings from 'config.defaults' that used to be hardcoded and now aren't. Preferably, the new config file will be set up with things specified as much like the old version worked even if the default behaviors have changed, and with notes in the config file's comments stating what's changed and why. I can't name a CPAN module that does this currently, but I've used a few server and desktop applications that do this. That's one of the biggest things I like about the CMS I recommend for my clients, actually. When they upgrade it (or hopefully when they pay me to upgrade it), the upgrade is almost seamless.