[Mimedefang] Simplifying installations re: $Features{}

[David F. Skoll]

On Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:25:50 -0700
Philip Prindeville <philipp_subx at redfish-solutions.com> wrote:

> I'm looking at /usr/bin/mimedefang.pl on my Fedora 15 system, and
> seeing:

[awfulness]

The whole $Features{...} hack is horrible.  But anyway, we're stuck
with it for now.

> for example, and thinking that this might have been better done as:

> $Features{'Virus:CLAMD'}    = ( -f '/usr/sbin/clamd' );

Well... really?  What about:

$Features{'Virus:CLAMD'} = (-f '/usr/sbin/clamd' || -f '/usr/local/sbin/clamd' || -f '/opt/SUNWoracle/sbin/clamd);

The point of the ./configure script is to search all those weird and wonderful
paths at build time.

> This way, if I install mimedefang first,
> configure/customize it, then later on install clamav, then I don't
> need to come back and reinstall, modify, or otherwise reconfigure
> mimedefang to leverage it.

I don't like the idea of MIMEDefang suddenly leveraging other packages
just by virtue of their being installed.  Instead, I recommend ignoring
the whole compile-time $Features{...} mess and putting explicit
$Features{...} assignments in your filter so you know exactly what you're
getting.

Regards,

David.