Red Hat printing Problem

[Mike Chambers]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin O'Gorman" <kevin at kosmanor.com>
To: <linux-users at linux-sxs.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2002 10:52 PM
Subject: Re: Red Hat printing Problem


> Alternatives?  What do you mean?

It's a command/package used to make different services point to one name,
such as sendmail and postfix.  Below is part of an explanation from the man
page.  Maybe this will help explain it a little better..

"The alternatives system aims to solve this  problem.   A  generic  name  in
the
       filesystem  is shared by all files providing interchangeable
functionality.  The
       alternatives system and the system administrator together determine
which actual
       file is referenced by this generic name.  For example, if the text
editors ed(1)
       and nvi(1) are both installed on the system, the alternatives system
will  cause
       the  generic name /usr/bin/editor to refer to /usr/bin/nvi by
default.  The sys?
       tem administrator can override  this  and  cause  it  to  refer  to
/usr/bin/ed
       instead,  and  the alternatives system will not alter this setting
until explic?
       itly requested to do so.

       The generic name is not a direct symbolic  link  to  the  selected
alternative.
       Instead, it is a symbolic link to a name in the alternatives
directory, which in
       turn is a symbolic link to the actual file referenced.  This is done
so that the
       system  administrator's  changes  can be confined within the /etc
directory: the
       FHS (q.v.) gives reasons why this is a Good Thing."

That help?

Mike