How to load squid was Re:localhost

[Derek Broughton]

Bart Silverstrim wrote:

> Derek Broughton wrote:
> 
>> Well, I agree this seems like a bug.  We _do_ have debconf, so surely it
>> should be used to _get_ your visible hostname so that the install doesn't
>> b0rk.  But do you really need to set visible_hostname?  The implication
>> of the messages, to me, seems to be that if it can find a proper FQDN
>> from "hostname -f" (or equivalent) you should be able to get by without
>> pre-configuring visible_hostname.
> 
> Sorry, I don't mean to make it sound like an argument.  I was just
> telling you what I've run into while configuring it on Linux and FreeBSD
> in the past.

No, I didn't think you were arguing, I just wondered if the visible_hostname
absolutely has to be set, or if it's only needed if squid can't find the
FQDN otherwise.  So there was only one thing to be done - install it and
find out...
> 
> Personally I'm not sure hostname -f would always work on every platform
> (or guarantee it would always work), so maybe that's why it's avoided.

gethostname always has to work on a 'nix system, and "hostname" just uses
that.  

> Also the proxy could be set up to work as a virtual host or a forwarder
> chained to other systems, so it may not be good to "autoconfigure" it
> out of fear that it'll bork up what you're trying to do.  

Except that the message suggested to me that it _does_ try to
autoconfigure - and only uses visible_hostname if it can't find an FQDN. 
Having now installed squid, and not having had any kind of error, I can see
that in fact if you have a valid FQDN set, it doesn't
need "visible_hostname" (in fact, /etc/squid/squid.conf says so).

> Squid is 
> really really flexible in deployment, so the maintainer may have opted
> to support the lowest common denominator.

Still, if all you need is one variable to be set (visible_hostname) that's
exactly what debconf is for.
-- 
derek