A long term challenge in computing in general, and sysadmin tools more specifically: life gets very complex when there are multiple tools/systems all trying to be “smart” – it’s tough enough to identify the assumptions made by each one, let alone how they interact.
Has anyone documented things like this – even at a high level – for *min? (the computing environment assumptions made – to what extent does it assume it knows what is/isn’t there, and what it can/should/shouldn’t “fix”)
The assumption is always a freshly installed supported OS.
Dependencies in a metapackage or a yum group insures the installer will get the system to the state it needs, even if all the right packages aren’t there (in fact, we prefer you don’t install anything, even system packages…just give us a minimal server OS install and the installer will be happy).
“Default” is always what we want to start with. And, “default” is also where we’re aiming, most of the time. The exceptions are quite rare. We store virtual hosts in the place where the OS normally does it (in httpd.conf on RHEL/CentOS, in individual files in available-hosts on Debian/Ubuntu), use the default paths for all config files, etc., and rarely change configuration from the default…the only time we do is when it must be done for basic functionality. You should generally not be surprised by what Virtualmin does, no matter what OS you choose. Docs for your OS should apply to a Virtualmin system with little need for customization or interpretation. Of course, sometimes things are complicated, and the may be a dozen ways to do something that fit with how your OS works (e.g. execution modes for PHP, even using system packages exclusively you can still use fcgid, php-fpm, etc.). We’re not trying to take over your system, we’re trying to coexist peacefully with it, making the best use of the packages and conventions available.
Edit: And, the particular change I mentioned in the comment you’re replying to is moving more toward that “leave defaults alone”. Not changing /etc/resolv.conf is a net good from my perspective even if there are tradeoffs. On balance, we now believe changing it is not beneficial enough to justify it.
