You should not change the order like that, this will invalidate any upgrades of future eZ publish versions.
The order of .ini file reading is not a problem if you setup the files correctly. First off settings/override is always the last file to be read and will override any values from original .ini files and siteaccess.
Things to put in override is global settings that should be set for ALL siteaccesses and siteaccess matching rules. Placing the matching rules in a siteaccess won't work.
If you want a value to be set for most siteaccess except one you need to copy the values to all siteaccesses and modify it on the one that will differ.
You have to understand what I think it was suppose to do :
settings/site.ini is the original file that come wiht eZPublish
settings/override/site.ini.append.php is the suggested file where we should put our configuration so that we can easily upgrade eZPublish
settings/siteaccess/user/site.ini.append is the original site access configuration file that comes with a brand new eZPublish installation. And in this file it says :
# NOTE: It is not recommended to edit this files directly, instead
# a new siteacces should be made to suit your needs.
# General settings should be placed in the settings/override # directory using .append files.
I could'nt find a place to put the override file for a siteaccess so I had to change the order to make it work the proper way.
if settings/override/site.in.append.php is the last configuration file to be considered, setting/siteaccess/site.in.append is obsolete...
the site.ini comes with default values, that's true. But this file is also the one which should contain all your configuration. If you want a back up file, just make a copy before installing.
The override is actually as Jan said only a helper thing. For example, if you develop a site with CVS each developer could put an override to reflect local settings.
More info on this here:
http://ezwiki.blanko.info/index.php/Configuration%20files%20and%20directories%20explained%20%283.x%29
and here: http://ezwiki.blanko.info/index.php/site.ini%20or%20site.ini.php%3F%20%283.x%29
When you install setup with setup enabled, it creates an override site.ini.append.php.
So, if we use the setup module, we cannot use SiteAccess!?
Not very usefull isn't it???
P.S. In every settings/siteaccess/site.in.append files it's written :
# eZ publish configuration file.
#
# NOTE: It is not recommended to edit this files directly, instead
# a new siteacces should be made to suit your needs.
# General settings should be placed in the settings/override # directory using .append files.
I rewrote the ezwiki page because some things changed when eZ publish 3.0 was released. Have a look at http://ezwiki.blanko.info/index.php/Configuration%20files%20and%20directories%20explained%20%283.x%29 again. This should explain now how it works.