Hi On Tue, Jan 08, 2013 at 06:29:02PM +0000, David Guntner wrote: > Karl E. Jorgensen grabbed a keyboard and wrote: > > On Tue, Jan 08, 2013 at 03:42:30PM +0000, David Guntner wrote: > >> Hi, all. > >> > >> Back in the days when I was using Mandriva (which RPM-based), when I > >> updated a package that had a configuration file that I had modified, > >> urpmi was smart enough to realize it, and wouldn't just blindly wipe it > >> out. Instead, it would create a new copy for you to look over and > >> merge. I.E., you'd end up with something like: > >> > >> /etc/somepackage.conf.rpmnew > > > > Yuck! > > Better than overwriting a user-modified file. :-)
True. But still yuck. Perhaps I'm just too used to Debian :-) > >> Then after doing the update, I could look for files with .rpmnew at the > >> end and work on making any changes needed. Heck, we even had a really > >> handy script called etc-update which would go through the /etc directory > >> looking for .rpmnew files and would then give you the choice of use the > >> new file, keep the old file (& delete the new one) or merge the two > >> together, which would diff the two and present the changes in groups > >> side-by-side and you'd then select to use the left side (original > >> content) or use the right side (the new content in the .rpmnew file) and > >> you'd go through that until you were done. > > > > Sounds like my experience of redhat... the bad old days. > > Hey, the etc-update tool was *very* handy - any kind of situation like > this is tedious at best, but it sure as heck beat having to open up two > windows side-by-side to go through the old & new config files to copy > across new stuff that you wanted to include in your existing config > without losing your customized settings. This was especially handy > after having done a full system upgrade - you ran the script and it > found every single one of them and led you through them, one at a time. > > >> Regardless of an etc-update like tool, is that how it works in Debian? > >> Does it avoid overwriting config files which have been changed by you > >> since they were installed, and if so, does it put the new content with > >> an easy-to-search-for .something at the end? > > > > Unless the package maintainer tries to do something fancy and gets it > > wrong, Debian will by default do the "right thing" when dealing with > > configuration files - gory details at > > > > http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ap-pkg-conffiles.html > > I'll read that, thanks! > > > In my experience: > > > > - If you have not modified the configuration, the new config will be > > substituted. > > > > - If you *have* modified the configuration, most interfaces will give > > you a diff between your current configuration and ask what to do. I > > typically open up a different session and use vim/emacs to merge the > > two sets of changes at this point. > > You mean there will be a bunch of .diff files for you to have to look > through? Or something else? No - it will prompt interactively during installation. There are options on apt/dpkg to avoid the prompts by always doing either (a) install the new version or (b) leave the config file untouched. > > > Hope this helps > > Thanks. > > --Dave > > -- Karl E. Jorgensen -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20130108183940.GE20081@hawking
