On Mon, Sep 11, 2006 at 04:02:53PM -0700, Chris White wrote: > On Monday 11 September 2006 15:22, Ciaran McCreesh wrote: > > * Otherwise, try again with ``._cfg0001_name``, then ``._cfg0002_name`` and > > so on (base ten is used for the number part) until a usable filename is > > found. > For what purpose are the older cfg[number]_name files kept around? I ask > because I would anticipate the default behavior for replacing configuration > files with their pending updates to be picking the newest update. That said, > the previous versions would not serve a purpose, or is there something I > don't see? Consider a case as follows: 1. package foo provides /etc/bar - the contents of the file differ depending on the USE flags. 2. an old version of foo is already installed, with USE='a' 3. user does "USE='a b' emerge foo" - /etc/._cfg0000_bar is created. 4. user then realizes he actually wanted USE=c as well, so does "USE='a b c' emerge foo" - this provides /etc/._cfg0001_bar.
You now have 3 files, non-identical: /etc/bar /etc/._cfg0000_bar /etc/._cfg0001_bar The user now runs etc-update or dispatch-conf or whatever tool they use to manage their configurations. The 'try again rule to find a usable filename' is specifically intended for these cases where the configuration management is NOT used between more than two changes of a configuration file (Ideally it should be, but that's a different discussion). -- Robin Hugh Johnson E-Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] GnuPG FP : 11AC BA4F 4778 E3F6 E4ED F38E B27B 944E 3488 4E85
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