From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Dec 21 07:12:04 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C645C16A4CE for ; Sun, 21 Dec 2003 07:12:04 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp-out-02.utu.fi (smtp-out-02.utu.fi [130.232.202.172]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CD5B543D55 for ; Sun, 21 Dec 2003 07:12:02 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from yurtesen@ispro.net.tr) Received: from ispro.net.tr (perpetual.yok.utu.fi [130.232.138.155]) by smtp02.mess.utu.fi (iPlanet Messaging Server 5.2 HotFix 1.21 (built Sep 8 2003)) with ESMTPS id <0HQ900JSM3JVFX@smtp02.mess.utu.fi> for current@freebsd.org; Sun, 21 Dec 2003 17:12:01 +0200 (EET) Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 17:11:00 +0200 From: Evren Yurtesen In-reply-to: <1072018131.715.10.camel@localhost> To: Ryan Sommers Message-id: <3FE5B804.6000707@ispro.net.tr> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-Accept-Language: en-us, en User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.5b) Gecko/20030808 References: <20031221084531.GB31516@cactus.homeunix.org> <20031221105925.GA1713@utgard.lodz.mm.pl> <1072018131.715.10.camel@localhost> cc: jqdkf@army.com cc: current@freebsd.org Subject: mergemaster feature suggestion... X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 15:12:04 -0000 mergemaster always asks if you want to install a file which doesnt exist in /etc already. Why cant it also ask for removing a file which doesnt exist in sources? Then the user can decide if he/she needs that file or not then remove it safely. Ryan Sommers wrote: >>Thanks a lot. It does solve the problem. But I wonder why freebsd >>doesn't remove those obsolete files automatically after each upgrade. >>It would make the system cleaner and avoid such difficult to track >>problems. > > > Most people modify their files in /etc. Distinguishing between old > unmodified and old modified files would be very difficult; especially > considering the fact that people can upgrade between many different > versions. In the end you would still need to run a mergemaster like > program because merging modified files would require human interaction. > > In my opinion mergemaster is good for the complete opposite reason you > stated. For me it helps me keep my /etc filesystem clean from older > stale files. This wasn't a very difficult problem to track down either; > it's actually a very common issue because many people don't pay > attention to the UPDATING file. >