Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 10:41:15 +1100 From: Christopher Vance <vance@aurema.com> To: Evren Yurtesen <yurtesen@ispro.net.tr> Cc: current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: mergemaster feature suggestion... Message-ID: <20031221234115.GA2256@aurema.com> In-Reply-To: <3FE620B5.9050201@ispro.net.tr> References: <20031221084531.GB31516@cactus.homeunix.org> <20031221105925.GA1713@utgard.lodz.mm.pl> <1072018131.715.10.camel@localhost> <3FE5B804.6000707@ispro.net.tr> <20031221154129.GE2228@saboteur.dek.spc.org> <60563.192.168.4.2.1072043423.squirrel@mail.migus.org> <3FE620B5.9050201@ispro.net.tr>
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On Mon, Dec 22, 2003 at 12:37:41AM +0200, Evren Yurtesen wrote: >About those old files, I think any old file which doesnt exist in newer >release does not only waste space and cause confusion. Also it might >cause security problems. Considering, a problem in a file/binary >whatever which does not exist in newer versions wouldnt be fixed by the >freebsd developers. However it is a small possibility. Try removing /etc/fstab, not installed by the build last time I checked, and see what a security problem its presence caused. I would only be happy removing things known to be obsolete, like /etc/ssh*config, and even then only with the user's agreement. Things not known to the build, like /etc/fstab, should be left alone. I have thought it would be nice to point out during the build/install any stuff known to be removed or superceded, not just in /etc, but also obsolete programs or old library versions. Perhaps a REMOVE_OBSOLETE build knob could do "rm -i" of these things during install. This means when stuff gets moved or removed, enough of its Makefile is left behind to clean up after it. Slightly cleverer would be to know which things are in the default build, but turned off in /etc/make.conf, and ask whether they should also be removed. Some things have moved in the past, like ipf binaries and ssh config files. It would be nice if the now-unused copies would at least make their presence known. I know mergemaster already does this for /etc, but not for /sbin. The only solution currently appears to be to do a fresh install somewhere other than /, and then selectively remove stuff which you used to have but isn't in the build. Anybody not competent to select rightly and to recover from overeagerness, should leave it all alone. -- Christopher Vance
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