Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 10:41:17 -0500 From: Bill Moran <wmoran@iowna.com> To: Jason Halbert <jason@jason-n3xt.org> Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Mergemaster Message-ID: <3ABCC01D.AC17E7A4@iowna.com> References: <NIENKACEKADMCAMLPCNMOEBICAAA.jason@jason-n3xt.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Jason Halbert wrote: > > Hello: > > I'm running 4.2-RELEASE and I've been thinking about updating my > sources. I tried cvsup-ing and everything went fine until > mergemaster. I tried it on a non-production machine and it didn't go > well. I read the man page for mergemaster before starting. When I > restarted it was as if all my config files had been reset to first > install condition. Any help on this? I'd like to be able to upgrade > my server in the future, but I'm really worried about FUBAR-ing it. I think mergemaster is a GREAT thing. Basically, there are two types of files it will work with, files that I've tweaked and files that I haven't tweaked. Files that I haven't tweaked ususally include things like rc, rc.network, rc.shutdown ... etc. When mergemaster shows changes in these files I tell it to update them, since any changes to these files won't hurt my custom configuration. Files that I've tweaked include things like rc.conf, rc.firewall, crontab, inetd.conf ... When these show changes I make a note and skip them, then when mergemaster is done I print out both versions and decide what I want to do. Often, these files haven't changed from one version to the next, but they're different because I've tweaked them, in which case, nothing needs to be done. I guess the most important thing to know is what you've tweaked and what you haven't. If you haven't tweaked the file, you're probably safe letting mergemaster update it. If you have tweaked the file, you're probably going to have trouble if you let mergemaster update it. If you don't know what you've tweaked and what you haven't, you've got some research to do before you'll be able to use mergemaster effectively. /stand/sysinstall mostly only changes rc.conf, but other files can get changed. Also, always make a backup of your /etc directory before starting mergemaster, that way if something goes wrong you can always restore it to the previous config. Hope this helps, Bill To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?3ABCC01D.AC17E7A4>