Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2001 13:28:10 -0800 From: Kent Stewart <kstewart@urx.com> To: bmah@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: whisky <whisky@slipy.net>, freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Mergemaster Message-ID: <3A60C86A.5E60D4BB@urx.com> References: <014301c07d5c$1fc9dc80$0100000a@win2k> <3A605430.5D32DB56@urx.com> <200101131634.f0DGY8o36236@bmah-freebsd-0.cisco.com>
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"Bruce A. Mah" wrote: > > If memory serves me right, Kent Stewart wrote: > > > whisky wrote: > > > > > > How does one use mergemaster correctly after a make installworld of 4.2-R t > > o > > > 4.x-S > > > > Very, very carefully. > > That applies to pretty much any system administration task. > > > It will try to change all of the configuration > > files that have been updated. If you have added local mods, they > > disappear. > > Say again?!? Your "local mods" only disappear if you let mergemaster > overwrite them. It never does anything without telling you. That was my point. You have to recognize what you have modified and don't let mergemaster delete your changes unless they need to be. The addition of .../defaults solved most of my early problems. > > > I don't let it touch my firewall rules, ppp.conf, passwd, > > or groups. It will also try to change files root uses but I don't let > > it. I check when it changes my dot."*" files. If I have added local > > aliases or paths, I don't want them removed. The choices provided by > > mergemaster on them is always i(nstall new), d(elete new), or m(erge). > > Have you actually tried the last of the three options? I've found that > it works pretty well for merging in a set of local changes with a new > version of a file. You need to pay attention when doing the merge, > obviously. Yes, I have several times. On most of my files the merge option was ok but then I found a couple of files such as rc.firewall or ppp.conf where mergemaster was looking at such a small part of the picture that it was confusing. A poor choice and your access to the world suddenly disappears and you have to grab the backup and start over. I used its diff as a basis even when I did it manually. I also need to go back an try it on something other than the command line and I have more width available. Kent > > My advise: Run mergemaster after an installworld. Read the diffs it > produces. The first time you run it (on a system updated from > 4.2-RELEASE) you'll probably see a lot of changes. In general, if you > know you didn't modify a file, you can probably just let it install the > new version. Learn how sdiff works for handling merges of files, to > handle the case where you made a local modification and the original, > base file was also updated. The first few times you do this, make sure > to have a backup of /etc so you can bail yourself out if necessary. > > Bruce. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Part 1.2Type: application/pgp-signature -- Kent Stewart Richland, WA mailto:kbstew99@hotmail.com http://kstewart.urx.com/kstewart/index.html FreeBSD News http://daily.daemonnews.org/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
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