From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Dec 21 17:48:57 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 314BF16A4CE for ; Sun, 21 Dec 2003 17:48:57 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp2.server.rpi.edu (smtp2.server.rpi.edu [128.113.2.2]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CC79F43D49 for ; Sun, 21 Dec 2003 17:48:55 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from drosih@rpi.edu) Received: from [128.113.24.47] (gilead.netel.rpi.edu [128.113.24.47]) by smtp2.server.rpi.edu (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id hBM1mrlb025462; Sun, 21 Dec 2003 20:48:54 -0500 Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Sender: drosih@mail.rpi.edu Message-Id: 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> Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 20:48:52 -0500 To: Evren Yurtesen From: Garance A Drosihn Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" X-Scanned-By: CanIt (www . canit . ca) cc: current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 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: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 01:48:57 -0000 At 12:37 AM +0200 12/22/03, Evren Yurtesen wrote: > >About those old files, I think any old file which doesn't >exist in newer release does not only waste space and cause >confusion. Also it might cause security problems. This is a very reasonable position. It is such a reasonable idea that this topic reappears every few months... :-) >I often thought of a way to remove older files. The problem is that the general solution is much harder to do than it first appears. It is one thing to come up with a solution that works well for what "you" (ie, any one developer) need, but it is much more challenging to come up with a solution that everyone can always use, for every upgrade, and that they can rely on. You can not have installworld just blindly removing files. That tactic *will* cause trouble. The fact that this issue keeps coming up is a good indication that we need to do something. Every once-in-while I try my own hand at implementing some solution, but so far I have not come up with anything that I am 100% happy with. -- Garance Alistair Drosehn = gad@gilead.netel.rpi.edu Senior Systems Programmer or gad@freebsd.org Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute or drosih@rpi.edu