Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 22:28:08 -0500 (EST) From: Tom Huppi <thuppi@huppi.com> To: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Subject: notes and/or RCS (was:Re: Root directory filling up... Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.58.0412142134460.87141@nuumen.pair.com> In-Reply-To: <41BFA22A.6090201@nbritton.org> References: <000101c4e215$2cdfedc0$9900000a@ZGISH> <41BFA22A.6090201@nbritton.org>
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On Tue, 14 Dec 2004, Nikolas Britton wrote: > Kiffin Gish wrote: > > >Wow, that seems like a lot of work. Suppose instead I choose just to > >reinstall everything all over again... <snip> > save a copy of the dmesg output... "dmesg >> /home/dmesg" > > basically save anything that you have made or edited > > I highly recommend starting a log/notes/diary for all this stuff; > special settings, hard to remember commands, tips/tricks, > special/complex procedures, advice etc. <snip> One might also consider using RCS for most config file edits. I, like many folks, started out using a series of notes. After a time I learned some simple RCS based tricks and now tend to use them (actually, I do it habitually and religiously.) The thing that is really nice is a single command line that shows all the files edited, what, when, where, and why (depending on input.) I wish I had started doing this earlier in my unix work, and probably would have had I run across these instructions: Quick: http://www.unix.org.ua/orelly/perl/sysadmin/appa_01.htm More Detailed (what I used): http://www.samag.com/documents/s=1184/sam9812a/ FreeBSD has RCS in the base system, so forget the 'installing RCS' part. Advantages (for a newbie, accd to me): - becomes pretty mechanical - teaches basics of RCS which helps understand CVS better. - some of the 'tricks' help understand more general unix tricks. - teaches about various gotchas (see below): Gotchas (that I've run into): - some files are automatically edited like: - /etc/groups (when installing certain ports) - /etc/reslov.conf (by ppp software) this causes a hassle. Just don't use RCS on them, but it's a learning process to figure out which ones are in this category, and can be a head-scratcher when it does cause a problem. - forgetting to unlock a file after editing. It's tempting to see if an edit works before committing it, and easy to forget which causes a hassle when... - 'logname' issues: ...you might su, edit a file, neglect to unlock it, re-boot, then find your logname when logged on as root is not the same as when you su'd so you have to break 'someone elses' lock. Not a big deal, but a hassle non-the-less. Thanks, - Tom
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