From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri May 26 21:39:58 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3967816A720 for ; Fri, 26 May 2006 21:39:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from shurd@sasktel.net) Received: from misav02.sasknet.sk.ca (misav03.sasknet.sk.ca [142.165.20.164]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B730D43D81 for ; Fri, 26 May 2006 21:39:57 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from shurd@sasktel.net) Received: from bgmpomr1.sasknet.sk.ca ([142.165.72.22]) by misav03 with InterScan Messaging Security Suite; Fri, 26 May 2006 15:39:57 -0600 Received: from backoffice ([206.163.250.91]) by bgmpomr1.sasknet.sk.ca (SaskTel eMessaging Service) with ESMTPA id <0IZW0090N6UKQZ60@bgmpomr1.sasknet.sk.ca> for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Fri, 26 May 2006 15:39:56 -0600 (CST) Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 15:39:55 -0600 From: Stephen Hurd To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-id: <004101c6810c$edeeaaf0$5200a8c0@backoffice> MIME-version: 1.0 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2869 X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2869 Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1; reply-type=original Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-priority: Normal Subject: Custom termcap entries and installworld X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 21:40:02 -0000 I've now shot myself in the foot at least three times in as many years with custom termcap entries... here's the deal: 1) I modify /etc/termcap and customize a termcap entry for some valid reason (I need 132x42 or whatever for my Link MC/5) 2) I update /etc/gettytab and /etc/ttys accordingly and happily use my dumb terminal on occasion (roughly once per week) 3) I upgrade via sources, being sure to run mergemaster and friends. 4) My terminal stops working. I have now shot myself in the foot and need to recreate the termcap entry (which, silly me, I didn't back up) Now, intellectually, I *know* that termcap is really stored in /usr/share/misc, and that mergemaster doesn't/can't touch those files since they're not configuration files... but every single time I run installworld, I need to take a manual step to keep things working the way they were before. This is a POLA breaker but I've just ignored it every time it happened until now. This time I opened a PR (http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=bin/97407) wishing for mergemaster support which, of course, isn't the Right Thing. So, I suppose my questions are these: 1) How do people cope with custom termcap entries? 2) Is there a *correct* way to cope with custom termcap entries? 3) Is there a good reason to not have /usr/share/misc/termcap be a symlink to /etc/termcap rather than the reverse which would allow mergemaster to Just Work? that is... putting it in /etc fixes a problem... does moving it create one or more more serious problems? 4) Am I supposed to submit every custom termcap tweak for inclusion in the next release so I can keep using my terminals?