Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 22:59:46 -0700 From: "Philip J. Koenig" <pjklist@ekahuna.com> To: stable@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: Doug Barton <DougB@FreeBSD.org> Subject: Re: mergemaster theory (was: Re: /etc/defaults/rc.conf theory) Message-ID: <20020424055947185.AAA739@empty1.ekahuna.com@pc02.ekahuna.com> In-Reply-To: <20020423222117.U66402-100000@master.gorean.org> References: <20020423103747777.AAA735@empty1.ekahuna.com@pc02.ekahuna.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 23 Apr 2002, at 22:27, Doug Barton boldly uttered:
> On Tue, 23 Apr 2002, Philip J. Koenig wrote:
>
> >
> > > > What I think would be a better way of approaching it is to
> > > > incorporate some method of informing users during the upgrade
> > > > process, probably part of mergemaster, of what has changed in
> > > > /etc/defaults.
> > >
> > > Assuming that you run mergemaster, you'll see the diff before
> > > being presented the options to install, delete, etc.
> >
> >
> > Yes, but the problem I usually have is twofold: I usually run
> > mergemaster in single-user mode,
>
> You don't have to do that. Nothing you install in /etc (except
> hosts.allow) affects a running system.... I usually mergemaster in X. :)
My usual sequence is:
[multi-user]
- cvsup
- buildworld
- buildkernel
[restart into single-user, since shutting down to single-user can
cause problems with ie kern securelevel]
- mount filesystems, swap, run adjkerntz -i
- installkernel
- installworld
- mergemaster
- final cleanup/backup
- reboot
Reason being I've always read/been told that this is standard
practice because changing system files while in multi-user mode can
cause various problems. I always thought mergemaster had to come
after the install step.
(another thing I do is update /stand, but perhaps this is redundant
these days. Regular build/installworld never used to update that.)
> > Some files are also bigger than the scrollback buffer so I can't see
> > all the changes without "merging" them or dealing with them
> > separately.
>
> Ummm... how old of a version of mergemaster are you running? The
> diffs are sent to your favorite $PAGER ('more' by default), and you can
> view a file after the merge, which is also sent to $PAGER. I think you
> should read the man page again, and pay more attention to those little
> menus I spend so much time formatting. :)
For some reason it doesn't seem to go to the pager. All of the PAGER
variables etc are set at default settings. (someone privately emailed
me suggesting setting PAGER to "less" since it doesn't default to
exiting at the end of the file, but in retrospect I don't even think
any pager is paging the output of long files in mergemaster)
FWIW, my oldest FBSD boxes are running 4.3-STABLE at present. (BTW,
when did you add the -C option? The 4.5-STABLE box cvsup'd around
4/10 doesn't seem to have that option. At least it's not in the
manpage.)
> > (I have this personal problem with the 'merge' process
> > using sdiff.. every time I try to use it I have some kind of
> > keyboard/command/viewing problem and screw things up. Maybe I just
> > need more practice.)
>
> Well, you can create your own little tree with 'mergemaster
> -D/my/fake/root' and practice away. :) No worries.
Hm, thanks for the tip. So this sends all changes to the path
specified with -D and doesn't bother /etc, right?
BTW, while we're on the subject of mergemaster minutiae, can you
confirm for me the meaning of the question at the end of the process:
"Do you wish to delete what is left of /var/tmp/temproot?"
Every time I see that, unless there is virtually no special cases to
deal with, I say "no", because it's not clear to me whether the
"files which will remain for your consideration" will be deleted or
not! Perhaps a little different wording, ie "Do you wish to delete
what is left of /var/tmp/temproot other than files to be manually
merged?" or something similiar, would lessen the confusion. :-)
Thx,
Phil
--
Philip J. Koenig pjklist@ekahuna.com
Electric Kahuna Systems -- Computers & Communications for the New Millenium
To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20020424055947185.AAA739>