Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 10:01:52 -0700 From: Kent Stewart <kstewart@owt.com> To: pippo@bellnet.ca Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: mergemaster problem Message-ID: <3DB58480.9020102@owt.com> References: <5.1.0.14.2.20021022115618.00a901b0@mail.host45.com>
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pippo@bellnet.ca wrote: > I want to upgrade FreeBSD from 4.62 to 4.7 so I can use openoffice. > I find the instructions in the handbook incomplete: > 21.4 Using make world > > In trying to use mergemaster, I find it incomprehensible as to what the > program actually does and what I am supposed to direct it to do. > It is not clear as to what is done with the master.passwd and group > files and where they are installed or how they are modified. > I tried to be ultra conservative and backed up the /etc/group and > /etc/master.passwd files to *.old and then ran mergemaster. > It was thereafter not clear who(what process or program) would use the > new file (which, where) or how the files would be merged. I chose the > 'm' option to merge the files, assuming that the existing passwords, > users and groups would be merged into the new file. Then to verify, I > entered the 'v' option; but this produced nothing. > Thinking that the backups would be insurance, I then opted for 'i'. > On exiting mergemaster, I chose to leave the temp files. > I did not run the pwd_mkdb -p as suggested until after verifying the > /etc directory and the /var/tmp/temproot/etc directories: > SURPRISE > the /etc/group, /etc/passwd and /etc/master.passwd files are empty. > And there is nothintg in the /var/tmp/temproot/etc directory > What in the world is going on here? > I have not closed down or rebooted as I am afraid that the whole > installation will be lshot to hell. > What do I do? > Will restoring the saved group and master.passwd files do anything? Then > there is the empty passwd file. I suppose that running vipw and adduser > might fix things... > Also, there was no /etc/make.conf file. The installation has been pretty > much "by the book" using portupgrade" ... > Everything works just fine - Xfree86-4.2; cups, kde3; I just want to > upgrade to 4.7 for openoffice. > Please help You might read section "21.4.10 Update Files Not Updated by make world" of the Handbook. Mergemaster does the compares and produces a list for you to see that represents the diff between your current file and the new one produced by your buildworld. Vipw, for example, will update your password files and also update the password data base. People used to update /dev and not run MAKEDEV when they finished. The result was nothing changed and their system did not have the new devices. Mergemaster knows about most of these programs that need to be run after /etc has been updated and asks you if you want to finish the update. The normal choice is "y". If you change the version of sendmail, for example, and don't update the configuration files, you may not have a running sendmail when you have rebooted into your latest version of FreeBSD. My first encounter with mergemaster was, I think, in the FreeBSD-3.1 to 3.2 world. I was trying to follow the transition from one release level to the next. I was also updating /etc manually. They were introducing fixes faster than I could update /etc. Then, I discovered mergemaster and a typical installword session on my fast machines, which includes running mergemaster, requires less than 5 minutes of uptime. It is worth learning how to use it :). I think I am one of the few that won't let mergemaster modify master.passwd, groups, printcap, hosts*, and maybe a couple of other files. When it gets into the merge mode, I feel like I have funnel vision and can't cope with it. So, I read about changes for new users and etc. and add them before I run the buildworld. Some of this you can do with the -p option, but I still prefer looking at the files in 2 windows side by side on a different computer. You can do this from 2 x-window console sessions but I have 2 computers that don't run X and have gotten used to doing this from one central computer. Kent -- Kent Stewart Richland, WA http://users.owt.com/kstewart/index.html To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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