Re: mergemaster feature suggestion...

I am sorry. I didnt want to cause this kind of discussion to begin.

But also, does binary upgrade remove older files from /etc? I tried that 
only 1 time and it didnt even install half of the files required in /etc 
directory :) for example sshd conf files etc. were missing. Then I 
decided that I will not do that unless I absolutely need to.

I use build/install-world because I dont want to spend so much bandwidth 
and I prefer to get latest patches etc. easily. I want to have the 
possibility to go back to a date later on if I have a problem with the 
latest sources. So cvsup does that for me easily.

About those old files, I think any old file which doesnt exist in newer 
release does not only waste space and cause confusion. Also it might 
cause security problems. Considering, a problem in a file/binary 
whatever which does not exist in newer versions wouldnt be fixed by the 
freebsd developers. However it is a small possibility.

I often thought of a way to remove older files. I even considered making 
a fresh install of the latest version of FreeBSD to a test machine and 
compare the file structures to remove files from the actual machines. 
But there can be an utility to do that right? If there is an utility to 
compare the files and install (mergemaster) there can be an utility to 
remove the older files also, or this can be implemented inside 
mergemaster as an option/

Evren



Adam C. Migus wrote:

> Bruce M Simpson said:
> 
>>[bikeshed detected; purging]
>>
>>On Sun, Dec 21, 2003 at 05:11:00PM +0200, Evren Yurtesen wrote:
>>
>>>mergemaster always asks if you want to install a file which doesnt
>>>exist
>>>in /etc already. Why cant it also ask for removing a file which
>>>doesnt
>>>exist in sources? Then the user can decide if he/she needs that
>>>file or
>>>not then remove it safely.
>>
>>If you'd taken the time to read the list archives you'd have noticed
>>that
>>this very question had been addressed in an earlier thread within
>>the past
>>6 weeks. And the root cause was the same.
>>
>>The 'officially sanctioned' upgrade path is a binary upgrade or
>>fresh install,
>>unless you're a developer, or just someone who enjoys an interesting
>>life.
>>
>>BMS
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>>
> 
> 
> Bruce,
> The most relevant document regarding upgrading in this context
> describes three methods of upgrading a FreeBSD system:
> 
> http://www.freebsd.org/relnotes/4-STABLE/relnotes/i386/upgrade.html
> 
> This document, nor any other returned by a search for upgrading
> mentions anything about the binary method or the fresh install
> methods being the "officially sanctioned methods" for people other
> than developers.  It does however warn that it requires
> "more disk space, time, and technical expertise."
> 
> Therefor unless this person's post allows you to assume he doesn't
> have "more disk space, time, and technical expertise" I don't
> believe your response is valid or correct.
> 
> This person simply requested a feature for mergemaster.  Perhaps it
> didn't occur to him that doing so requires looking back though over
> six weeks of postings for relevant subject matter.  Which post was
> that again?
> 
> Adam