Re: RFT: bin/106642: [patch] Allow excluding certain files from mergemaster(8)

Gaspar Chilingarov wrote:

> Is it possible to have also some configuration for mergemaster to tell
> it that some files should be installed automatically without asking --
> thus I know that I NEVER change /etc/rc.d/ or /etc/mtree or something
> like this -- so I wish to avoid mergemaster's questions about installing
> that files.

There are already ways to do this, and the other things mentioned in
the thread with scripts that can be called by mergemaster (see the man
page for details). I have stated many times in the past that I do not
want to add more bloat (more CLI options, more confusion for the
users, more ways to shoot yourself in the foot) to what should still
be a pretty simple script.

What I would welcome (and commit) is someone coding up some example
scripts that I could put in /usr/share/examples and then reference in
the man page. To date no one has taken on that challenge, so the
door's wide open.

For example, if you want to accomplish what you described above you
could have a script that looks something like this (copied in part
from the script I actually use every day):

#!/bin/sh
# NOTE: No PATH needed, because mm's PATH is already draconian enough
case "${PRE_WORLD}" in
'')     rm -f /etc/rc.d/*
	rm -f /etc/mtree/*
        ;;
esac

Call that as your MM_PRE_COMPARE_SCRIPT and use the -i option and
you're all set.

Mergemaster has stood the test of 8 years and 4 major releases in part
because I insist on keeping it as simple as possible. If someone wants
to write up a different solution from scratch that supplies all the
bells, whistles, knobs and frobs that people are looking for, please
be my guest. But please don't try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes
your time, annoys the pig. :)

Doug

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