On Fri, 03 Dec 2021 05:54:37 -0800 (PST) "Jeffrey Bouquet" <jbt...@iherebuywisely.com> wrote:
> > > On Fri, 3 Dec 2021 13:58:39 +0100, Miroslav Lachman <000.f...@quip.cz> wrote: > > > On 03/12/2021 12:52, Yetoo Happy wrote: > > > > [...] > > > > > Quick Start* and follow the instructions and get to step > > > 7 and may think that even though etcupdate is different from mergemaster > > > from the last time they used the handbook they have faith that following > > > the instructions won't brick their system. This user will instead find > > > that > > > faith in general is just a very complex facade for the pain and suffering > > > of not following *24.5.6.1 Merging Configuration Files* because the user > > > doesn't know that step exists or relevant to the current step and ends up > > > unknowingly having etcupdate append "<<<< yours ... >>>>> new" to the top > > > of the user's very important configuration files that they didn't expect > > > the program to actually modify that way when they resolved differences nor > > > could they predict easily because the diff format is so unintuitive and > > > different from mergemaster. Now unable to login or boot into single user > > > mode because redirections instead of the actual configuration is parsed > > > the > > > user goes to the handbook to find out what might have happened and scrolls > > > down to find *24.5.6.1 Merging Configuration Files* is under *24.5.6. > > > > [...] > > > > That's why I think etcupdate is not so intuitive as tool like this > > should be and etcupdate is extremely dangerous because it intentionally > > breaks syntax of files vital to have system up and running. > > If anything goes wrong with mergemaster automatic process then your have > > configuration not updated which is almost always fine to boot the system > > and fix it. But after etcupdate? Much worse... > > > > I maintain about 30 machines for 2 decades and had problems with > > etcupdate many times. I had ti use mergemaster as fall back many times. > > Mainly because of etcupdate said "Reference tree to diff against > > unavailable" or "No previous tree to compare against, a sane comparison > > is not possible.". And sometimes because etcupdate cannot automatically > > update many files in /etc/rc.d and manual merging of a lot of files with > > "<<<< ==== >>>>" is realy painful while with mergemaster only simple > > keyboard shortcuts will solve it. > > All of this must be very stressful for beginners. > > > > So beside the update of documentation I really would like to see some > > changes to etcupdate workflow where files are modified in temporary > > location and moved to destination only if they do not contain any syntax > > breaking changes like <<<<, ====, >>>>. > > > > Kind regards > > Miroslav Lachman > > > Agree. I fell back to mergemaster this Nov on 13-stable when the /var files > pertaining to etcupdate were all missing current /etc data, and no study of > man etcupdate was clear enough to rectify such a scenario, and suspect my > initial use of etcupdate will or may require a planned reinstall, not having > had to do so since Jan 2004 iirc, [ vs failed hard disk migrations ] and > I am just hoping mergemaster stays in /usr/src and updated > for system changes, even if moved to 'tools' or > something, since its use seems intuitive and much less of a black box. > Also, /usr/src/UPDATING still at the bottom emphasizes mergemaster still. > Not sure it's fixed or not (tooo dangerous to try...), -n (dry-run) option of etcupdate is now quite harmful. Maybe by any commit done in this april on main (MFC'ed to stable/13 in june). *I got busy manually checking and applying changes to /etc, and forgot to file PR. Doing `etcupdate -n` itself runs OK, but following `etcupdate -B` does NOT do anything, hence nothing is actually updated. The only workaround I have is NOT to try dry-run. It would be because the same trees are used for dry-run and actual run. (Not looked into the code. Just a thought.) Maybe using dedicated trees (older one is copied from actual current one, building current tree on dedicated place and delete them every time the dry-run finishes) for dry-run would fix. And copying /etc to some temporary place and applying changes to it, copy back to /etc may be help for your issue, I think. -- Tomoaki AOKI <junch...@dec.sakura.ne.jp>
