Hi Stefan, Stefan Sperling wrote on Sun, Jul 07, 2019 at 01:29:35PM +0200: > On Sat, Jul 06, 2019 at 08:57:49AM -0400, Jay Hart wrote:
>> I think its more like when diff asks to keep current config >> vs new config. I want to keep my current config files (or at >> least those custom portions). > There is no guarantee that your custom changes will still be > compatible with newer versions of affected software. > > Because computers are stupid it is vital to have a human review > such changes; sysmerge already reduces the amount of changes to > review to a minimum which is great. Before sysmerge, people had > to merge configuration files manually! > > There is really no way of knowing what effect your custom changes > will have when merged blindly with a new version. Anything could > happen; a no-op change, a syntax error, or some misconfiguration > with security implications. > > The only safe way to do an automatic merge is to discard all > local changes, resetting everything to defaults. Even resetting everything to the new defaults would not be a safe way, because if the system administrator changed a configuration file, it is possible that change matters for the security of that particular machine. Of course, that only reinforces your point that merging configuration files cannot be fully automated and always requires a human being to make a careful decision about each locally modified file. Yours, Ingo
