RE: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult? - meld
I would have bailed on Gentoo long ago if it weren't for this life saver. Last time I tried, the ebuild was broken (and out of date) -- very very dissapointing. However, you can get the source (0.9.4) and compile it very easily. dev-util/meld Latest version available: 0.9.0-r1 Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ] Size of downloaded files: 113 kB Homepage:http://meld.sourceforge.net/ Description: A graphical (GNOME 2) diff and merge tool License: GPL-2 -Original Message- From: Rick Lapp [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 5:03 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult? Is it me or does anyone else find etc-update difficult to do more than just Replace original with update. I find the interactive menu not friendly at all. man etc-update is of no help either. Any suggestions? -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult?
On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 14:29:44 +0100, Holly Bostick wrote: I know dispatch-conf does the same thing, but it does it a different way, and I don't understand the output (it displays diffs, for example, in such a way that I can't recognize which is which, and I don't easily see the commands to select one or the other). I admit this is my problem and likely not some fault with dispatch-conf, but I can understand etc-update on first sight, whereas dispatch-conf, I can't, which seems odd to me, and tends to turn me off it. I expect you have changed etc-update's config file to use your preferred diff program. Do the same in dispatch-conf.conf and the two programs will display virtually identical output. -- Neil Bothwick The best things in life are free, but the expensive ones are still worth a look. -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult?
Ow Mun Heng wrote: On Thu, 2005-01-06 at 17:34, Holly Bostick wrote: On the other hand, I can't understand how to use dispatch-conf at all. Why would that be the case? The way you described etc-update, to me it seems the same as dispatch-conf. I know dispatch-conf does the same thing, but it does it a different way, and I don't understand the output (it displays diffs, for example, in such a way that I can't recognize which is which, and I don't easily see the commands to select one or the other). I admit this is my problem and likely not some fault with dispatch-conf, but I can understand etc-update on first sight, whereas dispatch-conf, I can't, which seems odd to me, and tends to turn me off it. Admitedly there are minor differences, but both of it does the same job and it's roughly the same process. On rare occasions, there's something I want from both blocks and getting the new settings means removing a line from the old that I think I want. This doesn't happen often, and when it does is limited to one line, or a few easily recognizable lines, that I then edit manually after finishing the operation on the file. That really In dispatch-conf, there's an option to interactively merge the difference between both files and choose which gets merged into the final file. It also splits into 2 sides via a vertical line and you choose left or right. Yes, of course, you can do that in etc-update as well. My issue was, suppose the block of the individual diffs comprises 6 lines. In the original, there are 3 blank lines, one line containing a setting, and one two-line comment. In the new file, there are 4 blank lines and one two-line comment. If I want to both adjust the comment (from the diff) and keep the setting (from the original), I have to edit the file manually, because merging the diff refers to merging blocks from one with blocks from the other, not merging line-by-line (which is, admittedly, manual editing). This is not a problem (because the one setting line I want to also add is just one line, and easily recognized, so not difficult to copy and paste), and this issue does not come up often by any stretch of the imagination, but is occasionally necessary, thus something to keep an eye out for, that's all. Holly -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult?
On Thu, 2005-01-06 at 17:34, Holly Bostick wrote: On the other hand, I can't understand how to use dispatch-conf at all. Why would that be the case? The way you described etc-update, to me it seems the same as dispatch-conf. Admitedly there are minor differences, but both of it does the same job and it's roughly the same process. On rare occasions, there's something I want from both blocks and getting the new settings means removing a line from the old that I think I want. This doesn't happen often, and when it does is limited to one line, or a few easily recognizable lines, that I then edit manually after finishing the operation on the file. That really In dispatch-conf, there's an option to interactively merge the difference between both files and choose which gets merged into the final file. It also splits into 2 sides via a vertical line and you choose left or right. -- Ow Mun Heng Gentoo/Linux on DELL D600 1.4Ghz 98% Microsoft(tm) Free!! Neuromancer 14:15:29 up 3:23, 6 users, load average: 1.26, 1.27, 1.33 -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult?
Mark Knecht wrote: I cannot understand it either. It says things like left/right but shows things top/bottom. There's a (vertical) line separating the two diff outputs. One is on the left (the original) and one is on the right (the proposed changes). So left/right refers to, do you want to use the original data for this block of data (which you may read on the left-hand side of the screen), or insert the new changes (which are displayed on the right-hand side of the screen). I never know what it's doing so I quit, save files, let it do the replacement and then compare the files again to put my edits back in. Worse I jsut don't do the update. My cups configuration is waiting for attention. So are a few others. In general, I don't find etc-update difficult to use at all-- in fact, generally I find it easy to use (though sometimes tedious). Admittedly, changing the diff from plain vanilla diff to colordiff (or even meld, if you're into that) really does help a lot in terms of readability. On the whole, as long as I keep in mind what the point of the exercise is (to compare the differences between the current configuration file and a proposed update to that file, and allow me to select with a fair amount of control how to merge them), it works quite well. On the other hand, I can't understand how to use dispatch-conf at all. The process, for me, is simple-- 1) look at each file (to see if it's something I would have edited, or has custom settings; I usually know this, but sometimes a file comes up that I'm not really familiar with). 2) if it's a binary (which still come up as diffs, but for obvious reasons have no diff output), something stupid (updates to translations of languages I don't speak, or a config file for a server I don't use, but have installed for whatever reason), or a system script (which I don't edit), I just accept it (although system scripts I do check first-- the change where the contents of net.eth0 and net.lo reversed was alarming, until I realized that they basically exchanged contents and then it was funny. Works well, too; it was apparently a good idea). 3) If it's a config file that I care about (Samba, CUPS, whatever), I use 'interactive merge' to preserve the lines that contain my settings, and take all the other changes (unless the changes obsolete my settings, like in /etc/rc.conf). On rare occasions, there's something I want from both blocks and getting the new settings means removing a line from the old that I think I want. This doesn't happen often, and when it does is limited to one line, or a few easily recognizable lines, that I then edit manually after finishing the operation on the file. That really doesn't happen often (CUPS, usually, I think, since the format of the config file changed or something, and the update basically removes my settings because they're in a block where a comment is in the new file). 4) Ridiculous updates (like any offered change to /etc/fstab) I just keep the original so that /etc/update is happy, and I am too (because the system boots). I still am not sure why people have such an issue with etc-update-- it is doing a complex job, to be sure, but imo it does it as clearly and simply as is possible under the circumstances. You do have to pay attention (and this can be painful after an emerge -e world, or an emerge -uDtv world), but that comes with the territory, and one of the reasons that I'm a Gentoo user and not a SuSE user is because I have some interest in knowing what's going on. So paying attention is something I actually *want* to do, thus, not a problem. Admittedly, etc-update is not always the brightest bulb in the box (offering to update /etc/fstab is dopey, and that CUPS thing is rather ditzy too, and diff doesn't always split exchangable blocks where I think they should be split), but I don't blame it for that, as I'm not convinced it could really be smarter than it is, given that some of its limitations come from the more 'open' nature of Linux itself (for example, if config files had a standard format, then there would not be a question of where the blocks to be exchanged actually were). I myself find it a wonderful tool that allows me to do a hard job without additional difficulty above that of the task itself, 98% of the time-- and to me, that's enough of a miracle that I don't mind overlooking its minor flaws. Holly -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult?
I use dispatch-conf since I got introduced to it. It's has Colordiffs and it was RCS for file-revs. me tto but also etc-update has colordiff: # vim-users: you CAN use vimdiff for diff_command. (see NOTE_1) diff_command=colordiff -uN %file1 %file2 -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
[gentoo-user] etc-update difficult?
Is it me or does anyone else find etc-update difficult to do more than just Replace original with update. I find the interactive menu not friendly at all. man etc-update is of no help either. Any suggestions? -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult?
Rick Lapp wrote: Is it me or does anyone else find etc-update difficult to do more than just Replace original with update. I find the interactive menu not friendly at all. man etc-update is of no help either. Any suggestions? -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list man dispatch-conf -- Alec Warner Spartasoft Secretary ( spartasoft.msu.edu ) Junior Computer Science Michigan State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult?
I cannot understand it either. It says things like left/right but shows things top/bottom. I never know what it's doing so I quit, save files, let it do the replacement and then compare the files again to put my edits back in. Worse I jsut don't do the update. My cups configuration is waiting for attention. So are a few others. I have tried dispatch-conf. I don't really remember how it went other than I had trouble there too so I'm still using etc-update in my 'very, very careful' mode... - Mark On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 20:02:47 -0500, Rick Lapp [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Is it me or does anyone else find etc-update difficult to do more than just Replace original with update. I find the interactive menu not friendly at all. man etc-update is of no help either. Any suggestions? -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult?
On Thu, 2005-01-06 at 09:10, Mark Knecht wrote: I have tried dispatch-conf. I don't really remember how it went other than I had trouble there too so I'm still using etc-update in my 'very, very careful' mode... I use dispatch-conf since I got introduced to it. It's has Colordiffs and it was RCS for file-revs. Only thing now, I need to know how to revert to a previous rev of the config file it anything goes wrong. Right now, I just do it manually if I ever want to revert. Any takers for helping me there?? On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 20:02:47 -0500, Rick Lapp [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Is it me or does anyone else find etc-update difficult to do more than just Replace original with update. I find the interactive menu not friendly at all. man etc-update is of no help either. Any suggestions? -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list -- Ow Mun Heng Gentoo/Linux on DELL D600 1.4Ghz 98% Microsoft(tm) Free!! Neuromancer 10:00:05 up 1:34, 5 users, load average: 0.67, 0.62, 0.70 -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult?
050105 Rick Lapp wrote: Is it me or does anyone else find etc-update difficult to do more than just Replace original with update. I find the interactive menu not friendly at all. man etc-update is of no help either. Any suggestions? you are using Gvim to show/edit the diffs, aren't you ... ? -- ,, SUPPORT ___//___, Philip Webb : [EMAIL PROTECTED] ELECTRIC /] [] [] [] [] []| Centre for Urban Community Studies TRANSIT`-O--O---' University of Toronto -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult?
No, tell me more about Gvim? On Wednesday 05 January 2005 09:06 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 050105 Rick Lapp wrote: Is it me or does anyone else find etc-update difficult to do more than just Replace original with update. I find the interactive menu not friendly at all. man etc-update is of no help either. Any suggestions? you are using Gvim to show/edit the diffs, aren't you ... ? -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult?
050105 Rick Lapp wrote: On Wednesday 05 January 2005 09:06 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 050105 Rick Lapp wrote: Is it me or does anyone else find etc-update difficult to do more than just Replace original with update. I find the interactive menu not friendly at all. man etc-update is of no help either. Any suggestions? you are using Gvim to show/edit the diffs, aren't you ... ? No, tell me more about Gvim? fix /etc/etc-update.conf so it reads : # pager for use with diff commands (see NOTE_2) # pager=less pager= # vim-users: you CAN use vimdiff for diff_command. (see NOTE_1) # diff_command=diff -uN %file1 %file2 # using_editor=0 diff_command=gvim -d %file1 %file2 using_editor=1 # vim-users: don't use vimdiff for merging (see NOTE_1) merge_command=sdiff -s -o %merged %orig %new of course, you need to have (G)Vim installed on your system. this will show the diffs in 2 nice vertical panels, which you can edit to your taste, if something is customised, or simply check through if not. it reappears for each file choice. when you're satisfied, you exit Gvim enter '-1' (etc) as otherwise. -- ,, SUPPORT ___//___, Philip Webb : [EMAIL PROTECTED] ELECTRIC /] [] [] [] [] []| Centre for Urban Community Studies TRANSIT`-O--O---' University of Toronto -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] etc-update difficult?
Is it me or does anyone else find etc-update difficult to do more than just Replace original with update. I find the interactive menu not friendly at all. man etc-update is of no help either. Any suggestions? you are using Gvim to show/edit the diffs, aren't you ... ? No, tell me more about Gvim? fix /etc/etc-update.conf so it reads : # pager for use with diff commands (see NOTE_2) # pager=less pager= # vim-users: you CAN use vimdiff for diff_command. (see NOTE_1) # diff_command=diff -uN %file1 %file2 # using_editor=0 diff_command=gvim -d %file1 %file2 using_editor=1 # vim-users: don't use vimdiff for merging (see NOTE_1) merge_command=sdiff -s -o %merged %orig %new of course, you need to have (G)Vim installed on your system. this will show the diffs in 2 nice vertical panels, which you can edit to your taste, if something is customised, or simply check through if not. it reappears for each file choice. when you're satisfied, you exit Gvim enter '-1' (etc) as otherwise. I really struggle with etc-update too. Any tips for making it easier on a remote system? I'd like to be able to use the same tool locally and remotely. - Grant -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
