What we keep under /etc (was: cvs commit: src/etc rc rc.shutdown src/etc/rc.d ...)

[Giorgos Keramidas]

On 2004-10-10 03:12, Makoto Matsushita <matusita at jp.FreeBSD.org> wrote:
> brian> Ok, so etc/mtree can be left out.  What about etc/periodic and etc/rc.d?
> [...]
> If there's a chance that users may modify /etc files, "overriding /etc
> files silently" should be avoided as we can, IMHO.

The overwriting of some directories in /etc can be made optional and default
to off (keeping the current behavior, but allowing faster updates of a part of
/etc for those who want it), if that's what's worrying you.

We could add an option to mergemaster like -f which would take a list of /etc
subdirectories to blindly overwrite, i.e.:

	# mergemaster -f "rc.d periodic defaults isdn"

To avoid having to type manually the list of directories, this could also be
made optional based on an environment variable like MM_OVERWRITE_SUBDIRS, in
which case the order of precedence would be:

	a. If MM_OVERWRITE_SUBDIRS is set, set a list of subdirs that will be
overwritten by mergemaster to its value.

	b. If -f option was used replace the subdirs list with its value.

	c. Before comparing files, do a blind copy of all the files in the
list of subdirs that should be overwritten.

This would make it relatively easy for people who keep their rc.d, periodic,
defaults, isdn and other /etc subdirectories untouched to quickly skip parts
of /etc when running mergemaster, but also allow local customizations to be
kept safe from the blind copying of files.