mergemaster feature suggestion...

[Evren Yurtesen]

mergemaster always asks if you want to install a file which doesnt exist 
in /etc already. Why cant it also ask for removing a file which doesnt 
exist in sources? Then the user can decide if he/she needs that file or 
not then remove it safely.

Ryan Sommers wrote:

>>Thanks a lot. It does solve the problem. But I wonder why freebsd
>>doesn't remove those obsolete files automatically after each upgrade.
>>It would make the system cleaner and avoid such difficult to track
>>problems.
> 
> 
> Most people modify their files in /etc. Distinguishing between old
> unmodified and old modified files would be very difficult; especially
> considering the fact that people can upgrade between many different
> versions. In the end you would still need to run a mergemaster like
> program because merging modified files would require human interaction.
> 
> In my opinion mergemaster is good for the complete opposite reason you
> stated. For me it helps me keep my /etc filesystem clean from older
> stale files. This wasn't a very difficult problem to track down either;
> it's actually a very common issue because many people don't pay
> attention to the UPDATING file.
>