[Fw: Linux Job]

[Justin Dugger]

Debian packages occasionally update their config files, along with the
binaries and documentation.  This is typically annoying, because the
changes are most often commented lines.  I've never seen a program
dramatically change its conf file structure to warrant keeping the new
changes, but sometimes they do add new variables and default settings
for them.  Debian gives you the option to view the diff in any case,
and if you aren't certain, its almost always advisable to keep the
current config file.  If I remember correctly, apt/dpkg is not
intelligent enough to merge the two, so your choices are typically
take the new comments or keep your customizations.  AFAIK, there is no
CVS repository for these changes, and it appears to me that apt-get
would ignore the repository if you started one.  I suppose its
possible to design a policy around this, such as committing nightly,
however.

Justin Dugger


On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 07:57:04 -0600, Brian Kelsay
<Brian.Kelsay at kcc.usda.gov> wrote:
> Get with Cymor and interrogate him about what Debian does exactly.   When I do an upgrade, if a package has a config file and the author has added new default features, the apt/dpkg system compares it to your config file to see if you have customized it yet.  I've been told the best thing to do is to say no to an update of the config file to preserve your changes.  I have chosen on one box to look at the changes, but got a bit lost.  I assume that once you are familiar w/ a given pkg, you could change this stuff on the fly to get new features.
>