Just fishing here..+ acouple of questions.

******************************************************

"My Goal" in this posting:
Is to learn how-to correctly manually update the files without the use of "ect-update".

How to do this correctly, I'm unsure of so far.

Being new I want to take the time to manually diff each file to see what the differences are of
which I know how to do,(using "diff" at its most basic level that-is) and is good practice for me
to get used to using "diff" as well as looking at the contents of these files to be more familiar
with my Gentoo surroundings/environment. I figure, if I know how to manually update the needed
files, VERSUS using "etc-update", that this will make my Gentoo experience that much more
fullfilling/enlightened, so to say..

Please correct my thinking where you see fit. :P

So with that being said, this is where I'm at so far:


*******************************************************

I ran,

bash-2.05b# emerge -uD system

After this runs for a few hours, (dialup,:P,), I get back:

* Regenerating GNU info directory index...
* Processed 56 info files.
* IMPORTANT: 25 config files in /etc need updating.
* Type emerge --help config to learn how to update config files.

After looking at the info in "emerge --help config" I run,

bash-2.05b# find /etc -iname '._cfg????_*'
/etc/._cfg0000_inputrc
/etc/._cfg0000_rc.conf
/etc/._cfg0000_make.conf
/etc/._cfg0000_make.globals
/etc/._cfg0000_DIR_COLORS
/etc/conf.d/._cfg0000_net
/etc/init.d/._cfg0000_consolefont
/etc/init.d/._cfg0000_checkfs
/etc/init.d/._cfg0000_domainname
/etc/init.d/._cfg0000_keymaps
/etc/init.d/._cfg0000_net.eth0
/etc/init.d/._cfg0000_modules
/etc/init.d/._cfg0000_clock
/etc/init.d/._cfg0000_hdparm
/etc/init.d/._cfg0000_bootmisc
/etc/init.d/._cfg0000_halt.sh
/etc/init.d/._cfg0000_serial
/etc/init.d/._cfg0000_checkroot
/etc/._cfg0000_services
/etc/._cfg0000_fstab
/etc/._cfg0000_group
/etc/._cfg0000_hosts
/etc/._cfg0000_issue
/etc/._cfg0000_dispatch-conf.conf
/etc/._cfg0000_shells

**********************************************************



Now, this is where my questions come in.

Again, "My Goal", to manually update the files without the use of "ect-update".

How to do this correctly I'm unsure of and want confirmation of, please.

**********************************************************

At this point, I'm just manually "diff"ing each file, one by one. (Any suggestions on using "diff"
and "cp" in a better way than I'm using will be helpful & appreciated as well.)

**********************************************************

For example:
bash-2.05b# diff make.globals ._cfg0000_make.globals
3c3
< # $Header: /home/cvsroot/gentoo-src/portage/cnf/make.globals,v 1.48 2003/07/17 04:46:52 carpaski
Exp $
---
> # $Header: /home/cvsroot/gentoo-src/portage/cnf/make.globals,v 1.49 2003/08/21 01:01:26 carpaski
Exp $
44c44
< FEATURES="sandbox ccache"
---
> FEATURES="sandbox ccache autoaddcvs"
51c51
< USE_EXPAND="VIDEO_CARDS INPUT_DEVICES"
---
> USE_EXPAND="VIDEO_CARDS INPUT_DEVICES LINGUAS"

********************************************************

At this point, (1)I know logically that I've never messed with this file and, (2)its obvious that
I want the new file in replace of the old one. Not only is it obvious but I was told so:

Quote:
* NOTICE: PLEASE *REPLACE* your make.globals. All user changes to variables
* in make.globals should be placed in make.conf. DO NOT MODIFY make.globals.

* Feature additions are noted in help and make.conf descriptions. Update
* them using 'etc-update' please. Maintaining current configs for portage
* and other system packages is fairly important for the continued health
* of your system.
End Quote:


So would the correct thing to do in this (Specific) case, being inside the /etc directory, too:

1)
bash-2.05b# cp ._cfg0000_make.globals make.globals

2)
bash-2.05b# rm ._cfg0000_make.globals


Now my other question is:

Assuming that this were the only file that had differences (hypothectically speaking), WHAT, if
anything do I need to do to next to let Gentoo know I've made the changes manually instead of
using "etc-update"? Again, correct my thinking of this where you see fit...if it fits.. :P

Thanks,

Rather than using cp and rm, use mv. It'll do the exact same thing only in one command (eg mv /etc/._cfg0000_make.globals /etc/make.globals).

make.globals should never need user editing but to answer your question I'll using make.conf (where the user options go instead). In short, what I do here is open up the old make.conf, select everything but the lines I've added (which in my case are a set of custom USE variables, a VIDEO_CARDS line, an ALSA_DRIVER line and a custom mirror list), delete those lines, cat the remnants of make.conf onto the end of the new file (cat make.conf >> ._cfg0000_make.conf) open up the new one, restoring the added lines to their right locations, uncommenting the default entries I use but don't change, save the new file and then mv it to become the new make.conf. Variations on this procedure can be used for any of the files that usually get user edited (such as rc.conf, although all I really do there is change the time fromat from UTC to Local and enable the windowskeys keymap). For the files that I've never edited personally, I just mv the new over the old.

Also when you're updating it's best to do emerge -uD world not system.

Oh boy..,

Thanks for the response LSD.

I feel pretty silly now.

Does everything that I needed to do manually. The solution was starring me right in the face is all. With a little nap I'm all good to go now.

The reason that I did "emerge -uD system" was because I just installed off the CD and got internet access for he first time. This was kindof explained in the "Portage Users Guide" at the very beginning, so I was just following the directions.


Anyways, thanks for your suggestions. I still learned something from your post that I didn't know before. Appreciate it.. :P
Thanks,