etc-update... WTF?

makoffee · n00b Joined: 05 Mar 2003 Posts: 22 Location: Minneapolis

I just ran etc-update for the first time cuz I was getting sick of all those notices when I merged suff telling me to "update" stuff in /etc/

ok wtf happened to ALL of my files in etc?!? is there any way to get them back???

I don't want to make them all again.

If I can't get them back, then why even have that freeking command?
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-Makoffee
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ginji · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 1:34 am Post subject:

that command is useful if you read what it says... there is no way to get your files back that i know off... start editing

MJN222 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 1:49 am Post subject:

Sorry I can't help you get your files back, but I can explain what etc-update is useful for. (I know it won't be much consolation for you anytime soon, but an explanation helps me a bit). (Thought, you don't happen to make backups of /etc do you?)

Often when installing/upgrading a package, a default configuration file is placed in the /etc directory. This new file can quite easily have options for new features in this version, etc. However, it'll have the "factory" settings for everything. etc-update is a tool that, when used carefully, makes updating your software a painless process. You get to go right to the conflicting lines and edit them so that you get to keep your settings but still have the new settings to play with.

The downside of this is that if you just take the new files, your config gets blown out of the water, as you seem to have learned.
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makoffee · n00b Joined: 05 Mar 2003 Posts: 22 Location: Minneapolis

shit, my computer is really fucked. I don't even want to get into this...
<this sucks>

I think I may just rebuild this system. not that I want to.
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-Makoffee
"Hey sexy mamma, wanna kill all human" - Bender B. Rodriguez

rogue · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 4:43 am Post subject:

if you want to make sure this doesn't happen in the future, you should create a cron entry to backup your /etc/ directory weekly. it's really easy to write a bash script to do this and have it done
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taskara · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 5:27 am Post subject:

when u emerge an app (or upgrade) it wants to install it's config files. luckily portage stops it from overwriting your config files, else u would find yourself in your current situation very quickly.

in comes etc-update, which is used for updating config files u need to. upgrading an app might need a diff type of config.

anyway it is safer to delete the UPDATES, and keep your original configs as opposed to overwriting with new and BLANK configs

I'm not sure how well "merge config files" works

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To · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 8:38 am Post subject:

You don't need to rebuild your system, just boot from a live CD, chroot to your disk and edit the files that you should when you run the etc-update;)

Tó
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Wilhelm · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 27 May 2003 Posts: 149

Hi,

Maybe you can regain a lot of your config files by getting hold of your file.ext~ files and renaming them. They should hold 90% of your old config.

Just so you don't seem to be the biggest fool in the land of Gentoo. I did the same thing and borked my etc directory. I thought they would update it CVS style. Luckily i did a 'cp -a' like backup previously which in essence backups your etc directory. From this i was able to get things back to normal again.

Backing up and backup strategies are an essential part of being a Linux sysadmin and will save your bacon every time. The perils of running root.

I have a logging/backup server which holds backups and logs of essential diretories like the portage DB and the etc directory. This means a full HardDisk crash can be resolved in a short period of time instead of starting all over again.

Other than that i'd like to see the gentoo developers put a message on etc-update telling you exactly what wil happen so you can't accidently bork your system. And why the hell doesn't it backup the old files to file.ext~ ???

ebrostig · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 6:32 pm Post subject:

Once again, it shows that reading the documentation pays off.

This is documented well and is also covered by numerous threads here in the forums. I'm sorry it happened, but I really can't say that I feel bad.

Don't think about rebuilding, it's way easier to change your /etc/ config files, it can't be that many that you have changed.

Erik
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