[gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Harry Putnam]

I remember discussion of one or more fairly new tools designed to ease
the update of etc files following updates.

Can anyone say what tools are currently available.

Re: [gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Volker Armin Hemmann]

On Freitag 14 November 2008, Harry Putnam wrote:
> I remember discussion of one or more fairly new tools designed to ease
> the update of etc files following updates.
>
> Can anyone say what tools are currently available.

cfg-update makes updates REALLY easy and comfortable.

Re: [gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Dirk Heinrichs]

Am Freitag, 14. November 2008 17:14:03 schrieb Volker Armin Hemmann:
> On Freitag 14 November 2008, Harry Putnam wrote:
> > I remember discussion of one or more fairly new tools designed to ease
> > the update of etc files following updates.
> >
> > Can anyone say what tools are currently available.
>
> cfg-update makes updates REALLY easy and comfortable.

Yep, and it gives the possibility to use your favorite diff/merge tool (diff, 
kdiff3, vimdiff, emacs, xxdiff, etc.). With the right choice it even supports 
automatik (3-way) merging, reducing manual intervention to a minimum.

IMHO the best tool for the job.

Bye...

	Dirk

Re: [gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Volker Armin Hemmann]

On Samstag 15 November 2008, Dirk Heinrichs wrote:
> Am Freitag, 14. November 2008 17:14:03 schrieb Volker Armin Hemmann:
> > On Freitag 14 November 2008, Harry Putnam wrote:
> > > I remember discussion of one or more fairly new tools designed to ease
> > > the update of etc files following updates.
> > >
> > > Can anyone say what tools are currently available.
> >
> > cfg-update makes updates REALLY easy and comfortable.
>
> Yep, and it gives the possibility to use your favorite diff/merge tool
> (diff, kdiff3, vimdiff, emacs, xxdiff, etc.). With the right choice it even
> supports automatik (3-way) merging, reducing manual intervention to a
> minimum.
>
> IMHO the best tool for the job.
>
> Bye...
>
> 	Dirk

the automatic merging is so sweet. Not to have hunt around in config files to 
rescue all your settings - cfg-update takes care of it - and it does that very 
well. I haven't had a butchered config since I started cfg-update a long time 
ago. It sometimes asks when the changes are too big. I like that.

Re: [gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Allan Gottlieb]

At Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:05:22 +0100 Dirk Heinrichs <dirk.heinrichs@online.de> wrote:

> Am Freitag, 14. November 2008 17:14:03 schrieb Volker Armin Hemmann:
>> On Freitag 14 November 2008, Harry Putnam wrote:
>> > I remember discussion of one or more fairly new tools designed to ease
>> > the update of etc files following updates.
>> >
>> > Can anyone say what tools are currently available.
>>
>> cfg-update makes updates REALLY easy and comfortable.
>
> Yep, and it gives the possibility to use your favorite diff/merge tool (diff, 
> kdiff3, vimdiff, emacs, xxdiff, etc.). With the right choice it even supports 

How hard was it to hook in emacs-ediff?  It wasn't mentioned in the
cfg-update docs I read.

> automatik (3-way) merging, reducing manual intervention to a minimum.
>
> IMHO the best tool for the job.

Thanks,
allan

Re: [gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Dirk Heinrichs]

Am Samstag, 15. November 2008 14:13:11 schrieb Allan Gottlieb:

> How hard was it to hook in emacs-ediff?  It wasn't mentioned in the
> cfg-update docs I read.

Ooops, seems it slipped in accidentally. Sorry for that.

The list of supported tools can be found in /etc/cfg-update.conf.

Bye...

	Dirk

RE: [gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Gormotte Julien]

Personally, I think etc-update is cool and very easy to use.

-----Message d'origine-----
De : news [mailto:news@ger.gmane.org] De la part de Harry Putnam
Envoyé : vendredi 14 novembre 2008 16:35
À : gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org
Objet : [gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

I remember discussion of one or more fairly new tools designed to ease
the update of etc files following updates.

Can anyone say what tools are currently available.






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Re: [gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Dale]

Harry Putnam wrote:
> I remember discussion of one or more fairly new tools designed to ease
> the update of etc files following updates.
>
> Can anyone say what tools are currently available.
>
>
>
>   

dispatch-conf works.  May want to try them all and pick the one you
like.  I like etc-update as far as the update process.  I like this one
because it keeps backups of the old config files.

It's like the cereal aisle, your choice.

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[John covici]

on Friday 11/14/2008 Dale(rdalek1967@gmail.com) wrote
 > Harry Putnam wrote:
 > > I remember discussion of one or more fairly new tools designed to ease
 > > the update of etc files following updates.
 > >
 > > Can anyone say what tools are currently available.
 > >
 > >
 > >
 > >   
 > 
 > dispatch-conf works.  May want to try them all and pick the one you
 > like.  I like etc-update as far as the update process.  I like this one
 > because it keeps backups of the old config files.

An eix on both dispatch-conf and etc-update yield no matches -- where
can they be found?

Thanks.

-- 
Your life is like a penny.  You're going to lose it.  The question is:
How do
you spend it?

         John Covici
         covici@ccs.covici.com

Re: [gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Dan Wallis]

On 14/11/2008, John covici <covici@ccs.covici.com> wrote:
> An eix on both dispatch-conf and etc-update yield no matches -- where
>  can they be found?

They both belong to sys-apps/portage on my systems:

dan@tui ~ $ qfile dispatch-conf
sys-apps/portage (/usr/sbin/dispatch-conf)
sys-apps/portage (/usr/lib64/portage/bin/dispatch-conf)
dan@tui ~ $ qfile etc-update
sys-apps/portage (/usr/sbin/etc-update)
sys-apps/portage (/usr/lib64/portage/bin/etc-update)
dan@tui ~ $


Dan

Re: [gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[John covici]

on Friday 11/14/2008 Dan Wallis(mrdanwallis@gmail.com) wrote
 > On 14/11/2008, John covici <covici@ccs.covici.com> wrote:
 > > An eix on both dispatch-conf and etc-update yield no matches -- where
 > >  can they be found?
 > 
 > They both belong to sys-apps/portage on my systems:
 > 
 > dan@tui ~ $ qfile dispatch-conf
 > sys-apps/portage (/usr/sbin/dispatch-conf)
 > sys-apps/portage (/usr/lib64/portage/bin/dispatch-conf)
 > dan@tui ~ $ qfile etc-update
 > sys-apps/portage (/usr/sbin/etc-update)
 > sys-apps/portage (/usr/lib64/portage/bin/etc-update)
 > dan@tui ~ $
 > 

OK, they are actually part of portage, thanks.

-- 
Your life is like a penny.  You're going to lose it.  The question is:
How do
you spend it?

         John Covici
         covici@ccs.covici.com

Re: [gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Justin]

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Dale schrieb:
> Harry Putnam wrote:
>   
>> I remember discussion of one or more fairly new tools designed to ease
>> the update of etc files following updates.
>>
>> Can anyone say what tools are currently available.
>>
>>
>>
>>   
>>     
>
> dispatch-conf works.  May want to try them all and pick the one you
> like.  I like etc-update as far as the update process.  I like this one
> because it keeps backups of the old config files.
>
> It's like the cereal aisle, your choice.
>
> Dale
>
> :-)  :-) 
>
>   
A cool thing with dispatch-conf:

emerge colordiff and change in /etc/dispatch-conf.conf the diff="diff
..." to diff="colordiff...". You also can change the mergening command
to anything you like more e.g. gui merging tools


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Re: [gentoo-user] tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Markos Chandras]

On Saturday 15 November 2008 11:04:23 Justin wrote:
> Dale schrieb:
> > Harry Putnam wrote:
> >> I remember discussion of one or more fairly new tools designed to ease
> >> the update of etc files following updates.
> >>
> >> Can anyone say what tools are currently available.
> >
> > dispatch-conf works.  May want to try them all and pick the one you
> > like.  I like etc-update as far as the update process.  I like this one
> > because it keeps backups of the old config files.
> >
> > It's like the cereal aisle, your choice.
> >
> > Dale
> >
> > :-)  :-)
>
> A cool thing with dispatch-conf:
>
> emerge colordiff and change in /etc/dispatch-conf.conf the diff="diff
> ..." to diff="colordiff...". You also can change the mergening command
> to anything you like more e.g. gui merging tools
Thanks for that tip :). Really cool.
-- 
Markos Chandras

[gentoo-user] Re: tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Harry Putnam]

Lots of good input... thanks.

I did try `cfg-update' but I thought it was really slow.  Ditto for
etc-update which I tried some time ago.

What made me ask about this was that I was beginning to think my home
made perl script was too slow and wondered if there was something a
little more sophisticated and fast.

Mostly because I'm used to using it I suppose, but the homely little
script seems much faster and convenient to me.

Here is what it does:

1) finds the new config files when fed a directory

2) presents them to the user like this:

  ---------- 8< ---------- 8< ---------- 8< ----------


  [...] snipped other built in explanatory dialog

   Incoming </etc/._cfg0000_wgetrc>
   Shall we install it as described; overwriting the existing one?
 
   Anything but <y> will rename the new conf listed above to 
   /etc/START_STOP/NOUSE._cfg0000_wgetrc-111508_165416 
   for reference
 
   **Take a look at the diffs before deciding if you need to**
   diff /etc/._cfg0000_wgetrc /etc/wgetrc

     [y/n] > 

  ---------- 8< ---------- 8< ---------- 8< ----------

   So the program itself does no work on comparing and simply presents
   a ready made diff command to be used in a separate terminal.

3) if you say `y' then the old config is overwritten, but first backed 
   up like this:
   STOP-USE_whois.conf-111508_104703 (<= my own file dating system)
                                       [date +"%m%d%y_%H%M%S"]
   (Of course the date is arrived at a little differently in perl)
   And the incoming new config is also backed up like:
   START-USE._cfg0000_whois.conf-111508_104703

   The backups all go into a directory `START_STOP' created by the
   program in whatever directory the config is in.

   [ so I do end up with that directory sprinkled around in a few
   places ] 

   If you say `n'
   the new config is dated and stored like:
   NOUSE._cfg0000_syslog.conf_010107_202225
  
4) There is also a routine for when there is no old config.

This script is probably as poorly written as humanly possible since I'm
far from a perl programmer, and it is not sophisticated at all.

I wrote it quite a good while back and revised it a little a few times.
So I've used it quite a lot, and so far it hasn't eaten `/' or leveled
all /etc configs....

I find that the majority of new configs are either the
`*.example' variety or else a diff shows the changed lines are all
commented in both old or new, so a simple yes and move on.

A three pane merge in xxdiff like cfg-update does by default, seems
really clunky and somewhat overkill.  Not to mention painfully slow.

With configs that need intervention, I'm usually able to get it done with a
simple diff and some hand work carried out in a different xterm or if
in text mode I'll be using `screen' and switch to a different terminal to do
the hand work, or even break out emacs and use its `ediff' tools on
the two files.

The perl script will have made backups of both for the advent of
mistakes. 

Others here probably have vastly more complicated config files than
me, but with this little perl script I'm usually able to blaze thru
15-20 new configs in very short order.  
I may have to do something by hand with 2-3 and occasionally I'll skip a
complicated one and deal with it after disposing all the easy ones.

I'm too embarrassed to post the script, but if someone really wants to
try it I will make it available.  Be advised though that I haven't
paid much attention to security or other dangers... 
  

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Dirk Heinrichs]

Am Sonntag, 16. November 2008 00:05:56 schrieb Harry Putnam:

> I did try `cfg-update' but I thought it was really slow.

Slow? For me it's blazingly fast.

Bye...

	Dirk

[gentoo-user] Re: tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Harry Putnam]

Dirk Heinrichs <dirk.heinrichs@online.de> writes:

> Am Sonntag, 16. November 2008 00:05:56 schrieb Harry Putnam:
>
>> I did try `cfg-update' but I thought it was really slow.
>
> Slow? For me it's blazingly fast.
>

Just to install it requires 3 pkgs to be installed:

Just to install, it wants three packages unless I USE="-kde" (in my
case).

And even then it still cries about xxdiff.  Looking at the other
possible editors in /etc/cfg-update.conf... I don't have a single one
of them installed... so still more install is required.

Using xxdiff is pretty clunky and slow I thought.  I would not
describe it as blazingly fast. 

It may be possible to customize to the point where its faster but it
would take some doing.

Or maybe just by experience in using the tool it would get handier
and faster....

I've not encountered a single conf file where a 3 screen merge was
required to get it right.

But as I mentioned, my conf files are probably way less complicated
than a power users.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Dirk Heinrichs]

Am Sonntag, 16. November 2008 19:04:02 schrieb Harry Putnam:
> Dirk Heinrichs <dirk.heinrichs@online.de> writes:
> > Am Sonntag, 16. November 2008 00:05:56 schrieb Harry Putnam:
> >> I did try `cfg-update' but I thought it was really slow.
> >
> > Slow? For me it's blazingly fast.
>
> Just to install it requires 3 pkgs to be installed:

What has this to do with how fast it runs?

> Just to install, it wants three packages unless I USE="-kde" (in my
> case).

Yes, so what?

> And even then it still cries about xxdiff.

That's what its author chose as the default. You could file a bug report.

> Looking at the other
> possible editors in /etc/cfg-update.conf... I don't have a single one
> of them installed... so still more install is required.

Ahem, you don't have vim or diff installed?

> Using xxdiff is pretty clunky and slow I thought.  I would not
> describe it as blazingly fast.

You were not talking about xxdiff, you wrote that cfg-update was slow.

> It may be possible to customize to the point where its faster but it
> would take some doing.

What exactly are you talking about, cfg-update or the diff tool you told it to 
use?

> Or maybe just by experience in using the tool it would get handier
> and faster....

Just doing the automatic stuff, where no user intervention is involved _is_ 
blazingly fast. How fast you are in running the diff/merge tool of _your_ 
choice is, well, up to you.

> I've not encountered a single conf file where a 3 screen merge was
> required to get it right.

I already have. But it's a rare case.

Bye...

	Dirk

[gentoo-user] Re: tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Harry Putnam]

Dirk Heinrichs <dirk.heinrichs@online.de> writes:

>> Or maybe just by experience in using the tool it would get handier
>> and faster....
>
> Just doing the automatic stuff, where no user intervention is involved _is_ 
> blazingly fast. How fast you are in running the diff/merge tool of _your_ 
> choice is, well, up to you.

Maybe, but as you know it defaults to xxdiff.  That of course is not
to say it cannot be changed but by default the merge tool is slow and
clunky.

>> Using xxdiff is pretty clunky and slow I thought.  I would not
>> describe it as blazingly fast.

> You were not talking about xxdiff, you wrote that cfg-update was slow.

You seem to imply that cfg-update is independent of a diff tool.  It
does not appear to be able to merge anything on its own.

So to speak of cfg-update minus a diff tool as fast/slow seems a
little off the mark. 

I suspect you are a much more accomplished user than I am so I'll
defer to your judgement...

I'm curious about the backup setup.  Have you had occasion to go
back into the database to pull out an old config?  And if so I
wondered if that part worked to your liking?

It might allow me to quit putting all my configs under cvs control.
That can get to be a bit of a hassle at times..

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Dirk Heinrichs]

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Am Sonntag 16 November 2008 21:18:44 schrieb ext Harry Putnam:
> Dirk Heinrichs <dirk.heinrichs@online.de> writes:
> >> Or maybe just by experience in using the tool it would get handier
> >> and faster....
> >
> > Just doing the automatic stuff, where no user intervention is involved
> > _is_ blazingly fast. How fast you are in running the diff/merge tool of
> > _your_ choice is, well, up to you.
>
> Maybe, but as you know it defaults to xxdiff.  That of course is not
> to say it cannot be changed but by default the merge tool is slow and
> clunky.

That's true, of course. But any other config file update tool you choose will 
be affected by the merge tool it uses. But this merge tool only comes into 
play when the update can't be done automatically. So to tell wether the update 
tool as such is fast or not (compared to the others), one should leave the 
merge tool out of the equation.

OTOH, you can always change the merge tool. I use kdiff3 (because I didn't 
like xxdiff either), which is also not the fastest one, but IMHO the best you 
can get. YMMV, though.

> >> Using xxdiff is pretty clunky and slow I thought.  I would not
> >> describe it as blazingly fast.

I did not, never ever, describe xxdiff as blazingly fast. I was referring to 
cfg-update only.

> > You were not talking about xxdiff, you wrote that cfg-update was slow.
>
> You seem to imply that cfg-update is independent of a diff tool.  It
> does not appear to be able to merge anything on its own.

Yes, it is. As long as no conflicts arise. That's when the merge tool comes 
in.

> So to speak of cfg-update minus a diff tool as fast/slow seems a
> little off the mark.

s/diff/merge/

> I'm curious about the backup setup.  Have you had occasion to go
> back into the database to pull out an old config?

No, not yet.

Bye...

	Dirk
-- 
Dirk Heinrichs          | Tel:  +49 (0)162 234 3408
Configuration Manager   | Fax:  +49 (0)211 47068 111
Capgemini Deutschland   | Mail: dirk.heinrichs@capgemini.com
Wanheimerstraße 68      | Web:  http://www.capgemini.com
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[gentoo-user] Re: tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Harry Putnam]

Dirk Heinrichs <dirk.heinrichs@online.de> writes:

> Am Sonntag, 16. November 2008 00:05:56 schrieb Harry Putnam:
>
>> I did try `cfg-update' but I thought it was really slow.
>
> Slow? For me it's blazingly fast.

I opened this thread back up to eat a little crow.

Now that some of my config files have been thru cfg-updates process
once.  I see new updates processed literally in the blink of an eye.

So I now agree that `blazingly' is quite appropriate.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: tools currently available for update of etc files after updates

[Dirk Heinrichs]

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Am Mittwoch 19 November 2008 21:54:42 schrieb ext Harry Putnam:

> Now that some of my config files have been thru cfg-updates process
> once.  I see new updates processed literally in the blink of an eye.
>
> So I now agree that `blazingly' is quite appropriate.

That's what I meant. As long as no manual intervention is needed (which is the 
case most of the time), cfg-update is the fastest you can get. This comes from 
its use of the backups for comparison, which enables it to resolve more cases 
automatically (3-way diff/merge).

Bye...

	Dirk
-- 
Dirk Heinrichs          | Tel:  +49 (0)162 234 3408
Configuration Manager   | Fax:  +49 (0)211 47068 111
Capgemini Deutschland   | Mail: dirk.heinrichs@capgemini.com
Wanheimerstraße 68      | Web:  http://www.capgemini.com
D-40468 Düsseldorf      | ICQ#: 110037733
GPG Public Key C2E467BB | Keyserver: wwwkeys.pgp.net


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