[tlug] Config updates [was: Ubuntu 13.10 clock problems (was: ...)]

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Raymond Wan writes:

 > I've been on Debian and Ubuntu for many years and I don't think I have
 > *ever* seen it before *during* upgrades.  Perhaps I've missed it all
 > this time??

Ah, maybe in Debian you're using a GUI tool?  Or raw dpkg/dselect?  I
use aptitude, and what happens when a config file is detected as
user-changed (or maybe always?) is that shows you a diff in a pager,
and when you exit, it offers 4 possibilities: accept the new file,
keep the old file, merge the new file into the old one interactively,
or drop into a shell to look at the situation more closely.  (Maybe
there's a fifth option, but I forget what it is, probably re-diff.)

After choosing any of the above, there are more options.  Eg, for
"keep" and "replace", you get to choose whether to keep the file you
rejected for later comparison.  If you merged, you can diff or
re-merge, as well as keep the merged file, revert to original, or
accept the replacement from the distro.

The options are all simple in concept (including "merge" == "you are
on your own, sucker---on your own head be it!" :-), and I don't think
they are too many or too few, yet it allows nearly complete control
when needed without leaving the tool.

 > According to this bug report from 2010, it seems a more friendly
 > upgrade has been suggested but not yet done:
 > 
 > https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bug/689069

Urg.  That's worse than I had imagined.  I don't think I'll be
installing Ubuntu by choice any time soon.