Non-configuration files in /etc

[Rainer Dorsch <rainer@rai16.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de>]

I just wrote a small script, which is calling tar and gzip to backup the /etc 
directory (I know there are fancy backup tools, but I was looking for a simple 
solution). I run the script once per day. In order to reduce the data volume, 
I store the data only, if they differ from the day before. I noticed, that I 
am doing frequent backups of /etc although I do not change anything in the 
directory.

I investigated the situation and found, that I have to exclude

/etc/mtab 
/etc/rmtab 
/etc/X11/olvwm/openwin-menu-debian (slink)
/etc/X11/fvwm2/menudefs.hook  (slink)
/etc/X11/fvwm95/menudefs.hook  (slink)
/etc/X11/WindowMaker/menu.freshmeat 
/etc/X11/WindowMaker/menu.slashdot 
/etc/X11/WindowMaker/menu.linuxtoday
/etc/ssh/ssh_random_seed

from the backup (probably the list is far from complete).

Obviously, these files are generated/updated automatically. I am wondering, if 
/etc should not be restricted to something, which really configures the system 
and can't be generated automatically.

Should I file a wishlist bug (at least) against wmheadlines?

Thanks.

Rainer.