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Bug#947915: release-notes: Suggest cleaning up leftover *.dpkg-old etc. config files



On Thu, 2 Jan 2020 01:45:16 +0000
Justin B Rye <justin.byam.rye@gmail.com> wrote:

> Karl O. Pinc wrote:
> > Attached is a patch which suggests cleaning up unused config files
> > leftover from prior upgrades, the foo.dpkg-old and similar files,
> > before starting the new upgrade.  
> 
> > --- a/en/upgrading.dbk
> > +++ b/en/upgrading.dbk
> > @@ -301,6 +301,17 @@ $ apt-forktracer | sort
> >      It is a good idea to <link linkend="obsolete">remove obsolete
> >      packages</link> from your system before upgrading.
> >    </para>
> > +  <para>
> > +    A previous upgrade can have left unused copies of
> > configuration  
> 
> I'd recommend             may have

Agreed.

> > +    files; <link linkend="configuration-changes">old
> > versions</link>
> > +    of configuration files, versions supplied by the package
> > +    maintainers, etc.  Removing leftover files from previous
> > upgrades,
> > +    before performing another upgrade, can avoid confusion.  
> 
> The commas in this sentence seem subtly wrong.

I think the commas are right, as a parenthetical-ish without
parenthesis, but the sentence structure is strange.  But
I want the forgettable stuff in the middle and the important
stuff on the ends of the sentence where the reader pays attention.

> > +                                                             Find
> > such
> > +    leftover files with:
> > +  </para>
> > +  <screen>
> > +# find /etc -name '*.dpkg-*'
> > +  </screen>  
> 
> But in fact if you're going to do this sweep (and haven't previously
> been in the habit of doing it), doesn't it make more sense to learn it
> as something to do *after* every (dist- or package-)upgrade?  What
> kinds of confusion does it risk if you do it then?
> 
> It might fit best in 4.7. "Preparing for the next release".

I like to leave the leftover files laying around for a while after
upgrade just in case they shed light on some problem that I don't
notice until later.  So I clean them up (or not, usually) before
doing the next upgrade because I forget they exist.

It is also theoretically possible a dist-upgrade will be required
for some installed package in the middle of the release cycle.
That could create another *.dist-* file.

Regards,

Karl <kop@karlpinc.com>
Free Software:  "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
                 -- Robert A. Heinlein


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