Re: newbie question on finding and keeping customized files with dpkg or apt
On (14/04/06 18:04), Marco Prandini wrote:
> To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> Cc: Marco Prandini <mprandini@deis.unibo.it>
> From: Marco Prandini <prandini@ideafutura.com>
> Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 18:04:03 +0200
> Subject: newbie question on finding and keeping customized files with dpkg
> or apt
>
>
> Hello,
> I'm switching to Debian after a long time on RedHat, and I haven't been
> able to find a couple of functions of the package manager I'd like to
> use... hoping they exist at all!
>
> 1) I'd like to find which files of a package have been altered with
> respect to the original version, in the same way I did with "rpm -V".
I don't know of this function but it could well be in there somewhere.
> 2) I'd like to instruct "apt-get upgrade" to leave them alone
>
> That's because I didn't resist the urge to make some customization to my
> system, and I don't want them to be overwritten by the upgrade procedure.
>
If the maintainer has them marked as a config file (and they should
have) then apt won't overwrite them, and it will tell you when the
new package changes this file and ask you what to do. You can keep
your own version with the new package version saved along side for
reference, you can overwrite your version, or you can view a diff of
the two then pause apt and make any changes you want. IMO a very good
system.
This won't work for non-config files though, so if you are planning to
do some hacking then need to find a different method (e.g. making your
own versions of packages (v.easy))
James
--
James Westby
jw+debian@jameswestby.net
http://jameswestby.net/
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