On 03/23/2016 12:44 AM, chrisb@localhost.localdomain wrote:
On Fri, Mar 18, 2016 at 06:40:18PM -0700, David Christensen wrote:I'm not a good Debian owner. I download and install 3rd party software. I modify system configuration files.As do most of us. An upgrade won't overwrite configuration file changes whereas with a new install you do lose them!
Suppose version N of some software package has M configuration settings, and version N+1 has M with additions +X and deletions -Y.
If I am running version N, have changed the configuration file to M', and then upgrade to version N+1, you're saying dist-upgrade throws away +X and -Y. I may want or need those.
Whereas, if I backup, wipe, install, and restore, I can diff M' and (M +X -Y) and manually solve the three-way merge problem.
David