Johnny Billquist <bqt%update.uu.se@localhost> writes:
Just to once more point this out - etcupdate is not too aggressive. It
never overwrites anything, unless explicitly instructed to do so.
etcupdate is very interactive. It is not a batch tool. Any changes
suggested needs to be approved by the person running etcupdate.
In my view, etcupdate is the best tool I've encountered for the
job. However, it does require you to actually read, understand, and
act upon a lot of information. It is not a good tool for someone who
don't know what's in /etc, and it is not a good tool for the
impatient. But it will actually allow you to merge your local changes
with the changes introduced in the system distribution, in the way
that you actually want the end result to be, and skip parts that you
don't agree with.
For a clueful person updating one machine, I think your view has a lot
of merit. But for someone who is updating 50 machines, interactive
leads to annoyance which leads to overwriting files unintentionally.
And I thinks omeone who desn't know the gory details will also make
unintentional changes. My 'too aggressive' comment should have been
about the combination of etcupdate and real users.