At 10:24 PM -0500 1/16/01, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
>  >2) Additional files
>>
>>If the /etc.old has some files that do not exist in the fresh /etc,
>>they should be copied to /etc. That is, there seems no reason not to
>>keep around files that have been put in /etc by the user that we are
>>sure won't affect the new boot. This certainly means ifconfig.* and
>>conf files of programs that are not booted automatically.
>
>You have to be careful about this one.  You're clearly right about
>ifconfig.*, but what about things affected by, say, the new rc
>structure?

But, if they are affected by the new rc structure, copying old files 
that do not exist in the fresh /etc shouldn't affect anything, right? 
(Maybe?)

>   What about user-created changes to printcap?

Different story. I'm not proposing that modified files should be 
automatically copied: I fully agree with the /etc.old structure for 
those. I'm only talking about files that don't exist in the fresh 
/etc.

>Second, given that /etc isn't that large, I
>suggest that there be a shadow copy put in at installation, never to be
>touched by the user; its purpose is to provide something for the
>installer to compare against.

If there is enough room, /etc.fresh or /usr/etc.fresh sounds like a 
very good idea. Mabye even make all the permissions r--r--r--.