On Mar 18, 11:05pm, John Nemeth wrote:
} Subject: Re: CVS commit: src

} } You install a machine, you set up rc.conf for your local settings, and
} } then when a new release (or snapshot) comes out it changes the syntax,
} } changes the names, or simply adds a whole bunch more options.
} 
}      diff and patch work wonders here.  As I've said I've had to
} change the files in /etc/init.d many times.  This means that at
} upgrade time I lose.  Not to mention the upgrade restoring symbolic
} links in /etc/rc?.d that I've renamed/deleted.  From an upgrade point
} of view, there really is no advantage to /etc/init.d.

<ftp://ftp1.dal.net/pub/dalnet/FreeBSD/mergemaster-1.17.tar.gz> has
become pretty popular with FreeBSD users when upgrading to a new
release.  It allows you merge the /etc files in a new release with
the locally tweaked configuration files in /etc.  This also includes
/etc/master.passwd, since new system accounts are occasionally added.

A fairly recent change to FreeBSD moved the bulk of /etc/rc.conf to
/etc/defaults/rc.conf which is not supposed to be edited.  The values
in /etc/defaults/rc.conf can be overridden in /etc/rc.conf or
/etc/rc.conf.local.  /etc/rc.conf gets written by the installation tool,
and the sysadmin can override things by hand in /etc/rc.conf.local.
When installing a new release, /etc/defaults/rc.conf gets updated
directly from the release to set any new variables.  In theory this
should make upgrading less painful.