Re: help with cron/rsync error message

[RVP <rvp%SDF.ORG@localhost>]

On Fri, 18 Nov 2022, Steve Blinkhorn wrote:

> Anything to do with system configuration or services - mostly
> concentrated in /etc but also including, for instance, /var/cron/tabs -
> needs protection in the upgrade process.  What would be ideal would be
> a process that never overwrites a customised configuration file with a
> fresh new default.

sysinst takes care of that. the etc and xetc sets are unpacked into a
/.sysinst directory and the postinstall(8) script is then run on that.
You then just need to run etcupdate(8) to merge any differences. And
since root's crontab is part of the etc set, it too will not be
overwritten.

I did an update just now from 9.3_STABLE to -HEAD using a new USB install
image, and the process went smoothly except for 2 minor issues:

1. -HEAD has a new user `_dhcpcd' to run the dhcpcd client. This is not
   present in 9.3. After a careful merge of /etc/passwd and /etc/group
   using etcupdate, I rebooted the system into 9.99.106. dhcpcd(8) ran
   _before_ the /etc/rc.d/sysdb script was executed to update master.passwd,
   so dhcpcd complained that it couldn't find its user, but, continued
   working nonetheless. One more reboot made things alright.

2. The postinstall script run by sysinst as the final step in the upgrade
   process, removed some obsolete files, but, not all of them. I now have
   many "compat" files lying around in /lib and /usr/lib :). Presumably,
   these won't hurt the system.

Short version: Do an upgrade on a separate machine first to get the feel of
it, and then the process won't feel as scary.

-RVP