ETCUPDATE(8)            NetBSD System Manager's Manual            ETCUPDATE(8)

NAME
     etcupdate -- update the configuration and startup files in /etc

SYNOPSIS
     etcupdate [-ahlv] [-p pager] [-s {srcdir | tgzdir | tgzfile}]
               [-t temproot] [-w width]

DESCRIPTION
     etcupdate is a tool that lets the administrator update the configuration
     and startup files in /etc (and some other directories like /dev, /root
     and /var) without having to manually check and modify every file.  The
     administrator should run this script after performing an operating system
     update (e.g. after running make build in /usr/src or after extracting new
     binary distribution files) to update to the latest configuration and
     startup files.

     etcupdate compares the new configuration files against the currently
     installed files.  The user is given the option of installing, merging or
     deleting each modified or missing file.  The user can also view the dif-
     ferences between the files.  By default, it shows the differences in the
     unified diff format.  The default format can be toggled to show the dif-
     ferences in unified, context, or side by side formats or an user-defined
     command may be used to view differences.  (And if wdiff is installed, it
     can also show differences on a word by word basis.)

     etcupdate also detects if the user installs certain special files and
     performs corresponding tasks like remaking device nodes or rebuilding a
     database from the aliases(5) file.  Finally, etcupdate runs
     postinstall(8) to check the results.

     etcupdate needs a clean set of new configuration files to compare the
     existing files against.  These files, called the ``reference files'' in
     this manual, may be derived from either a source or binary distribution
     of NetBSD.

     If the user is updating from sources (which is the default mode),
     etcupdate will first create a copy of the reference files by running make
     distribution in /usr/src/etc, installing the files to a so-called
     temproot.  (See usage of the -s srcdir and -t temproot options later in
     this manual page.)  Although this is the default mode, it is not recom-
     mended (see the ``BUGS'' section).

     Instead of using sources, it is recommended that the user should extract
     one or more binary distribution sets in a special location and use those
     as the reference files (see usage of the -s tgzdir option later in this
     manual page), or specify one or more binary distribution sets directly
     (see usage of the -s tgzfile option later in this manual page).

     The following options are available:

     -a             etcupdate can automatically update files which have not
                    been modified locally.  The -a flag instructs etcupdate to
                    store MD5 checksums in /var/etcupdate and use these check-
                    sums to determine if there have been any local modifica-
                    tions.

     -h             Prints a help text.

     -l             Automatically skip files with unchanged RCS IDs.  This has
                    the effect of leaving alone files that have been altered
                    locally but which have not been changed in the reference
                    files.  Since this works using RCS IDs, files without RCS
                    IDs will not be skipped even if only modified locally.
                    This flag may be used together with the -a flag described
                    above.

     -p pager       The pager to use when displaying files.  By default this
                    is more(1) but it can be changed either with this option
                    or by defining the PAGER variable.

     -s {srcdir | tgzdir | tgzfile}
                    The location of the reference files, or the NetBSD source
                    files used to create the reference files.  This may be
                    specified in one of three ways:

                    -s srcdir      The top level directory of the NetBSD
                                   source tree.  By default this is /usr/src
                                   but it can be changed either with this
                                   option or the SRCDIR variable.  The refer-
                                   ence files will be created by running
                                   ``make distribution'' in the srcdir/etc
                                   directory.  Note that srcdir should refer
                                   to the top of the source directory tree;
                                   earlier versions of etcupdate expected
                                   srcdir to refer to the etc subdirectory
                                   within the source tree.

                    -s tgzdir      A directory in which reference files have
                                   been extracted from a binary distribution
                                   of NetBSD.  The files that are distributed
                                   in the ``etc.tgz'' set file must be
                                   present.  The files that are distributed in
                                   the ``xetc.tgz'' set file are optional.
                                   The reference files from the specified
                                   directory will be copied to the temproot
                                   directory.

                    -s tgzfile     The location of a set file (or ``tgz
                                   file'') such as ``etc.tgz'' or ``xetc.tgz''
                                   from a binary distribution of NetBSD.  Each
                                   set file is a compressed archive containing
                                   reference files, which will be extracted to
                                   the temproot directory.  Multiple -s
                                   options may be used to specify multiple set
                                   files.  The ``etc.tgz'' set file must be
                                   specified.  The ``xetc.tgz'' set file is
                                   optional.

     -t temproot    Specifies the location of the temproot directory.  This
                    directory will be used for a temporary copy of the refer-
                    ence files created by running ``make distribution'' in the
                    source directory specified by -s srcdir, or a temporary
                    copy of the reference files extracted from the binary sets
                    specified by -s tgzfile, or a temporary copy of the refer-
                    ence files from the directory specified by -s tempdir.  By
                    default this is /tmp/temproot but can be changed either
                    with this option or the TEMPROOT environment variable.

     -v             Makes etcupdate verbose about its actions.

     -w width       Sets screen width used during interactive merge.  By
                    default this is the number of columns stty(1) reports but
                    it can be changed either with this option or by defining
                    the WIDTH variable.  This is useful for xterm(1) users
                    with wider shell windows.

ENVIRONMENT
     TEMPROOT       Sets a default value for temproot.  See -t above.

     SRCDIR         The location of the NetBSD sources files.  See -s above.

     PAGER          The pager to use when displaying files.  See -p above.

     WIDTH          The screen width used during interactive merge.  See -w
                    above.

     IGNOREFILES    A list of files that etcupdate should ignore.  Files
                    listed in this variable will never be considered for
                    updating by etcupdate.

FILES
     The environment variables can also be defined in the following configura-
     tion files.  The user's personal configuration file settings override the
     global settings.

     /etc/etcupdate.conf

     ~/.etcupdaterc

EXAMPLES
     You have just upgraded your NetBSD host from 3.0 to 4.0 and now it's time
     to update the configuration files as well.  To update the configuration
     files from the sources (if you have the /usr/src/etc directory):

           etcupdate

     The default location of the source files is /usr/src but this may be
     overridden with the -s srcdir command line argument:

           etcupdate -s /some/where/src

     To update the configuration files from binary distribution sets do some-
     thing like this:

           etcupdate -s /some/where/etc.tgz -s /some/where/xetc.tgz

     or like this:

           mkdir /tmp/temproot
           cd /tmp/temproot
           tar -xpzf /some/where/etc.tgz
           tar -xpzf /some/where/xetc.tgz
           etcupdate -s /tmp/temproot

     You have modified only few files in the /etc directory so you would like
     install most of the updates without being asked.  To automatically update
     the unmodified configuration files:

           etcupdate -a

     To get a better idea what's going on, use the -v flag:

           etcupdate -v

SEE ALSO
     cmp(1), more(1), rcs(1), sdiff(1), stty(1), aliases(5), postinstall(8)

HISTORY
     The etcupdate command appeared in NetBSD 1.6.

     In NetBSD 4.0, the -s tgzfile option was added, the -b tempdir option was
     converted to -s tgzdir, and the -s srcdir option was changed to refer to
     the top of the source directory tree rather than to the etc subdirectory.

     In NetBSD 5.0, the the ability to specify multiple colon-separated files
     with a single -s option was deprecated, and options deprecated in
     NetBSD 4.0 were removed.

AUTHORS
     The script was written by Martti Kuparinen <martti@NetBSD.org> and
     improved by several other NetBSD users.

     The idea for this script (including code fragments, variable names etc.)
     came from the FreeBSD mergemaster (by Douglas Barton).  Unlike the
     FreeBSD mergemaster, this does not use CVS version tags by default to
     compare if the files need to be updated.  Files are compared with cmp(1)
     as this is more reliable and the only way if the version numbers are the
     same even though the files are different.

BUGS
     If a source directory is specified via the ``-s srcdir'' option (or if
     the /usr/src directory is used by default), then etcupdate will run
     ``make distribution'' in the etc subdirectory of the source directory,
     but it will not use the same options or environment variables that would
     be used during a full build of the operating system.  For this reason,
     use of the ``-s srcdir'' option is not recommended, and use of the ``-s
     tgzdir'' or ``-s tgzfile'' options is recommended.

NetBSD 5.0_STABLE               October 4, 2008              NetBSD 5.0_STABLE
