setup, fedora-release updates needed

[Ondřej Vašík]

Matthew Woehlke wrote:
> Ondřej Vašík wrote:
> > do not replace their files on update (as it would have horrible
> > consequences in the case of file like /etc/passwd and/or /etc/shadow.
> 
> Ah... given that users should be running as a normal (!root) account 
> created at install time, isn't it *guaranteed impossible* to update 
> /etc/passwd by replacing the old unmodified file with the new?
 
  Yep, you could not replace /etc/passwd
(and /etc/group, /etc/shadow, /etc/gshadow) file as it always differs
from the file installed by setup (new users/groups, passwords ... ). But
you need those files for installation - so they have to be in filelist
and they have to be in rpm. AFAIK there is no option to ignore files
completely in update, so .rpmnew are created although is always
completely useless (unless you have some script to add missing
users/groups from that .rpmnew file).

> Here's a pie-in-the-sky idea... store configs as deltas (since at least 
> ~2-4 releases back), write the .rpmnew as always, and notify the user to 
> run a merge tool after the transaction completes. No more diffing and 
> merging by hand, except in the face of merge conflicts...

I guess we can't expect user to run some merge tool after transaction.
It has to be automated somehow. Maybe some separate file with default
users/groups (like existing uidgid file) and something (?cron job) to
periodically check it, if those users/groups do exist on system?

Greetings,
         Ondřej Vašík
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