Preventing yum "update" from overwriting config files?

[Alexander Dalloz]

Am So, den 26.06.2005 schrieb Randall Shaw um 19:35:

> Last night I performed a bunch of updates on various things that needed
> updates... And many of them overwrote my config files! I spent a good many
> hours trying to figure out what was overwritten and refix the config files,
> because:

Was that a nightly unattended yum update through cron or did you run yum
update manually? 

> A) yum didn¹t report where or if it had overwritten a config file

yum reports config file changes to my knowledge (creation of either
.rpmsaved or .rpmnew files).

> B) yum overwrote it without asking or even notifying me!

If the configuration file a package ships is being made active through
installation of the package, then an .rpmsaved file is made out of the
customized config. Else it is a packaging mistake and should be filed as
a bugzilla report.
With other words: rpm is responsible for the process on handling
configuration file changes (replacing a customized one or saving a new
default one as .rpmnew). yum just wraps this process and informs the
user about such tasks.
But there is an open RFE in bugzilla.redhat.com, asking for a yum
enhancement to have a better and more transparent handling of such cases
for the normal user.

> Is there a flag or something undocumented in yum that can tell it inform me
> a new config files overwriting older ones?

Information is default. Or do you suppress any output with debug level
of zero (-d0)?

> Or a flag that shows where every file was PUT, so I don¹t have to do the
> hunt search routine after every yum update?
> 
> 
> -Randall Shaw

Alexander


-- 
Alexander Dalloz | Enger, Germany | GPG http://pgp.mit.edu 0xB366A773
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