notes and/or RCS (was:Re: Root directory filling up...

From: Tom Huppi (thuppi_at_huppi.com)
Date: 12/15/04

  • Next message: Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P.: "Re: Root directory filling up..." 
    Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 22:28:08 -0500 (EST)
To: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org

    On Tue, 14 Dec 2004, Nikolas Britton wrote:

    > Kiffin Gish wrote:
    >
    > >Wow, that seems like a lot of work. Suppose instead I choose just to
    > >reinstall everything all over again...

    <snip>

    > save a copy of the dmesg output... "dmesg >> /home/dmesg"
    >
    > basically save anything that you have made or edited
    >
    > I highly recommend starting a log/notes/diary for all this stuff;
    > special settings, hard to remember commands, tips/tricks,
    > special/complex procedures, advice etc.

    <snip>

    One might also consider using RCS for most config file edits. I,
    like many folks, started out using a series of notes. After a
    time I learned some simple RCS based tricks and now tend to use
    them (actually, I do it habitually and religiously.) The thing
    that is really nice is a single command line that shows all the
    files edited, what, when, where, and why (depending on input.) I
    wish I had started doing this earlier in my unix work, and
    probably would have had I run across these instructions:

    Quick:
     http://www.unix.org.ua/orelly/perl/sysadmin/appa_01.htm

    More Detailed (what I used):
     http://www.samag.com/documents/s=1184/sam9812a/
    FreeBSD has RCS in the base system, so forget the 'installing
    RCS' part.

    Advantages (for a newbie, accd to me):

     - becomes pretty mechanical
     - teaches basics of RCS which helps understand CVS better.
     - some of the 'tricks' help understand more general unix tricks.
     - teaches about various gotchas (see below):

    Gotchas (that I've run into):

     - some files are automatically edited like:
       - /etc/groups (when installing certain ports)
       - /etc/reslov.conf (by ppp software)
       this causes a hassle. Just don't use RCS on them,
       but it's a learning process to figure out which ones
       are in this category, and can be a head-scratcher when
       it does cause a problem.

     - forgetting to unlock a file after editing. It's
       tempting to see if an edit works before committing it,
       and easy to forget which causes a hassle when...

     - 'logname' issues:
       ...you might su, edit a file, neglect to unlock it,
        re-boot, then find your logname when logged on as
        root is not the same as when you su'd so you have
        to break 'someone elses' lock. Not a big deal, but
        a hassle non-the-less.

    Thanks,

     - Tom

    _______________________________________________
    freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org mailing list
    http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-newbies
    To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-newbies-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"

  • Next message: Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P.: "Re: Root directory filling up..."

    Relevant Pages

    • RCS tutorial (was: Re: "$Id: index.html,v 1.46 2004...)
      ... A quick search pulls it up here for instance: ... something or what I did to a machine, so I try to use RCS ... and developing a basic understanding ...
      (freebsd-questions)
    • Re: A question of backups
      ... Likewise, but I use RCS, it's much easier and more powerful than most home ... grown backup scripts. ... After an edit you can double check your most recent changes to be sure you ... CVS gets the versions thare are ready for shared testing. ...
      (comp.editors)