About

This is a very automated config file updater, intended for use on Gentoo Linux systems.

It helps to make sure that important system-specific settings are not lost while performing an update. It will also save you lots of time!

Why is this better than existing utilities?

This utility performs 3-way merges.

The following alternatives...

• etc-an-update
• dispatch-conf
• cfg-update

...only use 2-way merges.

For details see this page on wikipedia,
    "A 3-way merge is a more powerful and reliable method of merging than is afforded by the 2-way merge."

How does it work?

It achieves this by storing baseline (ancestor) copies of all the system configuration files delivered by portage.

For more details please view "TechDocs.pdf".

Usage

Simply run the script, as root, when any config files need updating.

NB: Sometimes it'll take a couple of updates before a baseline file can be acquired - so you might not see the gains immediately. Be patient. If you don't want to wait, there is a procedure that lets you obtain all the baselines by re-compiling the appropriate packages (etc-an-update will tell you how to do this) - otherwise just wait and after a few updates all baselines will be acquired!