[Solved] pacdiff /etc/shells overwrite, or remove /etc/shells.pacnew?

probackup-nl · 2025-03-11 10:37:16

Running pacdiff shows that there a new /etc/shells.pacnew available.

# cat /etc/shells
...
/bin/sh
/bin/bash
/usr/bin/git-shell
/bin/rbash
/usr/bin/rbash
/usr/bin/bash
/usr/bin/sh
/usr/bin/systemd-home-fallback-shell

# cat /etc/shells.pacnew
...
/bin/sh
/bin/bash
/bin/rbash
/usr/bin/sh
/usr/bin/bash
/usr/bin/rbash

Wiki "Managing .pac files" strongly suggests "do not blindly overwrite a live file with its .pacnew version".

Colordiff output is:

==> pacnew file found for /etc/shells
:: (V)iew, (M)erge, (S)kip, (R)emove pacnew, (O)verwrite with pacnew, (Q)uit: [v/m/s/r/o/q] v
5a6
> /usr/bin/git-shell
7,8d7
< /usr/bin/sh
< /usr/bin/bash
9a9,11
> /usr/bin/bash
> /usr/bin/sh
> /usr/bin/systemd-home-fallback-shell

/usr/bin/git-shell exist, and /usr/bin/systemd-home-fallback-shell is a symbolic link to -> homectl, which is a file that also exists.

My gut tells me to remove pacnew (like passwd/group/shadow/gshadow).

What would be the wise choice here and why?

Last edited by probackup-nl (2025-03-11 16:23:46)

WorMzy · 2025-03-11 10:57:28

My procedure when I'm unsure how to handle a pacnew is to check what caused it. In this case it's (likely) this change: https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … a350006d4f

In which case you already have the three new lines added in the change, so no further changes are required. You can safely remove the .pacnew file.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-03-11 10:37:16

[Solved] pacdiff /etc/shells overwrite, or remove /etc/shells.pacnew?

#2 2025-03-11 10:57:28

Re: [Solved] pacdiff /etc/shells overwrite, or remove /etc/shells.pacnew?

Board footer