Arch Linux

kayrune

Member

Registered: 2007-12-15

Posts: 43

why .pacnew when nothing is new ?

When I updated I got a few .pacnew files in /etc however when I look at them they don't bring anything new. Everything in the .pacnew files is already in the original file. So why is there a .pacnew then ? I thought the pacnew only came when there was changes?

dunc

Member

From: Glasgow, UK

Registered: 2007-06-18

Posts: 559

Re: why .pacnew when nothing is new ?

It's because (like most other distros) there are no delta packages: if something in a package changes, the whole package has to be reinstalled. The addition of /srv (among other things) to the filesystem package means all those files in /etc are "changed", whether they're the same as before or not.

Edit: I think.

Last edited by dunc (2008-07-15 17:52:36)

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0 Ok, 0:1

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: why .pacnew when nothing is new ?

Everything in the .pacnew files is already in the original file.

Can you clarify that i.e. are the original and .pacnew files identical? Also, did you edit the original file at any stage?

kayrune

Member

Registered: 2007-12-15

Posts: 43

Re: why .pacnew when nothing is new ?

Sorry for not being more clear.

the original config file has been edited since installed, but the .pacnew didn't have anything in it that wasn't already in the original config.

I thought the .pacnew only appear when there are new stuff in the config file since the previous package.

toofishes

Developer

From: Chicago, IL

Registered: 2006-06-06

Posts: 602

Website

Re: why .pacnew when nothing is new ?

Read the "HANDLING CONFIG FILES" section of the pacman manpage. More than likely, one of the scenarios occurred. We have a lot of testing in place in our pacman build to accommodate for this stuff, and it shouldn't mess up without good reason.