Arch Linux

vpoinot

Member

Registered: 2009-04-09

Posts: 19

Update to /etc/groups

I rencently updated my system and got new versions of /etc/group and /etc/gshadow
A lot of groups are absent from the new group.pacnew, e.g. avahi, camera, dbus, kdm, etc. (and similarly for gshadow.pacnew)

What am I supposed to do with these updated files: does it mean that the missing groups are no longer necessary? if not, should I just keep the old files? But then, what I deliver these files in an update?

Thanks.

siriusb

Member

From: Hungary

Registered: 2010-01-01

Posts: 422

Re: Update to /etc/groups

Check out wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … save_Files
And I suggest meld which I found very convenient to merge files.

vpoinot

Member

Registered: 2009-04-09

Posts: 19

Re: Update to /etc/groups

Thanks for the tip, but this does not tell me what I should do about the deleted groups?
Am I supposed to add them back into the /etc/group? Or are these groups now useless? I am talking about groups like dbus, avahi, kdm, etc. which are not in the latest /etc/group.

Ramses de Norre

Member

From: Leuven - Belgium

Registered: 2007-03-27

Posts: 1,289

Re: Update to /etc/groups

They are not in the /etc/group file from the filesystem package because they are added by other packages (dbus, avahi, ...).

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: Update to /etc/groups

Thanks for the tip, but this does not tell me what I should do about the deleted groups?
Am I supposed to add them back into the /etc/group? Or are these groups now useless? I am talking about groups like dbus, avahi, kdm, etc. which are not in the latest /etc/group.

The new files have just the default settings, you need to adjust them to your needs. This is true for every file: /etc/makepkg.conf, /etc/rc.conf etc.
Those groups may not be useless so don't just remove them.

vpoinot

Member

Registered: 2009-04-09

Posts: 19

Re: Update to /etc/groups

Thanks for this: it was not clear to me that groups dbus, avahi, etc. had been installed by their respective packages...