How does system upgrade handle files in /etc ?

[danfluidmind]

Hi all.

I understand Gentoo Linux is easily upgraded from one release to the next. My question is, how does an entire system upgrade handle the files in /etc ? For instance, in FreeBSD when I do a "make world" from version 6.0 to version 6.1, it does a diff on those files in /etc that have had things added to them in the new release and allows me to add those things in manually so that I don't mess up the changes I've made. What happens when you upgrade Gentoo Linux from an old release to the latest and the new release has things that it has changed in /etc ?

Thanks
--Dan

[Javasnob]

This is a feature I think is really cool about Gentoo. When a new version of a configuration file is merged, it is placed in /etc (or the proper directory) as a hidden file with a special prefix. Portage informs you that certain files need updating, and you can diff them, replace them, delete them, whatever you want.

For example, let's say you have /etc/mplayer.conf, and Portage updates mplayer. The new configuration file is called /etc/._cfg0000_mplayer.conf, and Portage tells you after the merge that configuration files need updating.

[danfluidmind]

Awesome! Thanks for the response. That's exactly what I needed to know.

--Dan