<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8103">Yes, I was not familiar with those files. <br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8478"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8477">Since that time I have verified they are automatically generated. Possibly by `apt-get dist-upgrade`. <br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8117"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8118">Here is my SOP when I do mess with important configuration files, especially ones I don't understand well.</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8172"> </div><div dir="ltr">I make a copy of the original with a .0 suffix. Use `cp -a` to preserve the creation date.</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8277"><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8278">Then it is trivial to inspect what was changed or to back out the changes.</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8306"><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8307">Over time, I might have a file.0, file.1, file.2.</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8542"><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8390">Sometimes I have totally forgotten that I had tweaked something until `apt-get dist-upgrade` pauses with a message about some file. I look for the file and find the history and can see what I changed and ...<br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8447"><br></div><div class="qtdSeparateBR" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_7961"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_7958" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_7957"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_7956"> <div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_7955"> <font id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_7960" size="2" face="Arial"> <hr id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_7959" size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> conspire@linuxmafia.com <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, July 4, 2018 12:52 AM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [conspire] ... /etc/debian_version, /etc/issue, /etc/motd, ...<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1530721122226_8000"><br>Quoting Michael Paoli (<a shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:Michael.Paoli@cal.berkeley.edu" href="mailto:Michael.Paoli@cal.berkeley.edu">Michael.Paoli@cal.berkeley.edu</a>):<br clear="none"><br clear="none">> (and of course if one has dozens/hundreds or more Debian<br clear="none">> systems, also *manually* wouldn't be the way to manage those<br clear="none">> (individual) files either).<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> However, /etc/issue - and perhaps likewise /etc/motd ... not quite<br clear="none">> 100% in agreement.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">I think you're attributing to me some sort of position I don't hold.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">All I was trying to stress to Paul was that editing either of those<br clear="none">files doesn't _change_ what Debian branch you're on, only _reflect_ what<br clear="none">branch you're on -- because it seemed to me he might have briefly<br clear="none">thought otherwise.<div class="yqt2932305180" id="yqtfd17171"><br clear="none"><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">conspire mailing list<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:conspire@linuxmafia.com" href="mailto:conspire@linuxmafia.com">conspire@linuxmafia.com</a><br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire" target="_blank">http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire</a><br clear="none"></div><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></div></body></html>