What are the different files that pacdiff opens?

[9a3eedi]

When I run pacdiff, I would typically do the following:

1. Run it with “sudo pacdiff”
2. View the differences with “V”. This opens the current file and the pacnew file with vimdiff
3. Usually, merge the differences with “M”. This opens the results of the merge (I think?) with vimdiff
4. Accept or reject the merge
5. Repeat with the next pacnew file

This is really just a very small question, and forgive me if it is stupid, but I’m simply unsure: after merging, the app opens two files. The first file is the actual file, and the second is /tmp/pacdiff*/*.merged.cak

Which one is the actual merged file? Which is the one i should be inspecting?

Also, am I doing it right? Is there a better way of doing things with pacdiff?

[cscs]

@9a3eedi

Run it with “sudo pacdiff

The correct approach is to use pacdiff -s which will call sudo -e as needed.

@9a3eedi

View the differences with “V”. This opens the current file and the pacnew file with vimdiff

This can be controlled via the env var DIFFPROG. ex;

DIFFPROG=meld pacdiff -s

@9a3eedi

Usually, merge the differences with “M”. This opens the results of the merge (I think?) with vimdiff

Use the merge function at your own risk.
Usually folks perform the ‘merges’ by hand during the (V)iew portion.
[ If the whole thing could be automatic … why would we have the pacnew? ]

@9a3eedi

Which one is the actual merged file? Which is the one i should be inspecting?

The file you need to be affecting is the regular one without extra extensions.
If its /etc/nsswitch.conf and nsswitch.conf.pacnew or similar … the nsswitch.conf is the active file and the pacnew file is the one with ostensibly new defaults from upstream for you to inspect and merge as needed.

@9a3eedi

Also, am I doing it right? Is there a better way of doing things with pacdiff?

See above.

[9a3eedi]

Thank you for the insight, it is helpful

@cscs

Use the merge function at your own risk.
Usually folks perform the ‘merges’ by hand during the (V)iew portion.
[ If the whole thing could be automatic … why would we have the pacnew? ]

Well I’m used to doing git merges and resolving conflicts if there are any, so I assume that the merge here works in the same way. Indeed after using merge, I do sometimes get merge conflicts (you’d see <<<<, ==== and >>> in the merge file, which you’ll need to modify), and this is a good thing that I expect.

What confused me though is that sometimes I would a merge, and the result of the merge is not what I expected. Before doing the merge, I look at the differences, and the pacnew file would specify something that would clearly result in a merge conflict, which I expect to occur. But after using the merge command, I woudl see that the config file remained the same as before, without any conflicts. So I feel like I’m doing something wrong, or I understood the command in the wrong way.

[nikgnomic]

@9a3eedi

Is there a better way of doing things with pacdiff?

I use a modified version of this script that opens files in meld with original file on left and .pacnew file on the right

@Yochanan

Here’s a helpful pacnew script by @omano using Meld. Change it to your favorite diff program if you prefer:

▼ pacnew.sh

#!/bin/bash
pacnews=($(/usr/bin/pacdiff --output|grep -v pacsave))
nb="${#pacnews[@]}"
if [[ $nb -gt 0 ]]; then
    echo; echo; echo -e "$nb .pacnew found in system"
    printf "%s\n" "${pacnews[@]}"
    echo; read -p "See the PacDiff? " -n 1 -r
    if [[ $REPLY =~ ^[YyOo]$ ]]; then
        echo; set -euo pipefail
        export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
        for i in $(/usr/bin/pacdiff --output|grep -v pacsave); do
            echo; echo "Processing $i ..."
            /usr/bin/meld "admin://$i" "admin://${i/.pacnew/}"
            echo; read -p "Delete the file $i? " -n 1 -r
            if [[ $REPLY =~ ^[YyOo]$ ]]; then
                echo; sudo rm -v "$i"
            fi
        done
    fi
fi

[cscs]

As mentioned elsewhere;
It is rather odd for this script to use pacdiff to print the files, but not use pacdiff -s (and therefor sudo -e) … as well as actively skip pacsave files.
For these reasons I would not generally recommend it.