cvs commit: doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cutting-edge chapter.sgml

[Giorgos Keramidas]

On 2004-12-23 23:06, "Simon L. Nielsen" <simon at FreeBSD.org> wrote:
> On 2004.12.23 16:47:15 +0000, Giorgos Keramidas wrote:
> > keramida    2004-12-23 16:47:15 UTC
> >
> >   FreeBSD doc repository
> >
> >   Modified files:
> >     en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cutting-edge chapter.sgml
> >   Log:
> >   Describe when it may be necessary to run mergemaster before
> >   'make buildworld'.  In rare cases, mergemaster may need to be
> >   run twice: one time before buildworld (to update /etc/group
> >   or any other files required for a successful buildworld) and
> >   one time after installworld (to merge all the src/etc updates
> >   to the /etc directory of the system).
> >
> >   Point to /usr/src/UPDATING for details of when and why this
> >   is necessary.
>
> Are you really sure that is correct?  AFAIK it is only necessary
> before installworld, which is also what UPDATING says.

Yes, I am.

I asked Doug about this, and he explained to me that there are rare
cases when mergemaster -p has to run *before* buildworld too (i.e. when
the buildworld stage depends on the existence of a specific user group).

These cases are indeed very _rare_.  I haven't bumped on anything of the
sort for a long time now (not once since I updated my 5.2-CURRENT system
to HEAD some time in May 2004, for instance).  If UPDATING says that
mergemaster -p is necessary though, it definitely *is*.  This is why I
also pointed at UPDATING as the authoritative reference :-)

- Giorgos