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sysconftool 0.21-1
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
  <title>sysconftool</title>
  <!-- Copyright 2000-2009 Double Precision, Inc.  See COPYING for -->
  <!-- distribution information. -->
</head>

<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#0000EE" vlink=
"#551A8B" alink="#FF0000">
  <h1>SYSCONFTOOL</h1>

  <p><code>sysconftool</code> is a development utility that helps
  to install application configuration files.
  <code>sysconftool</code> allows an existing application to be
  upgraded without losing the older version's configuration
  settings.</p>

  <p><code>sysconftool</code> was originally developed to aid in
  the hellish task of upgrading <a href=
  "http://www.courier-mta.org/">Courier</a>, which has many
  configuration files with many different settings. The Standard
  Operating Procedure (SOP) was to install a default set of
  configuration files during an upgrade. New versions often include
  new and modified options. By keeping configuration files from the
  previous version of Courier there's a risk that nothing will work
  any more, due to the absence of a new, required, configuration
  setting.</p>

  <p>Thus came <code>sysconftool</code>. <code>sysconftool</code>
  is available to be used by any application that is packaged by
  <a href=
  "http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/autoconf.html">autoconf</a>,
  and <a href=
  "http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/automake.html">automake</a>.
  There's nothing in <code>sysconftool</code> itself that really
  ties it to autoconf and automake, it can be used just as well
  with a home-cooked configuration and installation script, except
  that you'll have to do some extra work by yourself.</p>

  <h2>BRIEF OVERVIEW</h2>

  <p>The old way was to install a configuration file,
  <code>$sysconfdir/$filename</code>, in a straight manner. The new
  way is to install <code>$sysconfdir/$filename.dist</code>, and
  run the <code>sysconftool</code> script. The script reads
  <code>$filename.dist</code>, the existing <code>$filename</code>
  configuration file, then creates a new <code>$filename</code>
  configuration file that keeps the previous version's
  configuration, as long as it is compatible with the new version.
  This logic is driven by specially formatted keywords in
  <code>$filename.dist</code> that direct sysconftool which
  configuration settings from the previous version of the
  application are safe to keep.</p>

  <p>A more detailed explanation of what <code>sysconftool</code>
  does, and why you might want to use it, can be found in the
  online version of <code>sysconftool</code>'s manual pages:</p>

  <p><a href="sysconftool.1.html">sysconftool(1)</a></p>

  <p><a href="sysconftool.7.html">sysconftool(7)</a></p>

  <p><a href="sysconftoolcheck.1.html">sysconftoolcheck(1)</a></p>

  <h2>DOWNLOAD</h2>

  <p>The current version of <code>sysconftool</code> can be
  downloaded from <code><a href=
  "https://www.courier-mta.org/download.php#sysconftool">https://www.courier-mta.org/download.php#sysconftool</a></code>.</p>

  <p>To source code for <code>sysconftool</code>, as tiny as it is,
  can also be grabbed from <a href="../repo.html">a public
  repository</a>.</p>

  <p>NOTE: As described in detail, the repository only includes
  <code>configure.in</code> and <code>Makefile.am</code>. All the
  other files (including <code>sysconftool</code>'s own
  <code>configure</code> script) must be generated by your
  <code>autoconf</code> and <code>automake</code>.</p>

  <h2>FEEDBACK</h2>

  <p><code>sysconftool</code> is such a minor utility that I don't
  think it needs to have an entire mailing list dedicated to
  <code>sysconftool's</code> existence. If needed, questions about
  <code>sysconftool</code> can be sent to the general <a href=
  "http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/courier-users">courier-users</a>
  mailing list. You should subscribe to this list first, most
  replies will not be CCed back to the sender.</p>
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