For bug #137483, move the `emerge --help config` docs to the emerge man page. Thanks to Arfrever Frehtes Taifersar Arahesis for this patch.

svn path=/main/trunk/; revision=7430

1 files changed, 37 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/man/emerge.1 b/man/emerge.1
index 3987f4e0..203fa1eb 100644
--- a/man/emerge.1
+++ b/man/emerge.1
@@ -553,6 +553,43 @@ variable to allow or disallow the emerging of a package masked by
 versions of packages, you should update your 
 \fI/etc/portage/package.keywords\fR file to list the packages you want the 
 \'testing\' version.  See \fBportage\fR(5) for more information.
+.SH "CONFIGURATION FILES"
+Portage has a special feature called "config file protection". The purpose of
+this feature is to prevent new package installs from clobbering existing
+configuration files. By default, config file protection is turned on for /etc
+and the KDE configuration dirs; more may be added in the future.
+.LP
+When Portage installs a file into a protected directory tree like /etc, any
+existing files will not be overwritten. If a file of the same name already
+exists, Portage will change the name of the to\-be\-installed file from 'foo' to
+\'._cfg0000_foo\'. If \'._cfg0000_foo\' already exists, this name becomes
+\'._cfg0001_foo\', etc. In this way, existing files are not overwritten,
+allowing the administrator to manually merge the new config files and avoid any
+unexpected changes.
+.LP
+In addition to protecting overwritten files, Portage will not delete any files
+from a protected directory when a package is unmerged. While this may be a
+little bit untidy, it does prevent potentially valuable config files from being
+deleted, which is of paramount importance.
+.LP
+Protected directories are set using the \fICONFIG_PROTECT\fR variable, normally
+defined in /etc/make.globals. Directory exceptions to the CONFIG_PROTECTed
+directories can be specified using the \fICONFIG_PROTECT_MASK\fR variable. To find
+files that need to be updated in /etc, type \fBfind /etc \-iname \'._cfg????_*\'\fR.
+.LP
+You can disable this feature by setting \fICONFIG_PROTECT="\-*"\fR in /etc/make.conf.
+Then, Portage will mercilessly auto\-update your config files. Alternatively,
+you can leave Config File Protection on but tell Portage that it can overwrite
+files in certain specific /etc subdirectories. For example, if you wanted
+Portage to automatically update your rc scripts and your wget configuration,
+but didn't want any other changes made without your explicit approval, you'd
+add this to /etc/make.conf:
+.LP
+.I CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/wget /etc/rc.d"
+.LP
+Tools such as dispatch\-conf, cfg\-update, and etc\-update are also available to
+aid in the merging of these files. They provide interactive merging and can
+auto\-merge trivial changes.
 .SH "REPORTING BUGS"
 Please report any bugs you encounter through our website:
 .LP