Running rpmconf during Foreman upgrades

I am not sure if Support is the right category for this post, but here goes…

During a recent upgrade from Foreman 2.0 to 2.1, I had some uncertainty about which files to update from package default, and which to preserve the installed version. I followed the upgrade guide and ran “rpmconf -a --frontend=vimdiff” after the package updates. These files were flagged as diffs:

  1. /etc/foreman/database.yml
  2. /etc/foreman/settings.yaml
  3. /etc/foreman-installer/scenarios.d/foreman-answers.yaml

At the time, I told rpmconf to replace all three files with the package default versions. This was NOT the right choice for the database and settings files. However, with the foreman-answers file, replacing from package default may have been optimal.

I propose adding a sentence or two two the documentation, with some guidance on which files to keep and which to replace, when running rpmconf during an upgrade.

Thanks,

-jm

I am not sure we should be recommending rpmnconf during update, what you think @ekohl ? All configuration files are managed by Puppet.

However, you can still run this for non-managed config files like chrony and other key OS services. Then it’s recommended. In that case skip all settings you don’t know or understand and then run the installer to fix them all.

I think in general you’re correct if the installer is used. In that case, running rpmconf is not needed and it’s best to remove the files. Perhaps the installer should remove the .rpmnew files, but this is certainly an area where we need to improve the manual. Just not 100% sure what the exact phrasing should be right now.

Yeah, how about: https://github.com/theforeman/foreman/pull/8229

Related to https://community.theforeman.org/t/are-we-supposed-to-handle-rpmnew-files-during-after-upgrades-of-foreman-katello/21806

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