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When Pacman Creates Pacnew Files

If you are an Arch linux OS user for sometime, encounters with its package manager called pacman is usually a non-event. I mean if you have machines with Windows OS, any kind of update is usually a major chore not to mention headache. This experiences not withstanding pacman updates sometimes gives us warnings when it creates pacnew files. Sometimes new versions of packages carry with it a new default config file. What pacman does is it detects your existing config file and renames the new incoming one as *.pacnew

It is recommended that attention to these *.pacnew files be given and to compare them immediately with your existing config file. I use an application called 'Meld'. To install Meld use the command #pacman -S meld. It's in the main repositories.

What Meld does is graphically show you the differences between the two files. In this case, your existing config file and the *.pacnew file which pacman just created. Use your mouse and decide if the difference is important enough to be incorporated to your config file. Then save the config file. Do this with every *.pacnew instance you find. To find pacnew files use the locate command.

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