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Description of Problem: I'd be nice if there was a general way to use --test with -U and -F to see what config files will be replaced or need to be upgraded. This is necessary to tell ahead of an upgrade how much work will be involved in re-configuring the software the accomidate the upgrade. I don't know the conditions under which rpm makes an .rpmsave of a config file, (The doc is not so good) but it'd be useful to know when there's any change in the configs between the old and new packages so the "real" site-customized configs can be updated. (Being able to diff the old "standard" config, the new "standard config" and the "real" current config would be key. It's what I do _after_ upgrading when things are already broken and the "real" config winds up in a .rpmsave file.)
Providing a full blown interface that calculates diffs, and has a "Mother may I" dialogue to manage changed configuration files is outside the scope of a "batch orieneted" package installer like rpm. 'Twould be nice to have, but rpm is not the place. Meanwhile, there's a "warning" message that can be grepped out of rpm install output and parsed without too much difficulty if need be. A script to reproduce rpm's behavior wrto config files wouldn't be too hard to write either, all the raw information that is used to calculate a config files's disposition is available through rpm queries, /bin/ls, and /usr/bin/md5sum output. If you send me a script, I'll be happy to include in rpm sources