From: Richard Jones <rjones@redhat.com>
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 13:33:43 +0000 (+0100)
Subject: On the need for "febootstrap-install".
X-Git-Tag: 1.5~2
X-Git-Url: http://git.annexia.org/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=467d77a9af3dbb1a4bcfbb9c7f97c8e300d6dca0;p=febootstrap.git

On the need for "febootstrap-install".
---

diff --git a/febootstrap.pod b/febootstrap.pod
index 1e4d9ff..a8f73ff 100644
--- a/febootstrap.pod
+++ b/febootstrap.pod
@@ -104,8 +104,16 @@ files is usually safe.  Files should be replaced only by doing:
 
  echo updated-content > old-file
 
-(since that preserves the original inode).  In most cases it's usually
-safest to use C<febootstrap-run>.
+(since that preserves the original inode).
+
+Deleting files and then creating new ones (even with a different name)
+is usually unsafe, because the new files might reuse inodes claimed by
+the old files, and so appear with peculiar permissions
+(eg. unreadable, or as a symbolic link).  (XXX We need an
+C<febootstrap-install> utility to automate installing new files safely
+into a filesystem).
+
+In most cases it's usually safest to use C<febootstrap-run>.
 
 You can use the fakeroot logfile in a number of ways: