Bug #3391
open
/etc/auto_master gets override by system upgrade
0%
Description
kentish reported on IRC on 2025-12-15:
kentish› Hi. Looks like my last update (on master), erase my changes in /etc/auto_master. Is it expected or I have done something wrong in the process ?
kentish› The updating process definitively overwrite /etc/auto_master file. Is there a better way than rewrite the change after every update ?
aly› kentish: yes. /etc/auto_master will be override on update... the man page doesn't mention a way for local modifications.
aly› let's check freebsd's
aly› nothing special found in freebsd's auto_master(5). i think they're using mergemaster to merge the updates in /etc/auto_master. not sure.
NOTE: freebsd deprecated mergemaster(8) and migrated to use etcupdate(8). I didn't check the latter yet.
Updated by liweitianux 3 days ago
/etc/auto_master is installed by usr.sbin/autofs and is out of the normal etc upgrade procedure. I think a proper fix is to install the default auto_master to /etc/defaults/ and then to make /etc/auto_master for person/local use.
Hi @tkusumi, would you please have a look? Thanks.