6.2 Configuration Files
A package's configuration under /usr/etc/ is seed configuration: the
package's defaults, not the running system's effective configuration.
6.2.1 Modified detection #
When an upgrade would replace a configuration file, peipkg compares the file's current on-disk content hash against the hash recorded for it at install.
- Unmodified — the content matches what was recorded. The file is replaced like any other.
- Modified — the content differs. The operator's file is left in
place, the new version's default is written beside it as
<name>.peipkg-new, and the divergence is surfaced in the operation report.
The check applies to paths under /usr/etc/, and also to paths under a
bare /etc/ — the latter only so that packages installed before the
layout moved to /usr/etc/ keep their protection. It does not permit
installing to /etc/, which is a merged view rather than storage.
6.2.2 What is recorded #
On the modified branch, the file peipkg writes is the .peipkg-new
sibling, but the ownership row it records names the original path and
carries the new version's hash.
Two things follow. peipkg verify compares the recorded hash against
what is on disk, so it reports that file as modified on every run,
permanently, for a file peipkg itself deliberately preserved. And the
.peipkg-new sibling is recorded nowhere, so it is owned by no package,
is not removed by an uninstall, and is not attributed by peipkg owns.
6.2.3 Interaction with the missing untouched category #
Because §6.1's untouched category is not computed, a configuration file
whose content is identical between the two package versions is
classified as replaced. Modified detection then fires on the operator's
edit, writes a .peipkg-new carrying exactly the content the package
already shipped, and warns about a divergence from a version that
changed nothing.
6.2.4 Where this is going #
The intended end state is the one the filesystem layout describes: runtime configuration is materialised by reconciller daemons from registry state, operators do not edit configuration by hand, and an upgrade replaces seed configuration unconditionally. Modified detection is what prevents an upgrade destroying a hand-edited file until that framework exists.
The two models converge rather than compete: once reconcillers claim a set of paths, modified detection applies only to the unclaimed remainder, and reconciller-managed seed files are replaced outright.