--- loncom/build/readme.html	2001/01/17 12:49:33	1.11
+++ loncom/build/readme.html	2001/01/17 13:04:59	1.12
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
 </HEAD>
 <BODY>
 <H1>LON-CAPA Software Developer Instructions</H1>
-
+<BR><I>Written by Scott Harrison, January 17, 2001</I>
+<BR><I>Last updated, January 17, 2001</I>
 <OL>
 <LI><A HREF="#Using_CVS">Using CVS</A>
 <UL>
@@ -152,10 +153,12 @@ alwaysrun:
 <LI><A NAME="loncapafiles">
     <H2>Adding/removing files from the LON-CAPA installation (doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html)</H2>
 <STRONG>To add and remove (and alter)</STRONG>
+<P>
 All that you have to do to alter the behavior of the installation is
 edit a single file (<TT>doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html</TT>).
 Adding, removing, and altering files requires proper attention
 to the syntax of file format of course.
+</P>
 <STRONG>File Format</STRONG>
 <P>
 The preceding <A HREF=#"makebuild">"make build"</A> documentation
@@ -248,12 +251,42 @@ combination has been working very effici
 </P>
 <LI><A NAME="configversusnonconfig">
     <H2>Configurable files versus non-configurable files</H2>
+<STRONG>Machine-specific information is the difference</STRONG>
+<P>
+The current list of configurable files for the LON-CAPA system is
+/etc/httpd/access.conf.
+All of these configurable files contain machine-specific information.
+For instance, the LON-CAPA system relies on unique host IDs such
+as msua3, s1, s2, msul1, and 103a1 (specified as a "PerlSetVar lonHostID"
+field within /etc/httpd/access.conf).
+Non-configurable files simply do NOT have machine-specific information.
+<STRONG>The impact on updating software</STRONG>
+<P>
+What this means in terms of software updating is that
+<UL>
+<LI>non-configurable files can be simply overwritten with newer versions
+(without "anything" else to worry about),
+<LI>and configurable files must follow these steps to be safely overwritten
+<OL>
+<LI>have their machine specific information saved,
+<LI>be overwritten, and then
+<LI>have their machine specific information restored.
+</UL>
+</P>
 <LI><A NAME="makeinstall">
     <H2>Updating the non-configurable files on your machine (make install)</H2>
+
+
 <LI><A NAME="makeconfiginstall">
     <H2>Updating the configurable files on your machine (make configinstall)</H2>
+
+
 <LI><A NAME="makeRPM">
     <H2>Building RPMs (make RPM)</H2>
 </OL>
 </BODY>
 </HTML>
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