Walt Sullivan wrote:
> 
> I'm running Gnats 3.113.1, GnatsWeb 2.9.3 on Linux.
> I've received a request to change the names of several categories.

I faced the same problem almost exactly two years ago.

There is now an entry in the GNATS FAQ about this.  The FAQ is at
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnats/doc/faq/gnats-faq.html
Go to "Configuration Issues" / "General Configuration Questions" /
"How do I rename a category?"

If you want to check the mails from then, go to
	http://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/help-gnats/
and search for
	categor* and renam*

> Is it as simple as I think? I think I can:
> 
> 1. Stop the queue-pr cron job.
> 
> 2. Edit the "categories" file, change "oldname" to "newname".
> 
> 3. Rename the directory from "oldname" to "newname".
> 
> 4. Restart the queue-pr cron job.
> 
> Is it really that simple, or are there gotchas waiting to bite me?

If you are using proper locking, steps 1 and 4 are superflouos.
If you do not use locking, steps 2 and 3 may interfere with somebody
else changing one of the reports at the same time.

As the PR files themselves bear the category name in them, steps 2
and 3 are not that simple: the index is not updated, and (at least
in GNATS 3.xxx) it contains the category names given in the file.
The FAQ describes a safer method.  I use the attached script when I
have to rename a category.  I have written similar scripts for changing
responsibles and e-mail addresses (which was necessary because our
team has been transfered to another company).

Note: I did not yet check whether this script also works for GNATS 4.0.
I am aware of one caveat with GNATS 4:
If you changed the the name of the "Category" field, you need to
adjust the strings in lines 45, 49, and 82.


Hans-Albert

-- 
Hans-Albert Schneider		<Hans-Albert.Schneider@infineon.com>
Infineon Technologies AG	phone:	(+49) 89 234 45445
Corporate Logic; Verification	fax:	(+49) 89 234 724399
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