diff --git a/sysutils/etcupdate/files/etcupdate b/sysutils/etcupdate/files/etcupdate
index 182a55142c6d..82c1163c4ddc 100755
--- a/sysutils/etcupdate/files/etcupdate
+++ b/sysutils/etcupdate/files/etcupdate
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 #
-# $NetBSD: etcupdate,v 1.20 2003/02/04 08:40:57 martti Exp $
+# $NetBSD: etcupdate,v 1.21 2003/04/05 18:17:22 perry Exp $
 #
 # Copyright (c) 2001 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
 # All rights reserved.
@@ -55,11 +55,13 @@ PATH="/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:${PATH}"
 TEMPROOT="${TEMPROOT:=/tmp/temproot}"
 SRCDIR="${SRCDIR:=/usr/src/etc}"
 PAGER="${PAGER:=/usr/bin/more}"
-WIDTH="${WIDTH:=80}"
+SWIDTH=`stty -a | fgrep columns | sed -E 's/.+ ([0-9]+) columns.+/\1/'`
+WIDTH="${WIDTH:=${SWIDTH}}"
 VERBOSE=
 CONTINUE=
 BINARY=
 AUTOMATIC=
+LOCALSKIP=
 
 # Settings for post-installation procedures
 NEED_MTREE=
@@ -81,6 +83,8 @@ Options:
   -w width     Screen width                    (default: 80)
 
   -a           Automatically update unmodified files
+  -l           Automatically skip files with strictly local changes
+               (this option has no effect on files lacking RCS Ids)
   -h           This help text
   -v           Be more verbose
 
@@ -149,8 +153,8 @@ install_checksum() {
 	[ "${AUTOMATIC}" != "YES" ] && return
 
 	D=`dirname "${1}"`
-	mkdir -p "/etc/etcupdate/${D}"
-	md5 "${1}" > "/etc/etcupdate/${1}"
+	mkdir -p "/var/etcupdate/${D}"
+	md5 "${1}" > "/var/etcupdate/${1}"
 }
 
 diff_and_merge_file() {
@@ -163,9 +167,9 @@ diff_and_merge_file() {
 		return
 	fi
 
-	if [ "${AUTOMATIC}" = "YES" -a -f "/etc/etcupdate/${1}"  ] ; then
+	if [ "${AUTOMATIC}" = "YES" -a -f "/var/etcupdate/${1}"  ] ; then
 		SUM1=`md5 "${1}"`
-		SUM2=`cat "/etc/etcupdate/${1}"`
+		SUM2=`cat "/var/etcupdate/${1}"`
 		if [ "${SUM1}" = "${SUM2}" ] ; then
 			install_file "${1}"
 			install_checksum "${1}"
@@ -173,6 +177,18 @@ diff_and_merge_file() {
 		fi
 	fi
 
+	if [ "${LOCALSKIP}" = "YES" ] ; then
+		ID1=`ident -q "${TEMPROOT}${1}" | sed -n 2p`
+		ID1="${ID1:-0}"
+		ID2=`ident -q "${1}" | sed -n 2p`
+		ID2="${ID2:-1}"
+		if [ "${ID1}" = "${ID2}" ] ; then
+			verbose "===> ${1} (ok:RCS)"
+			rm -f "${TEMPROOT}${1}"
+			return
+		fi
+	fi
+
 	clear
 	if [ ! -f "${1}" ]; then
 		verbose "===> ${1} (missing)"
@@ -300,7 +316,7 @@ USERRC="${HOME}/.`basename $0`rc"
 [ -r ${USERRC} ] && . ${USERRC}
 
 # Read command line arguments
-ARGV=`getopt ab:hp:s:t:vw: $*`
+ARGV=`getopt ab:hlp:s:t:vw: $*`
 [ $? != 0 ] && usage
 set -- ${ARGV}
 for i; do
@@ -317,6 +333,10 @@ for i; do
 	-h)
 		usage
 		;;
+	-l)
+		LOCALSKIP=YES
+		shift
+		;;
 	-p)
 		PAGER="${2}"
 		shift 2
@@ -394,7 +414,7 @@ if [ -z "${CONTINUE}" ]; then
 			MAKE=make		\
 			MTREE=mtree		\
 			INSTALL_DONE=1		\
-			NO_SENDMAIL=1"
+			USETOOLS=never"
 		echo "*** Populating ${TEMPROOT} from ${SRCDIR}"
 		cd ${SRCDIR}
 		if [ -z "${VERBOSE}" ]; then
@@ -417,6 +437,14 @@ if [ -z "${CONTINUE}" ]; then
 	rm -f "${TEMPROOT}"/etc/spwd.db
 	find "${TEMPROOT}" -type f -size 0 -exec rm {} \;
 
+	# Ignore files we're told to ignore
+	if [ ! -z "${IGNOREFILES}" ]; then
+		echo "*** Ignoring files: ${IGNOREFILES}"
+		for file in ${IGNOREFILES}; do
+			rm -f "${TEMPROOT}"${file}
+		done
+	fi
+
 	# Are there any new directories?
 	echo "*** Checking for new directories"
 	for i in `find ${TEMPROOT} -type d`; do
diff --git a/sysutils/etcupdate/files/etcupdate.8 b/sysutils/etcupdate/files/etcupdate.8
index 01ee14ccd193..279711eca5f3 100644
--- a/sysutils/etcupdate/files/etcupdate.8
+++ b/sysutils/etcupdate/files/etcupdate.8
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.\"	$NetBSD: etcupdate.8,v 1.8 2003/01/27 07:54:24 martti Exp $
+.\"	$NetBSD: etcupdate.8,v 1.9 2003/04/05 18:17:23 perry Exp $
 .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 2001 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
 .\" All rights reserved.
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 .\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
 .\" POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 .\"
-.Dd January 24, 2003
+.Dd April 2, 2003
 .Dt ETCUPDATE 8
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 .Op Fl a
 .Op Fl b Ar srcdir
 .Op Fl h
+.Op Fl l
 .Op Fl p Ar pager
 .Op Fl s Ar srcdir
 .Op Fl t Ar temproot
@@ -53,48 +54,25 @@
 .Op Fl w Ar width
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
 .Nm
-is a tool to update the configuration and startup files in
+is a tool that lets the administrator update the configuration and
+startup files in
 .Pa /etc
 (and some other directories like
 .Pa /dev ,
 .Pa /root
 and
 .Pa /var )
-without the need of manually checking and modifying every file.
-The user should run this script after performing an operating system
-update (e.g. after running
+without having to manually check and modify every file.
+The administrator should run this script after performing an operating
+system update (e.g. after running
 .Pa make build
 in
 .Pa /usr/src
-or after extracting the binary distribution files)
-to use the latest configuration and startup files.
-.Pp
-If the user is updating from sources (which is the default mode),
-.Nm
-will first create a copy of the new configuration and startup files
-by running
-.Pa make distribution
-in
-.Pa /usr/src/etc .
-.Pp
-Instead of using sources, the user can also extract one or more binary
-distribution sets and use those files to update the currently installed
-files (see usage of the
-.Fl b Ar srcdir
-argument later in this manual page).
-Files in
-.Pa srcdir
-will be removed by
-.Nm
-when using the
-.Fl b Ar srcdir
-argument (as the
-.Pa srcdir
-directory is treated like
-.Pa temproot ) .
+or after extracting new binary distribution files)
+to update to the latest configuration and startup files.
 .Pp
 .Nm
-compares the new files against the currently installed files.
+compares the new configuration files against the currently installed files.
 The user is given the option of installing, merging or deleting each
 modified or missing file.
 .Nm
@@ -105,62 +83,156 @@ from the
 file.
 .Pp
 .Nm
+needs a clean set of new configuration files to compare the 
+existing files against.
+These files, called the
+.Dq reference files
+in this manual, may be derived from either a source or binary
+distribution of
+.Nx .
+.Pp
+If the user is updating from sources (which is the default mode),
+.Nm
+will first create a copy of the reference files
+by running
+.Pa make distribution
+in
+.Pa /usr/src/etc ,
+installing the files to a so-called
+.Pa temproot .
+(See usage of the
+.Fl s Ar srcdir ,
+and
+.Fl t Ar temproot
+options later in this manual page.)
+.Pp
+Instead of using sources, the user can also extract one or more binary
+distribution sets in a special location and use those as the reference
+files (see usage of the
+.Fl b Ar srcdir
+option later in this manual page).
+.Pp
+The following options are available:
+.Bl -tag -width indent
+.It Fl a
+.Nm
 can automatically update files which have not been modified locally.
 The
 .Fl a
 flag instructs
 .Nm
 to store MD5 checksums in
-.Pa /etc/etcupdate
+.Pa /var/etcupdate
 and use these checksums to determine if there have been any
 local modifications.
-.Sh ENVIRONMENT
-.Bl -tag -width TEMPROOT
-.It Ev TEMPROOT
-The temporary files created from
-.Pa /usr/src/etc
-will be stored here.  These files will then be compared
-against the currently installed files in the
-.Pa /etc
-directory.  By default this is
-.Pa /tmp/temproot
-but it can be changed either with the
-.Fl t Ar temproot
-argument or by defining the
-.Ev TEMPROOT
-variable.
-.It Ev SRCDIR
-The location of the
-.Nx
-sources files.  By default this is
-.Pa /usr/src/etc
-but it can be changed either with the
-.Fl s Ar srcdir
-argument or by defining the
-.Ev SRCDIR
-variable.
-.It Ev PAGER
-The pager to use when displaying files.  By default this is
+.It Fl b
+Location of reference files extracted from a binary distribution of
+.Nx .
+Note that reference files in
+.Pa srcdir
+will be altered and removed by
+.Nm
+when using the
+.Fl b Ar srcdir
+option (as the
+.Pa srcdir
+directory is treated like
+.Pa temproot ) .
+.It Fl h
+Prints a help text.
+.It Fl l
+Automatically skip files with unchanged RCS IDs.
+This has the effect of leaving alone files that have been altered
+locally but which have not been changed in the 
+reference files.
+Since this works using RCS IDs, files without RCS IDs will not be
+skipped even if only modified locally.
+This flag may be used together with the
+.Fl a
+flag described above.
+.It Fl p
+The pager to use when displaying files.
+By default this is
 .Xr more 1
-but it can be changed either with the
-.Fl p Ar pager
-argument or by defining the
+but it can be changed either with this option
+or by defining the
 .Ev PAGER
 variable.
-.It Ev WIDTH
-The screen width used during interactive merge. By default this is
-80 but it can be changed either with the
-.Fl w Ar width
-argument or by defining the
+.It Fl s
+The location of the
+.Nx
+sources files used to create the reference files.
+By default this is
+.Pa /usr/src/etc
+but it can be changed either with this option
+or the
+.Ev SRCDIR
+variable.
+.It Fl t
+Specifies the location of the
+.Pa temproot
+directory.
+The temporary reference files created from
+.Pa /usr/src/etc
+will be stored there.
+By default this is
+.Pa /tmp/temproot
+but can be changed either with this option or the
+.Ev TEMPROOT
+environment variable.
+.It Fl v
+Makes
+.Nm
+verbose about its actions.
+.It Fl w
+Sets screen width used during interactive merge.
+By default this is the number of columns
+.Xr stty 1
+reports but it can be changed either with this
+option or by defining the
 .Ev WIDTH
 variable.
 This is useful for
 .Xr xterm 1
 users with wider shell windows.
 .El
+.Sh ENVIRONMENT
+.Bl -tag -width TEMPROOT
+.It Ev TEMPROOT
+Sets a default value for
+.Pa temproot .
+See
+.Fl t
+above.
+.It Ev SRCDIR
+The location of the
+.Nx
+sources files.
+See
+.Fl s
+above.
+.It Ev PAGER
+The pager to use when displaying files.
+See
+.Fl p
+above.
+.It Ev WIDTH
+The screen width used during interactive merge.
+See
+.Fl w
+above.
+.It Ev IGNOREFILES
+A list of files that
+.Nm
+should ignore.
+Files listed in this
+variable will never be considered for updating by
+.Nm .
+.El
 .Sh FILES
 The environment variables can also be defined in the following configuration
-files.  The user's personal configuration file settings override the global
+files.
+The user's personal configuration file settings override the global
 settings.
 .Pp
 /etc/etcupdate.conf
@@ -205,25 +277,42 @@ To get a better idea what's going on, use the
 flag:
 .Pp
 .Dl etcupdate -v
+.Sh SEE ALSO
+.Xr cmp 1 ,
+.Xr more 1 ,
+.Xr rcs 1 ,
+.Xr sdiff 1 ,
+.Xr stty 1 ,
+.Xr aliases 5
 .Sh HISTORY
 The
 .Nm
 command appeared in
 .Nx 1.6 .
 .Sh AUTHORS
-The
-script was written by Martti Kuparinen <martti@netbsd.org> and
-improved by several other
+The script was written by
+.An Martti Kuparinen
+.Aq martti@NetBSD.org
+and improved by several other
 .Nx
 users.
 .Pp
 The idea for this script (including code fragments, variable names etc.)
 came from the
 .Fx
-mergemaster (by Douglas Barton).  Unlike the
+mergemaster (by Douglas Barton).
+Unlike the
 .Fx
-mergemaster, this does not use CVS version tags to compare if
-the files need to be updated. Files are compared with
+mergemaster, this does not use CVS version tags by default to compare if
+the files need to be updated.
+Files are compared with
 .Xr cmp 1
 as this is more reliable and the only way if the version numbers are the
 same even though the files are different.
+.\" when exactly are the version the same even though the file changes?
+.\" .Pp
+.\" .Sh BUGS
+.\" Because of the use of
+.\" .Xr cmp 1
+.\" to compare files, rather than CVS versions, files that are locally changed
+.\" from the distribution are always considered needing to be updated.