support Cfg .cat file without supplying base file

[https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkPb0RtPyicSdU7pLcv1UrX-yCh-YjkOwU]

Bcfg2 requires that you supply a base file (e.g. /etc/motd) when using .cat deltas. It should be possible to add deltas to files that already exist on the system.

If there is no existing file, client should give a warning/error:

Suppressing entry installation - no base file is found for:
 Path:/etc/motd 

[solj]

Bcfg2 operates under the condition that a client's configuration is fully specified on the server. Therefore, the _entire_ file must be sent to the client for installation.

[https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkPb0RtPyicSdU7pLcv1UrX-yCh-YjkOwU]

Then how do you patch an /etc/motd file on Debian system without assassinating server system identification line which comes first there and is different for every server?

If there is a problem with Bcfg2 architecture, then can you send original file for patching and then get it back?

[https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawnSjgovXZr-_V3vGkvMSR0pc5LDykRc1Nc]

You might be able to use the FileProbes? plugin in 1.2.0 to do something crazy by fetching the base file from the machine. It'd probably be easier to just probe for the data you want and write a template for /etc/motd, though. At any rate, solj articulates the basic overarching goal of Bcfg2 better than I can, so this remains a wontfix.