Dave,

ossec_rules.xml will be overwritten by an upgrade while local_rules.xml will 
not.  You will also have a good overview of what customisation you
have done by going the local_rules.xml way.

Cheers,
W

On 07 Mar 2010, at 15:47, Dave S wrote:

> I was reading Wim's latest post at
> http://groups.google.com/group/ossec-list/browse_thread/thread/7acaead39fff64d8
> 
> The author wanted to change the behavior of a default rule.  Rather
> than editing the rule, Wim suggested writing a new rule to change the
> system's behavior as follows:
> 
>   <rule id="554" level="0">
>       <category>ossec</category>
>       <description>This rule issues no alerts.  We don't want that.</
> description>
>     </rule>
>   .....
>   <rule id="100001" level="3">
>       <if_sid>554</if_sid>
>       <description>Rule now issues a level 3 alert</description>
>   </rule>
> 
> My question is, why not overwrite the rule?  Like as follows:
> 
>   <rule id="554" level="3" overwrite="yes">
>       <description>Rule now issues a level 3 alert</description>
>   </rule>
> 
> What is the difference between doing one or the other?

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