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Linux Distros with CVS/RCS for Config Files?

bergeron76 asks: "Does anyone know of a Linux distributions or modifications to a Linux d system that implement a CVS[like] structure for control over system configuration files (/etc, /usr/etc, and so on)? Personally, I'd love to see a distro that featured a native CVS/RCS control mechanism for editing system configuration files. Does anything like this currently exist? If not, is anyone working in this direction?"

2 of 36 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing is stopping you from doing this. by Feztaa · · Score: 4, Informative

    Just go into your /etc/, do a 'mkdir RCS', and then start checking your config files in and out of RCS to edit them. There's no code anywhere in linux that says 'if there's a directory I don't recognize, then crash spectacularly', so just adding the RCS directory itself isn't going to adversely affect anything.

    That's actually a really good idea, too, I'm not sure why I never thought of it myself...

    1. Re:Nothing is stopping you from doing this. by Atzanteol · · Score: 4, Informative

      There's no code anywhere in linux that says 'if there's a directory I don't recognize, then crash spectacularly'

      I beg to differ... I had an issue just last week where I tried checking /etc into a CVS repository. It turns out that /etc/devfs.d/ doesn't like *anything* in it that doesn't belong (like a CVS directory). This caused /dev to be very slim upon a reboot, and things like 'hda' et al were missing.

      Now, I'm not sure if this is purely a Gentoo issue or not (I'm not terribly familiar with devfs), but it's something to remember. Back up /etc/ before doing ANYTHING! lesson learned... :-)

      --
      "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

      - Charles Darwin