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Linux Distros with CVS/RCS for Config Files?

Posted by Cliff on from the /etc-by-versions dept.

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?"

4 of 36 comments (clear)

  1. Gentoo does this. by djcapelis · · Score: 3, Informative

    Gentoo offers several choices in managing the configuration files in /etc, one of these options is the dispatch-conf script which keeps all changes in RCS. This is mostly for updating... so it's not everything, but it's definately a strong start and you could likely use the same system to keep track of your own modifications.

    --
    I touch computers in naughty places
  2. 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
  3. works for my user accounts by x00101010x · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I keep my entire home directory in a Subversion repository. Works great for linux and my windows boxes. Firefox and thunderbird user directories are compatible across platforms.
    I just add 'svn up' to my login script and 'svn ci --message "%HOST%@%TIME%%DATE%"' to my logout script.
    No reason it shouldn't work for a whole system with an initial 'svn up' somewhere in rc.local and periodic updates in a chron job. Just do a commit whenever you change things on your template system and 5 minutes later it'll be on all your boxen.

    There was a slashdot article about putting a home directory under version control a few months ago from which I got the idea, too lazy to find the link at the moment though.

    --
    DONT PANIC