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Re: RCS control for config files



Alex Borges wrote:
> Ive finnaly come to a point where i think im needing revision control
> for my configuration files on some servers.... 

I passed that point already...

> So i thought id come in and ask you guys if there is some vertical stuff
> explicitly for this purpose or if you yourselves simply cvs ci your /etc
> directory et all..

For two remote servers, one of them is maintained by a group of three
people currently, we decided to use CVS and some scripts for
configuring the systems.

The configuration for one of these systems is online at
<http://cvs.infodrom.org/config/?cvsroot=infodrom.org>
(you can check it out using anonymous CVS as well.)

Let me give a brief description how it works:

 1. It only contains those configuration files that were changed and
    differ from the basic Debian installation and its configuration
    files.

 2. The configuration file is owned and thus writable by $user.

 3. Via cron and run-parts the cron.daily directory is executed.

     . The first script manages the »cvs update« step

     . Scripts will copy configuration files to their respective
       locations and call other programs (like some make for wml and
       some web pages).

     . Scripts redirect their output to a log file for later error
       detection.

     . The last script checks for errors in log files

     . At some other time, a process runs as root, forcing some
       daemons to reload their configuration file.

 4. This system has the advantage of configuring the system remotely
    and with an infinite number of people involved, which is quite
    nice.

 5. It has two (three) major drawbacks, though:

     a) Since run-parts runs as $user, the configuration files need to
        exist and be owned by $user, otherwise »cp« will blatantly
        fail.  (this will be detected by the error detection, though).

     b) Changing the configuration doesn't take place immediately.
	This is no problem for me, but may be one for others.
	However, you can still manually trigger the update process,
	and you could insert hooks into CVS to auto-trigger an update.

     c) Whenever the Debian system is updated and some files'
        ownerships are changed.  Postfix is a good candidate to feel
        the pain...

Sorry, I guess the description wasn't as brief as expected...

Regards,

	Joey

-- 
Life is a lot easier when you have someone to share it with.  -- Sean Perry

Please always Cc to me when replying to me on the lists.


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