Protect directory/file ?

[Ondrej Balaz <ondra@blami.net>]

I'm sorry, my english is worse.

Hello,
exists any way to protect directories and files against apt/dpkg changes ?

I'm using lot of modifications to make my Debian perfect for me (for example
modified init scripts, udev rules or my own /etc/apache2 layout). This is big
pain everytime when I update packages - all files meant as program parts (no
configuration files) are overwritten and changes I've made are lost. Then
I must move proper files from my backup to their directories.

Now I'm looking for a better hack/workaround to protect my modifications. I 
wonder if is it possible to redirect package files extraction to another 
directory (for example to put .protect file to /etc containing line 
REDIRECT="/tmp/etc-apt" and then all attempts to write file in /etc or
its subdirectories will be redirected to the /tmp/etc-apt/...)

I found something similar in tool dpkg-divert, but its oriented to single files
and maintaining long list of contents of all directories will be bigger pain
than rewriting parts of hdd with my "overlay".

Thank you,
Ondra.

-- 
Ondrej Balaz <ondra@blami.net>