Re: Managing apt/dpkg/debconf configurations.
Hi,
On Tue, 10 Feb 2009, Mathijs Kwik wrote:
> I would like to have some tool/collection of scripts to be able to
> diff/apply system/packaging related stuff.
> It should be able to have a branching/merging workflow like git.
> let's call it 'debdiff'
debdiff is a bad name as we already have such a tool (it compares two .deb).
> I would just like to know if there's anything close to the process I
> described.
I know of nothing similar that covers all aspects.
> If not, what would be needed to get something off the ground?
If you really want to include configuration files update, and if you really
want to support merge, then you have to wait until dpkg stores the initial
content of all config files so that you can apply a diff on top of any
configuration file and not only on top of an unmodified file.
(You can find several bugreports about this on the BTS, it's likely that
the bug will be solved during Squeeze)
> What is missing is a textual representation of apt/dpkg/debconf's state
> though.
All those tools use text files for their own databases. So I don't think
that this is what is really missing. But of course you can't just version control
them to solve your merge requirement as all those files should only be
modified by the corresponding tool.
> If I get enough feedback I might start implementing something.
Feel free to try it out, if you're convinced that there is a need for this
(because you would like to have it), then it should be enough to motivate
you. :)
Cheers,
--
Raphaël Hertzog
Le best-seller français mis à jour pour Debian Etch :
http://www.ouaza.com/livre/admin-debian/
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