conf management for many debian boxes

[Donald <kndonlee@gmail.com>]

Hi,

I was wondering if there was an application that was a repository for
managing files/configs across many Debian and/or Linux boxes.  I'd
like to not reinvent the wheel if such an application exists, and if
not, get to work on one as it seems like it would be a very handy
tool.

I manage about 30 debian instances with multiple debian versions
(Sarge, Etch, Lenny).  I found myself having to dig around boxes to
understand what my predecessors did and also manage configurations on
the boxes.  For most of us, I think once a config is set, it's doesn't
change, but maintaining a unified and branched set of configs/file
changes on a singular machine might make life a tad bit easier.

Here are some of the things I'd like to do or are looking for:
- Automatically version files/configs based on changed files.
- Allow changes to go upstream to repository of files/configs and/or
go downstream when changed on a repository.
- Client hosts that don't break with or without the presence of a
config/file repository.  Allow a machine/config to be given away or
accepted with minimal effort.

Perhaps one could use a custom set of scripts using
git/cvs/subversion, rsync, ssh, but why not have a standard tool that
does it without thinking?

Thanks,

Donald