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Title: Track changes in /etc with etckeeper |
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Author: Solène |
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Date: 06 July 2021 |
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Tags: linux |
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Description: |
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# Introduction |
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Today I will introduce you to the program etckeeper, a simple tool that |
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track changes in your /etc/ directory into a versioning control system |
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(git, mercurial, darcs, bazaar...). |
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etckeeper project website |
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# Installation |
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Your system may certainly package it, you will then have to run |
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"etckeeper init" in /etc/ the first time. A cron or systemd timer |
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should be set by your package manager to automatically run etckeeper |
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every day. |
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In some cases, etckeeper can integrate with package manager to |
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automatically run after a package installation. |
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# Benefits |
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While it can easily be replicated using "git init" in /etc/ and then |
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using "git commit" when you make changes, etckeeper does it |
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automatically as a safety net because it's easy to forget to commit |
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when we make changes. It also has integration with other system tools |
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and can use hooks like sending an email when a change is found. |
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It's really a convenience tool but given it's very light and can be |
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useful I think it's a must for most sysadmins. |
