Title: Qubes OS dom0 files workflow using fossil

	Title: Qubes OS dom0 files workflow using fossil
	Author: Solène
	Date: 04 June 2023
	Tags: qubesos fossil
	Description: In this article, you will learn how to manage your Qubes
	OS dom0 files in a revision control system, and how to synchronize it.

	# Introduction

	Since I'm using Qubes OS, I always faced an issue; I need a proper
	tracking of the configuration files for my systemthis can be done using
	Salt as I explained in a previous blog post. But what I really want is
	a version control system allowing me to synchronize changes to a remote
	repository (it's absurd to backup dom0 for every change I make to a
	salt file). So far, git is too complicated to achieve that.

	I gave a try with fossil, a tool I like (I wrote about this one too ;)
	), and it was surprisingly easy to setup remote access leveraging
	Qubes'qvm-run.

	In this blog post, you will learn how to setup a remote fossil
	repository, and how to use it from your dom0.

	Previous article about Fossil cheatsheet

	# Repository creation

	On the remote system where you want to store the fossil repository
	(it's a single file), run `fossil init my-repo.fossil`.

	The only requirement for this remote system is to be reachable over SSH
	by an AppVM in your Qubes OS.

	# dom0 clone

	Now, we will clone this remote repository in our dom0, I'm personnally
	fine with storing such files in `/root/` directory.

	In the following example, the file `my-repo.fossil` was created on the
	machine `10.42.42.200` with the path
	`/home/solene/devel/my-repo.fossil`. I'm using the AppVM `qubes-devel`
	to connect to the remote host using SSH.

	```command
	[root@dom0 ~#] fossil clone --ssh-command "qvm-run --pass-io --no-gui -u user q…
	```

	This command clone a remote fossil repository by piping the SSH command
	through qubes-devel AppVM, allowing fossil to reach the remote host.

	Cool fact with fossil's clone command, it keeps the proxy settings, so
	no further changes are required.

	With a Split SSH setup, I'm asked everytime fossil is synchronizing; by
	default fossil has "autosync" mode enabled, for every commit done the
	database is synced with the remote repository.

	# Open the repository (reminder about fossil usage)

	As I said, fossil works with repository files. Now you cloned the
	repository in `/root/my-repo.fossil`, you could for instance open it in
	`/srv/` to manage all your custom changes to the dom0 salt.

	This can be achieved with the following command:

	```shell
	[root@dom0 ~#] cd /srv/
	[root@dom0 ~#] fossil open --force /root/my-repo.fossil
	```

	The `--force` flag is needed because we need to open the repository in
	a non-empty directory.

	# Conclusion

	Finally, I figured a proper way to manage my dom0 files, and my whole
	host. I'm very happy of this easy and reliable setup, especially since
	I'm already a fossil user. I don't really enjoy git, so demonstrating
	alternatives working fine always feel great.

	If you want to use Git, I have a hunch that something could be done
	using `git bundle`, but this requires some investigation.