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linuxversion-controlunixsystem-administrationopenbsd

To what extent can Version Control help in system administration?


I'm currently tinkering at an OpenBSD system with a view to building myself a firewall and some other bits and bobs.

As this is fairly experimental (I'm an OpenBSD n00b, and I've already trashed my system 3 or 4 times), I wonder what experience others have of making part or all of the file system (I'm thinking in particular of /etc) a working copy of some VCS or other.

  • Is this a good idea?

  • I'm particularly interested in which VCS people have used for this. I'm considering subversion, bazaar, and git; this won't be a shared repository, so I'm perhaps more interested in the basic vcs functionality than the distributed-or-not argument.

  • I'd also like to hear about imagined or actual pitfalls people have found. I can imagine the preservation of file ownership and permissions needs careful thought!

  • And, of course, any alternative approaches not involving VCS


Solution

  • Here you have a detailed revision about putting /etc/ under revision control using git.

    Another step by step method.