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| -rw-r--r-- | README | 37 |
1 files changed, 20 insertions, 17 deletions
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@ etckeeper is a collection of tools to let /etc be stored in a git, -mercurial, or bazaar repository. It hooks into apt to automatically commit -changes made to /etc during package upgrades. It tracks file metadata that -git does not normally support, but that is important for /etc, such as the -permissions of `/etc/shadow`. It's quite modular and configurable, while -also being simple to use if you understand the basics of working with -version control. +mercurial, bazaar or darcs repository. It hooks into apt to automatically +commit changes made to /etc during package upgrades. It tracks file +metadata that git does not normally support, but that is important for +/etc, such as the permissions of `/etc/shadow`. It's quite modular and +configurable, while also being simple to use if you understand the basics +of working with version control. ## security warnings @@ -44,22 +44,25 @@ storage, empty directories, and special files. Most VCS, including git, mercurial and bazaar have only limited tracking of file metadata, being able to track the executable bit, but not other -permissions or owner info. So file metadata storage is stored separately. -Among other chores, `etckeeper init` sets up a `pre-commit` hook that stores -metadata about file owners and permissions into a `/etc/.metadata` file. -This metadata is stored in version control along with everything else, and -can be applied if the repo should need to be checked back out. +permissions or owner info. (darcs doesn't even track executable bits.) So +file metadata storage is stored separately. Among other chores, `etckeeper +init` sets up a `pre-commit` hook that stores metadata about file owners +and permissions into a `/etc/.metadata` file. This metadata is stored in +version control along with everything else, and can be applied if the repo +should need to be checked back out. git and mercurial cannot track empty directories, but they can be significant sometimes in /etc. So the `pre-commit` hook also stores information that can be used to recreate the empty directories in a `/etc/.etckeeper` file. -Most VCS, including git, mercurial, and bazaar don't support several -special files that you _probably_ won't have in /etc, such as unix -sockets, named pipes, hardlinked files (but softlinks are fine), and -device files. The `pre-commit` hook will warn if your /etc contains -such special files. +Most VCS don't support several special files that you _probably_ won't have +in /etc, such as unix sockets, named pipes, hardlinked files (but symlinks +are fine), and device files. The `pre-commit` hook will warn if your /etc +contains such special files. + +Darcs doesn't support symlinks, so they are also stored in +`/etc/.etckeeper`. ## tutorial @@ -68,7 +71,7 @@ A quick walkthrough of using etckeeper. First, edit `/etc/etckeeper/etckeeper.conf` to select which version control system to use. The default is git, and this tutorial assumes you're using -it. Mercurial and bazaar are similar. +it. Using other VCSes should be broadly similar. The `etckeeper init` command initialises an /etc/.git/ repository. This command is careful to never overwrite existing files or directories in |