etckeeper

2009-09-04 Linux etckeeper

I have been looking for a good way of keeping track of changes to /etc and with Ubuntu 9.04 Server I see that they have rolled in support for etckeeper (using bzr as the default).

This little util allows the use of version control (bzr, hg or git) to track changes to /etc and with the Ubuntu version integrates with apt and dpkg so that new package installs are tracked.

To install just install the following, it will take care of the dependancies:

 sudo apt-get install etckeeper 

The Initialize the repository:

 sudo etckeeper init 

And do a commit of the files to the repository.

 sudo etckeeper commit "initial import" 

After each change to file(s) in /etc

 sudo etckeeper commit "comment on my commit" 

Now I just have to back up the files from the repository for a good way of rolling back and forth between versions. Probably onto a USB key