Bart's Blog

Now viewing: /20070312134706

Links

pictures
vimblog source

Search

Bookmarks

Tags

abiword adam apt asm ata audio bash bios board-game boot bug busybox bzr c code conference debian debug desktop devel disk dpkg email firefox font fs fun geode git git scm git-find git-graft go google gpg hardware html inkscape ion3 ipsec irc irssi joke kdb kernel klips kqemu kvm laptop lastfm ldap linux lua lvm mail make meta mouse-free mpd mutt net nfs oclug ogre ols oom openswan opteron osx ottawa perl power pxe qemu raid redhat ruby sbc scm screen script scsi security shell ssh suse svn tags talk thinkpad ubuntu uml unix urxvt usb uzbl vi video vim vimgit virt vpn web weechat wmii wmiirc-lua x x86 x86emu xen xen-box-setup xterm zsh

Posts

[ 20090702113222 ]
Why pick Git?

[ 20090628131255 ]
select loop for X events

[ 20090625181315 ]
portable printf

[ 20090623225800 ]
switching to uzbl

[ 20090622223147 ]
Linux Symposium

[ 20090622214023 ]
bringing git-format-patch to bzr

[ 20090612215638 ]
nfs local caching with fscache and cachefilesd on Lenny

[ 20090610202041 ]
Scott Chacon smacks git around

[ 20090610150039 ]
how would you read a file into an array of lines

[ 20090609215141 ]
libguestfs

[ 20090609000208 ]
tiding up the PATH

[ 20090608232531 ]
only showing relevant messages in mutt by default

[ 20090608010405 ]
git-vim hacking

[ 20090530223801 ]
mark-yank-urls: fix bug allowing shell to interpret the url

[ 20090509212648 ]
wmiirc-lua v0.2.8 release

[ 20090509113125 ]
wmiirc-lua moving to github

[ 20090504101605 ]
two terminals one PWD

[ 20090501172645 ]
splitting files out of a commit

[ 20090409155905 ]
git workflow: git amend

[ 20090401112030 ]
how old are these files in git?

[ 20090330181138 ]
sles 11 on kvm

[ 20090323194942 ]
android true type font

[ 20090322203939 ]
popen with stdin, stdout, and stderr

[ 20090320214228 ]
shrinking URLs

[ 20090304004744 ]
readlater

[ 20081112150409 ]
splitting patches with git

[ 20081011081638 ]
creating busybox symlinks

[ 20081002215121 ]
wmiirc-lua v0.2.5 release

[ 20080916155113 ]
git-svn strangeness

[ 20080915112959 ]
installilng git man pages quickly

[ 20080913112345 ]
wmiirc-lua v0.2.4 release

[ 20080825100454 ]
Kernel Walkthroughs - booting

[ 20080813210205 ]
Linux Kernel Booting

[ 20080719211329 ]
printable OLS/2008 schedule

[ 20080715214447 ]
wmiirc-lua updates

[ 20080713194704 ]
Git Screencast

[ 20080713143429 ]
four steps to reproducible Debian installs

[ 20080705150651 ]
USB2.0 enclosure benchmark

[ 20080703230924 ]
Linux Kernel Walkthroughs posted

[ 20080702113602 ]
Introducing the Ottawa Ruby folks to Git

[ 20080628160732 ]
Authenticating Linux against OSX LDAP directory

[ 20080627142123 ]
Canada Day Events 2008

[ 20080613162541 ]
Linux Kernel Walkthroughs

[ 20080510083828 ]
is my usb device connected to a fast port?

[ 20080509111534 ]
show more git info on zsh prompt

[ 20080430104202 ]
git-vim

[ 20080412100337 ]
color your word

[ 20080404105620 ]
show current git branch on zsh prompt (2)

[ 20080303200359 ]
how to track multiple svn branches in git

[ 20080301134220 ]
fixing X for GeodeLX

[ 20080108002540 ]
kvm nfs hang

[ 20080107160836 ]
screen -c relative path bug

[ 20080105132854 ]
WeeChat spell suggestions

[ 20071219221358 ]
show current git branch in zsh

[ 20071217141037 ]
wmiirc-lua kitchen sink repository

[ 20071212100316 ]
protecting sshd from OOM killer

[ 20071204234232 ]
wmiirc-lua v0.2.1 remembers a bit more

[ 20071013205336 ]
wmiirc-lua v0.2 has suspend and raw modes

[ 20070929112345 ]
wmiirc-lua debianization

[ 20070924104140 ]
zsh tip of the day - global aliases

[ 20070915094213 ]
wmiirc-lua v0.1.1

[ 20070913130838 ]
comparing two directories

[ 20070909204125 ]
git-rebase --interactive

[ 20070908115905 ]
zsh tab completion awesomeness

[ 20070902000736 ]
wmiirc in lua

[ 20070831150306 ]
debugging with -dbg libraries

[ 20070831142646 ]
svn status like output in git

[ 20070829141847 ]
Git Cheat Sheet

[ 20070821142038 ]
switching to abiword

[ 20070811105746 ]
forwarding ssh and X through screen

[ 20070807112531 ]
git-svnup

[ 20070724082355 ]
reducing power consumption

[ 20070722123734 ]
Makefile template

[ 20070722002649 ]
less, colourful

[ 20070719162359 ]
irssi docs

[ 20070716114553 ]
qemu eats up /dev/shm

[ 20070710214512 ]
git-clean in svn land

[ 20070705113139 ]
ipw2200 not working

[ 20070627191916 ]
git slides updated

[ 20070618220649 ]
unpopular debian packages on my system

[ 20070611125852 ]
git-svn with multiple branches

[ 20070517085321 ]
Linus on Git at Google

[ 20070510134551 ]
vim modelines insecure

[ 20070504205042 ]
bios disassembler

[ 20070504124124 ]
dd hex arguments

[ 20070503013555 ]
urxvt mouseless url yanking

[ 20070502211941 ]
gitdiff.vba v2

[ 20070419234350 ]
india

[ 20070418155857 ]
zsh fun

[ 20070418143632 ]
pipe to pastey.net

[ 20070418094151 ]
vimgrep alias

[ 20070416202545 ]
mouse-free

[ 20070406141850 ]
ATA messages via SCSI layer

[ 20070330221019 ]
GITDiff vim plugin

[ 20070329011735 ]
git presentation for OCLUG

[ 20070328123631 ]
fixing vim's [[ and ]] for bad code

[ 20070316092236 ]
pxeboot and nfsroot with debian

[ 20070312134706 ]
etc snapshots with git

[ 20070307004041 ]
remote power switch

[ 20070222215355 ]
klips-less openswan git tree

[ 20070221041316 ]
git caching for v1.5.x

[ 20070218002214 ]
klips loses zlib

[ 20070209172606 ]
vim and linux CodingStyle

[ 20070207205427 ]
my kqemu install

[ 20070204100100 ]
leaner meaner openswan

[ 20070115111917 ]
wmii+ruby xlock action

[ 20070112131252 ]
cloning xterms in wmii+ruby

[ 20070102010551 ]
wmii+ruby talk for OCLUG

[ 20061228220641 ]
dump and restore

[ 20061218100219 ]
C style

[ 20061101002027 ]
fetching all git branches from remote

[ 20061028111607 ]
local caching for git repos

[ 20061020145437 ]
automatic version creation with git

[ 20061018213306 ]
wmii w/ ruby wmiirc

[ 20061018201907 ]
small fonts

[ 20061007151802 ]
google-codesearch from vim

[ 20060928020813 ]
shell commands

[ 20060920093957 ]
letting screen apps use the ssh-agent

[ 20060908223613 ]
mpdscribble stream support

[ 20060907125149 ]
glGo on ubuntu/dapper amd64

[ 20060906163240 ]
lbdb and mutt

[ 20060902145643 ]
vim tutorial

[ 20060902135722 ]
fixing your terminal

[ 20060828124713 ]
apt-get pdiffs

[ 20060824224842 ]
256 colour xterms

[ 20060824152658 ]
dynamic IPcomp

[ 20060824145428 ]
inkscape++

[ 20060818150516 ]
tags/cscope for system headers

[ 20060805131557 ]
opteron 170, part 4

[ 20060805101941 ]
opteron 170, part 3

[ 20060803233234 ]
opteron 170, part 2

[ 20060802210126 ]
opteron 170

[ 20060729144129 ]
OLS keysigning / 2006

[ 20060728105500 ]
git-find findings

[ 20060727162941 ]
starting on git-find

[ 20060727113632 ]
git-graft and git-find brainstorm

[ 20060726224531 ]
pretty function tracing

[ 20060713174723 ]
uml and multiple network segments

[ 20060707182236 ]
lastfm artist and title to clipboard

[ 20060706162256 ]
reverting a git changeset

[ 20060629212003 ]
user #3

[ 20060628083456 ]
firefox crashes with form input

[ 20060612222204 ]
ldap account management

[ 20060612194523 ]
stupid ldap

[ 20060608092157 ]
rpm hell is right

[ 20060605095726 ]
OpenSSH VPNs

[ 20060604114317 ]
Lenovo lost a customer

[ 20060601234010 ]
generating html colourized sourcecode

[ 20060601211716 ]
ion3 greatness and acting on X selections

[ 20060526085644 ]
software RAID10 performance

[ 20060525234148 ]
learning to love git

[ 20060524121638 ]
recent vim7 articles

[ 20060516095748 ]
bootstrapping debian on my sbc

[ 20060428145140 ]
entropy injection

[ 20060423140628 ]
Adam

[ 20060414202507 ]
converting mp3s to CD

[ 20060413232836 ]
secure apt-get

[ 20060412194423 ]
xen domain0 on debian

[ 20060410220525 ]
LVM2 on RAID1 mirror

[ 20060410102824 ]
building a RHEL4 kernel w/ kdb support

[ 20060407230939 ]
xen on debian

[ 20060407230818 ]
Upgraded look

[ 20060330131334 ]
Flattered by a copy

[ 20060328165153 ]
vim7 from source

[ 20060308123539 ]
Perl, Catalyst, CPAN, and Debian

[ 20060308123302 ]
last.fm

[ 20060128124841 ]
carcassonne and zombies

[ 20060120135931 ]
Election Humour

[ 20050925130002 ]
ldap on debian

[ 20040326082602 ]
bash vi editing mode

[ 20040305163216 ]
cool debian tools

...

etc snapshots with git

[ link: etc-snapshots-with-git | tags: git linux debian | updated: Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:57:05 ]

I got this idea from a blog posting a few months back. I think the guy was using darcs. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the reference to link to him.

Anyway, here is how you can track your /etc directory with git, and have apt update it automatically each time a package is installed.

The following steps require root access:

install git
```
apt-get install git-core
```
initialize /etc to be a git repo
```
cd /etc
git init-db
chmod og-rwx .git
```

ignore a few files

cat > .gitignore
*~
*.dpkg-new
*.dpkg-old

commit the current state

git add .
git commit -a -m"initial import"

install a snapshot script for apt to call

cat > apt/git-snapshot-script 
#!/bin/bash
set -e
caller=$(ps axww | grep "^ *$$" -B3 | grep " apt-get " | head -n1 | sed 's/^.*\(apt-get .*\)/\1/' )
git-add .
git-commit -a -m"snapshot after: $caller"

... make it executable ...

chmod +x apt/git-snapshot-script

configure apt to track changes

cat >> /etc/apt/apt.conf
DPkg {
          Post-Invoke {"cd /etc ; ./apt/git-snapshot-script";};
}

track these two files

git add .
git commit -a -m"apt will track /etc automagically using git"

... and you're done.

Note that the chmod og-rwx /etc/.git step is very important. Your /etc/.git directory should only be accessible to root. If not, it's as good as giving everyone access to your /etc/shadow and other secrets that hide in /etc. Should you clone this repository to another box, you have to make sure that the same precautions are taken.

Now when you install a package, it will be tracked in the git repository.

    # apt-get install mercurial
    ...
    Created commit daa7de7264b65cd073a1ef0f75ba50aa488d5af2
     3 files changed, 409 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
     create mode 100644 bash_completion.d/mercurial
     create mode 100644 mercurial/hgrc
     create mode 100644 mercurial/hgrc.d/hgext.rc

You can see what changed...

    # git whatchanged -1
    commit daa7de7264b65cd073a1ef0f75ba50aa488d5af2
    Author: Bart Trojanowski <bart@jukie.net>
    Date:   Mon Mar 12 16:09:18 2007 -0400

        snapshot after: apt-get install mercurial

    :000000 100644 0000000... a7f4740... A  bash_completion.d/mercurial
    :000000 100644 0000000... dfc3400... A  mercurial/hgrc
    :000000 100644 0000000... 8f2d526... A  mercurial/hgrc.d/hgext.rc

Update...

Only two days after writing the original posting I got two replies. In one, Michael Prokop told me that he had ported my procedure to use mercurial. Rock on!

Later still I was notified by Yannick Gingras that he also tackled the etc tracking with mercurial task.

And lastly, it should be noted that debian now has an etckeeper that trackes /etc in git.

Bart Trojanowski
http://www.jukie.net/~bart
bart@jukie.net