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Linux Kernel Walkthroughs posted

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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

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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

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letting screen apps use the ssh-agent

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mpdscribble stream support

[ 20060907125149 ]
glGo on ubuntu/dapper amd64

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lbdb and mutt

[ 20060902145643 ]
vim tutorial

[ 20060902135722 ]
fixing your terminal

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apt-get pdiffs

[ 20060824224842 ]
256 colour xterms

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dynamic IPcomp

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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

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git vs hg

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ldap account management

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stupid ldap

[ 20060608092157 ]
rpm hell is right

[ 20060605095726 ]
OpenSSH VPNs

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Lenovo lost a customer

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generating html colourized sourcecode

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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

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vim7 from source

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Perl, Catalyst, CPAN, and Debian

[ 20060308123302 ]
last.fm

[ 20060128124841 ]
carcassonne and zombies

[ 20060120135931 ]
Election Humour

[ 20050925130002 ]
ldap on debian

[ 20050528190034 ]
Error while mapping shared library sections

[ 20050124130158 ]
IRC over email gateway

[ 20050110225522 ]
brute force attacks sshd?

[ 20050108095026 ]
LDAP authentication (part 1)

[ 20041124130146 ]
sawfish workspace themes

[ 20041113082651 ]
Mini-DV to divx using mencoder

[ 20041004084525 ]
notes on vserver

[ 20040922104334 ]
fast kernel logging

[ 20040803104122 ]
Digital Rebel for sale... GONE

[ 20040714202912 ]
OpenOffice resources

[ 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