[Freedombox-discuss] Install and set up etckeeper by default?

[Tim Retout]

On 21 August 2013 18:59, Petter Reinholdtsen <pere at hungry.com> wrote:
> One tool I find indispensable when I maintain a Linux machine, is
> etckeeper.  It store /etc/ in git, allowing me to track changes done
> to configuration files and figure out exactly what changed when.

When it comes to solving the problem of configuration via a web
interface, I expect etckeeper will prove useful for debugging, so I
would support this.

The plinth web interface delegates actions requiring root privileges
to a python daemon called exmachina, and this in turn uses augeas to
manipulate config files.  I haven't yet delved into exactly which
config files are manipulated, and how...

Looking ahead, I have a hunch that it will not be feasible to offer
all required configuration options for the freedombox via debconf
questions in the relevant Debian packages.  If this is the case, then
something like augeas will be necessary.  I don't know of anyone
having solved this problem cleanly before - the closest I can find is
in the Debian Pure Blends documentation:

http://blends.alioth.debian.org/blends/ch-todo.en.html#s-EnhancingTechnology

which mentions Debian Edu uses cfengine.  Ah, and the
debian-edu-config package contains cfengine scripts.  Perhaps that is
the way forward?

Kind regards,

-- 
Tim Retout <diocles at debian.org>