Title: Track changes in /etc with etckeeper
Author: Solène
Date: 06 July 2021
Tags: linux
Description:
# Introduction
Today I will introduce you to the program etckeeper, a simple tool that
track changes in your /etc/ directory into a versioning control system
(git, mercurial, darcs, bazaar...).
HTML etckeeper project website
# Installation
Your system may certainly package it, you will then have to run
"etckeeper init" in /etc/ the first time. A cron or systemd timer
should be set by your package manager to automatically run etckeeper
every day.
In some cases, etckeeper can integrate with package manager to
automatically run after a package installation.
# Benefits
While it can easily be replicated using "git init" in /etc/ and then
using "git commit" when you make changes, etckeeper does it
automatically as a safety net because it's easy to forget to commit
when we make changes. It also has integration with other system tools
and can use hooks like sending an email when a change is found.
It's really a convenience tool but given it's very light and can be
useful I think it's a must for most sysadmins.