Using git on / for configuration files

[Tomer Cohen]

I'd suggest doing so but away from system folders. You can create symlinks
to each file or folder you are interested in backing up (keep the symlink
creation script handy!), and by doing so you won't end up with the whole
filesystem in a git repository.

On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 12:57 PM, Eli Billauer <eli at billauer.co.il> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'd just like to get your input before I do something stupid. The idea,
> anyhow, is to create a git repository on my system's root directory, and
> add many of the system's configuration files (e.g. some of /etc/) for
> tracking.
>
> This sounds a bit bizarre even to me, but my question is: Do you see
> anything bad that could happen?
>
> I can see a few advantages:
>
> 1. Keep track of my changes in the configuration files over time
>
> 2. Easily spot what has changed, if something breaks for no apparent
> reason (after some well-meaning automatic utility "helps me out")
>
> 3. Possible to run a cronjob on "git commit -a", maintaining a history of
> these files (and makes it easy to fall back to a known set)
>
> 4. More freedom to hack these files to solve a problem, knowing that the
> "working set" it there to fall back to.
>
> 5. Migrating to a new computer by cloning the repository and selectively
> patching the new system.
>
> And some disadvantages:
>
> 1. Opening a security loophole somehow (?)
>
> 2. Possibly exposing files containing secrets (otherwise readable by root
> only, e.g. /etc/ppp/pap-secrets and other password files)
>
> 3. Running git as root
>
> 4. Mess up the system somehow because git wasn't meant to handle sensitive
> files (?)
>
>
>
>
> So what do you say? A bad idea? A brilliant idea? Everyone's doing it and
> nobody told me?
>
> TAI,
>
>   Eli
>
> --
> Web: http://www.billauer.co.il
>
>
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>



-- 
Tomer Cohen
http://tomercohen.com
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