On 09/08/11 16:55, Paul Tansom wrote:
It doesn't completely fit your description, but take a look at etckeeper [1].
Thanks, I'll take a look.
The problem I'm trying to solve is that I don't want to store anything from /etc that I haven't changed from the package defaults; it's not just about saving space, it's about knowing what was changed and if I "restore" to a newer version of the distro I don't want the old distro's default files copied across, but I *do* want to merge across any changes I made.
Also, I want to know which packages were installed/uninstalled so that I can quickly get all the relevant software installed, but I also want pick up anything else that might have been installed from another source (whether .deb or not).
Which tools should I be looking at to generate a list of packages installed, and files installed by them? I'm assuming apt or aptitude, or do I need to work at a dpkg level? I think I need to have a go at writing something in order to prove it's nowhere near as simple as it seems and I should walk away from it :-) I know the information is there, from simple things like having apt know to ask me if I want to keep my changed config files during an update.