Hi, I'd like to drop one strong suggestion about configuration management that might be beneficial here: use version control software!
Some machines (esp. those with shared administration) have /etc/portage under git [1] with - /var/lib/portage/world symlinked to /etc/portage/world - PORTDIR_OVERLAY=/etc/portage/local-overlay Basically, we have 4 roots fiddling with 4 machines and different behaviours. Some forget --oneshot (-1) on broken-libs rebuilds, some forget to mark packages in world file after successful tests. Some forget the second > on `echo foo-bar/blub > /etc/portage/package.keywords/global` Some forget to commit+push their changes. All these "problems" esp. the mentioned world file pollution is documented quite well in the git log, or doesn't get committed at all. I check `cd /etc/portage ; git stash show ; git diff` on a regular basis o keep it all together. The update is almost unattended with [2]. General benefits: - You can recover from moronic file handling - The changes to the machines get documented (and announced by mail) - Config changes and updates can be made w/o all machines being up. - It feels like an normal machine, no need to run any deployment tool to just test-install a package. Down drafts: - Doesn't handle layman repo list - Git merge is bad on two changes adding a new last line - autoupdate.sh doesn't handle error exit codes. So, __USE__ an version control, even when you're just running `cd /etc/portage ; git commit -a -m "randoom updates"` from time to time. Bye [1] http://git.fs.lmu.de/gaf-etc-portage.git/ [2] http://git.fs.lmu.de/gaf-etc-portage.git/blob/HEAD:/bin/autoupdate.sh -- Michael Weber Gentoo Developer web: https://xmw.de/ mailto: Michael Weber <x...@gentoo.org>
