Alex Huth wrote:
> I want to use CVS for systemadministration. I have never used one so
> far, so my knowledge is very poor about that topic.
I use CVS for system administration by maintaining a sparse directory tree of
the system files I change and checking that tree into CVS:
http://www.nongnu.org/cvs/
I use 'diff -r' to compare the live file system against the CVS working tree
and 'cp', 'mv', 'vim', etc., to enter/ revert/ merge changes.
On Debian, you can install CVS with:
# apt-get install cvs
The canonical CVS documentation is the Cederqvist manual, which can be viewed
with 'info':
# info cvs
I learned CVS from the first edition of "Open Source Development with CVS":
http://cvsbook.red-bean.com/
There are a plethora of version control systems now available, "free" and
otherwise. Which is "best" is a matter of requirements, consensus, and/or
personal preference. CVS is still in common use and has met all of my version
control needs for 8+ years (system administration and otherwise). Native CVS
client binaries are available on many platforms, including those that I use.
The command line interface is simple and readily scripted. The CVS repository
file structure is straight-forward and the file format is simple, so it is easy
to hack, backup, archive, restore, script, etc. (tread carefully!). There are
many add-on tools which integrate with CVS:
# apt-cache search cvs | egrep '^cvs'
I assume that there are wrapper scripts which allow one to check-in all or part
of the root file system to CVS, but I haven't sought them out.
HTH,
David
p.s. CVS is based upon RCS and uses RCS-format repository files; it helps to
understand the basics of RCS when you approach CVS:
http://www.gnu.org/software/rcs/
apt-get install rcs
p.p.s. RCS can also be used for system administration. Please note that, by
default, the repository files are stored on the same file system as the working
files. (CVS deployments typically have a server with clients connecting over
SSH.)
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