etckeeper

version control for /etc directory

TLDR

Initialize Git repo in /etc

$ sudo etckeeper init

Commit all changes in /etc

$ sudo etckeeper commit [message]

Run arbitrary Git commands

$ sudo etckeeper vcs [status]

Check for uncommitted changes

$ sudo etckeeper unclean

Stop tracking and destroy repo

$ sudo etckeeper uninit

etckeeper tracks system configuration files in /etc using version control (Git, Mercurial, Bazaar, or Darcs). It integrates seamlessly with package managers like apt, yum, pacman, and dnf to automatically commit changes before and after package operations.This provides an audit trail of all system configuration modifications, making it possible to review what changed when, understand why a system behaves differently after updates, and revert problematic changes. The tool preserves file permissions and metadata that Git normally doesn't track.etckeeper is valuable for system administrators managing multiple servers, troubleshooting configuration issues, and maintaining compliance documentation.