More good news from Func-land,
Vito Laurenza had suggested a func module on IRC (#func on
irc.freenode.net) to easily track file changes, and ... just to show you
how easy Func is, wrote a really good one. I've tweaked it just a bit
and checked it in. It works like this:
First, you use func itself to specify what files you want to track on
your systems. Since func supports wildcarding, it's really simple to
add a tracked file to all of your systems at once. You don't have to
push *ANY* configuration files around. How cool is that?
# func "*" call filetracker track /etc/passwd 1 # let's see
when new users get added, and which ones they are
# func "dbservers*" call filetracker track /etc/foo # we're just
interested in checksums on this file, not the actual data -- and only
for certain boxes
# func "webservers*" call filetracker track /tmp/bar # I'm interested
to see if this directory changes too -- and only for some different boxes
# func "*" call filetrack untrack /etc/bar #
here's a file we don't want to track anymore.
(For those that want to know, which files are tracked are stored in
/etc/func/modules/filetracker.conf -- and you can edit it yourself if
you really want)
Now, that's pretty neat, but what can I do with it? Well, it's
originally written for func-inventory. So, to see what has changed
in func, along with every thing else func-inventory tracks, including
packages, hardware, and services, just run one simple command. Can you
guess what this command and all the complex arguments are?
Easy. To inventory all of your func minions automatically, you don't
even need any -- just run it, and maybe put it on cron.
# func-inventory
Now all the changes to any of the systems are tracked in git ... (the
tree is in /var/lib/func/inventory) ... where you can browse all of the
changes using gitk, gitweb, or just
browse things with "ls", "tree", or "cat". Whatever you like. (And
if you don't like git, as I mentioned before, just pass in --no-git and
you can use it with some other version
control or just have the files there)
If anyone has any improvements to add to the file module,
func-inventory, or wants to contribute their own module to func (see how
easy it is... seriously), post to this list, or say hi on IRC. We'd
love to have you aboard.
Thanks again Vito!
--Michael
