etckeeper

Initialize Git repo in /etc

$ sudo etckeeper init

$ sudo etckeeper commit [message]

$ sudo etckeeper vcs [status]

$ sudo etckeeper unclean

$ sudo etckeeper uninit

etckeeper command [arguments]

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.

init

Initialize repository in /etc

Commit all changes

Run VCS command on repo

Check for uncommitted changes

Remove repository

Run before package install

Run after package install

/etc/etckeeper/etckeeper.conf

Main configuration file specifying VCS to use, package manager hooks to enable, and files to ignore.

Requires root privileges. Must run from /etc directory for init. Integrates with apt, yum, and pacman. Sensitive files may need gitignore entries.

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