#521208 Request: Keep backups of configuration files not in /etc/

Package:
etckeeper
Source:
etckeeper
Submitter:
Martin Meredith
Date:
2014-11-08 23:33:12 UTC
Severity:
wishlist
#521208#5
Date:
2009-03-25 19:27:36 UTC
From:
To:
Hi there.

Although it's a relatively uncommon occurence, sometimes Debian packages have
configuration files that are not in /etc/

I'd like for etckeeper to be able to keep a track of these files. I'd guess the
best way to do this would be to have something along the lines of

1) find these files
   - This can be done with the command
      cat /var/lib/dpkg/*.conffiles | egrep -v '^/etc/'
2) Link these into /etc/ somewhere
3) Act as normal

Though I'm sure that you can think of different ways to do it.
#521208#10
Date:
2009-03-25 22:16:42 UTC
From:
To:
Martin Meredith wrote:

No, that would be a policy violation. The FHS requires that all
configuration files be in /etc.

Files outside of /etc may sometimes be marked as *conffiles*. This does
not mean they're configuration files. In one case I'm familiar with,
the conffile was a multi-megabyte database for a MOO.

It does not make sense for etckeeper to add these files to /etc, when
policy already says they must not be configuration files.
#521208#15
Date:
2012-07-04 12:40:38 UTC
From:
To:
Provided that the contents of a whole dir needs to be managed with etckeeper, you may investigate etckeeper's -d option.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,