[sf-lug] Fwd: [UMALUG] bash scripting question

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Asheesh Laroia (asheesh at asheesh.org):

> What I'd really like to do is publish e.g. a gitweb of my /etc so I
> can point friends (and enemies...?) to my config files as samples they
> can base on.  But this means I'd end up publishing /etc/shadow and
> other sensitive files.
> 
> Does etckeeper have a way to publish e.g. only the files that are
> readable by the world on the local UNIX system?  

1.  etckeeper doesn't "publish".   Your initial dilemma with it is to
include or don't include sensitive files in the local repository:  I
believe one specifies that in git using a .gitignore file.  (Feel free
to verify that SWAG[1].  ;->  )  Personally, I think it'd be silly _not_
to version _somewhere_ the security-sensitive files within /etc.  I
mean, the whole point of etckeeper is to capture all state changes of
everything important to your system configuration.

2.  I believe the question you meant to ask is "Does _git_ have a way to 
replicate to elsewhere (via "git clone" and so on), only the files that
are readable by the world on the local Unix system?"  Feel free to
investigate on your own how to restrict what "git clone" and such 
are willing to replicate.  (I'm way too busy to research that, myself,
at the moment.  I'm also not a seasoned git user, and trying really hard
not to solve problems with it that aren't necessary to my situation.)

> (And does it let you do interesting things as far as merging config
> changes from one system to another?)

In itself, no.  That's simply not within scope.

I'm sure it would be a Simple Matter of Programming, though.  ;->

[1] Silly Wild-Assed Guess.