##lost text config may be found here http://poivron.org/~rikeko/metche/README
OVERVIEW
metche is a tool meant to facilitate collective system administration. It does periodically :
- save the "system state" of
. $WATCHED_DIR (default: /etc)
. $CHANGELOG_FILE (default /root/Changelog)
or $CHANGELOG_DIR/*/Changelog (default: /root/changelogs/*/Changelog)
. Debian packages states and versions (using apt-show-versions)
to $BACKUP_DIR (default: /var/lib/metche).
- send a nicely formatted email to a defined email address, listing the last changes that have been made to the system. See https://poivron.org/dev/metche/ for an example.
BASIC USAGE
When installed and configured, metche is run by a cron job. You just have to read the report emails. Of course it's not useful at all if you don't:
- set the $EMAIL_ADDRESS config variable to your sysadmins' collective mailinglist or email address;
- use the Changelog files in a rigorous way.
Note: It is dangerous to use metche without reading the SECURITY section of the manpage before.
For further explanation of the way metche works, read the metche(8) manpage.
REQUIREMENTS
- Debian GNU/Linux and apt-show-versions (if Debian packagesn monitoring is enabled)
- mutt
- bzip2
- If you want metche to encrypt the email it sends: gnupg
- If you want metche to monitor your vservers as well: util-vserver tools
- If you want metche to monitor one manually written Changelog file, it must be located at $CHANGELOG_FILE.
_or_ If you want metche to monitor multiple manually written Changelog files, they must be located in $CHANGELOG_DIR/*/Changelog; for example this way:
/root/
changelogs/
common/Changelog
apache/Changelog
postfix/Changelog
INSTALLATION
Please see the included INSTALL file.
CONFIGURATION
1. Copy metche.conf.default to /etc/metche.conf and edit it so that it suits your needs.
2. Read the next sections of this document and the metche(8) manpage
3. Add to /etc/cron.d/metche something like:
0-59/5 * * * * root test -x /usr/local/sbin/metche && \
/usr/local/sbin/metche cron
See the cron (8) manpage for further explanations on how to create a cron job.
SECURITY WARNING
Read the SECURITY section of metche(8). Really.
FAQ
1. How are the monitored Changelog files ($CHANGELOG_FILE or $CHANGELOG_DIR/*/Changelog) generated?
With Emacs or Vim. They are written by *you*! They are an important part of the collective sysadmin process metche is supposed to simplify.
2. How is metche working, and what are the underlying concepts I have to understand?
When called with the cron command line switch, metche verifies changes in the system state during the last $TESTING_TIME minutes. If any changes took place an "unstable state" is saved. Otherwise, a "testing state" is saved and a report is emailed to you.
A mechanism exists to automatically turn a "testing state" into a "stable" one. See metche(8) for explanations.
3. How do I see the saved states list?
Run "metche list".
4. I've broken my system, how can I see a report against a previous, system state, known as working?
Run "metche report [{stable,testing,unstable}-YYYYMMDDHHMM]".
If no saved state is specified, the most recently saved "testing state" is used as reference.
5. How do I create a "stable state" manually?
Run "metche stabilize [testing-YYYYMMDDHHMM]".
This turns the given "testing state", if specified, otherwise the one most recently saved, into a "stable state".
