From the course: Git for System Administration

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Strategies for managing system files

Strategies for managing system files - Git Tutorial

From the course: Git for System Administration

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Strategies for managing system files

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- [Instructor] I think we can agree that using version control for system files is very attractive. However, there are some caveats. First, our strategy for managing system files is a bit different than a back-up system. First of all, Git can't do mini file merges of binary files Git stores file data, not data about files. Data about files is called metadata and describes the file itself. This would include the file ownership, permissions, and other attributes. On Linux, these other attributes may include the mandatory access control systems security context. It also might be worth noting right now that using version control to track versions is not the same as using a full fledged back-up tool. Yes, version control with remotes lets us copy configurations off the host, but it is not a full back-up system. A back-up system stores a snapshot of the file system and everything in it. Git keeps track of changes to files. These two things compliment each other and should both be used. When…

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