Arch Linux

donbex

Member

Registered: 2010-12-23

Posts: 53

Is there any good way to keep a system changelog?

I would like to keep track of the changes I make to my system, including external references and possible notes. So far I've been keeping a Markdown file to this end, but it's getting quite cluttered, so I'm looking for a better solution. Is there any common way to do this? Ideally, I'm looking for a system that:

• supports tags

• is searchable

• supports external notes and references

• allows cross-referencing of entries

olive

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2008-06-22

Posts: 1,490

Re: Is there any good way to keep a system changelog?

You question is much too vague. What kind of changes you make? Myself, as most of the change consist of editing text files here and there I simply put a special tag on every file I edit with an appropriate comment. I can search all files having that tag:

find / -mount -type f -exec grep SPECIAL_TAG --binary-files=without-match {} +

(works reasonably fast with an SSD).
If I change something other than a text file, I put a text file explaining it with the special TAG. If I recompile a package, I put the TAG in the description of the package.
I think you will find no generic way to do what you want unless you have a more precise idea of what you want. "Change to the system" is much too vague since you can essentially change everything. I am satisfied by my solution, especially because you can just add the tag if you have to make a small change to a text file. If the file is later reverted for whatever reason, the tag disappear, so the maintenance work is low.

This allow me to figure out quickly what is the difference between vanilla Archlinux and my customized Archlinux.

Last edited by olive (2017-09-07 09:27:48)