forked from ungleich-public/cdist
		
	
		
			
				
	
	
		
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			283 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			8.9 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			Text
		
	
	
	
	
	
| [[!meta title="cdist - usable configuration management"]]
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| 
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|      
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|                  ..          .       .x+=:.        s   
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|      "8888P'   `"888*""     R888" `   ^"F        'Y" 
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|        "P'        ""         ""  
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|      
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| 
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| [[!toc levels=3]]
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| 
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| ## Introduction
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| 
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| cdist is an alternative to other configuration management systems like
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| [cfengine](http://www.cfengine.org/),
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| [bcfg2](http://trac.mcs.anl.gov/projects/bcfg2),
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| [chef](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/)
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| and [puppet](http://www.puppetlabs.com/).
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| But cdist ticks differently, here is the feature set that makes it unique: 
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| 
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| [[!table  data="""
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| Keywords | Description
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| Simplicity | There is only one type to extend cdist called ***type***
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| Design | Type and core cleanly seperated
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| Design | Sticks completly to the KISS (keep it simple and stupid) paradigma
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| Design | Meaningful error messages - do not lose time debugging error messages
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| Design | Consistency in behaviour, naming and documentation
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| Design | No surprise factor: Only do what is obviously clear, no magic
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| Design | Define target state, do not focus on methods or scripts
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| Design | Push architecture: Instantly apply your changes
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| Small core | cdist's core is very small - less code, less bugs
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| Fast development | Focus on straightforwardness of type creation is a main development objective
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| Modern Programming Language | cdist is written in Python
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| Requirements, Scalability | No central server needed, cdist operates in push mode and can be run from any computer
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| Requirements, Scalability, Upgrade | cdist only needs to be updated on the master, not on the target hosts
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| Requirements, Security | Uses well-know [SSH](http://www.openssh.com/) as transport protocol
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| Requirements, Simplicity | Requires only shell and SSH server on the target
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| UNIX | Reuse of existing tools like cat, find, mv, ...
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| UNIX, familar environment, documentation | Is available as manpages and HTML
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| UNIX, simplicity, familar environment | cdist is configured in POSIX shell
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| """]]
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| 
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| ### Documentation
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| 
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| The cdist documentation is included as manpages in the distribution.
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| 
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|  * You can [browse the documentation of the latest version online](man) as well.
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|  * Or you can watch the youtube **video**
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| [cdist installation and first usage in less than 60 seconds][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRMjzy48eTI).
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|  * Have a look at the [given speeches](speeches)
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| 
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| ### OS support
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| 
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| cdist was tested or is know to run on at least
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| 
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|  * [Archlinux](http://www.archlinux.org/)
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|  * [Debian](http://www.debian.org/)
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|  * [Fedora](http://fedoraproject.org/)
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|  * [Gentoo](http://www.gentoo.org/)
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|  * [Mac OS X](http://www.apple.com/macosx/)
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|  * [OpenBSD](http://www.openbsd.org)
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|  * [Redhat](http://www.redhat.com/)
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|  * [Ubuntu](http://www.ubuntu.com/)
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| 
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| 
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| ## Requirements
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| 
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| ### Server
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| 
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|  * A posix like shell
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|  * Python (>= 3.2 required)
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|  * SSH-Client
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|  * Asciidoc (for building the manpages)
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| 
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| ### Client ("target host")
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| 
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|  * A posix like shell
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|  * SSH-Server
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| 
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| 
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| ## Installation
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| 
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| ### Preperation
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| 
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| Ensure you have Python 3.x and the **argparse** module installed on
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| the machine you use to **deploy to the targets**.
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| 
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| #### Archlinux
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| 
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| Archlinux already has python >= 3.2, so you only need to do:
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| 
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|     pacman -S python
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| 
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| #### Debian
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| 
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|     aptitude install python3 python3-setuptools
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|     easy_install3 argparse
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| 
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| 
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| #### Gentoo
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| 
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| Gentoo only provides python 3.2 in testing packages (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=3&chap=3).
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| If you want to ensure nothing breaks you must set back the python version to what was default before.
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| 
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|     emerge -av =python-3.2.2 --autounmask-write
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|     emerge -av =python-3.2.2
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|     eselect python list
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|     eselect python list set python3.2
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| 
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| #### Max OS X
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| 
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| Ensure you have port installed and configured (http://www.macports.org/install.php).
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| 
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|     port install python32
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|     ln -s /opt/local/bin/python3.2 /opt/local/bin/python3
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| 
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| ### Get cdist
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| 
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| You can clone cdist from git, which gives you the advantage of having
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| a version control in place for development of your own stuff as well.
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| To install cdist, execute the following commands:
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| 
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|     git clone git://git.schottelius.org/cdist
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|     cd cdist
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|     export PATH=$PATH:$(pwd -P)/bin
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| 
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|     # If you want the manpages
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|     ./build.sh man
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|     export MANPATH=$MANPATH:$(pwd -P)/doc/man
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| 
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| 
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| Afterwards you can run ***cdist-quickstart*** to get an impression on
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| how to use cdist.
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| 
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| ### Available versions
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| 
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| There are at least the following branches available:
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| 
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|  * Development: master
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|  * 2.0: Python rewrite of cdist core
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| 
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| Old versions:
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| 
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|  * 1.7: Bugfixes, cleanups, new type and explorer rename
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|  * 1.6: New types, cleaned up \_\_package* types, internal cleanup
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|  * 1.5: Focus on object orientation instead of global stage orientation
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|  * 1.4: Support for redefiniton of objects (if equal)
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|  * 1.3: Support for local and remote code execution (current stable)
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|  * 1.2: Dependencies supported
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|  * 1.1: \_\_file to \_\_file, \_\_directory, \_\_link migration
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|  * 1.0: First official release
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| 
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| Other branches may be available for features or bugfixes, but they
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| may vanish at any point. To select a specific branch use
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| 
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|     # Generic code
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|     git checkout -b <name> origin/<name>
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|     
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|     # Stay on a specific version
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|     version=2.0
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|     git checkout -b $version origin/$version
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| 
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| ### Mirrors
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| 
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|  * git://github.com/telmich/cdist.git ([github](https://github.com/telmich/cdist))
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| 
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| ## Update
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| 
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| To upgrade cdist in the current branch use
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| 
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|     git pull
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| 
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|     # Also update the manpages
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|     ./build.sh man
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|     export MANPATH=$MANPATH:$(pwd -P)/doc/man
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| 
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| If you stay on a version branche (i.e. 1.0, 1.1., ...), nothing should break.
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| The master branch on the other hand is the development branch and may not be
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| working, break your setup or eat the tree in your garden.
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| 
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| ### Upgrading from 1.7 to 2.0
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| 
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| * Ensure python (>= 3.2) is installed on the server
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| * Use "cdist config host" instead of "cdist-deploy-to host"
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| * Use "cdist config -p host1 host2" instead of "cdist-mass-deploy"
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| * Use "cdist banner" for fun
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| * Use **\_\_object_fq** instead of **\_\_self** in manifests
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| 
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| ### Upgrading from 1.6 to 1.7
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| 
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| * If you used the global explorer **hardware_type**, you need to change
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|   your code to use **machine** instead.
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| 
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| ### Upgrading from 1.5 to 1.6
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| 
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| * If you used **\_\_package_apt --preseed**, you need to use the new
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|   type **\_\_debconf_set_selections** instead.
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| * The **\_\_package** types accepted either --state deinstalled or
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|   --state uninstaaled. Starting with 1.6, it was made consistently
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|   to --state removed.
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| 
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| ### Upgrading from 1.3 to 1.5
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| 
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| No incompatiblities.
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| 
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| ### Upgrading from 1.2 to 1.3
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| 
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| Rename **gencode** of every type to **gencode-remote**.
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| 
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| ### Upgrading from 1.1 to 1.2
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| 
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| No incompatiblities.
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| 
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| ### Upgrading from 1.0 to 1.1
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| 
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| In 1.1 the type **\_\_file** was split into **\_\_directory**, **\_\_file** and
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| **\_\_link**. The parameter **--type** was removed from **\_\_file**. Thus you
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| need to replace **\_\_file** calls in your manifests:
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| 
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|  * Remove --type from all \_\_file calls
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|  * If type was symlink, use \_\_link and --type symbolic
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|  * If type was directory, use \_\_directory
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| 
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| 
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| ## Support
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| 
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| ### IRC
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| 
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| You can join the development ***IRC channel***
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| [#cstar on irc.freenode.org](irc://irc.freenode.org/#cstar).
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| 
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| ### Mailing list
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| 
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| Bug reports, questions, patches, etc. should be send to the
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| [cdist mailing list](http://l.schottelius.org/mailman/listinfo/cdist).
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| 
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| ### Commercial support
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| 
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| You can request commercial support for cdist from
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| [my company](http://firma.schottelius.org/english/).
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| 
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| ## Used by
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| 
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| If you're using cdist, feel free to send a report to the mailing list.
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| Interesting information are for instance
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| 
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|  * Which services do you manage?
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|  * How many machines do you manage?
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|  * What are the pros/cons you see in cdist?
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|  * General comments/critics
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| 
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| ### Nico Schottelius, Systems Group ETH Zurich and privately
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| 
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| Yes, I'm actually eating my own dogfood and currently managing
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| 
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|  * [plone](http://plone.org/) (cms)
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|  * [moinmoin](http://moinmo.in/) (wiki)
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|  * [apache](http://httpd.apache.org/) (webserver)
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|  * [kerberos (mit)](http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/) (authentication)
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|  * [nss-pam-ldapd](http://arthurdejong.org/nss-pam-ldapd/) (authentication)
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|  * [ircd-hybrid](http://www.ircd-hybrid.org/) (chat)
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|  * [stunnel](http://stunnel.mirt.net/) (SSL tunnel)
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|  * [mercurial-server](http://www.lshift.net/mercurial-server.html) (version control)
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|  * [xfce](http://www.xfce.org/) (lightweight desktop environment)
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|  * [slim](http://slim.berlios.de/) (graphical login manager for X11)
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| 
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| with cdist on more than **60** production machines of the
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| [Systems Group](http://www.systems.ethz.ch) at the
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| [ETH Zurich](http://www.ethz.ch) as well at home.
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| 
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| ### Steven Armstrong, CBRG ETH Zurich
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| 
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| The CBRG is managing most of their compute clusters with cdist.
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| 
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| 
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