METCHE(8)						      System Manager's Manual							 METCHE(8)

NAME

       metche - reducing root bus factor

SYNOPSIS

	      metche [-h VSERVER] report (stable|testing|unstable)-YYYYMMDDHHMM
	      metche [-h VSERVER] list
	      metche [-h VSERVER] stabilize testing-YYYYMMDDHHMM

DESCRIPTION

       metche is a tool meant to ease collective system administration by monitoring changes in the system configuration.

       metche basic usage is to monitor changes in a directory, usually /etc; optionally, metche can also monitor:

       o one or more user maintained changelog files,

       o the state of Debian packages and versions.

       metche  should be installed with a cronjob that regularly runs to automatically save the system state as needed.  These states are saved in
       a way similar to the Debian development model:

       o unstable states are saved as soon as a change is detected.  They are kept until a new testing state appears.

       o testing states is created from the last unstable state that has not been changed after a short amount of time	(by  default,  one  hour).
	 Old unstable states are deleted afterwards.

       o stable states are created from the last testing state, either manually, or after a long amount of time (by default, 3 days).  Old testing
	 states are deleted afterwards.

       When a new testing state is saved, an email is sent to a configurable address, giving an overwiew of  the  differences  with  the  previous
       testing.  A notification is also sent when a new stable state is saved.

       metche's configuration is read from /etc/metche.conf.  Various settings like changelog monitoring or time between system state switches are
       described there.

OPTIONS

       If -h VSERVER is specified, the VServer VSERVER is operated on instead of the host system.  This, along with the VSNAMES option, allows one
       to monitor several VServers running on the system.

       One of the following commands must be specified on the command line:

       report When  run with the report command, metche displays a report against the specified saved state, or if unspecified, against the latest
	      testing state.  This is useful when you have broken your system and want to know which changes have been made since a  given,  known
	      working, system state.

       list   When run with the list command, metche displays a list of all the saved states.

       stabilize
	      When  run with the stabilize command, metche turns a "testing state" into a "stable state".  By default, it will use the last "test-
	      ing state", but this can be overridden by giving a specific state as argument.

       cron   This command should not be called manually, but used from a cronjob.  When called, it can perform various  operations  like:  saving
	      "unstable",  "testing"  or "stable" states as needed and sending reports and notification if configured to do so.  This command does
	      not support the -h option.

FILES

       /etc/metche.conf contains metche configuration.

       When configured to monitor one changelog, CHANGELOG_FILE (default: /root/Changelog).

       When configured to monitor multiple changelogs, CHANGELOG_DIR/*/Changelog (default: /root/changelogs).

       System states are saved in BACKUP_DIR (default: /var/lib/metche).

SECURITY

       metche is able to use GnuPG to encrypt the email it sends, but does not by default; just enable the ENCRYPT_EMAIL configuration option, and
       make  sure EMAIL_ADDRESS' public key is in root's keyring, trusted enough to be used blindly by metche.	If EMAIL_ADDRESS is an email alias
       or mailing-list's address, you probably want to use the group option in /root/.gnupg/gpg.conf so that  metche  reports  are  encrypted  for
       every person subscribed to this alias or mailing-list; for more information, see gpg(1).

       When  DO_DETAILS  is  enabled  and ENCRYPT_EMAIL is disabled, metche sends in clear text email the changes made to the watched directory...
       either make sure that the EXCLUDES configuration variable prevents it to send sensitive information, or triple check  that  secure  connec-
       tions will be used end-to-end on the email path.  If unsure, set EMAIL_ADDRESS configuration variable to a local mailbox.  Please note that
       EMAIL_ADDRESS is not used for VServers: a VServer's report messages are sent to its root email address.

       metche stores, in BACKUP_DIR (default: /var/lib/metche), various backups of WATCHED_DIR.  Make sure that this backup place is at  least	as
       secured as the source.

BUGS

       See  metche's  ticket  system  (https://labs.riseup.net/code/projects/metche/issues)  for known bugs, missing features, and the development
       road-map.

AUTHORS

       metche and this manual page were written by  the  boum.org  collective,	and  are  now  maintained  by  the  metche  developers	collective
       <metche@lists.riseup.net>.

metche user manual						   June 5, 2011 							 METCHE(8)