Cvs of system administration files again

[Les Mikesell]

I see there was some discussion on this list earlier  about using cvs
with unix system configuration file but no real resolution or examples
of anyone doing it.  I'd like to go a step beyond a single instance
and would listen to any advice about how to set it up or if it is
a good idea in the first place.  Most of my machines are running
RedHat Linux which puts all the config files under /etc, so to get
started, I'd like to import some base machine's directory, then
check it back out again for use.  For the other machines I'd check
out the base copy, change anything necessary for that particular
setup, than commit it back as a branch. When adding new machines
I would take the closest branch config, change at least the hostname
and IP address and commit back as a different branch.  I would like
to be able to reconstruct any config from any time, but the main thing
I am after is to be able to easily see the differences any machine
has from the original base configuration (even if the base machine
is changed later too, and especially if one or both of the machines
in question are broken).  Is this a reasonable thing to attempt using
cvs?  I don't forsee ever trying to merge branches, I just want to
track the changes away from a master starting point.

Also, there are an assortment of config files for routers and
similar equipment that should be managed in a similar way, but
of course those devices can't participate directly in client/server
cvs access so the files need to live under a tftp directory somewhere.
Is there some standard way to handle a case where you want a set of
branches checked out at the same time in more or less the same place?

  Les Mikesell
     address@hidden