A mechanical way of finding out any action's impact on config files

Catomic

12/17/22, 2:22 PM

Is there a mechanical way to find out the impact of any action on the config files?

The action can be anything: installing a package, adding a user, turning on a service, or updating an SSH key.

For example:

Adding a user may modify /etc/passwd, /etc/group, and /etc/shadow.
ssh-copy-id may modify the authorized_keys file of the user on the server.

I understand that one advantage of Linux over Windows is that configurations are more or less in one place and subject to manual modification (e.g. manually modifying /etc/passwd etc. instead of using useradd).

Many online tutorials explain which config files an action may modify and how. But I would like some mechanical way to make sure that I miss nothing.

Maybe something like dedicating a Ubuntu virtual machine to experimenting, doing the action in question, and scanning the whole machine (or only the likely directories) for change? A scan after a useradd action would flag /etc/passwd etc. as having changed.

I am not necessarily asking whether anyone could come up with a how-to on the fly. Maybe there is a standard method students of Linux have always used?

0 + 3

filesystem

monitoring

waltinator

12/17/22, 2:56 PM

You could use `installwatch`, part of the `checkinstall` package.

raj

12/17/22, 4:49 PM

what do you mean by "mechanical"? "Mechanical" for me means something that involves physical mechanisms, like clocks, springs, motors, levers etc.

Catomic

12/18/22, 8:54 AM

@raj I guess that's an English usage question? I don't mind answering. 'Mechanical' in this context means something like 'rote' or 'mindless.'

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: A mechanical way of finding out any action's impact on config files

TH: วิธีเชิงกลในการค้นหาผลกระทบของการกระทำใดๆ ในไฟล์ปรับแต่ง

RO: O modalitate mecanică de a afla impactul oricărei acțiuni asupra fișierelor de configurare

RU: Механический способ узнать влияние любого действия на файлы конфигурации.

VI: Một cách cơ học để tìm ra tác động của bất kỳ hành động nào đối với các tệp cấu hình

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.