I have a dozen or so computers around the place, mostly running Debian
or a derivative (Rasberry Pi OS).

I'm looking for a lightweight way to maintain their root-owned
configuration files, things like added scripts in /etc/cron.daily,
postfix configuration, systemd additions, etc.

While Ansible will do this it feels like overkill to me, **all** I
really need is to manage files, I'm quite happy starting and stopping
systems 'manually' as it were.

Is there some sort of minimal ansible that will let me do central
management of root-owned files?

--
Chris Green
ú

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Chris

There are more than a few options out there. Firstly you may want to
know that Ansible can be used in a minimal way[1]. Of you can have
fun and hack up something silly[2]. For a list I highly suggest you
look at Wikipedia[3]

1. https://lathama.net/git/lathama/IaC/src/branch/production/Infrastructure /doit
< example I have not updated in a while.
2. https://lathama.net/git/lathama/mvcm
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_open-source_configuration_ma nagement_software

On Mon, Mar 16, 2026 at 5:50?AM Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:

I have a dozen or so computers around the place, mostly running Debian
or a derivative (Rasberry Pi OS).

I'm looking for a lightweight way to maintain their root-owned
configuration files, things like added scripts in /etc/cron.daily,
postfix configuration, systemd additions, etc.

While Ansible will do this it feels like overkill to me, **all** I
really need is to manage files, I'm quite happy starting and stopping
systems 'manually' as it were.

Is there some sort of minimal ansible that will let me do central
management of root-owned files?

--
Chris Green
ú

--
- Andrew "lathama" Latham -

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

I think ansible is already minimal, you define only what you need
Il giorno lun 16 mar 2026 alle ore 12:50 Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> ha
scritto:

I have a dozen or so computers around the place, mostly running Debian
or a derivative (Rasberry Pi OS).

I'm looking for a lightweight way to maintain their root-owned
configuration files, things like added scripts in /etc/cron.daily,
postfix configuration, systemd additions, etc.

While Ansible will do this it feels like overkill to me, **all** I
really need is to manage files, I'm quite happy starting and stopping
systems 'manually' as it were.

Is there some sort of minimal ansible that will let me do central
management of root-owned files?

--
Chris Green
ú

--
.~.
/V\
// \\
/( )\
^`~'^


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Hi,

On Mon, Mar 16, 2026 at 11:41:07AM +0000, Chris Green wrote:

Is there some sort of minimal ansible that will let me do central
management of root-owned files?

It doesn't seem like a good idea. Wanting config management but then
wanting it to be very limited seems like a niche audience.

There's only room in my brain for so much information; I'd rather learn transferable skills like Ansible and just keep my use of it simple,
rather than learn a whole other thing that isn't going to be applicable anywhere else.

Just making a virtualenv, installing Ansible in it and then creating a
playbook that only uses the file, copy and template modules seems really lightweight to me.

If you are literally only distributing files you could just make Debian packages that only contain the files. Put them in a local apt
repository. Your hosts see updated versions when you increment the
version number.

Thanks,
Andy

--
https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Mon Mar 16, 2026 at 11:41 AM GMT, Chris Green wrote:

I have a dozen or so computers around the place, mostly running Debian
or a derivative (Rasberry Pi OS).

I'm looking for a lightweight way to maintain their root-owned
configuration files, things like added scripts in /etc/cron.daily,
postfix configuration, systemd additions, etc.

If the hosts all had the same files with the same content, I'd just use
rsync. But I presume that this isn't the case.

--
???????
??????? Jonathan Do
wland
??????? https://jmt
d.net
???????

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net> wrote:

Hi,

On Mon, Mar 16, 2026 at 11:41:07AM +0000, Chris Green wrote:

Is there some sort of minimal ansible that will let me do central management of root-owned files?

It doesn't seem like a good idea. Wanting config management but then
wanting it to be very limited seems like a niche audience.

There's only room in my brain for so much information; I'd rather learn transferable skills like Ansible and just keep my use of it simple,
rather than learn a whole other thing that isn't going to be applicable anywhere else.

Just making a virtualenv, installing Ansible in it and then creating a playbook that only uses the file, copy and template modules seems really lightweight to me.

Yes, I guess that's true. I just don't know Ansible at all so it all
seems very complicated to start with. I will have a go at what you
suggest and see how it goes.

Thanks

If you are literally only distributing files you could just make Debian packages that only contain the files. Put them in a local apt
repository. Your hosts see updated versions when you increment the
version number.

That sounds a bit complicated! :-)

--
Chris Green
ú

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2026-03-16, Chris Green wrote:

If you are literally only distributing files you could just make Debian
packages that only contain the files. Put them in a local apt
repository. Your hosts see updated versions when you increment the
version number.

That sounds a bit complicated! :-)

If you use only debian hosts it is simple to setup and maintain.
You need
- a web server accessible by your hosts
- your files in a directory
- a script to build your packages
- a script to build your debian repository
You will find here plenty of help to do that.
And better : you could became a debian dev :)

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Jonathan Dowland <jmtd@debian.org> wrote:

On Mon Mar 16, 2026 at 11:41 AM GMT, Chris Green wrote:

I have a dozen or so computers around the place, mostly running Debian
or a derivative (Rasberry Pi OS).

I'm looking for a lightweight way to maintain their root-owned configuration files, things like added scripts in /etc/cron.daily,
postfix configuration, systemd additions, etc.

If the hosts all had the same files with the same content, I'd just use rsync. But I presume that this isn't the case.

Ah, but they don't, the whole issue is that some files go to all
hosts, some files go to just one host and some files go to two or
three hosts. Thus each file needs some sort of metadata to tell which
hosts it's for.

--
Chris Green
ú

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2026-03-16, Chris Green wrote:

Ah, but they don't, the whole issue is that some files go to all
hosts, some files go to just one host and some files go to two or
three hosts. Thus each file needs some sort of metadata to tell which
hosts it's for.

You can cope with that at different levels. You can make different
packages and install them on different hosts. It is not much more
work. You can test in apt install scripts and change files during
install. Or if you install your own scripts you can change them to test
the host.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Monday, March 16, 2026 10:04:25 PM CET, Chris Green wrote:

Ah, but they don't, the whole issue is that some files go to all
hosts, some files go to just one host and some files go to two or
three hosts. Thus each file needs some sort of metadata to tell which
hosts it's for.

i tackle this 'problem' with a script essentially using rsync copying files

from subfolders.

for system wide files:
rsync <options> <srv>::<module>/<os>/<version>/ /

for host specific files:
rsync <options> <srv>::<module>/"$HOSTNAME"/ /

and for files that are needed for specific roles:
rsync <options> <srv>::<module>/<role>/<os>/<version>/ /

of course, the above commands are extremely simplified examples. please consider safety and security as well as recoverability in case something
goes wrong. be aware this works only if files are added. if you want to
remove a file, then you need some additional logic.

greetings...

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> writes:

Is there some sort of minimal ansible that will let me do central
management of root-owned files?

I dunno, ssh maybe?

It sometimes feels like a pain to figure out the ansible way of doing
things, let alone the syntax. Usually it's overly complicated with baby
steps. For example, I'm used to running ln -vfsn to create symlinks with feedback and without whining. Or sometimes I like to mangle some config
files with sed. So, then it's ssh time.

Then again, since like you, I mostly just do a few things like copy
files over or pull from the web or run backups or create symlinks. So
once done it's in my notes and can be redone easily.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

I don't know that I'd call it lighter weight than ansible, but I like
SaltStack a lot for this kind of thing. It's very good for letting you
apply states to hosts based on tags you give those hosts, so you can have
files that go to all hosts, files that go to some set of hosts, etc. It
does require a central server, but I consider that a feature.

--Gregory

On Mon, Mar 16, 2026 at 11:41:07AM +0000, Chris Green wrote:

I have a dozen or so computers around the place, mostly running Debian
or a derivative (Rasberry Pi OS).

I'm looking for a lightweight way to maintain their root-owned
configuration files, things like added scripts in /etc/cron.daily,
postfix configuration, systemd additions, etc.

While Ansible will do this it feels like overkill to me, **all** I
really need is to manage files, I'm quite happy starting and stopping
systems 'manually' as it were.

Is there some sort of minimal ansible that will let me do central
management of root-owned files?

--
Chris Green
?

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)