convergent principle and editfile issue

[Zeev Fisher]

Hi,

I would like to discuss again the concept of  convergent  and editfiles.

From earlier discussion:

"The real reason for me using editfiles over copy for managing
configuration is that sometimes the values being set differ per machine,
which makes a single file less useful.  I certainly use copy for every
file that I want identical across all machines, but these files are
rarely configuration files.
I also like to make the minimum amount of change to any configuration
file, and I want any automatic edits to respect formatting changes that
a human makes."

I totally agree with this and i can't understand how such great software like cfengine which is based on the principle of 
convergent , doesn't have editfiles ability to check if certain file match certain structure ( which is dynamic according to
the machine it runs on but the template is fixed)

For example , i'm trying to find a way which will make sure that only the 
following 2 lines will appear in my hosts.equiv file :

+@examplenetgroup
examplehost

The netgroup name is constant but the hostname is the hostname of the 
machine itself so i can't use copy.

With all current editfiles feature , except of creating from scratch 
every time the file with emptyentirefileplease and inserts , i can't 
make sure that if someone added there host , it will be removed next 
time cfengine run.

I will be happy to hear how to do this if it's possible.


Thanks,
Zeev





--
Zeev Fisher - Unix System Administrator
Marvell Semiconductor Israel Ltd
6 Hamada Street Mordot HaCarmel Industrial Park
Yokneam 20692 , ISRAEL
Email    -  Zeev.Fisher@il.marvell.com
Tel      -  + 972 4 9091402
Cell     -  + 972 54 995402
Fax      -  + 972 4 9091501
WWW Page:     http://www.marvell.com

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