Ask HN: Configuration Management for laptops?
- they aren't always on (basic cron doesn't work, have to use @daily or similar)
- users don't know and don't care about background processes, so will suspend (close lid) and reboot at random (as far as the OS is concerned)
- they are often disconnected from the internet
- need to take care of user "states" (mainly for installed packages, diff users use diff packages)
I can educate users, teach them to update list of packages they want to install in a git repo rather than installing packages directly, I can also ask them to run an "update" regularly when they are connected to the internet and will leave the laptop on rather than use cron etc...
I have used basic bash scripts, which worked well after the initial OS install. Then used ansible pull, with complicated bash script to determine if ansible was already running, had access to git repo, pull git repo, kill failed ansible sessions etc..., which allowed continuous upgrade and the push of some new configs. Major ansible changes made me reverse to bash scripts. What else is out there? Runing local Salt minions? Will they have all the same issues as ansible?
When writing my own stuff in bash, I feel like I'm re-inventing the wheel, but "bash" has outlived everything else, no major version changes, my 10 year old scripts are still working fine, ansible/salt etc.. didn't exist 10 years ago and aren't tuned for laptop life.
Is there something well suited for laptops?
What do you use (for others, not just yourself)?
If nothing, anybody wants to start working on something?