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slack(8)               DragonFly System Manager's Manual              slack(8)

NAME
       slack - Sysadmin's lazy autoconfiguration kit

SYNOPSIS
       slack [option ...] [role ...]

DESCRIPTION
       slack is a master command which coordinates the activities of its
       backends, which variously:

       o      determine the list of roles to be installed on this server

       o      create a local cached copy of the role files from the central
              repository

       o      merge file trees from subroles into a single, unified tree

       o      install files onto the local filesystem

       o      run scripts before and after installation

       Options you give to slack will be generally passed along to the
       backends where relevant.

OPTIONS
       -h, --help
              Print a usage statement.

       --version
              Print the version and exit.

       -v, --verbose
              Increase verbosity.  Can be specified multiple times.

       --quiet
              Don't be verbose (Overrides previous uses of --verbose).

       -C, --config FILE
              Use the specfied FILE for configuration instead of the default,
              /etc/slack.conf.

       -s, --source DIR
              Source directory for slack files

       -e, --rsh COMMAND
              Remote shell for rsync

       -c, --cache DIR
              Local cache directory for slack files

       -t, --stage DIR
              Local staging directory for slack files

       -r, --root DIR
              Root destination for slack files

       --no-sync
              Skip the slack-sync step (useful if you're pushing stuff into
              the CACHE outside slack).

       --no-files
              Don't install any files in ROOT, but tell rsync to print what it
              would do.

       --no-scripts
              Don't run scripts

       -n, --dry-run
              Same as --no-files --no-scripts  (CACHE, STAGE will still be
              updated)

       --role-list
              Role list for slack-getroles(8).

       -b, --backup
              Make backups of existing files in ROOT that are overwritten.
              This option defaults to on if it is not set to 0 in a config
              file or disabled with --nobackup on the command line.

       --backup-dir
              Put backups from the --backup option into this directory.

       -H, --hostname HOST
              Pretend to be running on HOST, instead of the name given by
              gethostname(2).

       --preview MODE
              Do a diff of scripts and files before running them.  MODE can be
              one of 'simple' or 'prompt' (See PREVIEW MODES, below).

       --diff PROG
              Use this diff program for previews.

       --sleep TIME
              Randomly sleep between 1 and TIME seconds before starting
              operations.  Useful in crontabs.

PREVIEW MODES
       Preview functionality is new in slack 0.14.0.  I haven't quite worked
       out how things will work, so this usage is somewhat subject to change
       in future versions.  I thought I would try it this way and see how
       people like it.

       In 'simple' mode, after syncing and staging the files directory, slack
       will present a diff of the files and scripts.  In this mode, slack will
       not run the preinstall or fixfiles scripts, and because of this, it may
       provide some false output about permissions changes to files.

       In 'prompt' mode, after syncing and staging the files directory, slack
       will diff the script directory.  If there are differences, slack will
       present them to you and ask you if you want to continue.  If you say
       no, it will exit.  If you say yes, it will stage the scripts directory,
       run the preinstall and fixfiles scripts, and then diff the files in the
       stage with those in the root.  If there are differences, slack will
       present them to you and ask you if you want to continue.  If you say
       no, it will exit.  If you say yes, it will install the files and run
       the postinstall script.

       So, the 'simple' mode is easy to use, and will be accurate if you don't
       use fixfiles.  The 'prompt' mode will be accurate if you use fixfiles,
       but requires some interaction.

       Why can't we just have one mode that works with fixfiles and requires
       no interaction?  Well, that would require slack to understand what your
       free-form fixfiles executable was going to do, which would either
       require some kind of universe simulator or would require you to write
       your fixfiles in a less free-form way, which would make slack less like
       slack.

EXAMPLES
       To install all the roles configured in the role list for a server:
              slack

       To install a specific role:
              slack rolename

       To test a new role before checking in the changes:
              slack --source user@workstation:/home/user/.../slack rolename

       To avoid killing your master server when calling from cron:
              slack --sleep 3600

FILES
       /etc/slack.conf

SEE ALSO
       slack.conf(5), rsync(1)

Administrative commands           2004-10-22                          slack(8)