Re: [gentoo-user] Managing multiple systems with identical hardware

[thegeezer <thegeezer@thegeezer.net>]

On 09/30/2013 06:31 PM, Grant wrote:
>>> Keeping all of the laptops 100% identical as far as hardware is
>>> central to this plan.  I know I'm setting myself up for big problems
>>> otherwise.
>>>
>>> I'm hoping I can emerge every package on my laptop that every other
>>> laptop needs.  That way I can fix any build problems and update any
>>> config files right on my own system.  Then I would push config file
>>> differences to all of the other laptops.  Then each laptop could
>>> emerge its own stuff unattended.
>> I see what you desire now - essentially you want to clone your laptop
>> (or big chunks of it) over to your other workstations.
> That sounds about right.
>
>> To get a feel for how it works, visit puppet's web site and download
>> some of the test appliances they have there and run them in vm software.
>> Set up a server and a few clients, and start experimenting in that
>> sandbox. You'll quickly get a feel for how it all hangs together (it's
>> hard to describe in text how puppet gets the job done, so much easier to
>> do it for real and watch the results)
> Puppet seems like overkill for what I need.  I think all I really need
> is something to manage config file differences and user accounts.  At
> this point I'm thinking I shouldn't push packages themselves, but
> portage config files and then let each laptop emerge unattended based
> on those portage configs.  I'm going to bring this to the 'salt'
> mailing list to see if it might be a good fit.  It seems like a much
> lighter weight application.
>
> I'm soaking up a lot of your time (again).  I'll return with any real
> Gentoo questions I run into and to run down the final plan before I
> execute it.  Thanks so much for your help.  Not sure what I'd do
> without you. :)
>
> - Grant
>
maybe someone could chip in re: experience with distributed compilation
and cached compiles?
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Distcc
http://ccache.samba.org/

this may be closer to what you are looking for ?