propellor/doc/usage.mdwn

# NAME

propellor - property-based host configuration management in haskell

# SYNOPSIS

propellor [options]

# DESCRIPTION

`propellor` is a property-based host configuration management program written 
and configured in haskell.

# MODES OF OPERATION

* propellor

  The first time you run `propellor`, without any options,
  it will set up a `~/.propellor/` repository. Edit `~/.propellor/config.hs`
  to configure it.

  Once propellor is configured, running it without any options will take
  action as needed to satisfy the configured properties of the local host.

  If there's a central git repository, it will first fetch from the
  repository, check the gpg signature and merge, and rebuild propellor,
  so that any configuration changes will immediately take effect.

  If propellor is run by a non-root user without any options, this is
  the same  as running propellor --spin with the hostname of the local
  host.

* propellor --spin targethost [targethost ...] [--via relayhost]

  Causes propellor to automatically install itself on the specified target
  host, or if it's already installed there, push any updates. Propellor is
  then run on the target host, to satisfy its configured properties.

  A signed git commit is made by --spin, so that any changes you have made
  get propigated to the target host.

  Multiple target hosts can be specified; propellor will run on each of
  them in sequence.

  When run with --via, propellor sshes to the relay host and runs
  `propellor --spin hostname` from there. This can be useful when
  propellor is installing itself, since most of the data transfer
  is done between relay host and target host. Note that propellor
  uses ssh agent forwarding to make this work, and the relay host
  sees any privdata belonging to the target host.

  Propellor configuration typically uses the FQDN of hosts.
  The hostname given to --spin can be a short name, which is
  then looked up in the DNS to find the FQDN.

* propellor --add-key keyid

  Adds a gpg key, which is used to encrypt the privdata.

  If the gpg secret key is present, git is configured to sign commits
  using this key. Propellor requires signed commits when pulling from
  a central git repository.

* propellor --list-fields

  Lists all privdata fields that are used by your propellor configuration.
  The first 2 columns are the field name and context, and are followed by
  a list of the hosts that use that privdata value.

* propellor --set field context

  Sets a field of privdata. The content is read in from stdin.

* propellor --dump field context

  Outputs the privdata value to stdout.

* propellor --edit field context

  Opens $EDITOR on the privdata value.

* propellor --merge

  Combine multiple --spin commits into a single, more useful commit.

  When using propellor, you may find yourself repeatedly running
  `propellor --spin` until you get things working the way you like.
  This results in a lot of git commits being made, with incremental
  changes.
  
  To clean that up to a single commit, use `propellor --merge`. A normal
  interactive git commit will then be made, consisting of all changes
  that have been previously committed by --spin, since the last time a
  normal git commit was made.

  (This will result in a trapezoid pattern in gitk.)

* propellor hostname

  When run with a hostname and no other options, propellor will
  provision the local host with the configuration of that hostname.
  This is useful when the local host doesn't yet have its hostname set
  correctly.

# ENVIRONMENT

Set `PROPELLOR_DEBUG=1` to make propellor output each command it runs and
other debugging information.

# GIT CONFIGURATION

`git config propellor.debug 1` will configure propellor to output debugging
information.

The usual git configuration controls which centralized repository (if any)
propellor pushes and pulls from. 

Additionally, the url of a remote named "deploy", if it exists
in your ~/.propellor/ repository, is used as the origin url for
the other repositories.

# SH AUTHOR 

Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>

<https://propellor.branchable.com/>

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