[Propellor](https://propellor.branchable.com/) is a
configuration management system using Haskell and Git.
Each system has a list of properties, which Propellor ensures
are satisfied.
Propellor is configured via a git repository, which typically lives
in `~/.propellor/` on your development machine. Propellor clones the
repository to each host it manages, in a
[secure](http://propellor.branchable.com/security/) way.
To trigger propellor to run on a host, run `propellor --spin $host`.
Or run `/usr/local/propellor/propellor` on the host. Or use the
[runPropellor property](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/propellor-0.4.0/docs/Propellor-Property-Cron.html)
to have Propellor set up a cron job.
Properties are defined using Haskell. Edit `~/.propellor/config.hs`
to get started. There is fairly complete
[API documentation](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/propellor/).
There is no special language as used in puppet, chef, ansible, etc.. just
the full power of Haskell. Hopefully that power can be put to good use in
making declarative properties that are powerful, nicely idempotent, and
easy to adapt to a system's special needs!
If using Haskell to configure Propellor seems intimidating,
see [configuration for the Haskell newbie](https://propellor.branchable.com/haskell_newbie/).
## quick start
1. Get propellor installed
`cabal install propellor`
or
`apt-get install propellor`
2. Run propellor for the first time. It will set up a `~/.propellor/` git
repository for you.
3. `cd ~/.propellor/`; use git to push the repository to a central
server (github, or your own git server). Configure that central
server as the origin remote of the repository.
4. If you don't have a gpg private key, generate one: `gpg --gen-key`
5. Run: `propellor --add-key $KEYID`
6. Edit `~/.propellor/config.hs`, and add a host you want to manage.
You can start by not adding any properties, or only a few.
7. Pick a host and run: `propellor --spin $HOST`
8. Now you have a simple propellor deployment, but it doesn't do
much to the host yet, besides installing propellor.
So, edit `~/.propellor/config.hs` to configure the host (maybe
start with a few simple properties), and re-run step 7.
Repeat until happy and move on to the next host. :)
9. To move beyond manually running `propellor --spin` against hosts
when you change their properties, add a property to your hosts
like: `Cron.runPropellor "30 * * * *"`
Now they'll automatically update every 30 minutes, and you can
`git commit -S` and `git push` changes that affect any number of
hosts.
10. Write some neat new properties and send patches to <propellor@joeyh.name>!
## debugging
Set `PROPELLOR_DEBUG=1` to make propellor print out all the commands it runs
and any other debug messages that Properties choose to emit.
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