propellor/doc
Joey Hess 86783dc52d Make propellor resistent to changes to shared libraries, such as libffi
* Make propellor resistent to changes to shared libraries, such as libffi,
  which might render the propellor binary unable to run. This is dealt with
  by checking the binary both when running propellor on a remote host,
  and by Cron.runPropellor. If the binary doesn't work, it will be rebuilt.
* Note that since a new switch had to be added to allow testing the binary,
  upgrading to this version will cause a rebuild from scratch of propellor.
2015-04-02 10:20:44 -04:00
..
footer links 2014-12-03 16:54:41 -04:00
forum merge from master 2014-08-19 17:33:00 -04:00
security comment 2014-12-15 12:05:06 -04:00
templates add 2014-11-20 19:49:56 -04:00
todo remove idea about moving into GADT 2015-01-25 15:20:11 -04:00
README.mdwn add components page 2015-02-28 14:19:27 -04:00
centralized_git_repository.mdwn update for cron change 2015-02-12 12:40:52 -04:00
coding_style.mdwn reorg 2014-11-01 13:34:22 -04:00
comments.mdwn merge from master 2014-08-19 17:33:00 -04:00
components.mdwn typo 2015-03-22 10:33:17 -04:00
contributing.mdwn add interface stability docs 2014-10-31 11:08:45 -04:00
debugging.mdwn propellor.debug can be set in the git config to enable more persistent debugging output. 2014-11-25 18:55:12 -04:00
documentation.mdwn add components page 2015-02-28 14:19:27 -04:00
feeds.mdwn fix 2014-11-20 19:26:50 -04:00
forum.mdwn forum 2014-04-19 16:00:44 -04:00
haskell_newbie.mdwn simplify 2015-02-28 14:22:36 -04:00
index.mdwn link title 2014-11-21 21:54:16 -04:00
install.mdwn add 2014-04-19 15:48:36 -04:00
interface_stability.mdwn update 2015-01-25 15:22:22 -04:00
mdwn2man mdwn man page and more complete docs 2014-11-22 12:13:38 -04:00
news.mdwn move news to better page 2014-12-03 16:53:26 -04:00
posts.mdwn add posts page 2014-12-03 16:54:15 -04:00
security.mdwn update 2014-11-18 19:00:34 -04:00
todo.mdwn more pages 2014-04-19 15:48:28 -04:00
usage.mdwn Make propellor resistent to changes to shared libraries, such as libffi 2015-04-02 10:20:44 -04:00

README.mdwn

[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. See [[components]]
for details.

Properties are defined using Haskell. Edit `~/.propellor/config.hs`
to get started. There is fairly complete 
[API documentation](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/propellor/),
which includes many built-in Properties for dealing with
[Apt](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/propellor/docs/Propellor-Property-Apt.html)
and
[Apache](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/propellor/docs/Propellor-Property-Apache.html)
,
[Cron](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/propellor/docs/Propellor-Property-Cron.html)
and
[Commands](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/propellor/docs/Propellor-Property-Cmd.html)
,
[Dns](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/propellor/docs/Propellor-Property-Dns.html)
and
[Docker](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/propellor/docs/Propellor-Property-Docker.html), etc.

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 on your development machine (ie, laptop).
     `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. If you don't have a gpg private key already, generate one: `gpg --gen-key`
4. Run: `propellor --add-key $KEYID`, which will make propellor trust
   your gpg key, and will sign your `~/.propellor` repository using it.
5. Edit `~/.propellor/config.hs`, and add a host you want to manage.
   You can start by not adding any properties, or only a few.
6. Run: `propellor --spin $HOST`
7. 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, add some
   properties to it, and re-run step 6.  
   Repeat until happy and move on to the next host. :)
8. Optionally, set up a [centralized git repository](https://propellor.branchable.com/centralized_git_repository/)
   so that multiple hosts can be updated with a simple `git commit -S; git push`
9. Write some neat new properties and send patches!