Anyone as crazy as I am? Stage 4 tarball updating process?

[dufeu]

With the advent of the new automated weekly stage123 tarballs for x86/686/amd64, I'd like to refine a concept I have for updating multiple machines. I'm not a programmer so I'm looking for some advice here.

This is the scenario:

I have a bunch of similar sets of PCs I take care of. Some of these are various family members and friends PCs and I have a bunch of my own for various purposes. I don't have network access to all these machines, so at various times I update them manually as I visit friends and family.

In general, almost all the PCs I build are configured similarly in terms of included packages. Therefore, when I go to build a new PC, I make a new "stage4" tarball from a current similar hardware box and install that as if it were a "stage3" tarball.

What I would like to do is figure out how to "upgrade" an existing box using a "stage4" tarball.

I totally get that I'd be concerned about retaining the contents of "/etc/conf.d", "/etc/passwd*" and "/etc/group*". I also understand I need to blow away the hal device retention rules in order to properly initiate the specific devices in the box being upgraded.

In theory, the /dev directory should be correctly populated upon reboot.

The process I'm currently comptemplating basically means booting with a liveCD, prepping system directories on target PC, overlaying the stage4 tarball on the target PC and then post upgrade clean up. Ta-da - semi-instant one-shot upgrade of all existing patches etc.

The fuzzy parts are the system prepping part and post upgrade cleanup part. Honestly, beyond what's mentioned above, I don't know what other files/directories I need to worry about in terms of retention, etc. Nor am I sure what to blow away.
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People whom think M$ is mediocre, don't know the half of it.

[avx]

Well, if you can use one stage-file for all "your" pcs, that would mean, that they also have similar architecture, compiler-options and USE-flags, correct? If so, what about updating your system, making quickpkgs of all required packages, place them on some usbstick (or the like) and just `emerge -k` them on the other systems?

That should be easier to handle than a stage4(no reboot/livecd required, ...), except if you also plan to use the stage4 as a backup for a complete reinstall.

[0bfuscate]

Well read about quarter of what you typed since the huge S:N ratio. Create a bare stage4 use cobbler and puppet there your done.