I have a small set of config files and cfengine scripts that I want to deploy on every machine I own. Of course, the Debian way is to put them into a package, and install that. So far so good.

Problems arise when trying to maintain this package on several different $HOME directories - depending on where I am when I want a change. Using $vcs (svn in this case) works, but I'd also like source packages. Only that I occasionally forget where I put the repository. Or uploading new source packages is too tedious.

The later problem was solved by a cute combination of dput and reprepro. My .dput.cf has targets that rsync the package over to my server, and automatically install the packages into the repository there.

For the repository problem, Stefano Zacchiroli's debcheckout comes to the rescue. Vcs-Svn: in debian/control points to my svn+ssh:// repository. Instant "DWIM" checkouts! (To actually make this work, the latest cfengine tweaks add deb-src lines for my local repository that were previously missing.)