Keeping track of changes in the Linux configuration can be a chore but sometimes it is vital to know what was changed. As a software developer I am used to using version control systems for source code, so why not use one for configuration files?
Enter etckeeper a tool that does exactly that: It tracks changes to files in /etc (including access rights) in a git repository (alternatively it can be configured to use Mercurial, Bazar or Darcs, unfortunately svn is not supported).
It hooks into apt to automatically track changes made by updates. Manual updates can be committed explicitly, but there is also a daily cron job that does it automatically.