> Has this been done already? A more general approach which also covers python/php modules as well as system packages, configuration files, installed software

> Has this been done already? A more general approach which also covers python/php modules as well as system packages, configuration files, installed software on /usr/local , .. is blueprint https://github.com/devstructure/blueprint https://github.com/devstructure/blueprint / http://devstructure.com/ http://devstructure.com/ What it basically does is to analyse your system, create a list of packages and files, save it in a git repository and allows you to export it to various different formats like shell script or puppet or chef. Btw. this is IMHO a really big deal. Not only can you clone your environment easily, but it helps you to create a managed environment as you have at least a starting point to create your puppet manifests/chef recipes or at least shell scripts. And as it uses git you can easily use it to create distributed configuration backups of your systems. Oh and as the default output format is JSON you can start to create webservices showing the state of your servers/create a more convenient overview about your systems.