a) and b) are just issues with common software being idiotic about configuration and insisting one a "one truth" central config file. c) As mentioned above, in

a) and b) are just issues with common software being idiotic about configuration and insisting one a "one truth" central config file. c) As mentioned above, inferring changes requires two snapshots, if /etc only contains changes a single snapshot allows me to infer changes. And I can verify the integrity just as well using an "after" snapshot. Just means one less snapshot is involved, which is reduced complexity.