RANCID, but for arbitrary server configuration files

Does anyone have advice on such a beast? I would prefer not to have to install additional software on my AIX machines, so etckeeper isn't ideal. It's also not centralized, based on my quick reading.

Ideally, I would like something that runs under Linux, logs into a list of named servers, pulls down a list of named files (per server) or all the contents of named directories (per server), perhaps does some cleanup/processing, and then stuffs them into svn. 'Centralized' is important, because if I care about a new file or directory, I don't want to have to log into 40 AIX servers to change a config file.

And I know that Chef or Puppet or cfengine would make this easier by putting the deployment under management, not just recording what was deployed after the fact. Trying to get one of those packages tested and approved on our production AIX boxes would not be easy; I'm looking for quick wins, as the kids say.

If you can store the "file list" on the central server, you can simply make different modules in rancid that will have the file list there and commands to run. It will login, run the commands, save them, and then you can post-process it in the module as well. I'm not sure why rancid wouldn't work.

Take another look at etckeeper. You'll need to add some additional scripting to push to a centralized location, but it should fit pretty well with what you're looking for. I don't think you'll find a good solution that lets you avoid software installs completely.