dconf

Dconf is a tool to collect a system's hardware and software configuration. It allows to take your system configuration with you on the road, compare identical systems (like nodes in a cluster) to troubleshoot HW or SW problems.

Dconf is also useful in projects where you have to manage changes as a team. Dconf can run periodically and send out system changes to a list of email addresses so that they can be revised and discussed in group.

You can customize your dconf configuration for specific needs, like making a profile of your laptop's hardware or copy specific software configuration files to send out or compare with other systems.

As a sysadmin, you won't become too paranoid if less experienced people have root-access.

As a consultant, you won't feel isolated if you don't have remote access to your systems.

As a support engineer, you won't become frustrated if a customer has fiddled around with some important config file and you have to find which.

As a performance tuner, you can capture the state of the system configuration in between performance tests/benchmarks.