Re: Putting dates in names
No, don't put dates in names. That just makes the names harder to understand. If the files are called "system_restart" and "system_test_dr_capability", they are less likely to be run by accident than if they're called "20170204_ada_lovelace_at_company_dot_com_fixes20160419_system_test_dr_capability".
The latter approach not only makes long names that are hard to remember, but it can also result in multiple versions of the file that may or may not do the same thing.
Put instructions at the top of any file that can handle them, and of course test before you push things into production. Also, if you can, don't use a system that cheerfully replaces one config with another config without asking; if they had gotten a single confirmation box or terminal warning*, this would have been detected before it caused a problem.
*As it turns out, neither mv nor cp complains about copying a file over another one. I thought they did. Time to become more nervous.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
