in-place import in other version control systems? dvcs?

Question

I use subversion's in-place import (read for details) for configuration file version control in /etc and my home directory. It works well for me, but I've been seeing alot better/faster version control systems cropping up and want to convert. I tried mercurial, and it doesn't really support this feature of checking out a working copy of a single subfolder in a repository- it seems to want you to check out the whole thing at once.

Do other version control systems allow this? I've only tried cvs, mercurial, and subversion. Examples welcome.

Answer 1

For git (assuming it is installed already):

cd /etc
git init-db
chmod og-rwx .git
git add .
git commit -a -m"initial import"

More elaborated version with automatic update when apt is used:

Maintain /etc with git

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For Mercurial (assuming it is installed already):

cd /etc
hg init
chmod og-rwx .hg
hg add
hg ci -m "initial checkin"

More elaborated version with automatic update when apt is used:

Maintain /etc with mercurial