This is convenient, here's how to do it:
# Install svk
apt-get install svk
# Initialize a depot in /root/.svk
svk depotmap --init
# Import /etc making it a working copy
svk import --to-checkout //etc /etc
# Make your depot not that readable
chmod -R go-rwx ~/.svk
# Remove volatile files from revision control
cd /etc
svk rm -K adjtime ld.so.cache
...and voilà, you have /etc/ under revision control, without CVS or .svn or {arch} or .bzr files around. The syntax of svk is just like the syntax of svn, of which it's a distributed extension.