Re: Backup package initial target
dhs@firefly.com (David H. Silber) said:
goals for the first version of backup
>[...]
> o) This will be a simple (probably shell) script.
> o) A list of files unique to this system will be generated
> by taking the difference between the list of all files
> on the system and the list of files installed by dpkg,
> and adding in all configuration files listed in the dpkg
> status file. The files under /var/lib/dpkg will not be
> included in the list.
> o) The files in the list established above will be copied
> into an archive (probably using cpio).
> o) The archive will be compressed (probably using gzip).
>[...]
Suggestions -- possibly for subsequent versions:
Some directories other than /var/lib/dpkg should be excluded.
/tmp and /var/tmp, at least. (perhaps this goes without saying)
The user should have some way of specifying additional directories
and files to be excluded from the backup.
How about eliminating the intermediate (and probably large) online
copy of the archive file and going directly to a designated
(and possibly multivolume) backup device, or putting the
archive data on stdout from where it could be post-processed
for writing to a multivolume archive or wherever else it needed
to go?
How about making the compression optional, for a more recoverable
archive if there's a problem partway through?
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