Re: Configuration DB

[Cameron Hutchison <camh+dl@xdna.net>]

Once upon a time Paul E Condon said...
> quote
> _________________________________________________________________
> 	Rationale
> 
> The existence of a separate directory for cached data allows system
> administrators to set different disk and backup policies from other
> directories in /var.
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> end quote
> 
> If the data in /var is easily regenerated, why is backup of these data
> mentioned in the rationale as a justification for separate directories?

I assume you mean /var/cache here? As the data in /var/cache is easily
regenerated, while other data in /var is not (/var/lib and others), you
would want a different backup policy for the different parts of /var.

A sensible backup policy for /var/cache, IMHO, is not to back it up at
all. I also exclude my mozilla caches, font caches, and other easily
regenerable data (ie. caches) from my backups too. It makes no sense
to me to backup a cache.

> I conclude that the OP's belief that the wording of the FHS,
> apparently precludes ever needing to backup /var is mistaken. So, OP,
> do backup whatever parts of /var you feel you need to preserve.

This is exactly what I do. Based on FHS, I should not need to backup
/var/cache, however debconf puts non-regenerable in /var/cache,
violating FHS.

This is my stance from a technical standpoint.

>From a pragmatic standpoint, I will add /var/cache/debconf to my
backups.