Re: Save/Restore Symlinks
On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:50:04PM -0500, Chuck Rhode wrote:
> Alright, I want to back-up my *home* directory, but it has symlinks to
> other directories. How do I get these back after a restore?
I'm not even sure I understand the question. If you back up a symlink,
and then restore the symlink, you still have a symlink. What's the
problem?
If you want to ensure you back up the TARGET of the symlink, rather than
the link itself, then use tar's --dereference flag.
> I gather that *tar* saves link info, but *rsync*, using standard
> file-system calls to create links in the backup directory, cannot,
> when the destination is on removable media.
Again, your question is exceedingly unclear. Rsync has plenty of flags
to handle symlinks in various ways. However, if the *filesystem* of your
backup media doesn't support symlinks (e.g. vfat) then you should use
tarballs rather than per-file backup strategies to preserve your
directory structure.
--
"Oh, look: rocks!"
-- Doctor Who, "Destiny of the Daleks"
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