[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Bug#198602: ITP: debbackup -- Backup and restore Debian specifics (package status, conffiles)



Hi Daniel,

On Mon, Jun 30, 2003 at 09:18:31AM +1000, Daniel Stone wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 29, 2003 at 10:43:14PM +0200, Marc Haber wrote:
> > What you are proposing is a great idea that deserves careful planning.
> > 
> > Let me ramble on for a minute.
> > 
> > The backup script should probably call up a list of packages on the
> > system, build from these list a list of files installed from packages.
> > These files should be excluded from the Backup. It should also back up
> > the partition table of the hard disk, and information about which file
> > systems are in use.
> 
> Doing actual backup is completely out of the scope of what I had planned
> - there are fantastic backup tools already. The debbackup script itself
> will only generate a tarball needed by debrestore - no more, no less.

What exactly will be included in that tarball?

Please notice that tar is usually deprecated as a backup tool since a
single bad bit in the tarball will render the complete rest of the
tarball unreadable. People usually suggest afio or dump for this
endeavour. amanda, however, uses tar as well.

> If you want to work on an Amanda interface, or a dedicated backup
> program, that's fine, but debrestore itself will continue to have a
> single, dedicated task, for setups where most data is shared (e.g.
> /home), or where perfectly good backup regimens already exist.

You need to document more closely what your package intends to do.

> > Next steps would be:
> > - optionally restore hard disk partitioning
> > - file system creation
> > - mount file systems in a chroot
> > - Use debootstrap to install a base system with working apt
> > - dpkg --set-selections with the packet list backed up
> > - apt-get -f install to install Packages and files
> > - Restore of locally changed files and other data from the backup
> >   medium (using the CD images or amrecover).
> > 
> > I would like to work with you on that package. I really appreciate
> > your project and will certainly take a serious look into it when I get
> > back online.
> 
> I'll put up some sources when they're ready for consumption.

Good.

> Unfortunately, it's my understanding that 'guests' can't actually create
> Alioth projects, so I can't create it - I don't think I can ever
> actually commit it! I might be able to get a publically-accessible
> Subversion repository up, however.

As a DD, I can certainly create an alioth project, and there are guest
accounts available that can then commit to the repository. Just say
that you want me to and state a project name and I will happily create
the project.

Greetings
Marc

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marc Haber         | "I don't trust Computers. They | Mailadresse im Header
Karlsruhe, Germany |  lose things."    Winona Ryder | Fon: *49 721 966 32 15
Nordisch by Nature |  How to make an American Quilt | Fax: *49 721 966 31 29



Reply to: