Procedure for restore?

[Ben Escoto]

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>>>>> "jp" == jp rdiff-backup <jp_rdiff-backup@gcfl.net>
>>>>> wrote the following on Fri, 18 Jan 2002 08:41:12 -0600

  jp> OK, so the increments directory contains the whole file instead
  jp> of just the differences?  I thought that rdiff actually created
  jp> a binary patch file, if you will, of each file that had changed.
  jp> What I was trying to understand was how to patch the file from
  jp> day 1 to day 7.  But what I think you are saying is that day 7's
  jp> complete file is in rdiff-backup-data/increments, so I just get
  jp> it from there.

You were right the first time: rdiff creates binary differences, which
are stored in the rdiff-backup-data/increments directory.  But if you
run a command like:

rdiff-backup
/backup/rdiff-backup-data/increments/foo/bar.2001-07-15T04:09:38-07:00.diff
/original/foo/bar.new

rdiff-backup will automatically do all the patching and restoring for
you, putting the product in /original/foo/bar.new

  jp> So the restore procedure would be:

  jp> 1. copy all files needed from the mirror directory
  jp> 2. check rdiff-backup-data/increments to see if there are more
  jp> up-to-date files that match the files you are restoring, and
  jp> restore them.

Normally the restore procedure is:

1.  Run rdiff-backup on the increment file

but I suppose you could do things manually.  In that case you would do
something like your 2 step procedure, but your use of "up-to-date" is
misleading, because all the mirror directory is the most up-to-date
and the increments directory contains the older information.  Also you
would have to patch files manually, which could be a pain when
restoring large directories.

    My explanations must not be very good...  If/when we get this all
cleared up, perhaps you could explain things in a way that would have
been clear to you from the start, and I will add that to the manual
page.  (rdiff-backup is supposed to be pretty intuitive and easy to
use.)


--
Ben Escoto

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