bugrdiff-backup - Bugs: bug #17980, Feature request: better handling...

 
 

bug #17980: Feature request: better handling of growing log files

Submitter:  Per Cederqvist <ceder>
Submitted:  Thu 12 Oct 2006 11:26:39 AM UTC
   
 
Category:  None Severity:  1 - Wish
Item Group:  None Status:  Wont Fix
Privacy:  Public Assigned to:  None
Open/Closed:  Closed
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Tue 25 Oct 2011 06:02:50 PM UTC, comment #3: 

What's the desire in backing up log files? If you restore the system from backup, do you plan on restoring the log files?

If a file changes in size during the backup, how can rdiff-backup know if the file changed merely due to an append and not a larger alteration? (eg: entirely erased and re-written).

Generally, with any backup tool, it's assumed that files you're backing up aren't changing. If you can't exclude the changing files (ex: the mailboxes problem on the wiki), use a temporary LVM snapshot and have your backup tool work on the frozen filesystem while changes are made to the live filesystem. Then remove the snapshot and let the changes merge back in.

Paul <bobpaul>
Mon 13 Nov 2006 09:07:47 PM UTC, comment #2: 

Now that I have a Savannah account, I want to mention that I posted comment #1.

Andrew Ferguson <owsla>
Group administrator
Mon 13 Nov 2006 02:58:34 AM UTC, comment #1: 

Perhaps this feature can be implemented in general by a patch for the 'UpdateErrorRetry' request in the wiki. See:

http://rdiff-backup.solutionsfirst.com.au/index.php/UpdateErrorRetry

Anonymous
Thu 12 Oct 2006 11:26:39 AM UTC, original submission:  

I'm using rdiff-backup to back up a system that almost always writes to /var/log/messages while the backup is running.  So my backup of that file is old and stale.

I have a suggestion: when starting to back up a file, check how large it is.  While doing the actual backup, only handle the initial part that existed at the start of the operation.  If the file changes while the backup is running, check if the only change is that new data has been appended.  If so, don't fail with an UpdateError.  Log a warning, and make sure that the initial part of the log file is properly backed up.

Even better: make the warning configurable on a per-file basis.  You could have options --logfile, --logfile-filelist, --logfile-globbing-filelist et c to let the user define which files that are log files (with the same syntax as the --exclude options).  Only produce the warning for file that are not configured to be log files.

Per Cederqvist <ceder>

 

(Note: upload size limit is set to 16384 kB, after insertion of the required escape characters.)

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  • -email is unavailable- added by davekempe (Updated the item)
  • -email is unavailable- added by bobpaul (Posted a comment)
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    Follow 3 latest changes.

    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2016-02-12 davekempe StatusNone Wont Fix
        Open/ClosedOpen Closed
    2006-11-05 dgaudet Severity3 - Normal 1 - Wish

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