Let rsync do the hard linking

[software/bacap.git] / README

diff --git a/README b/README
index 878f3dd592f7a2bc6a5f05cff7bc37a6def9abdb..30875a28b3dd050890d6e35b4b0d5b77f994272b 100644 (file)
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -70,13 +70,19 @@ file. Configuration files are searched in this places:
 1. ``/etc/bacaprc``
 2. ``/etc/bacap/bacaprc``
 3. ``bacaprc`` in the same directory as the ``bacap`` script
+4. Optional parameter passed as argument to the script
+5. ``$CONFIG_PATH/$HOST/bacaprc``
 
 Order is important, since all files are read (if possible) and values in the
 last configuration file read overwrites old values. The script takes an optional
-parameter, which is another location to look for a configuration file. The
-configuration file passed as argument will be read last, and an error will be
-printed if can't be found (no error is issued if any of the other configuration
-files are missing).
+parameter, which is another location to look for a configuration file. If the
+configuration file passed as argument can't be found, an error will be printed
+(no error is issued if any of the other configuration files are missing).
+Also, config options could be specified on a per host basis by creating a
+``bacaprc`` file in ``$CONFIG_PATH/$HOST``. As a side effect of this,
+configuration file(s) are read initially and each time the script backups a new
+host. So the configuration file(s) are read at least two times even if you
+backup one host.
 
 The configuration file is a Bash_ script too, and these are the default values:
 
@@ -91,7 +97,7 @@ configuration file)::
 
        mkdir -p $CONFIG_PATH
 
-The create a directory for each host you want to backup there, the directory
+Then create a directory for each host you want to backup there, the directory
 name should be the name of the host (as you would use to connect to it using
 ssh_). For now let's say we will only backup ``localhost``::
 
@@ -104,7 +110,7 @@ line for each path to backup in that host. Let's say we want to backup only
 ``/etc`` and ``/home``::
 
        echo /etc > $CONFIG_PATH/$LOCALHOST/paths
-       echo /home > $CONFIG_PATH/$LOCALHOST/paths
+       echo /home >> $CONFIG_PATH/$LOCALHOST/paths
 
 But sometimes there are things there that you don't want to backup, in that
 case you can create a file named ``excludes`` too, and write which paths you
@@ -114,6 +120,10 @@ backup rata's home::
 
        echo /home/rata/ > $CONFIG_PATH/$LOCALHOST/excludes
 
+Also, if you don't want to exclude files matching some pattern, you can create
+a file named ``includes`` with the patterns you want to include (you can use
+anything supported by the ``--include-from`` rsync_ option)
+
 That's pretty much it. If you want to add other hosts, just create the host
 directory and the needed host configuration files.
 
@@ -121,7 +131,7 @@ You may want to automate it using *cron*. I will not include a *cron* tutorial
 here, but if you are completely lost, you can add this line to ``/etc/crontab``
 to make a daily backup at 6:30::
 
-       25 6 * * * root /path/to/bacap
+       30 6 * * * root /path/to/bacap
 
 If you are a Debian_ user, you can also simply install the script in
 ``/etc/cron.daily`` (or make a symlink or something similar) and you are set.
@@ -146,6 +156,10 @@ for any host, it skips that host.
 A symbolic link is created at the end of the backup, with the name
 ``$BACKUP_PATH/$host/current``, and pointing to the newly created directory.
 
+Also, to see what have actually changed between two backups you can run rsync
+with your usual flags plus "-nv --delete". For example if you just use "-a", to
+see the differences between lolaus/2010-07-11 and lolaus/2010-07-12 you can run::
+        rsync -nav --delete lolaus/2010-07-11/ lolaus/2010-07-12/
 
 
 Similar alternatives