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From: Vwaju on 29 Mar 2010 09:16 I'm running 13.0 on my workstation, and making a backup plan (following some hints in Running Linux (O'Reilly)). For daily incremental backups, I tested the following command: # output full path for all files modified in the last 24 hours find / -mtime -1 \! -type d -print > /tmp/filelist.daily To my surprise, this command output the names of over 40,000 files! (This, on a day when I did almost nothing on the system!) Almost half of the filenames output are from the /proc file system most of the othes are, variously under the following directories /etc /usr/share/mime /dev/char /dev/.udev /sys/devices/virtual /sys/devices/LNXSYTM /sys/devices/pci0000:00 /sys/dev/char /sys/bus /sys/class /sys/kernel /sys/module I'm guessing that I don't really want all of this in a daily incremental backup. What would a reasonable policy be? Thanks & Best Regareds Vwaju New York City
From: Lew Pitcher on 29 Mar 2010 10:36 On March 29, 2010 09:16, in alt.os.linux.slackware, slack(a)rcn.com wrote: > I'm running 13.0 on my workstation, and making a backup plan > (following some hints in Running Linux (O'Reilly)). > > For daily incremental backups, I tested the following command: > > # output full path for all files modified in the last 24 hours > > find / -mtime -1 \! -type d -print > /tmp/filelist.daily > > To my surprise, this command output the names of over 40,000 files! > (This, on a day when I did almost nothing on the system!) > > Almost half of the filenames output are from the /proc file system > > most of the othes are, variously under the following directories > > /etc > /usr/share/mime > /dev/char > /dev/.udev > /sys/devices/virtual > /sys/devices/LNXSYTM > /sys/devices/pci0000:00 > /sys/dev/char > /sys/bus > /sys/class > /sys/kernel > /sys/module > > I'm guessing that I don't really want all of this in a daily > incremental backup. What would a reasonable policy be? A 'reasonable' policy might be to - ignore files and directories on kernel-dynamic filesystems (like devfs and sysfs). Don't back up /dev (if using udev), /sys, or /proc - infrequently incrementally back up system files that change (these dont change often). This would include files in /etc, /bin, /sbin, /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/sbin, and others - frequently back up (incremental or otherwise) user files, and long-term spool files (/home and /var/spool) HTH -- Lew Pitcher Master Codewright & JOAT-in-training | Registered Linux User #112576 Me: http://pitcher.digitalfreehold.ca/ | Just Linux: http://justlinux.ca/ ---------- Slackware - Because I know what I'm doing. ------
From: Vwaju on 29 Mar 2010 11:57 On Mar 29, 10:36 am, Lew Pitcher <lpitc...(a)teksavvy.com> wrote: > On March 29, 2010 09:16, in alt.os.linux.slackware, sl...(a)rcn.com wrote: > > > > > I'm running 13.0 on my workstation, and making a backup plan > > (following some hints in Running Linux (O'Reilly)). > > > For daily incremental backups, I tested the following command: > > > # output full path for all files modified in the last 24 hours > > > find / -mtime -1 \! -type d -print > /tmp/filelist.daily > > > To my surprise, this command output the names of over 40,000 files! > > (This, on a day when I did almost nothing on the system!) > > > Almost half of the filenames output are from the /proc file system > > > most of the othes are, variously under the following directories > > > /etc > > /usr/share/mime > > /dev/char > > /dev/.udev > > /sys/devices/virtual > > /sys/devices/LNXSYTM > > /sys/devices/pci0000:00 > > /sys/dev/char > > /sys/bus > > /sys/class > > /sys/kernel > > /sys/module > > > I'm guessing that I don't really want all of this in a daily > > incremental backup. What would a reasonable policy be? > > A 'reasonable' policy might be to > - ignore files and directories on kernel-dynamic filesystems (like devfs > and sysfs). Don't back up /dev (if using udev), /sys, or /proc > - infrequently incrementally back up system files that change (these dont > change often). This would include files in /etc, /bin, /sbin, /usr/bin, > /usr/sbin, /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/sbin, and others > - frequently back up (incremental or otherwise) user files, and long-term > spool files (/home and /var/spool) > > HTH > -- > Lew Pitcher > Master Codewright & JOAT-in-training | Registered Linux User #112576 > Me:http://pitcher.digitalfreehold.ca/| Just Linux:http://justlinux.ca/ > ---------- Slackware - Because I know what I'm doing. ------ Thanks for the help, Lew! Best, Vwaju
From: Sidney Lambe on 29 Mar 2010 14:40 On alt.os.linux.slackware, Vwaju <slack(a)rcn.com> wrote: > I'm running 13.0 on my workstation, and making a backup plan > (following some hints in Running Linux (O'Reilly)). > > For daily incremental backups, I tested the following command: > > # output full path for all files modified in the last 24 hours > > > To my surprise, this command output the names of over 40,000 files! > (This, on a day when I did almost nothing on the system!) > > Almost half of the filenames output are from the /proc file system > > most of the othes are, variously under the following directories > > /etc > /usr/share/mime > /dev/char > /dev/.udev > /sys/devices/virtual > /sys/devices/LNXSYTM > /sys/devices/pci0000:00 > /sys/dev/char > /sys/bus > /sys/class > /sys/kernel > /sys/module > > I'm guessing that I don't really want all of this in a daily > incremental backup. What would a reasonable policy be? > > Thanks & Best Regareds > > Vwaju > New York City Best way is to list the directories and subdirectories you _want_ backed up: find /dir1 /dir2 /dir3 /dir4/subdir1 -mtime -1 \! -type d -print > /tmp/filelist.daily You can put the list of dirs and subdirs in a file, one per line: find $(cat file) -mtime ... What files you want are up to you. But I'd exclude symbolic links and named pipes and sockets as well as directories. Get the findutils manual from gnu.org. http://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/manual/find.html Sid
From: Aaron W. Hsu on 29 Mar 2010 14:02
Vwaju <slack(a)rcn.com> writes: >I'm running 13.0 on my workstation, and making a backup plan >(following some hints in Running Linux (O'Reilly)). >For daily incremental backups, I tested the following command: ># output full path for all files modified in the last 24 hours > find / -mtime -1 \! -type d -print > /tmp/filelist.daily If you are looking for an easy way to manage incremental backups, I have found the program backupfs to be great. It has a one day resolution, so you can't backup more than once per day, but if you just do daily backups, it's great for doing incremental backups, as it uses hard links and also makes it very easy to restore files, as you don't have to track down things yourself. It is like a space saving mirroring backup system. I have a SlackBuild for it if you would like to play with it. I've found it to be quite good. rsync also has a similar functionality, but with a much less obvious interface. As for your question, I only backup the files that are important to me, which includes /etc, /home, and /var. You should pick the files that matter to you, and leave those that you don't care about, like ever changing system files that the system generates automatically for you. Aaron W. Hsu -- A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep. |