RC <cooleyr <at> gmail.com> writes:

> However, I'm just getting started with BackupPC myself, so I'm not sure if
> BackupPC properly understands that rsync incrementals are just as good as full
> backups, and that it can therefore expire the most recent "full" even though 
> no
> new "full" backup has been performed.

In fact it is smart enough:  

"If filling of incremental dumps is off the oldest backup always has to be a
full (ie: filled) dump."

Unfortunately, filling is disabled by default:

"Prior to v1.03 all incremental backups were filled. In v1.4.0 and later the
default is off."

And worse, the developers have depreciated, and threatened to eliminate, this
EXTREMELY useful and important option:

"It's likely the filling option will be removed from future versions"

If that happens, I'll have to maintain a set of patches, or continue using old
versions.  Honestly, the overhead from filling incrementals is quite small, and
the benefits are huge.

All quotes from the offical BackupPC HTML documentation.

Now if my issue with MOTD breaking rsync backups could just get fixed...


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