Hi,

Bharat Mistry wrote on 2009-05-15 15:57:57 +0100 [Re: [BackupPC-users] [SUGGESTION] "Duration/mins" not in decimal format]:

> and 31.21 GB instead of 31214312331231 bytes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

("." instead of "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", too? :)

> Ability to email a list of files backed up per host "wood" me kool too.....

thank you for making this point (though I don't suppose you *wanted* to make
it).

> On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 7:39 AM, Boniforti Flavio <flavio AT piramide DOT ch>wrote:
>

> > I am not used to consider minutes in decimal format (like 36.8 minutes).

I don't think you are supposed to. The point of the web page, as I understand
it, is to give you a rough idea of what is going on. Seeing a list of figures
36.8, 37.1, 35.9, 36.4, 242.8, 37.3 ... makes the full backup (or problem, or
whatever) stand out much more than if you obfuscate it into 4h2m48s. A list
like 36.1, 36.1, 36.2, 36.3, 36.7, 36.8 ... gives you much more of an
impression of how the times are developping than 36m6s, 36m12s, ... would.
If you want more than a rough idea (or rather, if you have better use of your
time than staring at the statistics), you'll try to automatically process the
numbers, and parsing "4h2m48s" into something you can calculate with will be
nothing less than a nuisance (and, yes, if you're backuppc on the BackupPC
server, you can parse the backups files, but if you only have HTTP access to
one client's host page, you can't). Similarly, you won't enjoy the reduced
precision of 31.21 GB. If you are generating an email summary, for instance,
you can always convert the numbers to whatever format you want, and it's still
easier to convert 242.8 minutes than to translate "4hours 2mins 48secs" to a
different language or shift the whitespace around to match your taste.

> > Would it be possible to convert that data into time format (like
> > 36m48sec) and extend the same thing to hours (not anymore 242.8minutes,
> > but instead 4hours 2mins 48sec)?

Yes, but who's the target audience? Are you saying you *need* to know more
than "my full backups take somewhere between 4 and 5 hours"? If it's less than
4h17m25s it's ok, but if it's more, you'll need to speed it up somehow?

As for the seconds, I'd argue to rather drop them(*). They're almost certainly
below the exactness of the measurement (well, yes, the backup *did* take 36
minutes and 13.7 seconds, but that the next backup took 36 minutes and 50
seconds probably tells you more about the state of the machines and the link
at that time than about the backup itself in relation to the other one).
Measure with a micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with an axe.

Regards,
Holger

(*) Well, no, keep them. They don't hurt as long as they're just decimal
   minutes :).