Re: [BackupPC-users] Documentation lagging behind the GUI

itismike, don't let me discourage you from writing doco on the GUI if you're
so inclined. A lot of people will appreciate it.


On 10/21 10:19 , itismike wrote:
> > > While the charm of OSS is that the code is easily accessible, I've found 
> > > that most of the documentation steps refer to editing curly bracket 
> > > objects, which is great for developers, but not-so-great for everyday 
> > > administration: Rsync/Rsyncd Configuration
> > > $Conf&#123;RsyncClientPath&#125; = '';
> > > &nbsp; Path to rsync executable on the client
> > > $Conf&#123;RsyncClientCmd&#125; = '$sshPath -q -x -l root $host 
> > > $rsyncPath $argList+';
> > > &nbsp; Full command to run rsync on the client machine. The following 
> > > variables are substituted at run-time&#58;
> > > And the GUI actually has a drop-down list for choosing the type of 
> > > backup&#58;
> > Not sure what you're getting at here, or what your original message looked 
> > like. Perhaps try posting in a block of plain text?
> 
> 
> That's a quote from the documentation on the main site 
> (http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/faq/BackupPC.html#rsync_rsyncd_configuration)
>  describing how to enable rsync by editing the config.pl file. I thought you 
> would have recognized it. :o  


Sorry, all the "&#123;" and "&nbsp;" stuff in there made it hard to read. 
Also, I never read that page more than cursorily. I learned to configure
BackupPC by reading the comments in /etc/backuppc/config.pl. Maybe some of
that is because I've been doing this sort of thing for quite a few years,
but it seemed pretty easy to follow even if you didn't have that background.


> I know it's out-of-context, but my point is that someone went to a lot of 
> trouble to create a very nice GUI for the product, but there doesn't seem to 
> be a basic guide on how to use it. 

I didn't write the GUI; but a cursory look at it and it appears to be
designed to be self-documenting as much as possible. The options all have
links to explanations of them. (IMHO if you're going to learn to configure
it, the easiest thing to do is to just read config.pl from end to end, which
will have all the explanations telling you what each thing does, and will be
faster to read through than trying to click on each one in the GUI. You
won't understand it all the first time through but it will give you an
overview of what the program is capable of).

There's not a *speedy* guide to getting started admittedly; but there is a
lot to be said for understanding what you're getting into before you get too
far into it.

> BackupPC is maturing and has been available in repositories for simple apt or 
> "point-and-click" installations for several years. And it appears that the 
> GUI was designed so thoroughly that it's not even necessary to edit the 
> config files in some cases. It is necessary to create secure trusts between 
> clients and the server, but this info is buried within the 
> config-file-centric documentation.
> 
> I think what is missing is a very general checklist for first-timers, such 
> as:        install BackupPC
> 
>       add hosts under the 
> Edit Hosts page
>       enable communication between server and client(s)
>       Windows clients: see 
> this post (http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/faq/BackupPC.html#winxx)

Like most OSS projects, doco lags behind code. I don't use the rsyncd
package off the BackupPC website anymore, I just install the full cygwin
package because it has a newer rsyncd. So that link is a little bit-rotted.

>       Linux/UNIX clients: see  
> this post (http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/faq/BackupPC.html#linux_unix)
>       check the 
> Host Summary page and review log filesIf there's an appropriate wiki to be 
> edited I'll be glad to help with it.


Fair enough. a 'quick start guide' may be appealing to a lot of people who
would like to try it out.

There is a wiki here, tho I don't think it's gotten much editing recently.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/backuppc/index.php?title=Main_Page

If you have something to contribute to it, please do so!

-- 
Carl Soderstrom
Systems Administrator
Real-Time Enterprises
www.real-time.com

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