Re: [rdiff-backup-users] SafeKeep version 1.4.0 (stable) released

[Frank Crawford]

On Sat, 2012-02-18 at 10:26 -0500, Greg Troxel wrote: 
> Frank Crawford <address@hidden> writes:
> 
> > I think you have a misconception about what SafeKeep is, it is a
> > simplified interface to rdiff-backup, not a replacement.  It simplifies
> > such tasks as key deployment, snapshotting (yes, even if bound to a
> > particular volume manager) and just plain running of backups.
> >
> > For more details on what it does, have a look at our home page
> > (http://safekeep.sourceforge.net) and in particular the motivation page
> > (http://safekeep.sourceforge.net/motivation.shtml).
> 
> It's natural to have a misconception; I read those pages too and
> couldn't figure it out.  For example, if safekeep just runs rdiff-backup
> as a dependency, and the on-disk storage format  is unchanged, you
> should say that.  And you should explain which versions of rdiff-backup
> work with safekeep.

The only actual dependency is on rdiff-backup command-line, and a long
as there have been no substantial and incompatible changes between
versions of rdiff-backup we are fairly agnostic about versions.

If rdiff-backup underwent a massive change in some fashion, we would
assume that the rdiff-backup package would include a migration utility,
and this possibly would need to be run outside of SafeKeep.  As long as
rdiff-backup took the same arguments we would not notice.

In a similar fashion, SafeKeep does not have any restore mode.  The user
is expected to use rdiff-backup for restores, as each situation is
likely to be unique, e.g. restore a single file, restore a whole
directory, restore old versions, etc.

However, having said all this, it is obvious we should add some more
notes on the website to explain the relationship between SafeKeep and
rdiff-backup.

Regards
Frank