[TriLUG] Anyone using rdiff-backup?

[Alan Porter via TriLUG]

> For versioning you roll your own. See
> 
> http://troubleshooters.com/lpm/200609/200609.htm#Using_hardlinks_to_create_incremental


I rolled my own about 10 years ago, and have been using it ever since.

https://github.com/sudoer/flashback

This project started off as a wrapper around "rsback", which was a 
wrapper around "rsync".  But eventually I eliminated the middle man 
entirely.  Now it's just a python script that calls rsync and cp with 
all of the arguments that you'd want.

It does incremental backups on whatever schedule you want... 4 daily 
backups and 10 weekly, whatever.  It aggressively checks for any machine 
that it has not backed up in the required time.  For example, if I turn 
on my laptop after being powered off for a while, within 10 minutes, 
flashback will notice and start backing it up.  Incremental backups 
(with hard links) are super fast.

All of the configuration is done using a couple of text files in /etc, 
and all status is presented using simple text files in 
/var/lib/flashback.  It's made to be set-and-forget -- which backups 
should definitely be.  Restores are manual... ssh into the box and scp 
the restored files back to the machine where it was backed up (using the 
keys you've already exchanged).

It takes almost no resources.  I originally ran it on a Pogo Plug, but 
eventually moved it to a Raspberry Pi with an external USB HDD.

Alan