Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Does rdiff-backup unlink before updating target files? (for pooling)

[Dave Eyers]

On Fri, 4 Aug 2006, dean gaudet wrote:
> rdiff-backup behaves similar to rsync in this respect -- it requires
> enough temp space to make a copy+patch of your largest file... it doesn't
> update files in place (doesn't even have the option to do that).

Great! Thanks Dean - I expected that was the case, but wanted expert 
reassurance on any potential exception cases.

> btw you're doing something somewhat like another tool called dirvish 
> does...

Thanks for that link. It is certainly nice to be able to 'cd' into past 
backups. Before my recent switch to rd-b, I had shell scripts doing 
'rsync' to a backup directory before a 'cp -al' of that backup directory 
to a directory including a time-stamp in its name.

I moved away from that scheme because whilst the network transport of 
small file changes to huge files was efficient, the storage on the backup 
host wasn't. In this particular regard Dirvish, like most other backup 
system offerings, would suffer in the same way my script did I think (I 
tripped over boxbackup which does intra-file increments, but I don't think 
it offers me features I need beyond what rd-b already provides).

I am happy to have to use commands to reconstruct past versions in return 
for the storage efficiency. Alternatively - FUSE anyone? ;-)