Hello Ans,
I have been using rdiff-backup for about 4 1/2 years and have found it
very stable and reliable. I created and maintain a Windows wrapper for
rdiff-backup called TimeDicer http://www.timedicer.co.uk/index and of
course use it (and therefore rdiff-backup) every day.
There are two versions of rdiff-backup in common use: 1.2.8 is the
'stable' version (which I use), 1.3.3 is 'unstable' but is actually
stable too by all accounts. No significant difference in functionality I
think.
I have repositories (archives) going back 4 1/2 years and can retrieve
versions of files that have since changed and been backed up daily going
back to the beginning of that time. Although I have never needed to do
that, I have on several occasions needed to recover files from the past
(i.e. earlier than the most recent backup) and rdiff-backup has
delivered the goods and been a life-saver (OK not quite literally).
I wrote a page about backup technologies when I was - as you now are -
researching them, and it might help you - here:
http://www.timedicer.co.uk/finding_a_backup_solution
Weaknesses of rdiff-backup?
1. It was not designed with security in mind - indeed the most recent
backup is stored 'in the clear' - a related tool 'duplicity' (which
however uses forward deltas instead of reverse deltas) addresses
this if you need it.
2. Some reports of problems when backing up *to* a Windows file system
destination, and there are some unconfirmed problems with storing
Windows ACLs; however I have found it totally reliable for non-ACL
Windows file backup to Linux machine/file system (and recovery
therefrom).
3. It lacks a really robust and usable verification system (it does
allow verification but I understand it does not do a 100% job, which
is a bit of an oxymoron) - however my experience is that it backup
repositories are reliable nevertheless. For TimeDicer I wrote a
script
http://www.timedicer.co.uk/programs/help/timedicer-verify.sh.php
which can do 100% verification (by repeated runs of rdiff-backup
with --verify-at-time).
4. Not great over unstable connections (e.g. internet) - it works but
is not recommended (repeated failures might lead to repository
corruption). I always run rdiff-backup to a destination on our local
LAN (via TimeDicer) and then use rsync to backup the repositories
offsite (via timedicer-mirror
http://www.timedicer.co.uk/programs/help/timedicer-mirror.sh.php).
5. Although you can remove 'old history' for all files in a repository
(e.g. all backups older than six months, say), there is no easy way
to remove specific files or directories from a backup repository
without removing the whole repository. Because all previous history
is retained, if you inadvertently backup a source which contains
data you don't want to keep (and might bloat the backup), it is no
good just correcting the backup for next time, because rdiff-backup
will keep the unwanted files in its 'history'. Workaround is to
regress the whole repository back to the time before the mistake
occurred (losing all subsequent changes) and then resume backups
with the now-corrected source specification. I wrote a script
http://www.timedicer.co.uk/programs/help/rdiff-backup-regress.sh.php
which can help with this.
6. No maintainer - fixed! Thanks Ned!
In summary, rdiff-backup is not outdated and remains a fantastic and
practical tool - and it is free and open-source.
HTH
Dominic
On 13/05/13 21:41, Ans Alghamdi wrote:
Hi,
I just find it a bit odd that this powerful tool does not have any bug
fix (if there are any) since 2009!
So is it outdated, or its so powerful that there is no need for any
update?
I've already posted this quastion on serverfault at:
http://serverfault.com/questions/507259/is-rdiff-backup-outdated?
(P.S. The reason behind this is that I'm looking for a backup tool.
rdiff-backup really suits my needs but the lack of bug fixes/active
development is what is keeping me away)
Best
Ans
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