From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Sitaram Chamarty Subject: Re: backups with git Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:08:49 +0530 Message-ID: <2e24e5b90908100638m797ccf8ei8437714952b4f2d5@mail.gmail.com> References: <41CB836B-6057-448E-805F-F25EAF765D27@roalddevries.nl> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: git@vger.kernel.org To: Roald de Vries X-From: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Mon Aug 10 15:44:28 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: gcvg-git-2@gmane.org Received: from vger.kernel.org ([209.132.176.167]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1MaVAq-000551-2d for gcvg-git-2@gmane.org; Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:44:28 +0200 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1754749AbZHJNoW (ORCPT ); Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:44:22 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1754732AbZHJNoW (ORCPT ); Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:44:22 -0400 Received: from mail-yw0-f193.google.com ([209.85.211.193]:35076 "EHLO mail-yw0-f193.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1754731AbZHJNoV (ORCPT ); Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:44:21 -0400 X-Greylist: delayed 328 seconds by postgrey-1.27 at vger.kernel.org; Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:44:20 EDT Received: by ywh31 with SMTP id 31so3878346ywh.4 for ; Mon, 10 Aug 2009 06:44:21 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:in-reply-to:references :date:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; bh=Cv8ZZvIYjzQVwuJ7o5PVk++/WRQ7N2P12nxS58eIOtw=; b=HaEeh+MWjq1VRYFKM1duT3XejFk8U9e2oRWglWxM8nBdYkiqVBlY5D5p+3aOU80PQn OY40WkN73RWBdwQaHdo5BKFj4lKJvg5M/+eh6VRF/D0DXOMu0uUDXkEq+yXfNqF1LQ2A Q02AmaH18/u1IjiHbY+2grAgc+k9qxNtJDyu8= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=bH8TRMl399/b4oxDTBTAy1ugiQ34x5eXH5BbRaZI9JiLtycaWsqe4D6HehiiPKB42k wZOlZGMsBn2ENTYz0uuRo9Jok3DEbZP1B/pHGumY3LO28FdEOAdY97HtYXW502MyN70B rHpNYkxDtmi91WHHWPINRboWDag0l5ZLfH9Z0= Received: by 10.231.32.134 with SMTP id c6mr1560175ibd.34.1249911529713; Mon, 10 Aug 2009 06:38:49 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <41CB836B-6057-448E-805F-F25EAF765D27@roalddevries.nl> Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Archived-At: On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 1:57 PM, Roald de Vries wrote: > I'm thinking of using git as a backup solution for my whole system, setting > my $GIT_DIR to something like "/backupdisc/backup". Does that seem sensible? The two questions you have to ask yourself are: will I ever branch and merge in this "repo", and do I really want versions from weeks and months ago? A "no" to the first question means you're essentially using a very powerful VCS as a mere backup system. I suggest rdiff-backup or (if it's mature enough now, not sure) duplicity.. A "no" to the second question means you're needlessly keeping lots of old data, and have to jump through hoops to get rid of it if you need to. There's a limit to how much you can Macgyver git into doing what it is not intended for :-) Having said all that, I do use git to manage parts of my $HOME that do satisfy those constraints (config files, ~/bin, etc) -- I do sometimes branch and merge, and I do want really old versions. I do this by putting all of them in a repo, and symlinking them to $HOME. Regards, Sitaram