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.TH rsync-backup 8 "7 October 2012" rsync-backup
+.SH NAME
+rsync-backup \- back up files using rsync
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B rsync-backup
-.RB [ \-v ]
+.RB [ \-nv ]
.RB [ \-c
.IR config-file ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B \-V
output).
.TP
+.B \-n
+Don't actually take a backup, or write proper logs: instead, write a
+description of what would be done to standard error.
+.TP
.B \-v
Produce verbose progress information on standard output while the backup
is running. This keeps one amused while running a backup
in this case.
This command clears the
.B like
-list.
+list, and resets the retention policy to its default (i.e., the to
+policy defined prior to the first
+.B host
+command).
.TP
.BI "like " "host\fR ..."
Declare that subsequent filesystems are `similar' to like-named
Expiry considers each existing dump against the policy lines in order:
the last applicable line determines the dump's fate \(en so you should
probably write the lines in decreasing order of duration.
+.RS
+.PP
+Groups of
+.B retain
+commands between
+.B host
+and/or
+.B backup
+commands collectively define a retention policy. Once a policy is
+defined, subsequent
+.B backup
+operations use the policy. The first
+.B retain
+command after a
+.B host
+or
+.B backup
+command clears the policy and starts defining a new one. The policy
+defined before the first
+.B host
+is the
+.I default
+policy: at the start of each
+.B host
+stanza, the policy is reset to the default.
+.RE
+.TP
+.BI "retry " count
+The
+.B live
+snapshot type (see below) doesn't prevent a filesystem from being
+modified while it's being backed up. If this happens, the
+.B fshash
+pass will detect the difference and fail. If the filesystem in question
+is relatively quiescent, then maybe retrying the backup will result in a
+successful consistent copy. Following this command, a backup which
+results in an
+.B fshash
+mismatch will be retried up to
+.I count
+times before being declared a failure.
.TP
.BI "snap " type " " \fR[\fIargs\fR...]
Use the snapshot
.I type
for subsequent backups. Some snapshot types require additional
-arguments, which may be supplied here.
+arguments, which may be supplied here. This command clears the
+.B retry
+counter.
.SS Configuration variables
The following shell variables may be overridden by the configuration
file.
.TP
+.B HASH
+The hash function to use for verifying archive integrity. This is
+passed to the
+.B \-H
+option of
+.BR fshash ,
+so it must name one of the hash functions supported by your Python's
+.B hashlib
+module.
+The default is
+.BR sha256 .
+.TP
+.B INDEXDB
+The name of a SQLite database initialized by
+.BR update-bkp-index (8)
+in which an index is maintained of which dumps are on which backup
+volumes. If the file doesn't exist, then no index is maintained. The
+default is
+.IB localstatedir /lib/bkp/index.db
+where
+.I localstatedir
+is the state directory configured at build time.
+.TP
.B MAXLOG
The number of log files to be kept for each filesystem. Old logfiles
are deleted to keep the total number below this bound. The default
value is 14.
.TP
+.B METADIR
+The metadata directory for the currently mounted backup volume.
+The default is
+.IB mntbkpdir /meta
+where
+.I mntbkpdir
+is the backup mount directory configured at build time.
+.TP
.B RSYNCOPTS
Command-line options to pass to
.BR rsync (1)
.I mntbkpdir
is the backup mount directory configured at build time.
.TP
-.B HASH
-The hash function to use for verifying archive integrity. This is
-passed to the
-.B \-H
-option of
-.BR fshash ,
-so it must name one of the hash functions supported by your Python's
-.B hashlib
-module. The default is
-.BR sha256 .
+.B VOLUME
+The name of the current volume. If this is left unset, the volume name
+is read from the file
+.IB METADIR /volume
+once at the start of the backup run.
.SS Hook functions
The configuration file may define shell functions to perform custom
actions at various points in the backup process.
.IB yyyy \(en mm \(en dd
format), together with associated files named
.IB date .* \fR.
+There is also a symbolic link
+.B last
+referring to the most recent backup of the filesystem.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR fshash (1),
.BR lvm (8),
.BR rfreezefs (8),
.BR rsync (1),
-.BR ssh (1).
+.BR ssh (1),
+.BR update-bkp-index (8).
.SH AUTHOR
Mark Wooding, <mdw@distorted.org.uk>
~mdw / rsync-backup / blobdiff