Getting started
---------------
- - check out the bup source code using git:
+ - Check out the bup source code using git:
git clone git://github.com/apenwarr/bup
- - install the python 2.5 development libraries. On Debian or Ubuntu, this
- is:
- apt-get install python2.5-dev
+ - Install the needed python libraries (including the development
+ libraries). On Debian or Ubuntu, this is usually:
+ apt-get install python2.6-dev python-fuse
+
+ Substitute python2.5-dev or python2.4-dev if you have an older system.
+
+ Or on newer Debian/Ubuntu versions, you can try this:
+
+ apt-get build-dep bup
- - build the python module and symlinks:
+ - Build the python module and symlinks:
make
- - run the tests:
+ - Run the tests:
make test
bup join local-etc~1 | tar -tf -
- - get a list of your previous backups:
+ - Get a list of your previous backups:
GIT_DIR=~/.bup git log local-etc
- - make a backup on a remote server (which must already have the 'bup' command
- somewhere in the PATH, and be accessible via ssh; make sure to replace
- SERVERNAME with the actual hostname of your server):
+ - Make a backup on a remote server (which must already have the 'bup' command
+ somewhere in the server's PATH (see /etc/profile, etc/environment,
+ ~/.profile, or ~/.bashrc), and be accessible via ssh.
+ Make sure to replace SERVERNAME with the actual hostname of your server):
tar -cvf - /etc | bup split -r SERVERNAME: -n local-etc -vv
- - try restoring the remote backup tarball:
+ - Try restoring the remote backup tarball:
bup join -r SERVERNAME: local-etc | tar -tf -
- - try using the new (slightly experimental) 'bup index' and 'bup save'
+ - Try using the new (slightly experimental) 'bup index' and 'bup save'
style backups, which bypass 'tar' but have some missing features (see
"Things that are stupid" below):
bup index -uv /etc
bup save -n local-etc /etc
- - do it again and see how fast an incremental backup can be:
+ - Do it again and see how fast an incremental backup can be:
bup index -uv /etc
bup save -n local-etc /etc
Help with any of these problems, or others, is very welcome. Join the
mailing list (see below) if you'd like to help.
- - 'bup save' doesn't know about file metadata.
+ - 'bup save' and 'bup restore' don't know about file metadata.
That means we aren't saving file attributes, mtimes, ownership, hard
links, MacOS resource forks, etc. Clearly this needs to be improved.
- - There's no 'bup restore' yet.
-
- 'bup save' saves files in the standard git 'tree of blobs' format, so you
- could then "restore" the files using something like 'git checkout'. But
- that's a git command, not a bup command, so it's hard to explain and
- doesn't support retrieving objects from a remote bup server without first
- fetching and packing an entire (possibly huge) pack, which could be very
- slow. Also, like 'bup save', you would need extra features in order to
- properly restore file metadata. And files that bup has split into
- chunks will need to be recombined. Although there's no restore tool,
- 'bup fuse' does accomplish some of this already.
-
- 'bup index' is slower than it should be.
It's still rather fast: it can iterate through all the filenames on my
We'll have to do it in a totally different way. There are lots of
options. For now: make sure you've got lots of disk space :)
- - bup has never been tested on anything but Linux, MacOS, and Linux+Cygwin.
+ - bup has never been tested on anything but Linux, MacOS, and Windows+Cygwin.
There's nothing that makes it *inherently* non-portable, though, so
that's mostly a matter of someone putting in some effort. (For a
"native" Windows port, the most annoying thing is the absence of ssh in
a default Windows installation.)
+
+ - bup needs better documentation.
+
+ According to a recent article about git in Linux Weekly News
+ (https://lwn.net/Articles/380983/), "it's a bit short on examples and
+ a user guide would be nice." Documentation is the sort of thing that
+ will never be great unless someone from outside contributes it (since
+ the developers can never remember which parts are hard to understand).
+
+ - bup is "relatively speedy" and has "pretty good" compression.
+
+ ...according to the same LWN article. Clearly neither of those is good
+ enough. We should have awe-inspiring speed and crazy-good compression.
+ Must work on that. Writing more parts in C might help with the speed.
- - bup has no GUI. Actually, that's not stupid, but you might consider it
- a limitation. There are a bunch of Linux GUI backup programs; someday
- I expect someone will adapt one of them to use bup.
+ - bup has no GUI.
+
+ Actually, that's not stupid, but you might consider it a limitation.
+ There are a bunch of Linux GUI backup programs; someday I expect someone
+ will adapt one of them to use bup.
+
+
+More Documentation
+------------------
+
+bup has an extensive set of man pages. Try using 'bup help' to get
+started, or use 'bup help SUBCOMMAND' for any bup subcommand (like split,
+join, index, save, etc.) to get details on that command.
How you can help
projects / bup.git / blobdiff