[kwlug-disc] etckeeper, and not - prepping for the day I inevitably shoot myself in the foot?

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

I think this is helpful in some cases, but it may cause trouble in other
cases.

The /etc directory does not exist in a vacuum. It is often linked to
software packages that are in other parts of the file system (/var, /usr,
/opt, ...etc.)

Also, there are all those dot files and directories in your home directory
that configure various things you use (your browser, office suite, editor,
file manager, desktop, widgets, ...etc.)

So, backing up just /etc has its uses, but it would not cover everything.

The ideal solution is a snapshot of 'the system' as it exists, with all the
various parts in their state at the time of the snapshot. A full system
backup is supposed to do that. As others said, ZFS does that too. LVM also
has some features related to snapshots (from what I understand), but they
are whole snapshots, not deltas like ZFS.

If you have a disaster, the fallback is to restore a full backup, going to
a known state, despite losing stuff from the time of the backup until the
time of the disaster. But consistency and integrity is preserved.

That is not to say that you can do partial restores (specific files, e.g.
that spread sheet from two weeks ago).

On Sun, Apr 9, 2017 at 11:09 AM, B.S. <bs27975.2 at gmail.com> wrote:

> So, I can see value in keeping everything in a directory in git, for the
> day I change some config file when trying something, decide that was the
> wrong thing to try, and want to revert but forget what I did. (e.g. Some
> obscure option setting I can't recall the specific syntax for.)
>
> To that end, I've installed etckeeper, and will just let that run.
>
> Outside of /etc, I can 'git init' any given directory, and duplicate
> etckeeper's daily cron git commits in some fashion. (cd favdir ; while true
> ; git -am add ; git commit; sleep 24hours ; done; )
>
> I don't use git enough to ever be able to remember command lines, so could
> appreciate the idea of a git aware file browser gui that understands
> working backwards / forwards in file versions. I see, for example, git-gui,
> which will spawn gitk as desired, and google quickly reveals many other gui
> candidates. Also cool is sshfs'ing and running such gui on local system
> against remote non-gui server. (Not looking to replicate such git's / there
> is no git server there.)
>
> What am I?
>
> i.e. What facilities / search terms am I blindly groping in the dark
> towards?
>
> I am going to shoot myself in the foot eventually, and will want to revert
> to a prior file version. Assume no backups. (i.e. I could daily rsync /
> snapshot to dated file/directory versions, but that's just another form of
> what I'm already asking about.) K.I.S.S. / easy viewing of prior file
> versions, applies.
>
> Suggestions? / thoughts? / links? / thanks.
>
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>



-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
2bits.com, Inc.
Fast Reliable Drupal
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wrong." -- H.L. Mencken
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