OT: Linux EXT4 dump/restore equivalent?

[Polytropon]

On Thu, 28 Jun 2012 20:59:57 +0100, Vincent Hoffman wrote:
> We use dump to backup ext4 filesystems on linux (Centos6) at work
> 
> From the linux dump changelog
> Changes between versions 0.4b41 and 0.4b42 (released June 18, 2009)
> ===================================================================
> 18. Add (preliminary) ext4 support - thanks to libext2fs which does
> all the job for us. Thanks to Gertjan van Wingerde
> <gwingerde [at] gmail> for the patch.

Without even trying to start a flamewar, allow me to ask this
question: Do they _really_ use file systems "over there at
Linux land" without having an up-to-date dump/restore mechanism
for that file systems? I can hardly believe that...



> Without wishing to bash Linux (I wouldnt be in my job without it,) its
> man pages are really not very up to date, as the manpage for dump fails
> to mention this.

That's sadly normal. I found the attitude toward documentation in
Linux being different from what you would call standard in the rest
of UNIX world. Man pages are often out of date (if they ever exist),
and pieces of documentation is scattered across the the web, in user
pages, wikis, and discussion forums. The concept behind this seems
to be: "Nobody reads man pages, so we don't write them."



> I havent used slackware in many years but it used to be my distro of
> choice until I moved to FreeBSD.

Was my first PC Linux, too. :-)



> On 28/06/2012 20:02, Chris Maness wrote:
> > Is there an equivalent dump/restore ap for a Linux ext4 file system?
> > I am running the latest Slackware, and I would like to make backups
> > like I do for my FreeBSD box.

Have you tried the original tools provided by the OS? Do they perform
as intended? Maybe do some testing and see if they are sufficient for
dealing with ext4. That would be my first impression: Use what's there
and see if it works, as it _should_ work (given fundamental UNIX basics).

(Sorry, my Linux knowledge is a bit outdated as I don't use it anymore
on a regular basis.)


-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...