Backup with mtree and rsync?

[schultz at ime.usp.br]

I apparently reinvented the wheel. :-)
Thanks for the link, it is indeed very inspiring.

Quoting Ciprian Dorin Craciun <ciprian.craciun at gmail.com>:

> On Sat, Jan 5, 2013 at 8:12 PM,  <schultz at ime.usp.br> wrote:
>> I have been wondering whether it is possible to create a backup system
>> using mtree and rsync. Essentially, the user would create a mtree
>> specification of the source directory and copy it over to the destination
>> directory with rsync. Any changes in the destination could then be
>> detected before restoring with the mtree specification, which should
>> contain strong hashes of the files and should not contain the nlink
>> keyword.
>
>
>     A little bit off-topic, but there is a small tool that does
> something similar to your suggested `mtree` usage, but specifically
> tailored for backups, `rdup`:
>
>       http://miek.nl/projects/rdup
>
>     Although I've not used it myself (I use `rdiff-backup` and on
> Linux), the idea is pretty similar with what you want to achieve:
>     * you run `rdup` with an old "descriptor file" plus a target path,
> and in turn it generates:
>       * a new "descriptor file";
>       * a list of files that should be backed up;
>     * you then decide what you do with the list of files to be
> backed-up (i.e. put them in a `tar`, `rysnc` them to a server, etc.);
>
>     Hope it helps,
>     Ciprian.
>


  <schultz at ime.usp.br>