Dear all,
I'm thinking of using git as a backup solution for my whole system,
setting my $GIT_DIR to something like "/backupdisc/backup". Does that
seem sensible? In his Google tech talk, Linus said that git was not
good at huge projects; I guess that would apply to backups. On the
other hand, maybe a backup doesn't need to be as fast as he wants git
to be for projects. Has anybody used git like this? And was it a good
experience?
Kind regards,
Roald
2009/8/10 Roald de Vries [off-list ref]:
Dear all,
I'm thinking of using git as a backup solution for my whole system, setting
my $GIT_DIR to something like "/backupdisc/backup". Does that seem sensible?
In his Google tech talk, Linus said that git was not good at huge projects;
I guess that would apply to backups. On the other hand, maybe a backup
doesn't need to be as fast as he wants git to be for projects. Has anybody
used git like this? And was it a good experience?
Perhaps you want something more like btrfs.
John
On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 4:27 AM, Roald de Vries[off-list ref] wrote:
I'm thinking of using git as a backup solution for my whole system, setting
There are lots of little problems. The two main ones are, IMHO
- permissions & ownership
- large files
Some ppl use it for their homedir, and it can be a moderate success as
long as they don't deal with large files.
cheers,
m
--
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martin@laptop.org -- School Server Architect
- ask interesting questions
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On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 1:57 PM, Roald de Vries[off-list ref] wrote:
I'm thinking of using git as a backup solution for my whole system, setting
my $GIT_DIR to something like "/backupdisc/backup". Does that seem sensible?
The two questions you have to ask yourself are: will I ever branch and
merge in this "repo", and do I really want versions from weeks and
months ago?
A "no" to the first question means you're essentially using a very
powerful VCS as a mere backup system. I suggest rdiff-backup or (if
it's mature enough now, not sure) duplicity..
A "no" to the second question means you're needlessly keeping lots of
old data, and have to jump through hoops to get rid of it if you need
to.
There's a limit to how much you can Macgyver git into doing what it is
not intended for :-)
Having said all that, I do use git to manage parts of my $HOME that do
satisfy those constraints (config files, ~/bin, etc) -- I do sometimes
branch and merge, and I do want really old versions. I do this by
putting all of them in a repo, and symlinking them to $HOME.
Regards,
Sitaram