{"thread":{"id":"20514","subject":"backups with git","startedAt":"2009-08-10T08:27:34Z","lastAt":"2009-08-10T13:38:49Z","messageCount":4,"participants":["Roald de Vries","John Tapsell","Martin Langhoff","Sitaram Chamarty"],"isPatch":false,"patchVersion":null,"patchTotal":null},"messages":[{"id":"120114","messageId":"41CB836B-6057-448E-805F-F25EAF765D27@roalddevries.nl","threadId":"20514","inReplyTo":null,"subject":"backups with git","fromName":"Roald de Vries","fromEmail":"rdv@roalddevries.nl","sentAt":"2009-08-10T08:27:34Z","receivedAt":"2009-08-10T08:27:34Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"rdv@roalddevries.nl","avatar":null},"body":"Dear all,\n\nI'm thinking of using git as a backup solution for my whole system, \nsetting my $GIT_DIR to something like \"/backupdisc/backup\". Does that \nseem sensible? In his Google tech talk, Linus said that git was not \ngood at huge projects; I guess that would apply to backups. On the \nother hand, maybe a backup doesn't need to be as fast as he wants git \nto be for projects. Has anybody used git like this? And was it a good \nexperience?\n\nKind regards,\n\nRoald\n"},{"id":"120138","messageId":"43d8ce650908100351w10e4d49cne8cff6f7e900f07a@mail.gmail.com","threadId":"20514","inReplyTo":"41CB836B-6057-448E-805F-F25EAF765D27@roalddevries.nl","subject":"Re: backups with git","fromName":"John Tapsell","fromEmail":"johnflux@gmail.com","sentAt":"2009-08-10T10:51:13Z","receivedAt":"2009-08-10T10:51:13Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"johnflux@gmail.com","avatar":"https://gravatar.com/avatar/25f70d4c0f96396b84a2e34bcd9bdc233462c7b4be29b5fdca8266fc53f30b0c?d=mp&s=160"},"body":"2009/8/10 Roald de Vries :\n> Dear all,\n>\n> I'm thinking of using git as a backup solution for my whole system, setting\n> my $GIT_DIR to something like \"/backupdisc/backup\". Does that seem sensible?\n> In his Google tech talk, Linus said that git was not good at huge projects;\n> I guess that would apply to backups. On the other hand, maybe a backup\n> doesn't need to be as fast as he wants git to be for projects. Has anybody\n> used git like this? And was it a good experience?\n\nPerhaps you want something more like btrfs.\n\nJohn\n"},{"id":"120148","messageId":"46a038f90908100620l2ddc9fa9t507990bae58d6031@mail.gmail.com","threadId":"20514","inReplyTo":"41CB836B-6057-448E-805F-F25EAF765D27@roalddevries.nl","subject":"Re: backups with git","fromName":"Martin Langhoff","fromEmail":"martin.langhoff@gmail.com","sentAt":"2009-08-10T13:20:59Z","receivedAt":"2009-08-10T13:20:59Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"martin.langhoff@gmail.com","avatar":"https://gravatar.com/avatar/1e3f311b6c4c15836501901ca58f8c0b0667246488084ba524d8bc9867e22fd9?d=mp&s=160"},"body":"On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 4:27 AM, Roald de Vries wrote:\n> I'm thinking of using git as a backup solution for my whole system, setting\n\nThere are lots of little problems. The two main ones are, IMHO\n\n - permissions & ownership\n - large files\n\nSome ppl use it for their homedir, and it can be a moderate success as\nlong as they don't deal with large files.\n\ncheers,\n\n\nm\n-- \n martin.langhoff@gmail.com\n martin@laptop.org -- School Server Architect\n - ask interesting questions\n - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first\n - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff\n"},{"id":"120150","messageId":"2e24e5b90908100638m797ccf8ei8437714952b4f2d5@mail.gmail.com","threadId":"20514","inReplyTo":"41CB836B-6057-448E-805F-F25EAF765D27@roalddevries.nl","subject":"Re: backups with git","fromName":"Sitaram Chamarty","fromEmail":"sitaramc@gmail.com","sentAt":"2009-08-10T13:38:49Z","receivedAt":"2009-08-10T13:38:49Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"sitaramc@gmail.com","avatar":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/43316?v=4"},"body":"On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 1:57 PM, Roald de Vries wrote:\n\n> I'm thinking of using git as a backup solution for my whole system, setting\n> my $GIT_DIR to something like \"/backupdisc/backup\". Does that seem sensible?\n\nThe two questions you have to ask yourself are: will I ever branch and\nmerge in this \"repo\", and do I really want versions from weeks and\nmonths ago?\n\nA \"no\" to the first question means you're essentially using a very\npowerful VCS as a mere backup system. I suggest rdiff-backup or (if\nit's mature enough now, not sure) duplicity..\n\nA \"no\" to the second question means you're needlessly keeping lots of\nold data, and have to jump through hoops to get rid of it if you need\nto.\n\nThere's a limit to how much you can Macgyver git into doing what it is\nnot intended for :-)\n\nHaving said all that, I do use git to manage parts of my $HOME that do\nsatisfy those constraints (config files, ~/bin, etc) -- I do sometimes\nbranch and merge, and I do want really old versions. I do this by\nputting all of them in a repo, and symlinking them to $HOME.\n\nRegards,\n\nSitaram\n"}]}