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
John TapsellRe: backups with git
2009/8/10 Roald de Vries <rdv@roalddevries.nl>:
> 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
Martin LanghoffRe: backups with git
On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 4:27 AM, Roald de Vries<rdv@roalddevries.nl> 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
-- martin.langhoff@gmail.com martin@laptop.org -- School Server Architect - ask interesting questions - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff
Sitaram ChamartyRe: backups with git
On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 1:57 PM, Roald de Vries<rdv@roalddevries.nl> 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