# backups with git 4 messages from 2009-08-10 to 2009-08-10. Participants: Roald de Vries, John Tapsell, Martin Langhoff, Sitaram Chamarty. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/20514 ## Roald de Vries, 2009-08-10 08:27 Subject: backups with git Message-ID: <41CB836B-6057-448E-805F-F25EAF765D27@roalddevries.nl> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/41CB836B-6057-448E-805F-F25EAF765D27%40roalddevries.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? Kind regards, Roald ``` ## John Tapsell, 2009-08-10 10:51 Subject: Re: backups with git Message-ID: <43d8ce650908100351w10e4d49cne8cff6f7e900f07a@mail.gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/43d8ce650908100351w10e4d49cne8cff6f7e900f07a%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <41CB836B-6057-448E-805F-F25EAF765D27@roalddevries.nl> ``` 2009/8/10 Roald de Vries : > 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 Langhoff, 2009-08-10 13:20 Subject: Re: backups with git Message-ID: <46a038f90908100620l2ddc9fa9t507990bae58d6031@mail.gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/46a038f90908100620l2ddc9fa9t507990bae58d6031%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <41CB836B-6057-448E-805F-F25EAF765D27@roalddevries.nl> ``` On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 4:27 AM, Roald de Vries 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 Chamarty, 2009-08-10 13:38 Subject: Re: backups with git Message-ID: <2e24e5b90908100638m797ccf8ei8437714952b4f2d5@mail.gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/2e24e5b90908100638m797ccf8ei8437714952b4f2d5%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <41CB836B-6057-448E-805F-F25EAF765D27@roalddevries.nl> ``` On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 1:57 PM, Roald de Vries 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 ```