Re: Any thoughts on using Subversion as a general backup tool?

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On 5/30/04, at 1:37 AM, Kenneth McDonald said:

>So if people could give their comments on how one might use Subversion
>in this manner (and if it has been done successfully), I'd be most
>interested.
>Some potential problems I could see are things like ensuring Subversion
>has access to _all_ the files on the HD, speed of backup and of checking
>files for changes, and of course, what do you do about the fact that
>applications and users won't pleasantly use 'svn add', 'svn delete', and
>'svn move' when they change things on the HD.

If you didn't get any response on this issue, here are my thoughts:

#1: Don't back up your entire hard drive - just maybe your user folder. I don't
even go that far - I have a special "desk" repository/folder where I keep my
created documents, important stuff, and whatnot That way I'm not backing up
things like mp3s, photos, etc.

Then, every few months, I backup the things I don't have in subversion - the
music, photos, mail, etc etc.

#2: If you have special configuration files it wouldn't hurt to put those under
subversion control as well. On my main machine (powerbook as well) I haven't
done anything special with the config files, but I do keep config files for like
my servers and such under source control as well.

Of course, the issue is now how to backup the repository. My repositories are
small enough I just use hotbackup.py and use Apple's Backup to send the results
to Apple - although I doubt this will last for much longer, as my data sizes
grow.

People have done it before, although using CVS instead of subversion. Although I
can't find the original article, I did find several links that may be helpful:

<http://radio.weblogs.com/0100544/2003/11/19.html#a879>

Hope this helps,
_Ryan Wilcox

================================================================
Wilcox Development Solutions: http://www.wilcoxd.com
Toolsmiths for the Internet Age PGP: 0x2F4E9C31

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Received on Mon May 31 18:11:54 2004