Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Discussion of poll winning feature: repository editing

[Blair Zajac]

Ben Escoto wrote:
> For the people that voted for repository editing, what did you want
> exactly?  Here's the first thing that crossed my mind:  you have a
> repository at /repo and maybe a directory like /repo/dir that is
> taking up too much space.  You could run something like:
>
>         rdiff-backup-editor delete /repo/dir
>
> that would delete /repo/dir and remove all history of it from the
> repository.  It might also be possible to do something like:
>
>         rdiff-backup-editor move /repo/dir /repo/newname
>
> which would move /repo/dir to /repo/newname, and alter all the history
> so that all the changes that took place in /repo/dir now seem like
> they took place in /repo/newname.  Or what else did you have in mind?

Definitely the ability to delete older increments (files and directories) and to 
merge older backups.

Not that interested in handling moves, but I think the better way would to use 
inode tracking instead and let rdiff-backup handle it automatically.

I would like to see a stable version of 1.1.x released and then work on these 
features in a new 1.2.x, as these are potentially destructive changes to a 
backup repository.  BTW, how is numbering done?  Is 1.(even number) stable and 
1.(odd number) unstable?

> Also more generally, why do you want to edit an existing repository?
> Is it to save disk space?

Yes.

Regards,
Blair

--
Blair Zajac, Ph.D.
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Subversion and Orca training and consulting
http://www.orcaware.com/svn/