/etc/flexbackup.conf - a flexible backup/archiving tool configuration file

Flexbackup configuration file. Check flexbackup(1) or flexbackup -help for usage information.

General Configuration Settings

$type = 'afio'; Which archive type to use. Supported types are: afio(1), dump(1), tar(1), cpio(1), star(1), pax(1), zip(1), lha(1), ar(1), shar(1). 'copy' is another option if running in archive-to-disk mode. Use 'filelist' to dump a list of files in your cwd - for debugging setup/exclusion.

$set{'tag'} = '/dir';

Configure backup sets. Not needed if -dir <dir> is used to backup one tree at a time. Each set is a simple space-separated list of filesystems/directories. Remote filesystems should be denoted as host:directory. You can use anything (other than 'all') as set names. Using -set all will back up all defined sets. If you are doing a full backup using tapes, each set will go onto a different tape and you will be prompted for tape change in between. Examples: $set{'set1'} = '/home /usr';

$set{'set2'} = '/dir3 machine2:/dir4 machine3:/dir5';

$prune{'/'} = 'tmp proc';

Configure subtree pruning. A space-separated list of directories to prune from each backup. Key is a filesystem/directory or host:directory spec as outlined above regular expressions allowed (not shell-type wildcards!).

$compress = 'false|gzip|bzip2|lzop|zip|compress|hardware';

$compr_level = '4'; Configure compression. Choose a type of compression to use and configure the level. The compression level only applies to gzip/bzip2/lzop/zip compression types.

$buffer = 'false|buffer|mbuffer';

$buffer_megs = '10'; $buffer_fill_pct = '75'; $buffer_pause_usec = '100'; Configure buffering program to help streaming to tapes. Specify the buffer memory size in $buffer_megs, how full buffer needs to be to start writing in $buffer_fill_pct, and how long to sleep after every write (which helps sustain stream bursts) in $buffer_pause_usec.

$device = '/dev/tape';

Configure device to backup to. Non-rewinding version, please!. If the target is a directory, flexbackup will archive to files in that directory rather than to a device. If configured as host:/dev/tapedevice, will use remote tape drive via rsh/ssha. Examples: afCW s l. _ Linux SCSI w/devfs: /dev/tapes/tape0/mtn Linux SCSI: /dev/nst0 Linux IDE: /dev/nht0 Linux ftape: /dev/nqft0 FreeBSD SCSI: /dev/nrsa0 _

$blksize = '10';

Configure the block size (in kilobytes!) to use for archive programs and dd. Default is IfB10 for most things. Some tape drives need 32 or 64. Set to '0' to disable all blocking.

$mt_blksize = '0';

Configure the block size (in bytes!) to use for the tape device, with mt setblk or equivalent. If set to '0', will use variable block size for the tape device (which is recommended). Comment out or set to $blksize * 1024 to have it be the same as the archiver block size above.

$pad_blocks = 'true|false';

Configure block padding. True to pad blocks to blocksize (devices only, not used when archiving to files).

$mt{'command'} = 'other';

Configure mt operation overrides. Set these if flexbackup doesn't know the right mt command(s) for your OS/tape device, or you want to override things. Example:

Use mt status instead of mt tell

$mt{'tell'} = 'status';

Other Global Settings

$remoteshell = 'rsh|ssh|ssh2';

Configure the command to use for remote shell.

$remoteuser = '';

If not empty (or not set), the secondary username for remote shells.

$label = 'true|false';

Somehow store identifying label in archive?

$verbose = 'true|false';

Print each file?

$sparse = 'true|false';

Handle sparse files?

$indexes = 'true|false';

Set to 'false' to turn off all table-of-contents support.

$staticfiles = 'true|false';

If backing up to files, use static filenames - no date stamp (same level backup of same directory will overwrite old backups).

$atime_preserve = 'true|false';

Set to true to try and preserve file access times during backup, if the selected archive program can do so. Note that if this is true, -cnewer checks (file permission/status changes only, not content) are turned off when deciding which files to archive on the local system.

$traverse_fs = 'false|local|all';

Span across filesytems? (backups of type 'dump' will ignore this option). Set to 'false' (don't), 'local' (all but nfs/smbfs), or 'all' (everything)

$exclude_expr[0] = '.*';

Exclude files that match these regular expressions (not shell wildcards) from the backups (backups of type 'dump' will ignore this option). You can list more than one, just keep incrementing the index in the brackets for each. Also, strip off leading directories (the filesystem specs above or the -dir flag). Matches paths, not filenames, so put .* on the front/back as needed. Examples: $exclude_expr[0] = '.*/[Cc]ache/.*';

$exclude_expr[1] = '.*~$';

$erase_tape_set_level_zero = 'true|false';

If set to true (default), and using a tape device, level 0 (full) set backup types assume you want to erase and use a new tape for each set. If set to false, level 0 (full) set backup types append to tapes. To force an erase for any backup, use -erase on the command-line.

$erase_rewind_only = 'true|false';

Set this to 'true' to make erase operations just call mt rewind - not mt rewind followed by mt erase. (For some tape drives, erase takes hours rather than seconds or is otherwise undesirable).

Log, Stamps, and Binary Location Settings

$logdir = '/var/log/flexbackup';

Directory for log files.

$comp_log = 'false|gzip|bzip2|lzop|compress|zip';

Compress log?

$staticlogs = 'true|false';

Use static log filenames with no date stamp?

$prefix = '';

Log filenames will start with this prefix.

$tmpdir = '/tmp';

Used for temporary refdate files, etc.

$stampdir = '/var/lib/flexbackup';

Directory for backup timestamp files.

$index = '/var/lib/flexbackup/index';

Full path (without the .db extension) to the database filename for tape indexes.

$keyfile = '00-index-key';

Filename for keyfile if archiving to dir.

$sprefix = '';

Stamp filenames will start with this prefix.

$path{'program'} = '/path/to/program';

Override paths to commands. By default flexbackup will look for them in $PATH. Use this if you want to set commands explicitly. You can use full paths or just change command names. Examples:

If GNU tar is called gtar on your system:

$path{'tar'} = 'gtar';

Or it can be used to sudo certain commands:

$path{'find'} = 'sudo find';

$path{'dump'} = 'sudo dump';

$path{'afio'} = 'sudo -u nonrootuser afio';

Specific Command Settings

$afio_nocompress_types = 'ext1 ext2 ...';

$afio_echo_block = 'true|false'; $afio_compress_threshold = '3'; $afio_compress_cache_size = '2'; These settings apply to the 'afio' backup types only. Files with extensions specified in $afio_nocompress_types will not be compressed. Define whether or not echo block numbers in $afio_echo_block. Configure the minimum file size (in kilobytes) required for compression in $afio_compress_threshold. $afio_compress_cache_size setting is used to specify the maximum amount of memory (megabytes) to use for temporary storage of compression results. If a compressed file is bigger than this, compression will have to run twice on the file. See the afio(1) manpage for more information.

$tar_echo_record_num = 'true|false';

These settings apply to the 'tar' backup types only. Define whether or not echo record numbers in $tar_echo_record_num.

$cpio_format = 'newc';

These settings apply to the 'cpio' backup types only. Configure the format of the archive in $cpio_format. See the cpio(1) manpage for allowed formats.

$dump_length = '0';

$dump_use_dumpdates = 'true|false'; These settings apply to the 'dump' backup types only. Configure the estimated tape size (in kilobytes) using the $dump_length setting. This number doesn't really do much but help dump get size estimates if set to 0, flexbackup uses 'dump -a' to determine this. Set $dump_use_dumpdates setting to 'true to use /etc/dumpdates (could mess things up if you dump subdirectories of mount points). Set it to 'false' to use flexbackup's internal timestamps.

$star_fifo = 'true|false';

$star_acl = 'true|false'; $star_echo_block_num = 'true|false'; $star_format = 'exustar'; These settings apply to the 'star' backup types only. Define whether or not use fifo (buffering) in $star_fifo. If you set this to 'true' you probably want to set $buffer = 'false' (see above). Configure whether or not to handle ACLs in $star_acl. Define whether or not echo record numbers in $star_echo_block_num. Configure the format of the archive in $star_format. See the star(1) manpage for allowed formats.

$pax_format = 'ustar';

These settings apply to the 'pax' backup types only. Configure the format of the archive in $pax_format. See the pax(1) manpage for allowed formats.

$zip_nocompress_types = 'ext1 ext2 ...';

These settings apply to the 'zip' backup types only. Files with extensions specified in $zip_nocompress_types will not be compressed.

$pkgdelta_archive_list = 'true|false|rootonly';

$pkgdelta_archive_unowned = 'true|false'; $pkgdelta_archive_changed = 'true|false'; These settings apply to the 'pkgdelta' backup types only. Configure whether to archive a list of all installed packages in the top level of each backup in $pkgdelta_archive_list. Can be 'false' (don't), 'true' (save it for any backup), or 'rootonly' (saves list only if the filesystem is '/'). Define whether or not to archive files not owned by any package in $pkgdelta_archive_unowned. Specify whether or not to archive any package-owned files which have been modified in $pkgdelta_archive_changed.

/etc/flexbackup.conf - configuration settings

Report bugs to (flexbackup-help@lists.sourceforge.net)

Written by Edwin Huffstutler (edwinh@computer.org)

flexbackup(1)