Backing up a GuixSD system? rsnapshot doesn't seem to like the store.

Backing up a GuixSD system? rsnapshot doesn't seem to like the store.

[dian_cecht]

Hello,
     My normal backup software (rsnapshot) doesn't seem to play
terribly well with GuixSD because the software uses hardlinks for it's
deduplication, so I'm looking for alternatives (or someone to tell me
what needs to happen to get rsnapshot to backup /gnu/store without
issue).

I'd prefer something that has data deduplication at the very least.

Re: Backing up a GuixSD system? rsnapshot doesn't seem to like the store.

[Ricardo Wurmus]

dian_cecht@zoho.com writes:

>      My normal backup software (rsnapshot) doesn't seem to play
> terribly well with GuixSD because the software uses hardlinks for it's
> deduplication, so I'm looking for alternatives (or someone to tell me
> what needs to happen to get rsnapshot to backup /gnu/store without
> issue).
>
> I'd prefer something that has data deduplication at the very least.

I’m using borg for backups, but I haven’t tested backing up the store
itself because the state of my software environment is fully described
by the manifest and the guix version.

You can disable store deduplication if that causes problems, but that
has the obvious disadvantage of using more space.

~~ Ricardo

Re: Backing up a GuixSD system? rsnapshot doesn't seem to like the store.

[dian_cecht]

On Thu, 02 Mar 2017 13:56:28 +0100
Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net> wrote:
> 
> I’m using borg for backups, but I haven’t tested backing up the store
> itself because the state of my software environment is fully described
> by the manifest and the guix version.

Doesn't that mean the system can't be restored from the backups without
having to reinstall the entire OS?

Re: Backing up a GuixSD system? rsnapshot doesn't seem to like the store.

[Ricardo Wurmus]

dian_cecht@zoho.com writes:

> On Thu, 02 Mar 2017 13:56:28 +0100
> Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net> wrote:
>> 
>> I’m using borg for backups, but I haven’t tested backing up the store
>> itself because the state of my software environment is fully described
>> by the manifest and the guix version.
>
> Doesn't that mean the system can't be restored from the backups without
> having to reinstall the entire OS?

Yes.  In my case that’s an acceptable trade-off.

~~ Ricardo

Re: Backing up a GuixSD system? rsnapshot doesn't seem to like the store.

[Chris Marusich]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2161 bytes --]

<dian_cecht@zoho.com> writes:

> Hello,
>      My normal backup software (rsnapshot) doesn't seem to play
> terribly well with GuixSD because the software uses hardlinks for it's
> deduplication, so I'm looking for alternatives (or someone to tell me
> what needs to happen to get rsnapshot to backup /gnu/store without
> issue).
>
> I'd prefer something that has data deduplication at the very least.

Ah, backups!  Always a fun topic, and always ripe for bike shedding...
May I ask: why do you need to back up the store items?  Depending on
your use case, maybe it isn't actually necessary.

For example, if you're just trying to back up personal, mutable state on
your personal desktop for disaster recovery (that's my back-up use case:
dot files, personal notes and documents, pictures, music, etc., all in
my home directory), then there is little point in backing up store
items.  Backing up the operating system configuration file and a
manifest of packages installed to my user profile is good enough for me.
I can rebuild the system itself from the operating system configuration
file, and I can just re-install the packages I had in my profile from
the manifest, so it works great for me.  I've recovered my system (i.e.,
totally re-installed GuixSD) a dozen times using this method, without
too much hassle.  It's not 100% reproducible, since if I install a tool
today, don't update it for a month, and then recover my entire system
from a backup, I might wind up installing a more recent version of the
tool than I was using previously, but it's good enough for my use case.
The data I really care about is all that mutable state in my home
directory, which guix doesn't manage, so I don't really care much about
what's in the store as long as I have the operating system configuration
file and a manifest of packages I've installed to my profile.

On the other hand, if you want a snapshot of the entire system, and you
want to be able to recover it exactly as it looked in the past, that's
another thing, and I'd have to do some research to find a good solution
for that more stringent use case.

-- 
Chris

[-- Attachment #2: signature.asc --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 832 bytes --]

Re: Backing up a GuixSD system? rsnapshot doesn't seem to like the store.

[Leo Famulari]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 605 bytes --]

On Sun, Mar 05, 2017 at 04:27:14PM -0800, Chris Marusich wrote:
> <dian_cecht@zoho.com> writes:
> 
> > Hello,
> >      My normal backup software (rsnapshot) doesn't seem to play
> > terribly well with GuixSD because the software uses hardlinks for it's
> > deduplication, so I'm looking for alternatives (or someone to tell me
> > what needs to happen to get rsnapshot to backup /gnu/store without
> > issue).

You might want to investigate what other things rsnapshot may be failing
to preserve.

> > I'd prefer something that has data deduplication at the very least.

I recommend borg.

[-- Attachment #2: signature.asc --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 833 bytes --]