Re: [Duplicity-talk] duply usage -max age

[edgar . soldin]

On 08.06.2013 22:38, Patrick Werner wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
> 
> i just read a lot about duply and duplicity.
> But i don't get the exact difference between purge and purge-full. 

purge lists/deletes everything older than a given time argument
purge-full lists/deletes all except the a number of full backups needed to stay 
on the backend.

did you check the manpage (duply usage) ?
http://www.duply.net/?title=Duply-documentation#Manpage

>I have the same problem with the difference between MAX_AGE and 
>MAX_FULLBKP_AGE.

these are for backup, not purging. refer to the comments above them in the 
generated config file.
 
> I like to explain to you what i think its the meaning of these parameters:
> 
> purge will delete all backups (inc and full?) older than max_age in the 
> config or command line

no. 

> i've tried: duply xxx purge 1D 
> 
> --- Start running command PURGE at 16:27:46.794 ---
> Import of duplicity.backends.giobackend Failed: No module named gio
> Local and Remote metadata are synchronized, no sync needed.
> Last full backup date: Tue Jun  4 19:12:37 2013
> No old backup sets found, nothing deleted.
> 
> Thats a different result than i expected. The last Full Backup is 4 days old.

i'd need to see more details to evaluate why that happens. but probably not, 
read along.
 
> purge-full should work the same but for full backups. If Inc Backups are 
> depending on a full backup - nothing should happen? Or will the whole chain 
> be deleted?
> When i try:  duply xxx purge-full 1D i get the same output as above.
> 
> the config value MAX_AGE is used for inc and full backups during the purge 
> command, MAX_FULLBKP_AGE for purge-full

no, the created conf file comment explains MAX_FULLBKP_AGE (taken from duply 
src code). it is
"
  649:   # activates duplicity --full-if-older-than option (since duplicity 
v0.4.4.RC3) 
  650:   # forces a full backup if last full backup reaches a specified age, 
for the 
  651:   # format of MAX_FULLBKP_AGE see duplicity man page, chapter 
TIME_FORMATS
  652:   # Uncomment the following two lines to enable this setting.
  653:   #MAX_FULLBKP_AGE=1M
  654:   #DUPL_PARAMS="\$DUPL_PARAMS --full-if-older-than \$MAX_FULLBKP_AGE " 
"


> What i want to implement on my server:
> Weekly backups, every 2 weeks a full backups, max backup time: 1 month
> 
> So i should set  MAX_FULLBKP_AGE=2W, MAX_AGE =30D and use  duply humbug 
> backup_verify_purge --force ?

yes, don't forget to uncomment the line below MAX_FULLBKP_AGE as well.

> 
> It would be really nice if somebody could help me to understand these 
> settings a little better, i think the man page of duply could be more 
> specific on these settings and/or provide some simple examples.
> I'll be happy to contribute to improve the man page, but first i need help.

hmm. the manpage actually describes how to interact the program. conf file 
documentation is meant to be in the comments above the settings.
i agree naming is somewhat confusing, but it grew like that and for backward 
compatibility it is not possible to simply rename a variable.

go ahead and send different, enhanced descriptions for either manpage or conf 
comments. contributions are generally welcome, provided that the change 
improves duply. sometimes it might need some explanation why something is not 
as expected.

good luck.. ede/duply.net