Re: [Quilt-dev] Another shell re-write of backup-files.

[Kaz Kylheku]

On Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:00:12 +0100, Jean Delvare <address@hidden>
wrote:
> On Friday 18 March 2011 05:50:18 pm Kaz Kylheku wrote:
>>      if [ $opt_nolink ] ; then
>>              cpio --quiet -pd "$opt_prefix" < $file_list
>>      else
>>              cpio --quiet -pdl "$opt_prefix" < $file_list
>>      fi
> 
> You have implemented the "no link" backup improperly. "No link" means 
> that the _source_ ends unlinked. The backup is still linked to all other 
> files the source was originally linked to.

I have hard time agreeing with this requirement, because if files in
the
tree are multiply hard linked and you are patching
them, that relationship basically goes out the window.

Even if "quilt pop" restores the hard link structure of the original
tree, it still has to touch the timestamp, which will affect all
views of the multiply linked object.

I can't decide which behavior is better (break the link
relationship for one entry, but keep all the other views
unmodified, or keep the link relationship and expose
the timestamp modification through all the aliased views).

The one argument for the latter is that storage is minimized
when you revert everything with "quilt pop -a"
(hard to justify with 3 terabyte drives in the consumer market).

Anyone who hard-links their text files (in some logically
necessary way, not just to save space) and manages them with quilt
(and many other tools) will run into problems. Realistically,
care will have to be taken to maintain the link relationship
with a script.