[rdiff-backup-users] Sparse files

[Wiebe Cazemier]

Hi ben (and others),

In the Wiki article about sparse files, you ask the following question:

> I guess it depends on how/why sparse files are used, and what the
> consequences of not supporting them are.

One very important consequence of not supporting them, is that a
restored backup can take up an enormous amount of extra space compared
to the source. Azureus (bittorrent client) uses sparse files for
example. When you download cd images or whatever when you're very low on
diskpace, it can result in a restoration of the archive not fitting on a
new disk of equal size. And of course, in general, restored backups
taking up more space than the source.

The fact that diffing of sparse files is still slow is of less
importance than actually storing sparse files as sparse files. This
would be a welcomed feature in rdiff-backup, in my opinion.

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