Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Backup verification

[Andrew K. Bressen]

Tom Laermans <address@hidden> writes:
> What does rdiff-backup do with changed files? Just leaves the "old"
> file backed up and print out a warning?

If a source file has changed, then rdiff-backup will replace the 
target file with the current (new) source file, and store a diff that will
enable recovery of the previous version.

If you mess up a target file, rdiff-backup will be unhappy;
I don't remember if it just gripes, aborts the backup run, or what. 

Note that rdiff-backup detects changes by checksum and file metadata
like file system, modification time, and so on. I have got a feature
request in the wiki to have a verify mode that does a full comparison.
This should mainly only be needed if you suspect malicious tampering
with the backups or have some kind of filesystem flakiness that makes
you suspect your system's integrity.