[rdiff-backup-users] Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: rdiff-backup-tools

[Oliver Mulatz]

Hello Steve,

> In order to really wrap my head around rdiff-backup and avoid
> remembering it's usage and localized arguments, I've written a set of
> scripts to automate it's usage.  Refer to the output after my sig.
> There is a longer tutorial/quick start in the README file.  Feel
> free to post a link on the Related Pages page.
>
> http://www.physics.wisc.edu/~rader/rdiff-backup-tools/README
> http://www.physics.wisc.edu/~rader/rdiff-backup-tools/

thank you for creating and sharing 'rdiff-backup-tools' shell-scripts.

I changed some parts to work/added some features and use them daily via
cronjobs on several PCs/Servers/Virtual Machines with Linux and Windows Cygwin.

Included are the diffs in case you want to put (some of) the changes into a new 
release.

Do you consider converting your useful scripts into Python language, so all
rdiff-backup users can benefit from them, not only users on Unix/Windows-Cygwin 
with
BASH-shell? And what is the software license you use, GPL?

## CHANGES ##
- BUG FIXED: the scripts broke in several places on filenames with spaces in 
them
- BUG FIXED: RDB-recover: usage function told to use '--at', but '--as-of' was 
required
- BUG FIXED: RDB-info: specifying '--saveset' did not work
- BUG FIXED: RDB-report: problem with filenames with spaces in them

- ADDED: custom configuration-file-support for all RDBT-scripts via commandline 
option
- ADDED: in config: a common/custom path to rdiff-backup can be specified, 
referenced from
  the shell-scripts, no more editing all scripts when the path is different
- ADDED: in config: added common options to pass to rdiff-backup commandline in 
all scripts
- ADDED: in RDB-recover/-save: if destination directory-structure was not 
existing,
  the scripts aborted, now there is a '--force', resp. '--initial-run' option 
to create the
  destination dir-structure.
- ADDED: in cronjob: consumes less system resources, if processes are 'nice'd
- some typos fixed

## SUGGESTIONS ##

- converting to Python or
 - change to be compatible with other shells than BASH:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_command_shells

- provide the allowed user names via central config-file
  instead of hard-coded in each script:
if [ `whoami` != "root" ]; then
  echo "permission denied"
  exit 1
fi

- evg. also add a 'run how often' (daily, each two days) option and a default
  retention policy (e.g. '2Y') for using with RDB-expire if not specified in 
each
  save-set explicitly

- RDBT(-recover): maybe by convention, there should be a save-set "0"
  for recovering ALL configured change sets

- RDBT-report could store an incremental file (with marker showing processed 
till which
  date) with change-history itself, so it does not need to walk the directories 
and parse
  the same output each time. Especially for RDB-repos with many changes/longer 
version
  history this takes quite long!

  Maybe this could be directly implemented in rdiff-backup,
  some sort of 'history/statistics-cache'?

<nitpicking>
- and just an idea: the name 'rdiff-backup-restore' would better suit the script
  currently named 'rdiff-backup-recover' (IMO recovery is more than restoring 
backups ...)
  and rdiff-backup uses '--restore-as-of' itself ...
</nitpicking>

And here are the changes:
<code>
diff U3 rdiff-backup-expire rdiff-backup-expire
--- rdiff-backup-expire Thu Nov 06 13:40:50 2008
+++ rdiff-backup-expire Sun Dec 07 13:04:54 2008
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # $Id: rdiff-backup-expire,v 1.10 2008/11/06 02:26:07 rader Exp $
 #

-if [ `whoami` != "root" ]; then
+if [ `whoami` != "root" ]; then   ## Maybe specify allowed users via 
config-file
   echo "permission denied"
   exit
 fi
@@ -17,9 +17,12 @@
   echo "  --age TIMESPEC  expire saves older than TIMESPEC (date or interval)"
   echo "  --force         expire multiple saves"
   echo "  --debug         debug output"
+  echo "  --config PATH  use the specified configuation file instead of 
default"
 }

 dosave=1
+Conf='/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf'
+

 while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
   arg=$1
@@ -79,12 +82,22 @@
     shift
     continue
   fi
+  if [ "$arg" == '--config' ] || [ "$arg" == '-c' ]; then
+   shift
+   Conf=$1
+   if [ $debug ]; then
+     echo "Using custom configuration file '$Conf'"
+   fi
+   shift
+   continue
+  fi
   echo "Unrecognized option \"$arg\""
   usage
   exit
 done

-Conf=/usr/local/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf
+
+#Conf=/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf

 if [ ! -f "$Conf" ]; then
   echo "Error: $Conf: no such file"
@@ -120,7 +133,7 @@
     continue
   fi
   if [ $debug ]; then
-    echo "rdiff-backup ${args}--remove-older-than "$date" $dst"
+    echo "${PathRDB} ${args}--remove-older-than "$date" $dst"
   fi
   if [ $verbose ]; then
     echo "=================================================================="
@@ -130,7 +143,7 @@
     date
   fi
   if [ $dosave ]; then
-    rdiff-backup ${args}--remove-older-than "$date" $dst 2>&1
+    ${PathRDB} ${args}--remove-older-than "$date" $dst 2>&1
   fi
 done

diff U3 rdiff-backup-info rdiff-backup-info
--- rdiff-backup-info   Thu Nov 06 13:40:50 2008
+++ rdiff-backup-info   Sun Dec 07 16:03:53 2008
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # $Id: rdiff-backup-info,v 1.14 2008/11/06 12:22:12 rader Exp $
 #

-if [ `whoami` != "root" ]; then
+if [ `whoami` != "root" ]; then   ## Maybe specify allowed users via 
config-file
   echo "permission denied"
   exit
 fi
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
   echo "  --saveset N  report on save set number N"
   echo "  --path PATH  report on save of PATH"
   echo "  --debug      debug output"
+  echo "  --config PATH  use the specified configuation file instead of 
default"
   echo "  list         list sources and destinations"
   echo "  files        list files"
   echo "  ls           list files with ls -l"
@@ -20,10 +21,12 @@
 }

 mode=none
+Conf='/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf'
+

 while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
   arg=$1
-  if [ "$arg" == '--debug' ] || [ "$arg" == '-d' ]; then
+  if [ "$arg" == '--debug' ] || [ "$arg" == '-d' ] || [ "$arg" == '--verbose' ] || [ 
"$arg" == '-v' ]; then
     debug=1
     echo Debug mode is on
     shift
@@ -34,9 +37,10 @@
     exit
   fi
   if [ "$arg" == '--saveset' ] || [ "$arg" == '-s' ]; then
+    shift
     saveset=$1
     if [ $debug ]; then
-      echo "Save set is $saveset"
+      echo "Save set is '$saveset'"
     fi
     shift
     continue
@@ -50,6 +54,15 @@
     shift
     continue
   fi
+  if [ "$arg" == '--config' ] || [ "$arg" == '-c' ]; then
+   shift
+   Conf=$1
+   if [ $debug ]; then
+     echo "Using custom configuration file '$Conf'"
+   fi
+   shift
+   continue
+  fi
   if [ "$arg" == 'list' ]; then
     mode=list
     shift
@@ -85,7 +98,7 @@
   exit
 fi

-Conf=/usr/local/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf
+#Conf=/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf

 if [ ! -f "$Conf" ]; then
   echo "rdiff-backup-info: $Conf: no such file"
@@ -109,65 +122,65 @@
   if [ $debug ]; then
     echo "Source is $src"
   fi
-  if [ $saveset ] && [ $saveset != $i ] && [ $saveset != $src ]; then
+  if [ $saveset ] && [ $saveset != $i ] && [ $saveset != "$src" ]; then
     if [ $debug ]; then
-      echo Skipping save set $i
+      echo "Skipping save set '$i'"
     fi
     continue;
   fi
   if [ "${Destination[$i]}" == '' ]; then
-    echo "Error: cannot report on $src: missing Destination[$i] definition"
+    echo "Error: cannot report on '$src': missing Destination[$i] definition"
     continue
   fi
   if [ ! -d "${Destination[$i]}" ]; then
-    echo "Error: cannot report on $src: ${Destination[$i]}: no such directory"
+    echo "Error: cannot report on '$src': '${Destination[$i]}': no such 
directory"
     continue
   fi
   case $mode in
     list)
-          echo "Save set $i: save $src to $dst"
+          echo "Save set '$i': save '$src' to '$dst'"
     ;;
     files)
           time=`date +%s`
-          echo Listing files in the current mirror of $src:
-          if [ $debug ]; then
-            echo "rdiff-backup $mode_arg $time $dst \\"
+          echo "Listing files in the current mirror of '$src':"
+          if [ $debug ]; then
+            echo "${PathRDB} $mode_arg '$time' '$dst' \\"
             echo " | sed \"s:^:$dst/:\""
           fi
-          rdiff-backup $mode_arg $time $dst | sed "s:^:$dst/:"
+          ${PathRDB} $mode_arg $time "$dst" | sed "s:^:$dst/:"
     ;;
     ls)
       if [ $debug ]; then
-        echo "find $dst -print | xargs ls -ld | grep -v $dst/rdiff-backup-data 
"
+        echo "find '$dst' -print0 | xargs --null ls -ld | grep -v 
'$dst/rdiff-backup-data'"
       fi
-      find $dst -print | xargs ls -ld | grep -v $dst/rdiff-backup-data
+#WAS:      find $dst -print | xargs ls -ld | grep -v $dst/rdiff-backup-data ## 
breaks on files with spaces (' ') in them.
+       find "$dst" -print0 | xargs --null ls -ld | grep -v 
"$dst/rdiff-backup-data" ## works fine
     ;;
     changed)
           if [ $debug ]; then
             echo "Getting last save time via..."
-            echo "rdiff-backup --list-increments $dst \\ "
+            echo "${PathRDB} --list-increments '$dst' \\ "
             echo "    | tail -2 | head -1 | sed 's/.*dir[ ]*//'"
           fi
-          time=`rdiff-backup --list-increments $dst | tail -2 | head -1 | sed 
's/.*dir[ ]*//'`
+          time=`${PathRDB} --list-increments "$dst" | tail -2 | head -1 | sed 
's/.*dir[ ]*//'`
           if [ $debug ]; then
-            echo "Last save was \"$time\""
+            echo "Last save was '$time'"
           fi
           if [ "$time" == "Found 0 increments:" ]; then
             echo There are no changes to the mirror $src
             continue
           fi
-          echo Listing of changes in to the mirror $src at $time:
+          echo "Listing of changes to the mirror '$src' since '$time':"
           if [ $debug ]; then
-            echo "rdiff-backup $mode_arg "$time" $dst | ..."
+            echo "${PathRDB} $mode_arg '$time' '$dst' ..."
           fi
-          rdiff-backup $mode_arg "$time" $dst | \
+          ${PathRDB} $mode_arg "$time" "$dst" | \
             sed "s:new     :new     $src/:" | \
             sed "s:changed :changed $src/:" | \
             sed "s:deleted :deleted $src/:"
     ;;
   esac
-
+
 done

 exit
-
diff U3 rdiff-backup-recover rdiff-backup-recover
--- rdiff-backup-recover        Thu Nov 06 13:40:50 2008
+++ rdiff-backup-recover        Sun Dec 07 13:04:16 2008
@@ -3,21 +3,25 @@
 # $Id: rdiff-backup-recover,v 1.9 2008/11/05 23:51:43 rader Exp $
 #

-if [ `whoami` != "root" ]; then
+if [ `whoami` != "root" ]; then   ## Maybe specify allowed users via 
config-file
   echo "permission denied"
   exit
 fi

 function usage {
-  echo "usage: rdiff-backup-recover [args] --at <DATE> <SOURCE> <DESTINATION>"
+  echo "usage: rdiff-backup-recover [args] --as-of <DATE> <SOURCE> 
<DESTINATION>"
   echo "  --as-of TIMESPEC  recover from mirror as of TIMESPEC (date or 
interval)"
   echo "  --dry-run         no recover (also -n)"
   echo "  --force           overwrite DESTINATION"
   echo "  --debug           debug output"
+  echo "  --config PATH  use the specified configuation file instead of 
default"
 }

 dosave=1
 saveset=1
+force=0
+Conf='/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf'
+

 while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
   arg=$1
@@ -48,8 +52,9 @@
   fi
   if [ "$arg" == "--force" ] || [ "$arg" == "-f" ]; then
     args="$1 "
+    force=1
     if [ $debug ]; then
-      echo "Added $args"
+      echo "Added $args - forcing destination dir(s) creation and overwrite"
     fi
     shift
     continue
@@ -70,6 +75,15 @@
     shift
     continue
   fi
+  if [ "$arg" == '--config' ] || [ "$arg" == '-c' ]; then
+   shift
+   Conf=$1
+   if [ $debug ]; then
+     echo "Using custom configuration file '$Conf'"
+   fi
+   shift
+   continue
+  fi
   echo "Unrecognized option \"$arg\""
   usage
   exit
@@ -87,7 +101,7 @@
   exit
 fi

-Conf=/usr/local/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf
+#Conf=/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf

 if [ ! -f "$Conf" ]; then
   echo "Error: $Conf: no such file"
@@ -101,12 +115,21 @@
 ddst=${Destination[$saveset]}

 if ( echo $src | egrep ^$dsrc > /dev/null ) ; then
+
+  if [ $force ] && [ ! -e "$dst" ]; then
+    mkdir -p "$dst"
+
+    if [ $debug ]; then
+      echo "Forcing overwrite and/or destination dir(s) creation (if not existing 
already) for '$dst': "
+    fi
+  fi
+
   if [ $debug ]; then
-    echo "rdiff-backup ${args}--restore-as-of \"$date\" $ddst $dst"
+    echo "${PathRDB} ${args}--restore-as-of \"$date\" $ddst $dst"
   fi
   if [ $dosave ]; then
     echo "Starting recover of $ddst to $dst... this may take awhile..."
-    rdiff-backup ${args}--restore-as-of "$date" $ddst $dst
+    ${PathRDB} ${args}--restore-as-of "$date" "$ddst" "$dst"
   fi
 else
   echo "Error: path prefix \"$src\" does not match prefix of save set $saveset 
(\"$dsrc\")"
diff U3 rdiff-backup-report rdiff-backup-report
--- rdiff-backup-report Thu Nov 06 13:40:50 2008
+++ rdiff-backup-report Sun Dec 07 16:09:25 2008
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 #
 #

-if [ `whoami` != "root" ]; then
+if [ `whoami` != "root" ]; then   ## Maybe specify allowed users via 
config-file
   echo "permission denied"
   exit
 fi
@@ -14,9 +14,12 @@
   echo "  --path PATH  only report on save set of PATH"
   echo "  --saveset N  only report on save set number N"
   echo "  --debug      debug output"
+  echo "  --config PATH  use the specified configuation file instead of 
default"
 }

 save=1
+Conf='/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf'
+

 while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
   arg=$1
@@ -48,11 +51,20 @@
     shift
     continue
   fi
+  if [ "$arg" == '--config' ] || [ "$arg" == '-c' ]; then
+   shift
+   Conf=$1
+   if [ $debug ]; then
+     echo "Using custom configuration file '$Conf'"
+   fi
+   shift
+   continue
+  fi
   usage
   exit
 done

-Conf=/usr/local/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf
+#Conf=/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf

 if [ ! -f "$Conf" ]; then
   echo "rdiff-backup-report: $Conf: no such file"
@@ -69,7 +81,7 @@
 let t=$t+1
 for (( i = 1; i < $t; i++ )) do
   src=${Source[$i]}
-  if [ $saveset ] && [ $saveset != $i ] && [ $saveset != $src ]; then
+  if [ $saveset ] && [ $saveset != $i ] && [ $saveset != "$src" ]; then
     if [ $debug ]; then
       echo Skipping save set $i
     fi
@@ -85,7 +97,7 @@
   fi
   dst=${Destination[$i]}
   echo
-  echo "Save set $i: save $src to $dst"
+  echo "Save set '$i': save '$src' to '$dst'"
   for f in `( cd $dst/rdiff-backup-data; find * -name 'session_statistics*' 
-print | sort)`; do
     adds=`grep NewFiles $dst/rdiff-backup-data/$f | awk '{print $2}'`
     if [ "$adds" = "" ]; then adds=0; fi
diff U3 rdiff-backup-save rdiff-backup-save
--- rdiff-backup-save   Thu Nov 06 13:40:50 2008
+++ rdiff-backup-save   Mon Dec 08 15:17:06 2008
@@ -3,41 +3,52 @@
 # $Id: rdiff-backup-save,v 1.27 2008/11/06 12:28:20 rader Exp $
 #

-if [ `whoami` != "root" ]; then
+## Maybe provide the allowed users also via config-file?
+if [ `whoami` != "root" ]; then   ## Maybe specify allowed users via 
config-file
   echo "permission denied"
   exit 1
 fi

 function usage {
   echo "usage: rdiff-backup-save [args]"
-  echo "  --path PATH  only backup PATH"
-  echo "  --saveset N  only backup save set number N"
-  echo "  --dry-run    no save"
-  echo "  --verbose    verbose output (prints summary)"
-  echo "  --debug      debug output"
+  echo " -p / --path PATH    only backup PATH"
+  echo " -s / --saveset N    only backup save set number N"
+  echo " -c / --config PATH  use the specified configuation file instead of 
default"
+  echo " -n / --dry-run      only test, not performing a real backup"
+  echo " -i / --initial-run  create destination directory-structure (uses RDB 
'--force')"
+  echo " -v / --verbose      verbose output (prints summary)"
+  echo " -d / --debug        debug output"
 }

 save=1
+Conf='/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf'
+force=0

 while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
   arg=$1
-  if [ $arg == '--debug' ] || [ $arg == '-d' ]; then
+  if [ "$arg" == '--debug' ] || [ "$arg" == '-d' ]; then
     debug=1
     echo Debug mode is on
     shift
     continue
   fi
-  if [ $arg == '--help' ] || [ $arg == '-h' ]; then
+  if [ "$arg" == '--help' ] || [ "$arg" == '-h' ]; then
     usage
     exit 1
   fi
-  if [ "$arg" == '--dry-run' ] || [ $arg == '-n' ]; then
+  if [ "$arg" == '--dry-run' ] || [ "$arg" == '-n' ]; then
     save=''
     echo No save mode is on
     shift
     continue
   fi
-  if [ $arg == '--verbose' ] || [ $arg == '-v' ]; then
+  if [ "$arg" == '--initial-run' ] || [ "$arg" == '-i' ]; then
+    force=1
+    echo "Initial run, creating backup-destination directories if 
non-existant."
+    shift
+    continue
+  fi
+  if [ $arg == '--verbose' ] || [ "$arg" == '-v' ]; then
     verbose=1
     if [ $debug ]; then
       echo Verbose mode is on
@@ -63,15 +74,24 @@
     shift
     continue
   fi
+  if [ "$arg" == '--config' ] || [ "$arg" == '-c' ]; then
+   shift
+   Conf=$1
+   if [ $debug ]; then
+     echo "Using custom configuration file '$Conf'"
+   fi
+   shift
+   continue
+  fi
   echo "rdiff-backup-save: unknown option \"$arg\""
   usage
   exit 1
 done

-Conf=/usr/local/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf
+#Conf=/etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf

 if [ ! -f "$Conf" ]; then
-  echo "rdiff-backup-save: $Conf: no such file"
+  echo "rdiff-backup-save: '$Conf': no such file"
   exit 1
 fi

@@ -107,7 +127,7 @@
   log=$Log.$$.$i
   src=${Source[$i]}
   dst=${Destination[$i]}
-  if [ $saveset ] && [ $saveset != $i ] && [ $saveset != $src ]; then
+  if [ $saveset ] && [ $saveset != $i ] && [ $saveset != "$src" ]; then
     if [ $debug ]; then
       echo Skipping save set $i
     fi
@@ -115,7 +135,7 @@
   fi
   now=`date`
   msg "=================================================================="
-  msg "Saving $src to $dst..."
+  msg "Saving '$src' to '$dst'..."
   if [ $debug ]; then
     echo Doing save number $i
     echo Source is $src
@@ -134,26 +154,40 @@
     fi
     ls=`ssh $host ls -ld $dir 2>&1`
     if ( echo $ls | grep 'No such file' > /dev/null 2>&1 ); then
-      msg "Error: save set number $i: $dst no such directory"
-      cat $log >> $Log.$$; rm -f $log
-      continue
+      if [ $force == 1 ]; then
+        msg "Notice: save set number '$i': '$dst' not existant, creating 
directory-structure"
+#        BackupCommonOptions="${BackupCommonOptions} --force"  ## OR use below 
'mkdir -p'
+         mkdir -p "$dst"
+      else
+        msg "Error: save set number '$i': '$dst' no such directory"
+        cat $log >> $Log.$$; rm -f $log
+        continue
+      fi
     fi
-  else
+  else
     if [ ! -d "$dst" ]; then
-      msg "Error: save set number $i: $dst no such directory"
-      cat $log >> $Log.$$; rm -f $log
-      continue
+      if [ $force == 1 ]; then
+        msg "Notice: save set number '$i': '$dst' not existant, creating 
directory-structure"
+#        BackupCommonOptions="${BackupCommonOptions} --force"  ## OR use below 
'mkdir -p'
+         mkdir -p "$dst"
+      else
+        msg "Error: save set number '$i': '$dst' no such directory"
+        cat $log >> $Log.$$; rm -f $log
+        continue
+      fi
     fi
   fi
   msg StartTime $now
-  if [ $debug ]; then
-    echo rdiff-backup --print-statistics ${Excludes[$i]} $src $dst
+  if [ $debug ]; then
+    echo ${PathRDB} ${BackupCommonOptions} --print-statistics ${Excludes[$i]} "$src" 
"$dst"
   fi
-  if [ $save ]; then
-    if [ $debug ]; then
-      rdiff-backup --print-statistics ${Excludes[$i]} $src $dst | tee -a $log 
2>&1
-    else
-      rdiff-backup --print-statistics ${Excludes[$i]} $src $dst >> $log 2>&1
+  if [ $save ]; then
+    if [ $debug ]; then
+      ${PathRDB} ${BackupCommonOptions} --print-statistics ${Excludes[$i]} "$src" 
"$dst" | tee -a $log 2>&1
+       chmod -R u+rX "$dst"  ## The capital '+X' changes only 
directory-permissions!
+    else
+      ${PathRDB} ${BackupCommonOptions} --print-statistics ${Excludes[$i]} "$src" "$dst" 
>> $log 2>&1
+       chmod -R u+rX "$dst"  ## The capital '+X' changes only 
directory-permissions!
     fi
     if [ $verbose ]; then
       egrep "$SummaryRegex" $log
diff U3 rdiff-backup-tools.conf rdiff-backup-tools.conf
--- rdiff-backup-tools.conf     Thu Nov 06 13:40:50 2008
+++ rdiff-backup-tools.conf     Tue Dec 09 13:56:22 2008
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 Log="/var/log/rdiff-backup.log"
 Summary="/var/log/rdiff-backup.summary"

+PathRDB='/usr/bin/rdiff-backup'
+PathOverrideCharsAndFSAbilities='/etc/rdiff-backup_CharsAndFSAbilities.override'
+BackupCommonOptions="--use-utc --use-compatible-timestamps 
--override-quote-chars-and-fsabilities-from-file ${PathOverrideCharsAndFSAbilities}"
+RestoreCommonOptions=''
+
 SummaryRegex="Error|ElapsedTime|done"
 SummaryRegex="$SummaryRegex|SourceFileSize|MirrorFileSize"
 SummaryRegex="$SummaryRegex|TotalDestinationSizeChange"
diff U3 rdiff-backup.cron rdiff-backup.cron
--- rdiff-backup.cron   Thu Nov 06 13:40:50 2008
+++ rdiff-backup.cron   Tue Dec 09 14:01:27 2008
@@ -1,5 +1,19 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Uncomment the next line for testing/debugging
+#set -x

-( echo; /usr/local/sbin/rdiff-backup-save --verbose ; \
-  echo; /usr/local/sbin/rdiff-backup-expire --verbose --force ; \
-  echo ) 2>&1 | mail -s "rdiff-backup report for $HOSTNAME" root
+## $Id: own/backup/rdiff-backup/rdiff-backup.cron,v 6db197774474 2008/11/14 
17:57:50 trinity-rt $ ##
+
+PATH_PREFIX_RDBTOOLS='/usr/local/sbin'
+BE_NICE='/usr/bin/nice -n 19'
+COMMON_OPTIONS='--config /etc/rdiff-backup-tools.conf'
+
+TEST_ONLY='' ## --dry-run'
+
+ ( echo "######### Performing Backup .... #########";echo; $BE_NICE 
${PATH_PREFIX_RDBTOOLS}/rdiff-backup-save ${COMMON_OPTIONS} --verbose ${TEST_ONLY}; \
+  echo "######### Expiring Old Backups #########";echo; $BE_NICE 
${PATH_PREFIX_RDBTOOLS}/rdiff-backup-expire ${COMMON_OPTIONS} --verbose --force ; \
+  echo "######### rdiff-backup-info #########"; echo; $BE_NICE 
${PATH_PREFIX_RDBTOOLS}/rdiff-backup-info ${COMMON_OPTIONS} changed ; \
+  echo "######### rdiff-backup-report #########"; echo; $BE_NICE 
${PATH_PREFIX_RDBTOOLS}/rdiff-backup-report ${COMMON_OPTIONS}; \
+  echo ) 2>&1 | mail -s "rdiff-backup report for $HOSTNAME" root
+#OR USE:# >> /var/log/anacron.log

</code>

Works like a charm for me, thanks again :-)!

Cheers,
Oliver