[Box Backup] 0.05PLUS1

Ben Summers boxbackup@fluffy.co.uk
Wed, 28 Apr 2004 13:17:45 +0100


I've just uploaded a new preview version to

   http://www.fluffy.co.uk/boxbackup/bin/boxbackup-0.05PLUS1.tgz

This includes some slightly fundamental changes, but it's completely 
backwards compatible (and I spent quite a bit of time making sure it 
was.) So it's perfectly safe to install and use. However, 0.05PLUS1 
clients need a 0.05PLUS1 server (although 0.05PLUS1 servers are happy 
with earlier clients).

This also includes a THANKS.txt file, which is long overdue. Since I 
foolishly haven't been writing it as I've gone along, I would 
appreciate gentle reminders if you should be on the list, but I've 
missed you off.

Right then, changes:

* add usage command to bbackupquery
   - tells you how much space you're using on the server from the client 
side

* bug fixes
   - various

* add delete [yes] command to bbstoreaccounts
   - delete accounts as well as create them! Use the optional 'yes' 
argument to skip the confirmation question.

* add check [fix] [quiet] command to bbstoreaccounts
   - more on this later

* Use AES for file data
   - After long consideration, I think AES is a better choice of cipher 
for file data, mainly due to the larger block size. Blowfish is still 
used for meta data (as it's more space efficient with it's 64 bit block 
size), and Blowfish encoded files can still be restored.


Account checking: If you do something like

   /usr/local/bin/bbstoreaccounts check 31

account 31 will be checked for errors. If you do

   /usr/local/bin/bbstoreaccounts check 31 fix

these errors will be fixed.

It may take a while to run, but will get all the readable files into a 
state where they can be restored, and repair all the problems which may 
cause the server to give errors. So if you have problems when files get 
corrupted (eg an unclean shutdown corrupts a file or two) then this 
should sort it out.

I'd like to make sure that it's working correctly. If you could check 
some real-life accounts (without the fix option!) and report back, that 
would be appreciated.

This doesn't fix errors in the underlying raid file system, I'm writing 
a separate utility to do that.


Thanks for trying this all out!

Ben