Re: [rdiff-backup-users] File ownership on a portable drive

[Grant]

>>  >> > All the owner and group IDs (both the names and the numeric IDs) are
>>  >> > kept in the mirror_metadata files.  By default, rdiff-backup will try to
>>  >> > restore to the same owner and group _names_.  You can use the
>>  >> > "--preserve-numerical-ids" option to restore to the same numeric
>>  >> > UIDs/GIDs.
>>  >>
>>  >> That's great.  Does the same sort of thing apply to file permissions?  If so, I
>>  >> can mangle owners, groups, and permissions as badly as I want and they'll still
>>  >> be perfectly preserved when I restore?
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > Any writing to the mirror other than by rdiff-backup itself is highly
>>  > discouraged, but all of the metadata (ownership, permissions, ACLs, ...)
>>  > is stored separately from the mirror and should restore correctly. All
>>  > bets are off, though, if you add, delete, or change the contents of any
>>  > file there.
>>
>> Can I have the correct ownership and permissions re-applied to the mirror?
>
>
> I don't know of any simple way to do that, unless you consider writing a
> script to parse the current mirror_metadata file and apply the permissions
> as "simple".  Those permissions aren't really significant except when you
> are copying files directly from the mirror rather than using rdiff-backup
> to do the restore.  The repository can, after all, reside on file systems
> not compatible with Unix ownership/permissions (with varying degrees of
> success, alas).

Thank you Bob.

- Grant