Re: Survey: compatibility vs speed of rdiff-backup development

[Frank Crawford]

On Sat, 2023-03-04 at 12:58 -0700, Leland Best wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Just my $0.02 ...
> 
> On Sat, 2023-03-04 at 12:08 +1100, Frank Crawford wrote:
> > Just on the repository format migration option just consider that
> > if
> > automated, then when packaging it for RedHat, and probably other
> > distributions, it should be non-interactive, and preferably easy to
> > tell if it is required or not (for example if they did a
> > reinstall).
> 
> If by "non-interactive" you mean something that happens automatically
> as, say,
> part of the distribution's package upgrade/update process, I vote for
> a big
> "No".

No, I mean specifically it doesn't ask questions, such as where the
repo is, or even if you do or don't want to run it.


> 
> First, I don't see how the package manager stuff (i.e. scripts, etc.)
> could
> possibly figure out reliably where all one's repositories are. 
> 'rdiff-backup'
> let's one create one _anywhere_.  There might be "system" backup
> repositories,
> repositories created by individual users for their own use, testing
> repositories, who knows what?  Some may not even be available at the
> time of
> upgrade (removable drives, non- "auto mounted" network drives, etc.).

This is a good point, so probably does indicate it needs to be run out
of rdiff-backup itself, when it is accessing the repo for some reason.

It could be part of rdiff-backup, or just some extra script that rdiff-
backup calls as needed.
> 
> Second, I personally have had enough "new format upgrades" go
> horribly wrong
> over the years (not with 'rdiff-backup', but in general) that I would
> much
> rather be notified about the change ahead of time, then run some
> migration tool
> (possibly built into 'rdiff-backup' itself?) at a time of my
> choosing.  That
> way, I can back up my backups (good grief) before the migration just
> in case.
> 
> > 
> > Also, as you have found, no one reads the release notes, so very
> > few
> > will read that they need to run anything for a migration, and so we
> > will almost certainly need it to be done automatically, either by
> > rdiff-backup, or just when upgrading the package.
> [...]
> 
> Leading up to the mandatory migration, there should be a period of
> time where
> 'rdiff-backup' prints a prominent warning/notification about the
> migration every
> time it's run.  During this time, 'rdiff-backup' should support both
> formats and
> allow the migration tool to be run whenever it's convenient.

I tend to agree, although I suspect a significant and noisy group will
still never read it and then complain about something with the change.
> 
> Again, just my $0.02 worth.
> 
> Cheers
> Leland

Regards
Frank