Add --files-from and --files-from0 options

[ThomasWaldmann]

See: jborg/attic#321

Seems like a good feature - opinions? Code review?

[level323]

I would really appreciate this feature added to borgbackup.

On 6 April 2016 at 08:54, TW notifications@github.com wrote:

See: jborg/attic#321 jborg/attic#321

Seems like a good feature - opinions? Code review?

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#841

[Ape]

I can understand that --files-from can be useful, but in which case would --files-from0 be better?

[enkore]

Mainly binary file names (which are indeed used) and files named from "free text" fields by software. In any case, such support is essential for any software which seriously wants to support "what POSIX demands".

[pepa65]

--files-from0 because file names can contain newlines

[jim-collier]

I just realized borg doesn't have this feature. Which means I don't think I can use it. (Dang - spent days getting it set up .)

When I did my initial evaluation of backup software about a year ago, such a feature was in my top five list of requirements. For some reason, I marked borg as "yes" for this feature. I'm only now discovering it doesn't have it - which, sadly, is a deal-breaker.

I realize that --patterns-from could kind of be hacked to do something similar, with the pp prefix. However, this feature is marked "experimental", and with tens of millions of files to back up, I wouldn't feel confident enough in using it.

The problem I'm trying to solve, is creating smaller batches of files to back up, than the whole volume all at once - so that it has some hope of completing in smaller chunks before a restart, crash, extended power failure, or network interruption. (I realize that an interruption is not the end of the world for borg. But for other reasons to in depth to describe, this is the path I've chosen to tackle the problem.) Problem is, building these smaller batches of files is well beyond the ability (and indeed scope) of borg, hence the need to build them in other tools, and the need for a --files-from feature.

Any chance such a feature may get added in the near future?

[ThomasWaldmann]

Why don't you partition your stuff based on a few starting directories?

You could also try the pf pattern, it is rather efficient (compared to other patterns) by using a python dict.

[ThomasWaldmann]

BTW, when thinking about backup schemes, always keep in mind that borg's way is always doing full backups.
"Full" meaning here the full input dataset, not necessarily the complete disk or filesystem.

But in any case, it is not meant to be used in a full+incremental way (if you look at prune, you'll see it'll just kill any archive that does not match the retention rules).