Backup with mtree and rsync?

[Ciprian Dorin Craciun]

On Sat, Jan 5, 2013 at 8:12 PM,  <schultz at ime.usp.br> wrote:
> I have been wondering whether it is possible to create a backup system
> using mtree and rsync. Essentially, the user would create a mtree
> specification of the source directory and copy it over to the destination
> directory with rsync. Any changes in the destination could then be
> detected before restoring with the mtree specification, which should
> contain strong hashes of the files and should not contain the nlink
> keyword.


    A little bit off-topic, but there is a small tool that does
something similar to your suggested `mtree` usage, but specifically
tailored for backups, `rdup`:

      http://miek.nl/projects/rdup

    Although I've not used it myself (I use `rdiff-backup` and on
Linux), the idea is pretty similar with what you want to achieve:
    * you run `rdup` with an old "descriptor file" plus a target path,
and in turn it generates:
      * a new "descriptor file";
      * a list of files that should be backed up;
    * you then decide what you do with the list of files to be
backed-up (i.e. put them in a `tar`, `rysnc` them to a server, etc.);

    Hope it helps,
    Ciprian.