A backup service using fuse, sqlite and btrfs.

[Stef Bon]

Hi,

I would like to put the project I'm working on in the spotlight. It's
fuse-backup, a service which gives users the possibilty to enable backups
for folders, and select what is to be backupped based upon mimetype.
Fuse-backup does not backup every time a file has changed, but after every
session.
(actually at the start of the next session).

Screenshots (and the rest of the project) you'll find at:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/fusebackup/

The screenshots are of a simple qt gui, which interfaces with the
fuse-backup daemon using the fuse fs. This fuse gives information about
which backups a user has, what has been backupped and the versions per file.

It uses FUSE, sqlite and btrfs.

Earlier I spoke Michael Meeks about writing a tool for showing the
differences between office files. Fuse-backup provides very easy access to
ealier versions, now it would be very nice to have a tool which will enable
the user to view the differences between versions in a smart way. The new
toolkit for LibreOffice LibreOfficeKit offers tools for that, like showing
a page as an image (generate a pixmap from RGB).

Further I'm looking at Dolhin to create a plugin to support fuse-backup. I
would be awfully nice to show the different versions of a file with a
simple mouseclick in Dolphin, and then show a menu per version when
rightclicking, and showing the differences with the current version would
be one of the choices.  So this is also work to be done.

The project is still in alpha.

Any comments?

Stef

[Chris Murphy]

I have a better chance of seeding clouds to make rain than read code
to get the answers to these questions, but I tried anyway.

- Is this a versioning system, or is it both a versioning system and a
backup? Backup implies copying data to a separate device.

- If it's a backup, does it depend on the source being Btrfs? Or just
the destination? Or both?

- Do you envision Fedora Server and Fedora Workstation components, to
achieve a sort of turn key + integrated Fedora solution for network
backups?

- Does this apply to just user data, or system settings as well, or
the entire installation?


---
Chris Murphy

[Stef Bon]

Hi,

I'm very sorry I have not answered earlier. Somehowe I overlooked.

2015-09-01 4:58 GMT+02:00 Chris Murphy <lists(a)colorremedies.com&gt;:
>  I have a better chance of seeding clouds to make rain than read code
>  to get the answers to these questions, but I tried anyway. 
Do you say you have tried to read the code?

>  - Is this a versioning system, or is it both a versioning system and a
>  backup? Backup implies copying data to a separate device. 
Both. It does backup AND is maintains versions of this backup.
Whenever the original file is changed,
a backup is made and a version is created. (by creating a snapshot of
the btrfs subvolume and a record in the sqlite db).

This way the backup is the most recent version available.

>  - If it's a backup, does it depend on the source being Btrfs? Or just
>  the destination? Or both? 
No. Fuse-backup uses btrfs as destination. The source does not have to.

Fuse-backup uses mimetypes to select the files to backup on the source
directory. Files are then
copied to the backup, which is a btrfs subvolume.

>  - Do you envision Fedora Server and Fedora Workstation components, to
>  achieve a sort of turn key + integrated Fedora solution for network
>  backups? 
No, at this moment it's a local backup/version system only. The btrfs
subvolume has to be on the same host, and the sqlite db also.

It's possible in future to use a ssh fuse fs to create a network
backup/version service.
The btrfs subvolume is than on the server, and the main fuse-backup
service is on the server, client fuse-backup services
are on the workstations.

I'm currently working on a fuse fs to create a ssh fs. I know there is
already a sshfs created by Miklos Szeredi.
It's possible to create a network backup service using a fuse sshfs.

(in my opinion sharing data through a FUSE sshfs is the way for Linux,
and should get more attention and features, see:
https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1953
)

But I want to mention that in a configuration where the users home
directory is a NFS export it works very different,
in that case the source is already on the server.

>  - Does this apply to just user data, or system settings as well, or
>  the entire installation?
>  
Both. I've created it with user data in the back of my head, but it's
also possible to backup (and version)
the /etc directory for example.

Sorry again for this late reply,

Stef Bon
the Netherlands