On Wed, 12 Sep 2012 03:08:50 +0200 Simon Toedt wrote:
> I'm in the process of updating our development machines and noticed
> that using AST pax is a lot faster than GNU tar.

> But... is there any catch I should know about? What are the
> recommended options to backup a Linux home directory and what are the
> recommended options to restore it?

# to create the backup -- -P will not follow symlinks
cd
pax -P -wvf /some-dir-not-under-$HOME/home.tgz -x tgz .
# to restore -- -N will only restore files that are newer in the archive
cd
pax -N -rvf /some-dir-not-under-$HOME/home.tgz

if you plan on doing this periodically then use the base+deltas method
but be aware that on restore this method will delete files that have been
created since the last delta -- so make an up-to-date delta before restoring
an old one

*before you backup/restore precious dirs/files do some tests on throwaway 
copies*

# create a base
cd
pax -P -wvf /some-dir-not-under-$HOME/home.base.pax .

# later create deltas -- delta will only contain changes (mod, create, delete)
cd
pax -P -wvf /some-dir-not-under-$HOME/home-01.pax -z 
/some-dir-not-under-$HOME/home.base.pax .
 ...
pax -P -wvf /some-dir-not-under-$HOME/home-02.pax -z 
/some-dir-not-under-$HOME/home.base.pax .

# list delta
cd
pax -vf /some-dir-not-under-$HOME/home-02.pax -z 
/some-dir-not-under-$HOME/home.base.pax

# read delta
cd
pax -rvf /some-dir-not-under-$HOME/home-02.pax -z 
/some-dir-not-under-$HOME/home.base.pax

after looking at the delta restore semantics -Nr ... -z ... should not
delete files newer than the delta (it currently does)

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