At that point, the best approach to keep you free from the old code and move forward would be to "support" v2.x for a while and start working on a v3.x version that will not be backward compatible and will require a migration. And allow packager to install them side by side.
To reduce the friction I think it's the best approach. With terabytes of data being backup with rdiff-backup, I cannot afford to have a tool that is not reliable. I prefer reliability over new features. Did you only get 16 answers !? On Sun, Feb 26, 2023 at 12:50 PM EricZolf <ewl+rdiffbac...@lavar.de> wrote: > Hi, > > the results for this survery are not as nice and tidy as for the Windows > "bitness". The numbers are attached (with the summary as PDF for > whomever doesn't have LibreOffice), and here is my interpretation: > > > == Introduction > > For both questions, I've calculated the percentage for each option, as > well as the weighted percentage (i.e. according to number of clients). > I'll present these two numbers as C%/W%. > > In the following lines, I'll summarize the summary and give you my > conclusion, feel free to argue. > > == Repository format > > 88%/70% of the answers are OK with changing the repository format in a > non-backward compatible manner. > The two persons who didn't agree were actually more talking about > archiving than about backup. If you need an archive solution, please > make sure that you keep an old version of rdiff-backup parked somewhere > (together with its dependencies etc). With a bit of magic, it should > even be possible to do this as part of the backup itself. > > So for this point, my idea currently is to have an approach similar to > Android (and other frameworks): write snippets of code, of which the > only purpose is to upgrade a repo from one version to the next, so that > by applying the snippets one after the other, you can upgrade any repo > to the current version. This could be done transparently when creating > the next backup _or_ with a specific "upgrade/update" command. > > == API versioning > > Here the result is less to my liking, but OK: 31/50% of the answers are > in favor of keeping the 200 API hence the compatibility with > rdiff-backup 2.0. This will have a negative impact on my speed of > development, but fair enough, I understand the comments asking for more > time to migrate all clients. > > QUESTION: have you considered the side-by-side installation and the new > {Vx/y/z} place holders for versins as you gave this answer? > See > > https://github.com/rdiff-backup/rdiff-backup/blob/master/docs/migration.adoc#side-by-side-installation > > I'm asking again because the old code is really getting in my way, and > I'm not yet sure that I'll be able to keep the backward compatibility > without major risk to the code quality. I'll do my best, I haven't yet > tried hard, time will tell. > > == Further thoughts > > The format of the repository and the API are somewhat tied together: new > features might have an implication on the repo format, and might require > also API extensions to allow client and server to express the new > feature. I'm still thinking about a good (and simple) way on how to bind > all these aspects. If someone knows of a good example on how to do this, > let me know... > > Any further thoughts welcome, thank you so far for taking the time to > provide feedback, > Eric > > > On 11/02/2023 12:24, EricZolf wrote: > > Hi, > > > > before I start for real with the development of version 2.4, I'd like to > > get your opinion on the exact direction to take: > > > > > https://framaforms.org/compatibility-vs-speed-of-rdiff-backup-development-1676028206 > > > > I'd appreciate to get numerous answers and opinions. Feel free to also > > discuss and argue on this mailing list. > > > > I'll share the results on this list but they're public anyway. > > > > Thanks, Eric > > > -- IKUS Software https://www.ikus-soft.com/ 514-971-6442 St-Colomban, QC J5K 1T9