<!doctype linuxdoc system>
<article>
<title> Taper
<author> Yusuf Nagree
<date> Version 7.0pre-1. 19MAY02.
<toc>
<sect> Disclaimer
<p>
Copyright © 1996 by Yusuf Nagree (yusuf@nagree.net)
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation;
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
<sect>Warning
<p>
Please note that this is BETA software. This means that it is still
under development. This program works fine on my setup (DX2-66,
Jumbo 250, Floppy controller, 32Mb RAM, 3 IDE hard drives (120mb,
120mb, 540mb), Suprafax modem, Mitsumi Quad Speed IDE CD-ROM, serial mouse).
However, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of different configurations out
there. I cannot test them all (which why this software is beta). Before
using this program for 'production' backups, PLEASE ensure that both
the backup and restore programs work correctly on YOUR system. Until you
have confirmed this (several times, I suggest), then only should you
use this as your only means of backup. Until then, please also backup using
a method you KNOW works for you.
Having said this, from the comments I have received so far, it does
seem to work on a fair few systems so I hope it does work on yours.
If it doesn't, I'd like to know.
<sect> Introduction
<p>
Taper is a user friendly archive program especially designed
for backing up to tape drives. It also supports backing up
to files on a hard disk
It, I hope, overcomes the lack of programs available currently for Linux
for user friendly archiving.
Tar/cpio, apart from having an unfriendly user interface, lack one
essential feature that I needed - there was no information stored in the
beginning of the archive about what files were on the archive. The only
way to get such a list was to traverse the whole archive, getting cpio/tar
to print out a list of files that it found. With a 250mB archive, this
could easily take 5 min. It was a real hassle to maintain lists of files
on all my tapes and it could take 20 min to locate a file if I didn't
know which tape it was on - printing out file lists of each tape.
I solved this by maintaining an archive information file on the hard disk.
This file contains all the information about files stored on the archive.
When files are added to the archive, the archive information file is
updated. This archive information file can be reconstructed from the
archive should the file get deleted/corrupted/lost - it just takes
time.
To speed access to the files, the info file cluster consists of
four files - two main files and two indexes. The names of the
main files are <tt/taper_x/ and <tt/taper_x.0/, while the two indexes
are <tt/taper_x.1/ and <tt/taper_x.2/. The files are placed in
the default info file directory. Note that 'x' is the archive ID
(see below).
Should you wish to restore an archive on a different machine than
one to where the backup was made, you have two options
<itemize>
<item>make a copy
of the two main info files on a floppy and take this floppy with you as
well as the tape. You will have to reindex the file on your target machine.
If you do not want to reindex, then take all four files on the floppy with
you.
<item>reconstruct the archive information file on the
restoring machine.
</itemize>
Since reconstructing the archive information file
can take a while, the first method is recommended.
Info files can be quite long and there are three of them. A short
housekeeping file, a main file and an index file. When transporting
info files, on the short file and the main file need be transported -
the index file can be reindexed. Although these info files can be
long, they compress very well - typically more than 10:1 so it is
important that you have the compress info files preference ON.
Note, that as a security measure, archives created by one user cannot
be read by another user, unless the archive information file is
copied from the backup user's directory to the restore user's directory.
Thus, if you want to make a backup and don't want others to be able to
restore it, set your permissions on the archive information file as rw-------
(which <em/taper/ does by default). Note that this is not
completely foolproof, since a restorer can run <em/recreate info files/ and
create the information file and then access the archive. It is more
a deterrent rather than secure system.
The second problem with both tar and cpio was that using the floppy
interface tape drive, you could not append files. The only way to
append files was using a combination of tar and mt - a very clumsy
and time consuming method of backing up.
Note that the archive device doesn't have to be a tape drive - it can be
an ordinary file on a filesystem, or a floppy, or in fact, any file that
the Linux can write to.
Each archive is given a unique archive ID (which is actually the
system time that the archive was created). This is used to identify it.
Development of this system has been done using gcc and based on a Colorado
Jumbo 250 drive using the ftape driver (v3.03). As I do not have access to any
other tape drives, I don't know if it will work on other setups. If you
have any problems, contact me an I'll see if I can help.
The main program is called <em/taper/.
Note that currently <em/taper/ is not really designed for backing up more than
about 30,000 files (unless you have a large amount of physical memory).
<sect>Requirements
<p>
<itemize>
<item>
ncurses library >&equals v1.9.6 with the forms library
<item>
kernel >&equals v1.2.5 (I think it will work for lesser versions but I have not
tested it) - Your kernel must have SYS_V_IPC support enabled if you wish to
take advantage of the triple buffering system.
<item>
gcc >&equals 2.6.1
</itemize>
<sect>Unpacking and Compiling
<p>
Unpack the source file distribution by issuing the following command:
<tscreen>
tar xzf taper-7.0pre-1.tar.gz
</tscreen>
Modify Makefile.common as required and then
<tscreen><verb>
make clean
make all
</verb></tscreen>
<descrip>
<tag/TRIPLE_BUFFER/
Enable this option if you
wish to take advantage of <em/taper/'s new triple
buffering system. You must compile your kernel with SYSV_IPC
support. If you haven't, can't or don't want to, then you
can't use triple buffering. If you don't enable TRIPLE_BUFFER,
then your error counts in restore will be invalid.
On slow drives, triple buffering can really improve performance
however, on faster drives, can slow down performance. The best
thing to do is to compile with triple buffering and look at
your performance. If it is slow, then recompile with triple
buffering off.
I consider a fast drive to be one that delivers a throughput of
more than 8mB/minute.
<tag/TAPER_BIG_ENDIAN/
<em/Taper/ stores all data to the tape in little endian format.
To use <em/taper/ on a big endian machine, define TAPER_BIG_ENDIAN.
<tag/FIFO_PROBLEMS/
If you are using libc5, and are getting strange errors about "Broken Pipes",
segmentation faults etc.., uncomment this option
</descrip>
<sect1>File locations
<p>
To place the binaries and the man page in the appropriate locations,
<tscreen>
make install
</tscreen>
The binaries are placed in /sbin and the man page is /usr/man/cat1
which is in accordance with the Linux FSSTND.
To remove the files
<tscreen>
make uninstall
</tscreen>
<sect1>Modifying defaults.h
<p>
For the hackers, there are a few options at the beginning of <em>
defaults.h</em> that you can alter if you wish. They include things
such as the environment variable names, internal defaults, and
compression program. Don't play around unless you know what you
are doing.
<sect>Terminology
<p>
An archive refers to all the files on a tape. A volume is the files
that are written to in one backup session. Thus, if you make one backup
to a tape, then it will have one volume. If you then append files to
this tape, it will have two volumes. If you append again, it will have
three volumes.
For all intents & purposes, volumes are transparent to the user. When
selecting files to restore, all the files on all the volumes are presented
in alphabetical order (not volume order).
<sect>Tape Devices
<p>
This program requires a device driver for the tape drive. For users of
the floppy controller type (eg. Jumbo), there are now two drivers
available.
The original one was <em/ftape/ and was written by Bas
Laarhoven and, at the time of writing this, is currently at version 2.11a.
It is available from <htmlurl url="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu" name="sunsite.unc.edu">.
It should be in <em>/pub/Linux/kernel/tapes</em>. At the time of writing, it
was still in <em>/pub/Linux/Incoming</em>.
A new driver, <em/zftape/, was written by
Claus-Justus Heine, and is found at
<htmlurl url="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/tapes/zftape-1.06.tar.gz"
name="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/tapes/zftape-1.06.tar.gz">.
It uses the basic <em/ftape/ code, however,
it contains many enhancements over <em/ftape/
including support for compression and a true seekable device.
The latest version at time of writing was 1.06a.
You must use version 1.02 or later.
However, Claus-Justus Heine has taken over maintaining both <em/ftape/
and <em/zftape/. His latest project is to integrate the code of
<em/ftape/ and <em/zftape/ into one source, which is has
called <em/ftape/ and have version numbers >&equals 3.
That is, <em/ftape-3.xx/ and above is actually a combination of the
old <em/zftape/ and <em/ftape/. The moral of the story is...
<bf>if you are using <em/ftape/ version >&equals 3, you can
tell <em/taper/ that you are using <em/zftape/ since version 3
and above has all the functionality of the old <em/zftape/</bf>.
If you are using the <em/ftape/ version 3 or above, for the
purposes of this documentation, assume that you are using
<em/zftape/.
Claus has a home page
<htmlurl url="http://samuel.math.rwth-aachen.de/~LBFM/claus/ftape"
name="http://samuel.math.rwth-aachen.de/~LBFM/claus/ftape"> where
the latest <em/ftape/ and <em/zftape/ can be obtained.
Two devices are needed - a rewinding device - when using this device,
the tape drive is automatically rewound when closed, and a non-rewinding
device - when using this device, the tape drive is not rewound when
closed but left where is. The names of these devices depend on
whether you are using a SCSI drive, <em/ftape/ or <em/zftape/.
Alternatively, you can change
the names in the global preferences menu, via the preference file,
from the environment, or via the command line.
It is important that both a rewinding and a non-rewinding device is
given.
When making an archive as a file on a hard disk, the filename should
be given for both the rewinding and non-rewinding device. To make things
easier, you can use the -b command line option or the BOTH preference.
<sect>Tape drives
<p>
<sect1> ftape
<p>
<em/ftape/ is the original floppy tape driver for Linux and now
supports a wide variety of floppy tape drives and a few enhanced
controllers. In the later development kernels, <em/ftape/ is part
of the kernel source tree. It is still available separately for
those running older kernels. I am not referring to <em/ftape/ version
3 or above in this section. If you are using <em/ftape/ version
>&equals 3, for the purposes of this documentation, you should
assume that you are using <em/zftape/.
Start <em/taper/ with the <bf/-T ftape/ option.
The device names are /dev/ftape (which should point to /dev/rft0) for the
rewinding device, and /dev/nftape (which should point to /dev/nrft0)
for the non-rewinding device. These are the values that <em/taper/ uses
as defaults; if your devices are different, modify the values using
the environment variables, preferences file, or command line (see below).
If you are still using <em/ftape/, I would strongly suggest that
you update to <em/zftape/ which is basically <em/ftape/ with
quite a few enhancements which should drastically improve <em/taper/
performance. If you have multiple volume backups made under
<em/ftape/, however, you
should not upgrade because you will not be able to access
volumes other than 1 using <em/zftape/.
<sect1> zftape
<p>
This section also applies to those people using <em/ftape/ version
>&equals 3.
Start <em/taper/ with the <bf/-T zftape/ option.
This driver supports several modes - one is the generic <em/ftape/
mode. The second is a QIC compliant mode (zftape) and the third
is a compressed QIC compliant mode (czftape). It is possible to
access archives made with <em/ftape/ using the generic mode
(see below), however, if you make a backup using the QIC compliant
mode (zftape), then you cannot use this if you decide to go
back to <em/ftape/. As this is rarely done, and because the
QIC compliant mode is so superior to the generic mode, I would recommend
that you use it.
Backups made under <em/ftape/ will work with <em/zftape/ if
you:
<enum>
<item>Make sure that you use the device names <em>/dev/ftape</em> and
<em>/dev/nftape</em>. You will have to change this manually under
Global preferences
<item>You only restore files from the first volume. It is not possible
to restore files from other volumes. This is because <em/zftape/
does not support the fsf ioctl for <em/ftape/ drives. I
am currently corresponding with Claus to see if we can resolve this
problem.
<item>Do not try and append data to an archive created with <em/ftape/
using <em/zftape/
<item>You change the <em/set-blksize/ & <em/get-blksize/ preferences
to yes and change the <em/block-size/ to 10K.
If you have multiple volume backups, then you had best use <em/ftape/
until you fully migrate all your backups to <em/zftape/.
</enum>
Do not try and make backups with the generic driver of <em/zftape/
and then go back to <em/ftape/ and hope that it will work - it
won't!
Under <em/taper/, the biggest advantage of <em>ztape</em> is
the ability to quickly fast forward through archives. You should
notice quite a difference, especially when doing a <em/mkinfo/
and when restoring from multiple volumes. Although <em/zftape/ has
support for compression, you are better off letting <em/taper/
compress since <em/taper/ buffers a bit better and has the
option of using <em>gzip</em> which is more efficient than the algorithm
used by <em/zftape/.
The devices for this driver should be created using
<tscreen>
make mknod
</tscreen>
in the Makefile that comes with the driver. Note that the permissions
will be set up so that only root has write access to the tape
drive. You will have to change this manually if you want to allow
other users access.
The device names are /dev/qft0 for the rewinding device
and /dev/nqf0 for the non-rewinding device.
If you make a backup with <em/ftape/ version >&equals 3, you
cannot restore with <em/zftape/.
<sect1>SCSI Drives
<p>
Start <em/taper/ with the <bf/-T scsi/ option.
Unfortunately, I do not have a SCSI drive and therefore am unable to
test <em/taper/ code with SCSIs. I rely on SCSI users sending me information
about how <em/taper/ works for them and then I try and use that information to
help other SCSI users who are having problems. The following information
was sent to me by AP Harris (apharris@onShore.com) and I've included it to
help SCSI users.
The SCSI rewinding device is /dev/st0 (or /dev/st1 on the 2nd
tape drive) and the non-rewinding device is /dev/nst0.
You'll probably have to prepare all your tapes using <em/mktape/
from the <em/utilies/ menu.
If you are using a SCSI tape device, make sure you've complied the kernel
with SCSI (CONFIG_SCSI) support, SCSI tape support (CONFIG_CHR_DEV_ST)
and, of course, support for your SCSI host adapter. If all is well,
when you boot, you should see a message like this (your details
may vary):
<tscreen><verb>
Detected scsi tape st0 at scsi0, id 4, lun 0
scsi : detected 1 SCSI tape 1 SCSI disk total.
</verb></tscreen>
No additional drivers are needed (although the st-aware mt is
nice).
The block size (-x option below) should be set below the tape device
driver buffer size (which can be changed at kernel compile time in the
kernel and defaults at 32K).
SCSI tapes generally do not need formatting - see below for full details.
<sect1>IDE tape drives
<p>
Start <em/taper/ with the <bf/-T ide/ option.
The default device names are /dev/ht0 and /dev/nht0. Support for
IDE drives is in alpha stage and I would encourage users to
give me feedback on how <em/taper/ is working with their IDE
drives
<sect1>Floppies and other removable media
<p>
Start <em/taper/ with the <bf/-T removable / option.
When the floppy (or whatever) is full, <em>taper</em> will prompt
you for the next floppy/tape. This works in exactly the same
way as multiple tape backups. The default device names are
set to /dev/fd0 - ie. the first floppy drive.
If you are using a ZIP drive, then make sure that the whole disk
has been partitioned as a Linux native partition then start
<em/taper/:
<tscreen>
taper -T removable -b /dev/sda1
</tscreen>
Substitute /dev/sda1 with the device name of your ZIP drive.
Note: Your ZIP drive must have <bf/one/ partition only since
<em/taper/ ignores the partition table.
<sect>Quick fast forwards
<p>
Some tape drives are capable of doing quick fast forwards. A
quick fast forward means that the tape drive is able to find
the start of the next volume even when in the middle of the
previous volume. Drives based on <em/ftape/ are <em>NOT</em>
capable of doing this, however, <em/zftape/, is able
to do quick fast forwards, as are most SCSI drives.
With <em/ftape/, therefore, the only way to find the next
volume is to rewind the tape to the beginning, and then
forward to the desired volume. As you can imagine, this constant
rewinding and forwarding can take quite a while.
By default, <em/taper/ assumes that zftape, SCSIs and IDE
tape drives can do a quick fast forward, while removable
and ftape tape drives cannot.
To test whether your drive can do quick fast forwards, go
into the <em/utilies/ menu and run the <em/Test fast fsf/
program which will tell you if your drive supports
quick fast forwards or not. Note that <em/taper/ will
overwrite all the data on the tape used for the test.
If you find that your tape drive doesn't support quick
fast forwards, you will have to change the appropriate
preference.
<sect>Can seek
<p>
Some tape drives support a seek ioctl which allows positioning
of the tape drive at a particular block. This makes restore
a lot quicker, since <em/taper/ can calculate which block
a file(s) lies on an advance straight to that block.
By default, <em/taper/ assumes that zftape, and SCSI
drives support this ioctl while removable,ftape and
IDE don't.
You can test if your tape drive supports seek by running the
<em/Test can seek/ utility and changing the appropriate preference.
<sect>Formatting and Erasing Tapes
<p>
Like floppy disks, there are two steps in the preparation of new
tapes:
<enum>
<item>low level format
<item>preparing for use with Linux/<em/taper/
</enum>
People with floppy tape drives need to do both. At present, there is
no program available to low level format a tape, and thus, you will
have to rely on DOS/WIN/OS-2 programs to do so. If you are planning
on using <em/taper/, then you do not need to worry about step 2, since
<em/taper/ will take care of that for you. If you are not going to be
using <em/taper/ on that particular tape, then you will need to do a
<em>mt erase</em>. Note that if you buy pre-formatted tapes (which I'd
STRONGLY recommend since formatting can take 2-3 hours), then you
by-pass step 1 ONLY - you still have to prepare the tape for Linux.
People with SCSI drives (esp DAT) may not need to format tapes for
use under Linux. See your tape drive documentation for details.
Similarly, you may not need to do step 2. Those drives that do not
require step 2 may still require some information to be written on the
tape before they will work correctly under <em/taper/, therefore, run
<em>mktape</em> from the <em/utilties/ menu
before running tape. You can use the <em/test make tape/ option from
the <em/utilities/ menu to see if your tape drive needs to
have <em/mktape/ run on new tapes. It is important that you
put a brand new tape in the tape drive when testing.
STOP PRESS:
The new <em/ftape/ drivers (versions greater than or equal to 3.03) do
not require tapes to be erased, however, the older ones do. Therefore, if
you use the new <em/ftape/ driver, you can set this preference OFF.
In addition, the new <em/ftape/ driver can format tapes but it still
takes time - save yourself a headache - buy preformatted tapes.
<em/--erase-tape-off/ to tell <em/taper/ that your tape doesn't
need erasing. This is the default behaviour
if you have started <em/taper/ with <em/--tape-type scsi/.
<sect>/proc Filesystem
<p>
Under Linux, it is possible to have a /proc filesystem. This directory doesn't
contain files, but rather contains information about all the running processes
and environment information. Its purpose is to allow programmers to obtain
information about the current state of the machine (eg. the ps program).
Because it contains run-time information, we obviously don't want to back
it up.
<em/taper/ has an option of trying to detect the /proc system and ignoring it when
doing the backup. Normally, the /proc system is on device number 1. If
your /proc system is on another device, then you can tell <em/taper/ this with the
-j (--proc-device) option, or preference.
If you are not sure what device your /proc is mounted on, then run the program
<em>which_device</em> which is in the <em/utilities/ menu. Give the
name /proc (or whatever name your /proc is) and <em/taper/ will tell
you the device your /proc is mounted on.
Before using <em/taper/, it is a good idea to confirm that your /proc is on device
1 and if it isn't change the appropriate preference.
<sect>Compression
<p>
There are several compression methods available.
<descrip>
<tag/External compression - type 1/
This method calls an external compression program to do the compression.
The default is set to <em/gzip/ but can be changed in the <em/defaults.h/
file at compile time. The compression program is expected to read
the file from standard input and write the compressed output to
standard output. If your compression program doesn't do this, you
will have to modify the <em/taper/ sources.
<tag/Internal compression - type 2/
This is a very good compression method - it is very fast and reasonably
good at compression. Because of this, it is the default compression
method. The only problem is that is uses an extra 2MB of memory
which can degrade system performance on heavily loaded machines.
<tag/Internal gzip - type 3/
This method is basically the gzip compression method, however,
the source has been hacked around to accommodate <em/taper/. The
advantage of using this over the <bf/external compression/ method
is that it is a bit quicker because it is internal, however,
it is still a very slow compression method. The other disadvantage
is that although the compression method is that of <em/gzip/, it
doesn't produce compressed files that can be read by <em/gzip/. You
need <em/taper/ to read the archives.
</descrip>
In summary then:
<itemize>
<item>Memory use, type 2 > type 3 > type 1.
<item>Speed, type 2 > type 3 > type 1.
<item>Compression ratio, type 3 > type 1 > type 2.
</itemize>
You should use compression 2 unless you have a very heavily loaded
system or less than 4MB of RAM.
If <em/taper/ is still too memory hungry for you, try the following:
<itemize>
<item>Turn off triple buffering
<item>In <bf/defaults.h/, reduce the size of DEFAULT_TR_SIZE
<item>Don't use use <bf/compress-type/ set at 2 because this
is a very memory hungry compression (but also the quickest of
the lot). <bf/Compress-type/ set at 3 is a good alternative.
<item>In <bf/defaults.h/, change the line
<tscreen>
#define COMPRESS2_BUFFER_SIZE 1000000
</tscreen>
to:
<tscreen>
#define COMPRESS2_BUFFER_SIZE 1
</tscreen>
You will not be able to use <bf/compress-type 2/, but if memory is a problem,
you shouldn't be using this anyway.
<item>In <bf/defaults.h/, add the following line:
<tscreen>
#define MAXNAMLEN 125
</tscreen>
This assumes that the maximum filename length you have is 125 characters.
If this is not the case, change it to match your system.
</itemize>
<sect>Running Taper
<p>
To start <em/taper/, type <em/taper/ at the command line. You will be presented with
a menu from which you select the appropriate option. To move between options,
press the up or down arrow (or left & right). To select and option, press
the ENTER key.
<em/taper/ accepts the following command line options. Note that there are two
formats for options - short (one letter) and long (GNU style). Either one
(or a mixture of both) can be used. Alternatively, options can be stored in
a preference file (see below for details).
<sect1>Command line options
<p>
<descrip>
<tag/--tape-type (-T)/
which tape drive you are using. There are three valid options
<descrip>
<tag/(s)csi/
scsi drive
<tag/(f)tape/
ftape based tape drive
<tag/(z)ftape/
zftape based tape drive (or ftape version >&equals 3)
<tag/(i)de/
ide based tape drive
<tag/fi(l)e/
a regular file on the hard disk
<tag/(r)emovable/
a device that needs mounting, eg. floppy disk
</descrip>
This option <bf/must/ be specified.
NB: Only the bracketed letter of the option is required.
<tag/--help (-?)/
prints help on command line options
<tag/--append-on (+a)/
Append files to archive if it exists. <bf>Default</bf>.
<tag/--append-off (-a)/
Overwrites existing archive if found.
NOTE: The append options are only for unattended backups. If you
use the main <em/taper/ program, you will be prompted for whether
you wish to append or overwrite an existing archive.
<tag/--archive-diff (-A) archive_id/
Prints differences between the archive and filesystem.
If archive_id equals 0, then the tape that is in
the tape drive is used, otherwise, uses archive_id.
<tag/--set-ownership-on (+B)/
After restoring a file, restore the ownership attributes of
the file
<tag/--set-ownership-off (-B)/
Don't attempt to set the ownership attributes of a file after restore
<tag/--tape-name file (-f) file/
use file as the rewinding archive file. If not
specified, will use the file specified in the
environment variable TAPE. You can use a networked
format like <bf/tar/ (eg. myhost.com:/dev/tape to use the
tape drive on myhost.com).
<tag/--ntape-name file (-n) file/
use file as the non-rewinding archive file. If not
specified, will use the file specified in the
environment variable NTAPE. You can use a networked
format like <bf/tar/ (eg. myhost.com:/dev/tape to use the
tape drive on myhost.com).
<tag/--both-devices file (-b) file/
equivalent to -n file -f file
useful when not using tape drives, but archive files.
You can use a networked
format like <bf/tar/ (eg. myhost.com:/dev/tape to use the
tape drive on myhost.com).
<tag/--exclude-files file (-F) file/
a list of files not to include in the backup. Consists
of a series of suffixes to exclude separated by spaces.
It is not case sensitive (ie. .o is the same as .O)
For example, the <bf>default</bf> setting of ".o &tilde"
excludes all files that end in .o and all files that
end in &tilde .
<tag/--bad-checksum-on (+C)/
When doing a mkinfo or complete restore, if a file with a bad checksum
is encountered, you will have the option of trying to continue, or
assuming the rest of the backup is bad and fudging the info file to
reflect this. <bf/Default/.
<tag/--bad-checksum-off (-C)/
When doing a mkinfo or complete restore, if a file with a bad checksum
is encountered, will try to continue without prompting.
<tag/--compress-type (-c) num/
<descrip>
<tag/0/
No compression
<tag/1/
Use an external compression program. The program to use is
hard compiled and can be changed by editing <em>defaults.h</em>.
The <bf/default/ is set to use <em>gzip</em>.
<tag/2/
Use the internal compression program which is similar to
<em>compress</em>. It doesn't provide as good a compression as
<em>gzip</em> but it is much quicker. Note that this
compression uses about 2MB of RAM extra so on heavily
loaded machines, it can degrade performance. <em/Default/.
<tag/3/
Use the internal compression program which is similar to
<em>gzip</em>. It provides the same level of compression
as <em/gzip/ and is much quicker than the external version.
It is not as quick as option 2, but much faster than 1.
In addition, it doesn't use anywhere near the memory or
system load that <em/2/ requires.
</descrip>
<tag/--exclude-compress (-X) file/
Specifies which group of files to exclude from
compressing. Comprises a string of suffixes
separated by a space - eg. ``.gz .gif'' would
exclude files ending in .gz and .gif.
It is not case sensitive (ie. JPG = jPg etc..)
<bf>Default</bf> is ``.gz .gif .Z .zip .jpg .bmp''
<em>gzip</em> is used for compression. It assumes that gzip is
on your path. If you use another compress
program, change the entry in <em>defaults.h</em> and
recompile.
<tag/--print-dir (-d) archive_id/
Prints the directory of the archive whose id is
archive_id and exits. If archive_id equals 0, then the directory
of the archive of the tape currently in the drive is printed.
<tag/--auto-descend-on (+D)/
If this option is on, in restore, if there are
any empty directories, they will automatically
be skipped. For example, your files may be
in /usr/local/src/xzy with nothing in /usr,
/usr/local or /usr/local/src. When you select
/usr from the top restore directory, you will
automatically be placed in to /usr/local/src/xyz
where the files are, and the empty directories
will be skipped. <bf>Default</bf>.
<tag/--auto-descend-off (-D)/
Turn the above off.
<tag/--prompt-archive-on (+e)/
When selecting restore, prints a list of all known
archives and the user can select which one of these
to restore from. <bf>Default</bf>.
<tag/--prompt-archive-off (-e)/
When selecting restore, automatically selects the
archive in the tape drive (or regular file). User
not given the option of which archive s/he would
like to restore from
<tag/--can-seek-on (+E)/
Tells <em/taper/ that your tape drive supports a seek ioctl for positioning
to a particular block. Default depends on tape drive type.
<tag/--can-seek-off (-E)/
You tape drive doesn't support an ioctl for positioning to a particular
block. <em/Taper/ will use reads to position. Default depends on tape drive
type.
<tag/--volume-title (-g) title/
Title of volume. <bf>Default</bf> is NULL.
Only applicable in backup.
<tag/--get-blocksize-on (+G)/
If this option is defined, then after <em/taper/
opens a tape, it tries to get the block size using
an ioctl call. This is only for the new
<em/zftape/ driver.
<bf/Default/ is on for <em/zftape/ and off for
others.
<tag/--get-blocksize-off (-G)/
Do not try and get the block size.
<tag/--soft-links-off (-h)/
With soft links, store link details only and not linked file. <bf>Default</bf>.
<tag/--soft-links-on (+h)/
With soft links, store the file, not the link.
<tag/--comp-head-start (+H) minutes/
It is useful for <em/taper/ to always have a full buffer of
data available to send to the tape drive so that the tape drive
never has to sit and wait. This can be a problem if compression
is taking a long time. By giving the compression program a head
start, you can try and ensure that <em/taper/ always has
data available to write. A good starting number for large backups
is 10 minutes. <em>Default is 0</em>.
<tag/--info-files path (-i) path/
directory where archive information files are saved. Also
where file sets are saved. <bf>Default</bf> &tilde/taper_info).
<tag/--compress-info-on (+I)/
turns on compression of info files. Automatically will compress &
after creation and will decompress when required. <bf/Default/.
<tag/--compress-info-off (-I)/
Don't compress info files.
<tag/--proc-device (-j) num/
This specifies the device number of the /proc system.
This is avoid backing up of the /proc filesystem which
is a runtime filesystem used to store the current state
of the operating system. If this value is set to 0,
then no checking is performed. The <bf>default</bf> value is
1 (which is the device number of the /proc filesystem
under Linux).
<tag/--min-before-seek (-J) num/
When restoring, if the tape needs to be advanced by less than
<em/min-before-seek/ blocks, then a seek will not be issued, rather
the tape will continue streaming. This is because if you have a lot
of files close together, it's more efficient to just let the drive
continue streaming. <bf/Default 10/.
<tag/--erase-tape-on (+k)/
When using a new tape, overwriting a tape with unrecognized
data, or when overwriting existing <em/taper/ files, if
this option is set, <em/taper/ will try and erase the tape
using a standard ioctl call. Floppy tape drives (those based
on <em/ftape/ and <em/zftape/ require this option to
be set.
<tag/--erase-tape-off (-k)/
Will not try to erase a tape before writing new data to it.
Most SCSI drives do not require erasing, so you can use this option
for them.
<tag/--illegal-end-of-tape-off (-K)/
Tells <em/taper/ that your tape drive correctly handles the end of
tape condition. Use the utility <bf/test end of tape/ to see
if your tape drive handles this properly. <bf/Default/.
<tag/--illegal-end-of-tape-on (+K)/
Tells <em/taper/ that your tape drive doesn't handle the end of
tape condition as per BSD semantics. Use the utility <bf/test end of
tape/ to see if your tape drive handles this properly.
When <em/taper/ encounters an error in the tape, it asks you
whether this signifies an end of tape or a real error.
<tag/--log-file (-l) file/
name of log file. <bf>Default</bf> &tilde/taper_log.
<tag/--log-level (-m) number/
logging level (0 = no logging..4 = all). <bf>Default</bf> = 2.
<tag/--size-dirs-on (+M)/
When you select a directory in backup, it will calculate the directory
size. This may take a while for big directories. <bf/Default/.
<tag/--size-dirs-off (-M)/
No sizing of directories on selection. Quicker, but no indication of
size of backup being contemplated.
<tag/--limit-log-file (-L) number/
specifies how many megabytes the log file should be at a maximum.
If, after a <em/taper/ operation, the log file is found to exceed
this size, enough bytes are removed from the BEGINNING of the file
to ensure the log file becomes <em/number/ megabytes long. If this
is 0, then no checking is done and the log file will continue to
grow indefinitely.
<bf/Default is 2/.
<tag/--overwrite (-o) num/
level of overwrite
<descrip>
<tag/0 - no overwrite./ If the file exists on the hard disk, then
it is not overwritten
<tag/1 - more recent overwrite. <bf>Default</bf>./ If the file exists on
the hard disk, it is
only overwritten if the file on the backup
device is more recent
<tag/2 - unconditional overwrite./ The file on the hard disk is
always overwritten
</descrip>
<tag/--tape-overwrite-on (+O)/
When doing unattended backups, if a tape contains unrecognized
data, then if this option is set, then the tape is automatically
overwritten.
<tag/--tape-overwrite-off (-O)/
When doing unattended backups, if a tape contains unrecognized
data, then the tape is not overwritten - the backup is aborted
and a message is mailed to the user. <bf/Default</bf>.
<tag/--preference-file (-p) file/
Name of preference file
<tag/--tmp-dir (-P) dir/
Specifies the directory where temporary files are to be placed.
<bf/Default/ is /usr/tmp.
<tag/--only-volume (-q) num/
Tells restore/backup to only show only volume 'num'
in its window. <bf>Default</bf> is 0 which means show all
volumes.
<tag/--fast-fsf-on (+Q)/
Quick fast forwards are enabled.
See the section of Quick fast forwards for more details.
<bf/Default is on for <em/zftape/ and <em/SCSI/ and
off for <em/ftape//.
<tag/--fast-fsf-off (-Q)/
Disable quick fast forwards.
<tag/--relative-path (-r) path/
directory to restore to. Note that the directory
structure of the backup is preserved
<tag/--exclude-dirs (-R) path/
which directories to automatically exclude from the backup process.
The string consists of a list of space separated directories. Note that
the selection is recursive. For example, if you exclude list was "/tmp",
the contents of /tmp will not be backed up. Also, none of
the directories in /tmp (eg. /tmp/junk) will be backed up.
Users of netscape may also want to put their cache directory on the
exclude list (~/.netscape/cache) since this is where netscape stores
its list of recently visited locations and is a waste to backup.
<bf/Default is "/tmp /usr/tmp /var/tmp"/.
<tag/--strip-number (-s) number/
remove number leading pathnames. When backing up,
the full pathname is stored in the information file
(and on the tape). You have the option of removing
number leading paths when restoring. For example,
if the file backed up was /home/yusuf/taper/README,
by specifying -s 2, the file will appear in the
restore menu as taper/README. If -s1 was specified,
the file will appear as yusuf/taper/README.
If there are more strips than paths (eg. specifying
-s 6 in the above example), then the filename only is
used (eg. README).
The value -s 99 is a special value and tells
restore to work out the optimum number of
strips based on common leading paths
The <bf>default</bf> is -s 99 (ie. auto strip).
<tag/--set-blocksize-on (+S)/
If this option is defined, then before <em/taper/
erase a tape, it tries to set the block size using
an ioctl call. This is mainly for the new
<em/zftape/ driver, but some SCSI drives need it.
<bf/Default/ is on for <em/zftape/ and off for
others.
<tag/--set-blocksize-off (-S)/
Do not try and set the block size before erasing a tape.
Before
any tape manipulation, it tries to set the block size using an
ioctl call first. Also, before erasing a tape, it sets the
block size.
<tag/--archive-title (-t) title/
Title of archive. <bf>Default</bf> is NULL.
Only applicable when archive is being created for
the first time. If supplied when doing an archive
append, then it is ignored.
<tag/--incremental-on (+u)/
When doing a backup, only backup those files selected
which are more recent than the files that are on the
backup archive. <bf>Default</bf>.
<tag/--incremental-off (-u)/
When doing a backup, backup all files selected.
This option can be overriden when selecting files for backup.
<tag/--unattended-file (-U) file/
Gives the name of a file/directory to be backed up in
unattended mode. If the filename begins with a <em>&commat</em>,
then it is taken to be the name of a file set, otherwise,
it is a file. If the first letter of the filename is a '!', then
the file is excluded rather than selected. You can use as many
-U as you like on the command line.
<tag/--recent-restore-on (+w)/
When doing a restore, restore the most recent file
with the given filename. For example, if /etc/hosts has
been backed up twice in different volumes, restore
the file which is newer. <bf>Default</bf>.
<tag/--recent-restore-off (-w)/
When doing a restore, restore the file that was
selected - for example, if you selected /etc/hosts
in volume 1, this if the file that will be restored,
even if there is an /etc/hosts in volume 2 which is
more recent.
This option can be overriden when selected files for restoration.
<tag/--old-archive-off (-W)/
Using an archive created by taper version 5.6 or later. <bf/Default/.
<tag/--old-archive-on (+W)/
Using an archive created by a version less than 5.6.
<tag/--version (-v)/
prints version being used. Also prints the options <em/taper/ was
compiled with
<tag/--unattended-id (-V)/
when appending to a backup in unattended mode, if this value is not
-1, then <em/taper/ will check that the tape in the drive belongs to
this archive ID before appending. If another archive is in the drive,
then the backup will not be made.
<bf/Default is -1/.
<tag/--block-size (-x) num/
The size of a block. Apart from the tape header,
data is transferred to the tape device in blocks
of 'num' size. The <bf>default</bf> is 28K. If you use
a SCSI, see then note above. Num is in bytes. Note that
this value MUST NOT exceed the size of DOUBLE_BUFFER
in <bf/defaults.h/.
<tag/--use-eom-on (+y)/
Uses the ioctl eom to position to end of tape rather than fsf.
<tag/--use-eom-off (-y)/
Uses multiple fsf to position to end of tape. <bf>Default</bf>.
<tag/--min-free (-Y) num/
Specifies the minimum amount of free disk space that must exist
before a file is compressed. num is in kilobytes. <bf/Default is 4096K/.
<tag/--prompt-dirs-on (+z)/
Turns on confirmation when selecting directories
for backing up. <bf>Default</bf>.
<tag/--prompt-dirs-off (-z)/
Turns off confirmation when selecting directories
for backing up
<tag/--tape-size (-Z) size/
Tells <em/taper/ the size of your tapes in megabytes. This must be the
<em/uncompressed/ size. Note that you must specify the same number every
time you start <em/taper/. See notes on multiple tape backups for more
details. If this value is 0, then <em/taper/ auto-detects the end of
tape. <bf/Default is 0 (auto-detect)/.
</descrip>
<sect1>Backup Module
<p>
Select the backup option from the <em/taper/ menu.
Four windows are displayed:
The top left represents the file system (hard disk) and you can move
it using the arrow keys. To enter a directory, press ENTER when the
highlight is on that directory. To include a file/directory in the
backup, press 's'. Selecting a directory will select all the
files in the directory recursively. To unselect a file/directory,
press 'u'. If the file is only selected because it's directory is
selected (eg. if you select /usr/john, then /usr/john/prefs is
indirectly selected), then you must exclude the file/directory.
Pressing 'e' will exclude the file/subdirectory from the backup.
Pressing 'd' will show details about the file the highlight is on.
Pressing 'j' will allow you to jump to a particular directory.
The top right window shows what is currently on the archive. You can
use the arrow keys to move the display up/down.
If the entry is in brackets, this means that this is an exclusion.
If there is previous
archive, you can move the arrow keys down to a file/directory and
press 's' to select this entry.
The bottom left window shows the files that you have selected for backup.
To unselect a file that you have selected for backing up, move the
highlight to the file you wish to remove from the backup set and then
press 'u'.
The bottom right window shows the files that you have excluded
from the backup. If there is a '*' on the left of the entry,
that means that this entry will cause some files to be excluded.
If there is no '*', then none of the selections intersect with this
exclusion.
Pressing TAB moves between the windows.
Pressing 'h' will display a help screen.
Pressing 'f' will finish selection and commence backup
Pressing 'q' will abort backup
You can abort a backup by pressing q or Q while the backup is
being made. This will cleanly stop backing up.
<sect2>Backup modes
<p>
There are two modes for backup - full and incremental. The default
incremental mode (which can be changed by changing the options, the
preference file or command line). In incremental mode, when you
select a file for backing up, <em/taper/ looks at what is on the archive
already. If the file you have selected for backup is more recent (or
doesn't exist on the archive) than the one on the archive, it is backed up:
if the file you have selected for backup is the same or older than the
one on the archive, it is not backed up. For directories, <em/taper/ checks
each file in the directory recursively. To see if a file will be backed
up, look at it's size in the selection (bottom) window -
if it is zero, it means that <em/taper/ will not back up that file.
In full mode, <em/taper/ backups the file regardless of what's on the
archive.
The backup mode can be changed for each file selection. Move the
highlight in the selection window to the file you wish to change and
then press 's'. To the left of the filename is an 'I' if the file
is to be saved as incremental, or 'F' if it is full.
<sect1>Restore
<p>
Select the restore option from the <em/taper/ menu. If you have selected
the 'prompt archives' option (default), then <em/taper/ prints a list
of all the archives it knows about and lets you select which one
you would like to work with. The highlight will be automatically
position on the archive that is in the tape drive (or which the
regular file pertains to). Press ENTER to accept the archive or
use the arrow keys to move around to select another archive. If
the prompt archive option is not set, you will not be presented
with this screen. Note that you are not allowed to change directories -
ie. allowed to access other people's archives.
Three windows are displayed:
The top left window shows details of what is currently on the archive. You can
move around using the arrow keys. To enter a directory, press ENTER
when the highlight is on that directory. To select a file/directory for
restoration, press 's'. Selecting a directory will select all the
files in the directory recursively. Pressing 'd' will show details
about the file the highlight is on. Pressing 'j' will allow
you to jump to a particular directory.
The top right window shows how the archive was constructed (ie. what
files/directories were selected for inclusion in the archive).
An entry in brackets indicates that this was an exclusion.
You can
use the arrow keys to move the display up/down. You can press 's' when
you are on a file or directory to select that particular file/directory.
The bottom window shows the files that you have selected for restoration.
To unselect a file that you have selected for restoration up, move the
highlight to the file you wish to remove from the restore set and then
press 'u'.
Pressing TAB moves between the windows.
Pressing 'h' will display a help screen.
Pressing 'f' will finish selection and commence backup
Pressing 'q' will abort backup
While the restore is in progress, you can stop it by pressing
q or Q.
<sect2>Restore modes
<p>
<sect3>Full restore
<p>
If <em/taper/ cannot find an info file for the tape in the drive, then
it offers you the option of doing a full restore. In full restore mode,
all files on the archive are restored in all volumes. There is no
pathname processing, so the full path is used relative to either the
current directory, or the --restore-path option.
<sect3>Most recent volume restore
<p>
This comes in useful when you have backed up the
same file several times (eg. as it has changed) and is the default
mode. When you select a file for restoration, <em/taper/
automatically selects the file which is on the latest volume (eg. you may
have three volumes and /etc/passwd is on each. Even if you select the
/etc/passwd in volume 1, <em/taper/ will automatically select the
volume 3 file, not the volume 1 file). This is indicated by an 'M' in
the volume column of the selection window. Note that even if you are
in a restricted volume view (using --only-vol), most recent restore will still
automatically find the latest volume of your file on the archive.
<sect3>Fixed volume restore
<p>
In fixed volume mode, whichever file you select is the one that
is restored (eg. in the example above, the /etc/passwd on volume 1
would be restored, despite the fact that the /etc/passwd on
volume 3 is more recent).
<p>
To toggle between fixed volume & most recent mode for a particular
file selection, press 's' when on the selected file in the selection
window.
<sect1>Recreate info file
<p>
Select the recreate info file option from the <em/taper/ menu.
This recreates archive information files given an archive. It also
checks that the checksums of all the files are valid. Any errors
are printed to the log file.
Basically, it looks for an archive on the devices given. It prints the archive
ID and archive title on the screen, then prints each file as it passes it
while recreating the archive information file in the directory specified.
Because it has to traverse the whole archive, it does take some time
to recreate the information file.
As it is traversing, <em/mkinfo/ checks the checksums of the files
on the archives and writes any errors to the log file. Thus, you can
check the integrity of your archives with <em/mkinfo/.
If <em/taper/ encounters a bad checksum, you have the option of trying
to continue the <em/mkinfo/ or you can tell <em/taper/ to assume that
this is the end of the backup. This is useful if a backup got killed
by a power failure or something.
During the traverse, you can press q or Q to stop it. If you do
that, you will corrupt your info file and you will have to re-run
<em/mkinfo/ to restore your info file.
<em/Mkinfo/ may return errors when trying to advance to volumes that
do not exist. Do not worry about this - just select abort and
the info file will be correctly constructed.
<sect1>Verify archive
<p>
This option goes through an archive and checks that what's on the archive
matches what is on the hard disk, byte by byte. If a file is on the archive
but not on the disk, it is ignored. Any discrepancies are printed to the
log file. It also checks the checksums and if a bad checksum is encountered,
like <em/mkinfo/, you have the option of trying to continue or to assume
that the rest of the backup is bad.
<sect1>Utilities
<p>
<sect2>Make tape
<p>
This prepares a tape for use by <em/taper/. This is not needed
by <em/zftape/ or <em/ftape/ tape drives. Some SCSI drives
need this.
<sect2>Test make tape
<p>
This tests whether your tape drive needs to have <em/make tape/
run on new tapes. It is important that a BRAND NEW tape is used
when running this test - ie. one that has never seen the inside
of your (or anyone else's) tape drive before.
<sect2>Which proc
<p>
Tells you on which device your /proc filesystem is mounted. Type
in the name of your /proc directory (usually /proc) and then
<em/taper/ will give you a device number. This is then fed to
<em/taper/ using the --proc-device (or -J) option. The default
is 1.
<sect2>Test fast fsf
<p>
Some tape drives can quickly advance between volumes on the tape. This
also quicker restoration of files from multiple volumes. Use this
utility to see if your tape drive can use fast fsf.
<sect2>Test can seek
<p>
<em/Taper/ can use the seek ioctl to make seeking for files in
restore a lot quicker. Basically, the block on which the file
should lie is calculated and then a seek is issued to quickly
advance the tape drive to this block. However, your tape
drive must support the seek ioctl for this to happen.
You can use this utility to check if your tape drive supports
the seek ioctl.
Before using <em/test can seek/ you must ensure that you have the
correct setting for <em/test fast fsf/.
<sect2>Test end of tape
<p>
According to BSD semantics, when a program requests a further read from
a tape when at the end of the tape, it should return
either a 0 error or a -1 error with errno set at ENODATA or ENOSPC.
Some tape drives do not do this, but return an I/O error which
means that <em/taper/ doesn't know whether an end of tape is reached
or a true I/O error is encountered.
Therefore, this utility will check to see if your tape drive handles
the end of tape condition legally. If it does, well and good.
If it doesn't, taper assumes that I/O errors are really end of tapes.
The problem, of course, is that we don't know when true I/O errors
occur. There is no solution to this problem other than finding a compliant
tape drive.
<p>
<sect2>Erase volumes
<p>
Lets you erase that last `n' volumes on an archive. Tell <em/taper/
the number of volumes you wish to delete. <em/Taper/ then
deletes these volumes. Note that once a volume is deleted, it
cannot be restored.
<sect2>Reindex info file
<p>
To speed up access, the info file cluster contains a couple of
index files. These files are arranged as m-tree indexes. Occasionally,
these index files can get corrupted. If you think this has happened,
you can reindex the files.
Also, if you want to restore your files onto a different machine,
and do not want to recreate the info files on that machine,
you can take a copy of the info files to the new machine. Rather
than taking all four of them, you can take the two main files,
and rebuild the indexes using this option, on the new machine.
<sect2>Look for recursive links
<p>
It is possible on some systems that you have recursive links. For
example, you may have a soft link that points to "./". This leads
to a recursive situation which does not matter if you do not follow
links.
If you follow links (via the soft-links option), then <em/taper/ will
crash as it encounters this link. Running this utility identifies
any recursive links you may have so that you can either tell <em/taper/
not to use hard links, or so you can remove the offending link.
Just enter the starting directory you wish to test - <em/taper/ will
look for recursive links and tell you if you have any. In some
situations, <em/taper/ will seg fault at the link. This is not a problem
since you will know where the offending link is by when it seg faults.
<sect2>Attempt Recovery
<p>
If you have an archive that is corrupted, you can try to tell
<em/taper/ to start recovery at a point beyond the corruption. The
hardest thing is to try an get <em/taper/ back in sync at a point beyond the
corruption.
An archive looks like:
<tscreen><verb>
tape header
volume header
file header ) repeated for each file
file ) in the archive
</verb></tscreen>
Once a corruption occurs, you have to find the file header of the
first file beyond the corruption and tell <em/taper/ where it
is and then <em/taper/ can continue to recover files.
In this utility, you tell <em/taper/ where you want to start the
restore (in bytes relative to the beginning of the archive). <em/Taper/
will then print the filename and file header for confirmation. If you
get garbage here, then you are not positioned on the file header
and you must continue trying until you are.
Once you are correctly positioned, say YES and <em/taper/ will try
and recover files beyond the corruption point.
The easiest way to find the correct position is to use an
editor such as <em/midnight commander/ to scan the file
until you can locate the correct location.
If you are using a tape drive (especially on a volume other than the
first), it is a good idea to read the tape data into a disk file using
<bf/dd/ and then work with the file, rather than the tape. It is just
quicker.
If you are trying to recover data from a volume other than the first
one, you must position the tape (using the non-rewinding device)
on the volume you wish to recover from, read the tape data into a disk
file and then work on this disk file.
When you are working with the disk file, start <em/taper/ using the
<bf/-T l/ preference.
<sect> Unattended Backup
<p>
It is possible to get <em/taper/ to do unattended backups. This
can be used to run <em/taper/ regularly through, say, <em>cron</em>.
Three additional preferences become important:
<descrip>
<tag/--append/
If a <em/taper/ archive exists on the tape, then if --append-on,
the files will be appended to the archive. If --append-off, then
the existing archive will be overwritten.
<tag/--erase-tape/
If unrecognized data exists on the tape, then if --erase-tape-on, the
unrecognized data will be overwritten. If --erase-tape-off, the
data will not be overwritten and the backup session will be aborted.
<tag/--unattended-id "id"/
If this option is not -1, then <em/taper/ will only append the
to this archive if it is archive "id". If some other archive's
tape is in the drive, the backup will not be made and the user
will be mailed about it.
</descrip>
It is important that these preferences are correctly set, since
<em/taper/ is running in unattended mode, you will not be
prompted for any confirmation, rather the action will just happen.
To specify the files/directories for backup, use the <em>-U</em>
(or <em>--unattended-file</em>) command line options. If the filename
begins with a &commat, then <em/taper/ interprets this to mean
that a filename is a fileset and reads in the appropriate fileset.
The files/directories are backed up either as full backups or as
incremental backups - it depends on what you have set via
command line options, or preference files. If you haven't specified
anything, then by default, incremental backups are used.
With unattended backups, it is not possible to have multi-tape
backups because <em/taper/ can't prompt you to insert the
next tape. If the end of the tape is encountered, <em/taper/
will stop the backup and send you a message.
Mail is sent to the root (can be changed in <em>defaults.h</em>) via
the <em>mail</em> (can be changed in <em>defaults.h</em>) program
about what happened during the backup.
You can use <em>cron</em> to automate your backup process. A line
like this:
<verb>
10 20 * * * taper -U @set
</verb>
will cause <em/taper/ to run at 20:10 (8.10pm) every day, using
the fileset named <em>set</em>.
<sect>File Sets
<p>
You may have a particular set of files or directories that you always wish to
backup - eg. /etc/passwd, /usr/local/bin, and /usr/local/etc. Rather than
selecting these files & directories every time you want to make a backup, you
can select them once and then save the particular selection to a file
set. Next time you wish to backup this particular set of files, you
need only load in the file set and <em/taper/ will automatically select the
files for you.
To save a file set, press S in either backup or restore. You will then
be prompted for a name to give to your file set.
To restore a file set, press L in either backup or restore. You will be
presented with a list of known file sets. Select which one you want
using the arrow keys and ENTER and <em/taper/ will load in the file
set.
<sect1>File Set format
<p>
A file set file simply is an ASCII file that contains
three lines for each entry selected.
The first line is a capital I or E. <bf/I/ indicates the entry is
to be selected. <bf/E/ indicates the entry is to be excluded.
the selected.
The next line is the selection.
The third line is null (this contains a blank for future support of
regexp).
<sect> Environment variables
<p>
Several <em/taper/ options can be set using environment variables
which can be set from your profile file.
<descrip>
<tag/TAPE_TYPE/
specifies which type of tape drive you have. Valid values are
<itemize>
<item/scsi/
<item/zftape/
<item/ftape/
<item/reg-file/
<item/ide/
</itemize>
<tag/TAPER_PREFS/
the name of your preference file
<tag/TAPER_LOG_FILE/
the name of your log file
<tag/TAPER_LOG_LEVEL/
the level of logging <em/taper/ should do
<tag/TAPER_INFO_FILES/
the directory in which your info files and set files are found
<tag/TAPE/
the name of the rewinding tape device
<tag/NTAPE/
the name of the non-rewinding tape device
</descrip>
<sect> Preferences
<p>
Rather than having to issue a whole lot of command line options every
time you wish to run backup/restore, it is possible to store commonly
used options in a preference file. Individual users can have their
own preference file in their &tilde directory, or there can be a global
preference file in /usr/local/etc. Both backup & restore look for a
preference file in the following sequence:
<enum>
<item>
Check if a filename is given via -p (or --preference-file)
command line option
<item>
Check if a filename is given via environment variable TAPER_PREFS
<item>
Check if &tilde/taper_prefs exists. If it does, use this
<item>
Default of /usr/local/etc/taper_prefs
</enum>
If no file is given, then internal defaults (as specified above) are used.
Note that command line options over-ride preference file and internal
default settings.
<sect1>Changing preferences
<p>
It is possible to change and save preferences within <em/taper/. Select the
appropriate option from the <em/taper/ menu (ie. either global options,
backup options or restore options). To move between options, press
the up or down arrows (or left and right). To change an option, use the
left and right arrow keys. When you have finished, press F10 (to change
this from F10, change the entry in <em>defaults.h</em>).
<sect1>Saving preferences
<p>
There are two methods of saving your preferences. One is to a preference
file or, the second is to a command line file. To save to a
preference file, select the appropriate option. Give the filename of the
preference file (default is &tilde/taper_prefs) and then press F. Next time
you start <em/taper/, the preferences that you have selected will be
automatically loaded.
The second method of saving is to a command line file. The saves the
preferences you have selected to a shell script. Select the name of the
shell script (default is start_taper). To invoke <em/taper/ using the selected
preferences, issue a `sh start_taper'. This is useful if you have temporary
(or multiple) configurations and you don't want to overwrite your existing
preference file.
<sect1>Preference file format
<p>
The format of a preference file is a text file with one preference per line.
A preference is given:
<tscreen>
PREFERENCE=VALUE
</tscreen>
See the file 'pref_example' for an example of a preference file.
Spaces are ignored - use quotes if spaces are needed
The name of the preferences are the same as the long command line
option name. For example, to change the log file to
<em/my_log_file/, place the following line in your preference
file:
<tscreen>
log-file = my_log_file
</tscreen>
<sect1>Special preferences
<p>
The following preferences can be prefixed by a letter to indicate which
tape drive they belong to.
<itemize>
<item>set-blksize
<item>get-blksize
<item>erase-tape
<item>fast-fsf
<item>block-size
<item>tape-name
<item>ntape-name
<item>can-seek
</itemize>
For example, if you have the following line in your preference file,
<tscreen>
block-size = 12300
z-block-size = 43122
z-tape-name = /dev/qft0
z-ntape-name = /dev/nqft0
s-tape-name = /dev/scsi
s-ntape-name = /dev/nscsi
-z
</tscreen>
then the block-size is set to 43122 only if the zftape driver is selected,
otherwise, it is set to 12300. Also, the device names are set to /dev/qft0
& /dev/nqft0 if the zftape driver is selected, or to /dev/scsi &
/dev/nscsi if the scsi driver is selected.
If the preference given is <em/block-size=43122/, then the block-size will
be set to 43122 regardless of the tape driver selected.
<sect>Screen Colours
<p>
It is possible to change the colours displayed. This can be done
from the command line or from within a preference file.
The valid colours are BLACK, RED, GREEN, YELLOW, BLUE, MAGENTA, CYAN, WHITE.
For example, to change the normal screen colour to yellow text on a blue
background:
<tscreen>
taper --color-normal yellow, blue
</tscreen>
from the command line, or
<tscreen>
color-normal = yellow,blue
</tscreen>
in a preference file.
Below is a list of the possible colors to change
<descrip>
<tag/color-title/
title bar (blue on white)
<tag/color-main/
main screen (white on blue)
<tag/color-dialog/
dialog boxes (white on red)
<tag/color-status/
status boxes (white on red)
<tag/color-directory/
screen used to select files (black on green)
<tag/color-selected/
screen used to show selected files (white on blue)
<tag/color-selected/
screen used to show unselected files (white on blue)
<tag/color-bottom/
status bar at bottom of the screen (blue on white)
<tag/color-help/
screen used to show help screen (black on cyan)
<tag/color-on-vol/
screen used to show current volume contents (white on purple)
<tag/color-form/
screen used to get data (eg. change preferences, enter volume title)
(white on black).
</descrip>
<sect>Multiple Tape Backups
<p>
For the use of multiple tape backups, these are the following assumptions
made.
<sect1>Writing
<p>
End of tape is indicated by one of:
<itemize>
<item>error code == -1 && errno == ENOSPC
<item>zero bytes written
<item>less bytes written than we asked for
</itemize>
<sect1>Reading
<p>
End of tape is indicated by one of:
<itemize>
<item>error code == -1 && errno == ENOSPC
<item>error code == -1 && errno == ENODATA
<item>returned less bytes than we asked for
</itemize>
End of volume is indicated by
<itemize>
<item>zero bytes read
<item>error code == -1 && errno == ENODATA
</itemize>
This is what ftape does for floppy controller tape drives. If are using
another sort of tape drive, then the multiple tape backup feature will only
work if the above is true. If it is not true and you are able to work
out what your particular tape drive does, if you send me details, I will
try and incorporate it into future releases. I'm especially interested in
users of SCSI drives since I have no access to them.
If your tape drive doesn't support the above, you can use the <bf/--tape-size/
option to tell <em/taper/ the size of your tape drive. Tape size is
specified in megabytes, eg. --tape-size 120 means that your tape is
120MB, --tape-size 250 means that your tape is 250MB. Note that these
must be <em/uncompressed/ sizes. You must specify the same number every
time you start <em/taper/ - you can put it in your preference file if
necessary. If you don't specify the same number, you will get very spurious,
unpredictable results. Note that you should subtract about 10% from the
manufacturers stated size to account for formatting etc.. (eg. for
a 120MB tape, tell <em/taper/ that it is 108MB).
<sect>Cross platform support
<p>
<em/Taper/ was primarily designed for linux running on an intel
processor. With linux now becoming very multi-platform, changes have been
made to <em/taper/ to enable cross platform support. Some of the changes are:
<itemize>
<item>All data is written to the tape in little endian format. If you define
the TAPER_BIG_ENDIAN makefile option, <em/taper/ will convert everything
read from the tape to big endian so that your machine can use it. Even
if you make a backup from a big endian machine, the data on the tape will
be in little endian format.
<item>The info files are also stored in little endian format so that they
should be portable accross different architectures.
<item>Data types are defined in <em/config.h/. Taper uses 32 bit signed
& unsigned data, unsigned 16 bit, and 8 bit signed & unsigned data.
Change the appropriate types for your machine. Attributes such as
gid_t, uid_t, dev_t, umode_t, and time_t are hard-coded to the intel
defaults of unsigned short (unsigned 16 bit) and long (32 bits)
respectively. If your machine uses
different types for these, then you should look at the code in
<em/tapeio.c/, specifically, the functions tape_read_fi and tape_write_fi
and modify it to convert the intel types to a type applicable for your
machine. If your machine uses longer data types than an unsigned 16 bit
used by intel linux, then, for the time being, you are in strife.
In a future <em/taper/ version, I intend to move away from the 16 bit
format and use my own representation. However this will mean that existing
archives are incompatible with the new format, so I won't be doing this
for a while.
<item>Since version 6.3, <em/taper/ aligns all structures on addresses
that are divisable by 4. It does this by padding out the strings so that
they have a length divisable by 4. Then an offset is added (which is the
number of bytes that the structure needs to make it a length of a multiple
of 4). Versions less than 6.3 do not support this, so it is unlikely that
these archives will work on machines that require aligned addresses.
However, for machines that do not require aligned access, there is no problem.
<item>Look at <bf/config.h/ which has a couple of defines
you may need to change.
</itemize>
<sect>Limitations
<p>
Maximum length of total pathname is set by MAXNAMLEN. It is usually set
to 255 bytes long. If you have a very long pathname, then you may cause
<em/taper/ to segfault.
<p>
If a file grows while <em/taper/ is trying to back it up, only
the beginning part of the file is backed up (specifically, the number of
bytes the file was when <em/taper/ started to back up this file) and the
rest is lost. This is because of inadequate mandatory file locking. I
know that this is being worked in the kernel and hopefully, when the kernel
code pertaining to this is stable, I can implement it in <em/taper/.
<sect>Bugs
<p>
Please report bugs to me at the address below. If the bug causes a segment
violation or causes the program to crash in any other way, if you know how
to use gdb, could you re-compile your source using the Makefile.debug
makefile, and tell me what source line the program crashed. Also, please
tell me what kernel version, gcc version, C library version, ncurses
version you are using.
As this is a sideline, I may not be able to respond to e-mail immediately.
However, if you do not receive a reply within one week, then repost as
I may have forgotten about it!
<sect>Major bugs in early versions
<p>
There was a bug in taper-5.1.1 when creating archives. If you made an
archive with 5.1.1, unfortunately, you will have to re-backup if you find
that restore doesn't work since it was a pretty major bug. However, since
taper-5.1.1 was only released a day before 5.1.2 (which fixed the bug)
was released, hopefully, not too many people are affected.
From taper-5.0 to taper-5.1.3, there was another not so serious bug. This
caused the file counts on the archives to be incorrect in certain, obscure
situations. You will know if you have this bug because you will find that
you have funny files on your restore screen, and some files and directories
will be missing altogether. There is no way to correct the errors on the
archive other than re-backing up, however 5.1.4 (and later) have a `fudge
factor' which will allow to your to use your archives normally. Just run
<em/mkinfo/ on your archive and taper will recognize the buggy archive and fudge
your info file automatically for you.
I don't believe it - the bug crept back into 5.1.5 - it's like a virus
that won't go away! Anyway, 5.2 corrects it.
In versions 5.6 to 6.1 (inclusive), there was an obscure backup bug which
causes a problem if there were two buffers queued for output when the
tape drive was closed. Unfortunately, there is no fix for this, however,
it is a relatively rare bug, and at most, you will lose the last two
blocks of the backup. This bug only occurred if you used triple buffering.
In versions up to 6.1.3, there was a problem with internal compression
of files > 32K. It was a spurious bug.
<sect>Finally
<p>
Wow! You made it through all the 'documentation'! I'm impressed.
I would appreciate a short message if you find the program useful and
are using it. This will allow me to work out whether people are using it and
whether to continue development. If you could also state what machine
you are using, hard drive/floppy controllers, tape drive type, SCSI
card etc.., then this will help me to maintain a compatibility list.
Happy backing up,
Yusuf Nagree
<p>yusuf@nagree.net
<p>19MAY02
</article>
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