Mailing List Archive

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Molle Bestefich wrote:
> Hi
>
> Portage takes up a lot of space and time when doing server backups.
>
> How much of Portage needs to be backup up?
> Any large parts of the tree that I can just dump?
>
> Thanks!
>
> CC appreciated :).
anything in /usr/portage can be regenerated by syncing. /var/tmp can be
dumped too.

That should be most of the space portage takes

- --
=======================================================
Mike Doty kingtaco -at- gentoo.org
Gentoo/AMD64 Strategic Lead
Gentoo Developer Relations
Gentoo Recruitment Lead
Gentoo Infrastructure
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On Mon, Jun 12, 2006 at 03:41:56PM -0500, Mike Doty wrote:
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>
> Molle Bestefich wrote:
> > Hi
> >
> > Portage takes up a lot of space and time when doing server backups.
> >
> > How much of Portage needs to be backup up?
> > Any large parts of the tree that I can just dump?
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > CC appreciated :).
> anything in /usr/portage can be regenerated by syncing. /var/tmp can be
> dumped too.
>
> That should be most of the space portage takes
You should also be able to ditch /var/cache/edb/dep/ safely.
Do make sure you back up the base /var/cache/edb/ and /var/lib/portage/

--
Robin Hugh Johnson
E-Mail : robbat2@gentoo.org
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> Do make sure you back up the base /var/cache/edb/
Why? Anything in /var/cache doesn't need to be in a backup,
because it can be generated when necessary (in theory...)
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On Tue, Jun 13, 2006 at 01:15:05AM +0200, Joerg Plate wrote:
> > Do make sure you back up the base /var/cache/edb/
> Why? Anything in /var/cache doesn't need to be in a backup,
> because it can be generated when necessary (in theory...)
The counter file is important if you intend to keep /var/log/portage.
If you blow it away, and keep /var/log/portage, portage will start log
file numbers from zero again, and it becomes a pain to figure out the
real order when debugging stuff.

--
Robin Hugh Johnson
E-Mail : robbat2@gentoo.org
GnuPG FP : 11AC BA4F 4778 E3F6 E4ED F38E B27B 944E 3488 4E85

Joerg Plate wrote:
>>Do make sure you back up the base /var/cache/edb/
>
> Why? Anything in /var/cache doesn't need to be in a backup,
> because it can be generated when necessary (in theory...)

in theory, yes; in practice there are a couple of files you may not want
to destroy (mtimedb, counter)
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On Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:06:01 -0700
"Robin H. Johnson" <robbat2@gentoo.org> wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 12, 2006 at 03:41:56PM -0500, Mike Doty wrote:
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > Hash: SHA1
> >
> > Molle Bestefich wrote:
> > > Hi
> > >
> > > Portage takes up a lot of space and time when doing server
> > > backups.
> > >
> > > How much of Portage needs to be backup up?
> > > Any large parts of the tree that I can just dump?
> > >
> > > Thanks!
> > >
> > > CC appreciated :).
> > anything in /usr/portage can be regenerated by syncing. /var/tmp
> > can be dumped too.
> >
> > That should be most of the space portage takes
> You should also be able to ditch /var/cache/edb/dep/ safely.
> Do make sure you back up the base /var/cache/edb/
> and /var/lib/portage/

Don't forget the most important thing: /var/db/pkg. Other things worth
saving are /var/log/emerge.log (serveral tools use this) and of course
any portage related files in /etc.

Marius

--
Public Key at http://www.genone.de/info/gpg-key.pub

In the beginning, there was nothing. And God said, 'Let there be
Light.' And there was still nothing, but you could see a bit better.

> [.snip - Mike, Robin, Joerg, Alec and Marius were kind enough to answer my questions...]

Thanks guys!

That should shave a couple of hours off each nightly backup.. :-))
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On Mon, 2006-06-12 at 22:36 +0200, Molle Bestefich wrote:
> Hi
>
> Portage takes up a lot of space and time when doing server backups.
>
> How much of Portage needs to be backup up?
> Any large parts of the tree that I can just dump?

You don't need to backup any of it. Everything under /usr/portage can
be regained with an "emerge --sync" except distfiles, and those are
redownloaded the next time you merge a package that requires it.

--
Chris Gianelloni
Release Engineering - Strategic Lead
x86 Architecture Team
Games - Developer
Gentoo Linux

Chris Gianelloni <wolf31o2@gentoo.org> posted
1150205922.13805.1.camel@cgianelloni.nuvox.net, excerpted below, on Tue,
13 Jun 2006 09:38:42 -0400:

> You don't need to backup any of it. Everything under /usr/portage can
> be regained with an "emerge --sync" except distfiles, and those are
> redownloaded the next time you merge a package that requires it.

... And package files, if in the default location. Someone using
FEATURES=buildpkg could understandably be rather peeved if due to failure
to back that up (because it wasn't said to be necessary), it wasn't there
when it actually came time to use that backup.



--
Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman

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On Monday 12 June 2006 19:28, Alec Warner wrote:
> Joerg Plate wrote:
> >>Do make sure you back up the base /var/cache/edb/
> >
> > Why? Anything in /var/cache doesn't need to be in a backup,
> > because it can be generated when necessary (in theory...)
>
> in theory, yes;

in practice, this needs to be a yes too

> in practice there are a couple of files you may not want
> to destroy (mtimedb, counter)

those files are very helpful sure, but portage needs to be able to sanely
recover if they go bye bye
-mike