What's different in Version 0.6 and above compared to previous versions?

As of version 0.6.0 the core backup function of rsback has been completely rewritten. This was necessary because the overall strategy for managing backup archives has changed. And this in turn was a consequence of giving the user the opportunity using rsync's --link-dest option with rsback.

Handling of rsync errors has been improved and is more flexible now.

This major upgrade was a result of some years of my personal experience with rsback on different desktop and server systems (Linux and OS X) as well as of error reports and suggestions of other users.

For further details see CHANGELOG.

Why should I upgrade?

As mentioned above, with the improved error handling rsback-0.6.x and above is more stable compared to former versions. Therefore, if you are a system administrator and have been (more or less) happy with rsback up to now, you should consider to switch even if you don't need the new options.

In the case of problems or errors, it's much easier for me to give support if you are using a recent version.

How to upgrade from 0.5.x?

Replace your old version by the rsback-x.y.z.pl script from the tarball or use a symlink pointing to the new version.

As the numbering scheme of the backup repository as changed compared to earlier versions, you have to renumber the archives in your repositories. Supposed you have 5 backup sets (backup.0 .. backup.4), you have to rename them:

# mv backup.4 backup.5
# mv backup.3 backup.4
# mv backup.2 backup.3
# mv backup.1 backup.2
# mv backup.0 backup.1

Delete the history file 'history.backup'. It will be rebuild by rsback at the next run If you have many repositories, apply the script update-archive.sh (in the tarball) to renumber each of them. Try

# update-archive.sh -h

first. That will show you, what it expects as input.

Your configuration files should work as before. The only difference is that the number of backup sets in your repository will be one less than before if you don't increase it in the configuration file. A parameter like rotate = daily 7 will now produce archives daily.1, daily.2, ... daily.7 (see renumbering above).

How to upgrade from versions prior to 0.5.0?

As of version 0.5.0 the parameter global:rsync_options is mandatory. There is no default value. So declare something like

[global]
...
rsync_options = -al --delete --delete-excluded --stats

in your configuration file(s). Then proceed as described above (How to upgrade from 0.5.x?)