Ubuntu System Restore

[Michael Vogt]

On Sat, Oct 29, 2011 at 09:19:28PM +0530, Gaurav Saxena wrote:
> Hello Michael
Hi Gaurav,

sorry for my slow reply.

> On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 2:05 PM, Michael Vogt <mvo at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, Oct 06, 2011 at 05:15:14PM -0600, Bear Giles wrote:
> > > I've written a few prototypes and this comes down to four issues. Some of
> > > the details below are debian/ubuntu-specific but the same concepts will
> > > apply to redhat.
> > [..]
> > > 2. Packages should NOT be backed up. All you need is the package name and
> > > version. Reinstall from .deb and .rpm if necessary since this way you're
> > > sure that you never restore compromised files.
> >
> > You may want to look at the apt-clone package for this part of the
> > work, it supports creating/restoring this meta-data.
> >
> Could you suggest something to me that how can I use apt-clone in my system
> restore program to backup the states of system packages. I read articles
> regarding that like http://swik.net/apt-clone which say that I need to have
> a ZFS file system for managing snapshots and also its just a front-end to
> apt-get.

There is a unfortuate name clash here, the apt-clone that uses zfs on
solaris is different from the one we have in the archive. Our
apt-clone create a system-state file by capturing installed packages,
auto-install states, sources.list etc. apt-clone --help should give a
overview. Its possible to test using e.g. 
 apt-clone restore --destination=/tmp/foo clonefile
this will restore into a chroot dir. Careful otherwise, the default
restore location is "/".

Cheers,
 Michael
 

> > Cheers,
> >  Michael
> >
> >
> > > On Fri, Sep 30, 2011 at 12:01 AM, Gaurav Saxena <grvsaxena419 at gmail.com
> > >wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hello Aaron
> > > > Thanks a lot for your quick reply.
> > > >
> > > > On Fri, Sep 30, 2011 at 10:03 AM, Aaron C. de Bruyn <
> > aaron at heyaaron.com>wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> In Windows, the ability to snapshot is built into the filesystem.
> > > >> In Linux, you must be running a filesystem that supports snapshots.  I
> > > >> know LVM supports snapshotting and I believe BRTFS has support, but
> > > >> other than that I'm not sure.
> > > >>
> > > >> Yes I read the logic behind windows system restore. But I think we can
> > > > take some other approach for this, that will be better as all users
> > won't be
> > > > able to spare an extra partition formatted brtfs.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >> Basically, your program would have to check the file system that is
> > > >> used on the computer (remember Linux can have many types of file
> > > >> systems mounted at the same time), then (in the case of LVM) make sure
> > > >> there's enough free space to snapshot, and finally take the snapshot.
> > > >>
> > > >> Ok. Do I have to snapshot the whole system partition / important
> > system
> > > > files to the brtfs partition ?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >> When the snapshots start filling up, you would either need to delete
> > > >> them or detect the low space and resize them.
> > > >>
> > > >> In my personal opinion, snapshotting in Linux is currently a pain in
> > > >> the rear.  It sounds like BTRFS could change that, but it's still a
> > > >> ways off.
> > > >>
> > > >> Ok.  I will try another approach that will be better as suggested by
> > > > people here.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >> -A
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >> On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 21:00, Gaurav Saxena <grvsaxena419 at gmail.com>
> > > >> wrote:
> > > >> > Hello all,
> > > >> > I want to write a windows system restore like program for ubuntu ,
> > which
> > > >> > will have options for creating restore points for the system and
> > then
> > > >> > restoring it back to that point. Also I will as an extension provide
> > > >> support
> > > >> > for older version of a file as is in windows currently. I need your
> > help
> > > >> to
> > > >> > find how to start with this in ubuntu. I know that I have to
> > snapshot
> > > >> the
> > > >> > system when creating a restore point and then restore it. I need
> > some
> > > >> > starting pointers so that I can start doing this work. Also if this
> > has
> > > >> > already been done please inform me. I got this idea from
> > > >> >  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SystemRestore.
> > > >> > --
> > > >> > Thanks and Regards ,
> > > >> > Gaurav
> > > >> >
> > > >> > --
> > > >> > Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list
> > > >> > Ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com
> > > >> > Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> > > >> > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
> > > >> >
> > > >> >
> > > >>
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Thanks and Regards ,
> > > > Gaurav
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Thanks and Regards ,
> > > > Gaurav
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list
> > > > Ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com
> > > > Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> > > > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
> > > >
> > > >
> >
> > > --
> > > Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list
> > > Ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com
> > > Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
> >
> >
> 
> 
> -- 
> Thanks and Regards ,
> Gaurav