program: backeupe.sh
auteur: intrigeri <intrigeri@squat.net>
licence: GNU General Public License
date: 2003 06 07

S Y N T A X

backeupe [TIME]



I N T R O D O C T I O N

I advise to read carefully this file.

This program has not been tested exhaustively... don't rely on it to
backup any important data before having tested it yourself; this
remark, tough, is valuable for any backup program. Before you trust
this program, please check you can recover your data from backups it
creates.

In particular, tar is invoked with --ignore-failed-read option; that
means it won't complain if it doesn't manage to read some of the files
it is supposed to archive. Subsequently, don't forget to have a look
to the tar log file... 



P R I N C I P L E

If an integer parameter TIME is given on the command line, this
program will backup only files created or modified in the last TIME
hours. Else, a full backup will be done.

The 4 stages backup process:

- creation of a .tgz  archive
- encryption using gnupg
- split the output file into smaller ones
- gnupg signature for each created file

NB: the three first stages are now realized in only one pass.



I N S T A L L   A N D   C O N F I G

The executable file backeupe.sh can be put wherever you want.

Three config files are used; the main one, unless you modify the
program itself, has to be ~/.backeupe/backeupe.rc. The name and
location of the two others files ($TARGETS et $PARIAS) is defined in
backeupe.rc.

You will find more details about backeupe's config in the sample
config file: examples/backeupe.rc.



S E C U R I T Y   N O T E S

The gnupg key used by backeupe has to be kept in a secure place:
without it, you won't be able to recover your backuped data!

Warning: first of all, be sure you understand well public key
cryptography. Else, you might think that the created files have some
properties they HAVE NOT, in terms of security, confidentiality,
integrity, resistance to attack. 

Do not store the gnupg key in the same place than the backup file. 

Do not store the gnupg signature files in the same place than the
backup files.

And... if you don't think all this logical, please read some
documentation about public key cryptography before you use this
program :)

The tar log file - created in the same dir as backup files contains -
contains, as plaintext, the list of files that have not been
backuped... so delete it after checking its contents.

You have to be conscious that doing both compression and encryption
increases drastically the created files' sensitivity to damage... the
physical supports used to store these files must then be kept in
perfect condition, if you don't want to lose your data. Forget
immediately floppies...



A B O U T   D I S K   S P A C E

Thanks to the use of pipes, you only need the free disk space that
will be used to store the final archive files created (compressed +
crypted).

Neither the gnupg key length, nor the gnupg compression level used
influence the final created files' size.

Nota bene: encrypting the .tgz archive doesn't increase its size.
