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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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What to include in a backup? (Ubuntu) (lemmy.ml)

submitted 7 months ago by WbrJr@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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Hi! A friend just recommended the backup tool that comes with Ubuntu. I took a look at it and was wondering what you guys include and exclude from the backups. I just installed wire guard VPN and but the config file in the etc/wireguard folder, where it belongs. I would have to include this folder as well if I want to keep my configs. And I guess many programs do the same, so how do you know what to include, so you can just revert to the last backup if something breaks or you get a new machine? Maybe that is a stupid question, but it was going through my head for some time now. Thanks a lot!

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[–] Nia_The_Cat@beehaw.org 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I back up the entirety of my /home directory except for cache, temp, trash (trash is stored at /home/$user/.local/share/Trash), Download folder, and a folder I named "NOBACKUP".

It backs up a lot of stuff I probably don't need, but I'd rather back up more than I need, than to be caught not backing up something that I did need.

edit: oh, I have a btrfs snapshot of /root too, but I don't think that's something the backup tool in Ubuntu can do since it defaults to ext4

[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's best not to overuse native filesystem snapshots. Someone else was saying they delete them daily, that's the right spirit.

Filesystem snapshots can't be dissociated from that filesystem and they are strictly incremental to the point they're literally all-or-nothing which is quite inconvenient.

They're good for those "oh fuck" moments when you've just deleted the wrong dir but that's about it.

[–] Nia_The_Cat@beehaw.org 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

That's a good point, I use my /home backup via borgbackup which I keep for a bit longer (store 7 days + last 2 weekly before it prunes them), and my /root btrfs snapshots were set to be kept for 7 days just out of habit. I'll probably dial it back to 2-3 days instead. I do intend them as just rollbacks rather than actual backups but I tend to be too overly cautious for my own good sometimes

I like to keep a few more than the last day of snapshots as a minimum in case there was something silently breaking my system that I didn't notice for a few days and is too advanced for me to fix normally