BRU/XBRU backup related stuff

I needed a secretary-proof tape backup solution for a file server of mine. The only program I found was bru (with the xbru graphical front end) offered by TolisGroup. If you think about using it: don’t.

The TCL/TK GUI is crappy. The ‘automatic’ backup scheduler ‘integrated’ into this tool didn’t work so I used the bru command line tool in conjunction with cron. Which made backups but those were not usable with the graphical interface (while being made with their tools).

Today I discovered why the automatic backup scheduler didn’t work: it just enters itself as cron job which is executed every 5 minutes. The tcl script then checks the day and time vs. its stored values, i.e. “Sat = Sat and 14:30 = 14:30″. Here our setup just blows up. Locales where set to German (for the aforementioned secretary) and thus the first check turned to “Sam = Sat” (Saturday is Samstag in German). Who would ever think about using the weekly day numbers for comparisons?

The time is just checked against the stored one. There’s no check if the job has already started. If your cron job isn’t executed exactly all 5 minutes in sync with your definition it will never be executed.

I spend around 200 euro for this ’solution’.

I feel disgusted. Don’t make the same mistake.

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