mishkin%UUCP@YALE.ARPA@apollo.UUCP (02/25/87)
... We are connected via TCP/IP/COM-ETH, the DOMAIN/IX r-commands
work, but where is rdump?
A call to Apollo brought the reply that "they don't support that
command," as well as a comment that it couldn't be ported because
the Apollo file system is too different. Why is this? Or has someone
ported rdump to the Apollos? Why isn't it included with DOMAIN/IX?
... WBAK knows about file modification dates, but you can't make WBAK
write to the standard output. I know everyone's got backup
problems--has anyone tried to do something similar to this?
"dump" (and "rdump") reads the raw disk. It assumes (a) a conventional
"Unix-like" internal structure (superblock, inodes, etc.) and (b) the
bsd4.2 file system internal structure in particular. Apollo's file system
does not happen to meet either of these assumptions. (If it met (a)
but not (b), it is conceivable that we could hack "rdump" to work.) I
don't think meeting these assumptions should be a requirement of any
Unix system. It would be too constraining. However, this doesn't mean
there shouldn't be some tool that operates mostly like "dump" (i.e. a tool
that does fast and effective backups). We just don't currently happen
to have the tool. (I assume no one much cares if our hypothetical "dump"
program happens to work internally just like "dump".) We should. I hope
eventually we will. One obvious candidate for the tool is "wbak", modified
at least to be able to write to a file (e.g. stdout) instead of to specific
backup devices.
-- Nat Mishkin
Apollo Computer Inc.
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