Borgmatic is backuping borg's cache / uncomment or set default value of exclude_caches: true #145

New Issue

ThomasBlt · 2019-02-25T21:04:57Z

ThomasBlt commented

2019-02-25 21:04:57 +00:00

I'm backuping my home directories and, by default, borgmatic is backuping borg's cache.

This is surprising from a user perspective as backup grow exponentially

This is especially surprising because borgmatic has an option exclude_caches: true that can detect (borg's) cache very accurately.

It should be on by default or extra attention should be driven to this specific option.

Alternative : add a new feature that's on by default and that checks both for CACHEDIR.TAG and in a borg directory + an option to disable it (why would anyone do that ?!)

I'm backuping my home directories and, by default, borgmatic is backuping borg's cache. This is surprising from a user perspective as backup grow exponentially This is especially surprising because borgmatic has an option `exclude_caches: true` that can detect (borg's) cache very accurately. It should be on by default or extra attention should be driven to this specific option. Alternative : add a new feature that's on by default and that checks both for `CACHEDIR.TAG` and in a `borg` directory + an option to disable it (why would anyone do that ?!)

witten commented

2019-02-26 00:37:04 +00:00

Thanks for reporting this. Does ~/.cache/borg actually contain CACHEDIR.TAG by default? I'm not seeing that at least in my local cache. Are you suggesting that Borg's --exclude-caches will exclude ~/.cache/borg even without CACHEDIR.TAG present?

Thanks for reporting this. Does `~/.cache/borg` actually contain `CACHEDIR.TAG` by default? I'm not seeing that at least in my local cache. Are you suggesting that Borg's `--exclude-caches` will exclude `~/.cache/borg` even without `CACHEDIR.TAG` present?

witten commented

2019-02-26 05:44:43 +00:00

Huh, on another machine I do have a CACHEDIR.TAG within ~/.cache/borg. Could be because of differing version of Borg itself.

Huh, on another machine I *do* have a `CACHEDIR.TAG` within `~/.cache/borg`. Could be because of differing version of Borg itself.

ThomasBlt commented

2019-02-26 08:30:46 +00:00

Yes, borg's repo has a CACHEDIR.TAG by default

I'm suggesting that borg's --exclude-caches (or borg by itself) is not excluding it's own cache by default.

(I should fill a feature request at borg's issue tracking.)

My advise towards you/borgmatic is to add it to your README.md's example config and point out the problem regarding borg backup exponential growth

Yes, borg's repo has a `CACHEDIR.TAG` by default I'm suggesting that borg's `--exclude-caches` (or borg by itself) is not excluding it's own cache by default. (I should fill a feature request at borg's issue tracking.) My advise towards you/borgmatic is to add it to your [README.md](https://projects.torsion.org/witten/borgmatic/src/commit/4272c6b07767cafd44896b628f9d1850e7dc14fe/README.md)'s example config and point out the problem regarding borg backup exponential growth

witten commented

2019-02-26 23:29:21 +00:00

In some simple tests here, I wasn't able to convince Borg to backup its own cache, even without the --exclude-caches flag. What version of Borg are you using? I'm on 1.1.8 here.

In some simple tests here, I wasn't able to convince Borg to backup its own cache, even *without* the `--exclude-caches` flag. What version of Borg are you using? I'm on 1.1.8 here.

ThomasBlt commented

2019-02-27 12:23:16 +00:00

Same here ...
I need to check something on my side.

Full story : my backups are growing fast ... too fast (+500Mo/day) on a server that barely generates 50Mo of contents per day (mostly logs).
As my backup included all my home dir and as borg's cache was inside I jumped to the conclusion that this cache was to blame.
From your test, I guess that either my conclusion was wrong, either my initial

(I'll check everything thoroughly before bothering you once more)

Same here ... I need to check something on my side. Full story : my backups are growing fast ... too fast (+500Mo/day) on a server that barely generates 50Mo of contents per day (mostly logs). As my backup included all my home dir and as borg's cache was inside I jumped to the conclusion that this cache was to blame. From your test, I guess that either my conclusion was wrong, either my initial (I'll check everything thoroughly before bothering you once more)

ThomasBlt commented

2019-02-27 13:21:55 +00:00

My bad @witten

I must have been tiered on my first tests ==> you can close this as false positive (or "chair<->keyboard" problem)

Regards

My bad @witten I must have been tiered on my first tests ==> you can close this as false positive (or "chair<->keyboard" problem) Regards

witten added the

question / support

label 2019-02-27 16:25:26 +00:00

witten commented

2019-02-27 16:25:42 +00:00

No worries! I hope you get the issue ironed out.