symlinks should point inside backup, not to original

[Koen]

i have a lot of symlinks in my home folder. i do a backup on an external ext4 harddisk.

i often don't notice if i am clicking a symlink or an normal folder.

if i see i have lost a file, i go to back in time, to my symlinked documents folder, and i see the file is not there. i have to remember the original position of the folder(often i need to look long for it) and go to that.
it took me 6 months to notice this behavior, i always tough the backup was not there. it is VERY anyiong and novice user will be stumped by it.

symlinks in the backup should point to the folder in the backup, NOT to the original folder!

ps: sry for the angry voice, but this problem just frustrates me a lot.

EDIT1
STEPS TO REPRODUCE:

1) MAKE A BACKUP WITCH BACKINTIME OF YOUR /HOME
2) EDIT SOMEFILES IN SOMEFOLDER
3) MAKE A BACKUP WITH BACKINTIME AGAIN
4) ADD A SYMLINK TO "SOMEFOLDER" AND EDIT SOME FILES IN IT
5) MAKE A BACKUP AGAIN
6) TRY RESTORING IT. NOTICE THE DIFFERENT BEHAVIOUR IF YOU GO TROUGH THE SYMLINK AND TROUGH THE ORIGINAL POSITION.

EDIT2
this bug only applies for absolute symlinks.

[Dan (danleweb)]

Hi,

Symlinks are copied as symlinks: absolute or relative.
If they are relative than is OK (as long as they don't point outside the backup tree), if they are absolute then I can't (at least don't know how) to transform them to relative to the snapshot.

For the moment the only options you have are in "expert options":
- copy unsafe links (works only on absolute links)
- copy links: dereference all links

Regards,
Dan

[Koen (gorgabal)]

alright. then i have just to wait for ubuntu to get it in the repos.

but you-know, it would be a lot more user-friendly if i go to backintime, and if i follow a symlink, would assume that i am currently in the backup, not into the original. that is really confusing.

little question: what is the difference between an absolute and an relative symlink? ( i do know hardlink, tough )

[Dan (danleweb)]

A symlink just point to a path. If the symlink (/home/user/A/link.txt) is a full path (starts with '/'; ex: '/home/user/B/a.txt) then it is absolute. If not it is relative (ex: '../B/a.txt).

[Koen (gorgabal)]

@Dan

i see, i often only use absolute symlinks because i tent to move then around. i really treat them as normal folders.

[Dan (danleweb)]

Then this explain your problem.
The only solution for your problem for now is: copy unsafe links (as I sed it works only on absolute links).
You can use BIT 1.0.4 from stable ppa.