Feature request: backup some files as full every time

[Kenneth Loafman]

Some files, like virtual machine images, are very large and take a really long time (many hours) to back up incrementally when the file has changed since the last backup.

Would it be possible to somehow flag certain files as "full backup only" instead of having duplicity try to wedge in the changes to an incremental backup?

The rest of the backup would still be incremental, but flagged files would just get a full copy every time.

Seems to me this would apply in some circumstances.

[Chris Hunt (chrahunt)]

I have a similar problem and took the approach of consolidating the large files into a separate directory from the ones I otherwise want incrementally backed up. I use a symlink if I still want a reference to the large file in the original location. In my case I didn't even want the large files backed up, but in your case you may run duplicity separately on the directory that holds the VMs.

[Frank Bicknell (fbicknel)]

I haven't forgotten this, guys. I've just been busy with work and haven't
had time to collect the data. I've seen it do it several times, though. My
apologies for keeping you in suspense.

On Sat, Sep 2, 2017 at 3:55 PM Chris Hunt <email address hidden>
wrote:

> I have a similar problem and took the approach of consolidating the
> large files into a separate directory from the ones I otherwise want
> incrementally backed up. I use a symlink if I still want a reference to
> the large file in the original location. In my case I didn't even want
> the large files backed up, but in your case you may run duplicity
> separately on the directory that holds the VMs.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1707924
>
> Title:
> Feature request: backup some files as full every time
>
> Status in Duplicity:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> Some files, like virtual machine images, are very large and take a
> really long time (many hours) to back up incrementally when the file
> has changed since the last backup.
>
> Would it be possible to somehow flag certain files as "full backup
> only" instead of having duplicity try to wedge in the changes to an
> incremental backup?
>
> The rest of the backup would still be incremental, but flagged files
> would just get a full copy every time.
>
> Seems to me this would apply in some circumstances.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/duplicity/+bug/1707924/+subscriptions
>
--

Sent from my stone tablet
- Frank

[Frank Bicknell (fbicknel)]

So it seems it's a bug (https://bugs.launchpad.net/duplicity/+bug/1720159). After upgrading from 0.7.6 to 0.7.15, this issue and many others that weren't so nasty have disappeared.

I'm going to just mark this as a duplicate of that (that's what prompted it). Thanks for reading.