• 0 Posts
  • 168 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: June 16th, 2023

help-circle


  • Follow some basic rules so as to avoid making the mess.

    Only install standard packages from distro’s repository and Python’s pseudo-official PIP. For both, keep a text file with the installed package names. No compiling from source EVER. Too much hassle to maintain.

    Back up config files that I changed. Not all of them.

    Keep a text file to record what I did, with exact commands etc, whenever I need to go off-road. Much experience taught me that this is a chore that is very much worth the effort.

    But still, the problem you point to is real. It’s the reason for immutable distros. The idea of which I find quite tempting.











  • Here’s one that probably nobody else here is doing. The backup goes on my mobile device. Yes, the thing in my pocket.

    • Mount it over SSHFS on the local network
    • Unlock a LUKS container in the form of a 30GB sparse file on the device
    • rsync the files across
    • Lock, unmount

    The backup is incremental but the container file never changes size, no matter what’s in it. Your data is in two places and always under your physical control. But the key is never stored on the remote device, so you could also do this with a VPS.

    Highly recommended.