Almathera Ten Pack 3: CDPD 3/Almathera Ten on Ten - Disc 3: CDPD3.iso/fish/701-725/706/abackup/abackupenglish.doc

Text File | 1995-03-18 | 18KB | 385 lines

                ABackup - User's Manual





  1. Foreword

      This manual describes release 1.31 of the  backup  utility  ABackup.
  This program is freeware, and permission  is    granted  to  freely  copy  and
  distribute it by all mediums, provided no charge or fee is ask for,  and  no
  modification is done to this program. ABackup is copyright (c)1992 by  Denis
  GOUNELLE, any commercial usage or selling of this program,  without  written
  authorization, is ABSOLUTLY FORBIDDEN.
      In spite of several tests, no  warranty  is  made  that  there's  no
  errors in ABackup. YOU USE THIS PROGRAM AT YOUR OWN RISKS. In no event  will
  I be liable for any damage, direct or indirect,  resulting  of  the  use  of
  ABackup.

  2. Introduction

      ABackup is a backup utility written for the Amiga.  It  works  under
  1.3 and 2.0 system releases, may be used both for hard disk backup  and  for
  file archiving, and has a full Intuition interface. ABackup can also    handle
  HD disks (some A3000 have a high density internal disk  drive  which  stores
  1.76 Mb on HD disks).

      This program is SHAREWARE. If you find it useful,  please  send  $10
  (cash or check in French Francs from an european bank only) at  the  address
  below, to become a registered user. In return, you  will  receive  the  next
  version of ABackup, as soon as it will be available  (along  with  a  better
  translated doc I hope !).

      Critics and suggestions  will  always  be  welcomed.    Write  at  the
  following address:

                   M. GOUNELLE Denis
                    Boite 71
                  6, rue des cailloux
                 92110 CLICHY - FRANCE

      Thanks to Jean-Philippe RAPP for his numerous  suggestions  and  for
  constant support, and to Michel SCHINZ (without him this program would still
  be a project !) and Jean-Yves PROUX for their suggestions.
      The  SendPacket()  function  is  inspired  of  the  source  file  of
  "touch.c" by P. Lindsay and A. Finkel (copyright 1986 Commodore-Amiga Inc.).

  3. Getting started.

      ABackup can be run from  CLI    and  from  Workbench.  From  CLI,  the
  command line syntax is:

              ABackup [-wbuf] [directory]

  The -w option can be used to increase buffer size, e.g. -w64 asks for  a  64
  Kb buffer. Default buffer size is 4 Kb. The optional directory name  is  the
  name of the directory to backup (default is current directory).

      From Workbench, you  can  modify  buffer  size  by  adding  a  ligne
  "BUFSIZE=<size in Kb>" in the "TOOL TYPES" field of ABackup's icon.

      When program start, it opens a screen with three gadgets:  "Backup",
  "Restore", and "Quit". Select the desired operation.

  4. The requesters.

      When using ABackup, you will often have  to  answer  to  requesters.
  These requesters will have  one  or  two  gadgets  ("Ok",  "Continue/Abort",
  "Yes/No"). Of course, you can answer by selecting a gadget, but you can also
  press the  letter  corresponding  to    the  gadget  (e.g.:  "c"  or  "C"  for
  "Continue"). Another possibility is to press  <RETURN>  for  the  "positive"
  choice ("Ok",  "Continue",  "Yes")  and  <ESC>  for  the  "negative"  choice
  ("Abort", "No"). When the requester asks you for a  disk  the  program  will
  also test if you insert a disk in the good  disk  drive  and,  if  so,  will
  assume you have answer "Continue".

  5. Backup.

      A directory requester appears, so  you  can  select  the  volume  or
  directory to backup. If you click on "Abort", you will go back to main menu.
  If you click on "Ok", ABackup will start  to  load  directory  contents.  To
  abort directory loading, click on the "Abort" gadget or  press  one  of  the
  following keys : "a", "A", <ESC>.

      Once loading is complete, the selection screen appears: it has a set
  of gadgets and a lower window in which the files and sub-directories of  the
  current directory are displayed. By default, no  file  or  sub-directory  is
  selected for backup. Files are displayed in black over  a  grey  background,
  and sub-directories in white over a grey  background.  You  can  scroll  the
  display with the knob at the right of the screen. The name  of  the  current
  directory is displayed in the "Directory" field. The number and the size  of
  selected files are displayed in the "Selection" field.

      To select a file, just  press  left  mouse  button  when  the  mouse
  pointer is over the file's name: the name  is  now  displayed  over  a  blue
  background, and the "Selection" field is updated. If you  click  on  a  file
  which is allready selected, it will be unselected.  To  select  or  unselect
  several files, just move the mouse pointer while  holding  the  left    button
  down. Last, to view a file, just double-click on its    name  (see  below  for
  details).
      When you select a directory, this directory will either be  selected
  (just like a file) if it's empty, or you will go down in this directory: the
  files list and the "Directory" field will be updated.  To  go  back  to  the
  previous directory, select the "Parent" gadget (above the knob) or click  on
  the invisible gadget between the screen's left border and the files list. To
  go back to the initial directory, use the "Root" gadget (above the knob).

      On the selection screen, you will also find two  identical  rows  of
  gadgets. This gadgets can be used to make a global selection (upper row)  or
  unselection (lower row) of files:

  All
      Selects or  unselects  all  files  and  sub-directories  of  current
      directory.

  By name
      Selects or unselects files and sub-directories by name or pattern. A
      pattern is a string which contains one of the AmigaDOS  wildcards  :
      '#' or '?' under 1.3  system  release,  '#',  '?',  '|',  '~',  '%',
      parentheses or brackets under 2.04 system  release  (refer  to  your
      AmigaDOS User's manual).
      A requester appears so you can enter the    name  or  the  pattern    to
      match. Click on the "==" gadget to select/unselect files that  match
      this name, or on the "!=" gadget to select/unselect files that don't
      match it. To abort, just close the window.

  By date
      Selects or  unselects  files  and  sub-directory    by  date  of  last
      modification. A requester appears so you can enter date and/or time.
      The syntax for the date is DD-MM-YY or DD-MMM-YY    (e.g.:  "01-03-92"
      or "01-Mar-92"). The syntax for the time is HH:MM:SS. Click  on  the
      "<=" gadget to select/unselect files older than this date, or on the
      ">=" gadget to select/unselect files newer than this  date.  If  you
      enter only time, the date will be the current  date.  If    you  enter
      only date date, time will be set to "23:59:59" if you click on  "<="
      or to "00:00:00" if you click on ">=".  To  abort,  just  close  the
      window.

  By bits
      Selects or unselects files and sub-directory by protection  bits.  A
      requester appears so you can enter the bits to  test  (see  AmigaDOS
      command "protect"). Click on the  "= 1"  gadget  to  select/unselect
      files with these bits set, or on the "= 0" gadget to select/unselect
      files with these bits cleared. To abort, just close the window.

      At the right of  the    screen    you'll  see  two  other  gadgets.  The
  "Reverse"  gadget  reverse  the  selection:  all   selected   files   become
  unselected, and all unselected files become selected. The "Recursive" gadget
  controls the action of "Reverse", "All", "By name", "By date", and "By bits"
  gadgets : it tells if selection or unselection  will    affect    files  in  the
  sub-directories of the current directory.

      The selection screen also has three menus. The "Selection" menu will
  be described later. The "Size" menu  allows  you  to  select  the  unit  for
  displaying the size of the selected files:  you  can    choose    between  bytes
  (default), Kbytes, and Mbytes. The "Project" menu has the following items:

  Start
      Starts the backup. If no file is selected,  an  error  message  will
      appear. The backup processing will be described later.

  Options
      Allows you to view/modify backup options:

      Compress
      Files are compressed in order to  reduce  backup  size  (a  gain
      between 30% to 50% can  be  expected).  Please  note    that  this
      increase seriously backup time if your Amiga only has  a  68000.
      Also note that ABackup won't try to compress file  with  ".lha",
      ".lzh", ".zoo", ".arc", ".pp", or ".z" extensions, or with  size
      lower than 512 bytes.

      Verify
      Read and compare each track after  writing.  Usefull    only  when
      backing up to floppies.

      Set archive bit
      Once the backup operation is finish,    set  archive  bit  on  all
      files and directories successfully backed up.

      Backup report
      Asks for a backup report, either printed or written to a file.

      Backup to
      Select archive to use.  If  the  name  is  "df0:",  "df1:",  ...
      ABackup will use the    corresponding  floppy  drive,  writing    to
      disks with it's own format (disks  don't  have  to  be  allready
      formated). Else, an archive file will be  created.  Please  note
      that ABackup is able to use any device  that    supports  AmigaDOS
      Seek() function.

      At the bottom of the window, three gadgets allow you to validate the
      changes, to validate and save the new  options,  or  to  cancel  the
      changes. The options are saved in the "S:ABackup.Config"  file,  and
      loaded each time the program start.

  Estimations
      Gives an estimation of backup  time  and    of  the  number  of  disks
      needed. The result depends of the size of  the  selected    files,    of
      backup options, and of the processor inside your Amiga. It  may  not
      be accurate if other tasks are running during  the  backup.  ABackup
      always suppose that you backup a hard disk to floppies.

  About
      Displays some informations about ABackup. Click inside  the  window,
      close it, or press any key to continue.

  Abort
      Allows you to cancel the backup. After  confirmation,  ABackup  will
      return to main menu.

      To start backup, you must select the "Start" item of  the  "Project"
  menu. If you asked for backup report to be written to a  file,  a  requester
  will appear so you can select the report file. If you click on  the  "Abort"
  gadget, no report will be produced.
      A new screen appears, with several  informations  about  the    backup
  processing. In the lower part of the screen is displayed  the  name  of  the
  file currently processed. If an error occurs (and if possible), ABackup will
  display a requester asking you if you want to continue. If you asked    for  a
  backup to floppies, you can remove the last disk  as    soon  as  the  message
  "Archive closed" will appear.
      The  "* STOP *"  gadget  allows  you  to  stop  the  backup.   After
  confirmation, ABackup will go back to the selection screen. The  "* PAUSE *"
  gadget allows you to stop the backup for a while. Please note  that  ABackup
  may sometimes not be able to answer immediatly, but will always check  these
  gadgets before the next write operation.
      Once the backup finished, ABackup will return to the main menu.

  6. Viewing

      From    the  selection    screen,  you  can  view  any  file   just   by
  double-clicking on its name. A window appears, with several gadgets.
      The three upper gadgets show the name of the viewer  for  each  file
  type: ASCII file, IFF picture, or other file. You can modify    these  default
  names. If you change the name of the viewer corresponding to    the  currently
  selected file, this new value will be copied in the "Execute" gadget.
      The "Execute" shows the name of the viewer to use for  the  selected
  file. The file type is displayed above  (in  white).  You  can,  of  course,
  modify the name of the program to use.
      The three lower gadgets allow you to start viewing ("OK" gadget), to
  save default names and start viewing ("SAVE" gadget), or to abort  operation
  ("CANCEL" gadget).

  7. Restore

      A menu appears, so you can select the archive to restore from. Click
  on the "Abort" gadget to return to main menu. Gadgets associated  with  disk
  drives are automatically enabled or  disabled  depending  of    your  material
  configuration. If you select one of those gadgets, ABackup will ask  you  to
  insert the last disk of the backup disks in the corresponding disk drive. If
  you click on the "From file" gadget, a file requester will appear so you can
  select the archive file.

      Once the archive catalog loaded, the selection screen  will  appear.
  Please refer to the previous section for a description of this  screen.  The
  only differences are in the option window :

  At the same level
      If set to "YES", all files will be restored in the  same  directory.
      If set to "NO", directory tree will be restored too.

  Restore date
      Tells if ABackup will set the date of restored file to the date they
      had at backup time.

  Restore report
      Asks for a restore report, either printed or written to a file.

  Restore empty dirs
      Tells if ABackup will restore empty directory.

  Replace files
      Controls ABackup behaviour when a file to restore  allready  exists.
      Values are "Newer" (file not restored), "Yes" (file replaced), "Ask"
      (ABackup will ask for confirmation for each file), "Older"  (replace
      file only if older than the one in archive).

  Restore to
      Directory to restore files. If no value  is  given,  files  will    be
      restored in the directory they where.

      To start restore, you  must  select  the  "Start"  item  of  the
  "Project" menu. If you asked for restore report to be written to a file,
  a requester will appear so you can select the report file. If you  click
  on the "Abort" gadget, no report will be produced.
      A new  screen  appears,  with  several  informations    about  the
  restore processing. In the lower part of the    screen    is  displayed  the
  name of the file  currently  processed.  If  an  error  occurs  (and  if
  possible), ABackup will display a requester asking you if  you  want    to
  continue.
      The "* STOP *" gadget allows you  to  stop  the  restore.  After
  confirmation,  ABackup  will    go  back  to  the  selection  screen.  The
  "* PAUSE *" gadget allows you to stop the restore for  a  while.  Please
  note that ABackup may sometimes not be able to  answer  immediatly,  but
  will always check these gadgets before the next read operation.
      Once the restore finished, ABackup will return to the main menu.

  8. The "Selection" menu

      ABackup can record a selection of file  to  backup/restore,  and
  load it later. These selections are stored in text files, as    a  set    of
  commands. Default directory  for  these  files  is  "ABCK:"  (should  be
  assigned to "S:ABackup" directory).
      To  record  a  selection,  select  the  "Record"  item  of   the
  "Selection" menu and  select  files  as  usual.  Please  note  that  the
  "Project" menu disappears while you make your selection. When  you  have
  finished, select the "Save" item of the "Selection" menu  to  save  this
  selection. If you want to cancel the recording, select the "Abort"  item
  of the "Selection" menu.
      To load a selection, select the "Load" item of  the  "Selection"
  menu. A file requester appears so you can choose the selection to  load.
  If you click on the "Ok" gadget, this file is loaded and  the  selection
  processed.

      Here is the  description  of    the  selection    language  used    by
  ABackup, so you will be able to create or modify  a  selection  file    by
  yourself.

      CD :                  go back to root directory
      CD /                  go back to parent directory
      CD "dir"                        go down in given directory
      INVERT                  reverse selection
      RESURS {YES|NO}              set recursivity flag
      INCLUDE ALL              include all files
      INCLUDE "name"                  include given file
      INCLUDE NAME "name" {==|!=}     select by name
      INCLUDE DATE "date" {<=|>=}     select by date
      INCLUDE BITS "bits" {=0|=1}     select by protection bits
      EXCLUDE ALL              exclude all files
      EXCLUDE "name"                  exclude given file
      EXCLUDE NAME "name" {==|!=}     exclude by name
      EXCLUDE DATE "date" {<=|>=}     exclude by date
      EXCLUDE BITS "bits" {=0|=1}     exclude by protection bits

  Here is an exemple of selection file:

      RECURS YES
      ; go back to root
      CD :
      ; clear any selection
      EXCLUDE ALL
      ; include all files with archive bit cleared
      INCLUDE BITS "a" =0
      ; exclude all ".o" files
      EXCLUDE NAME "#?.o" ==

      Empty lines and lines beginning with a semi-colon  are  ignored.
  When you start to record a selection, ABackup always store the state    of
  the recursivity flag: if you look at the  selection  files  you'll  find
  that they all begin with a "RECURS" command. If you want to be  sure  to
  clear any selection, be sure to start your selection by  going  back    to
  root directory and excluding all files.

  9. A quick history

      This program has been created on an A3000 UNIX-1 station  (6  Mb
  RAM, 100 Mb internal hard disk, 84 Mb external SyQuest cartridge  drive,
  HD internal disk drive, 880  Kb  external  disk  drive,  1960  multiscan
  monitor and Star LC24-10 printer) connected with a null-modem  cable    to
  my old A500.
      ABackup is almost fully written in C language, and compiled with
  SAS/C 5.10b compiler. DPaint IV (Electronic Arts),  SID2  (Timm  Martin)
  and DME (Matt Dillon) have also been used.

  12-Mar-92   Project beginning.
  08-Jun-92   v1.00
  20-Jun-92   v1.10
          Handles HD disks, a few "esthetic" changes
  28-Jun-92   v1.20
          Saves/loads selection files.
  01-Jul-92   v1.30
          Double-click on a file starts a viewer, added  "Estimations"
          menu item.
  04-Jul-92   v1.31
          Added "Restore date" option, auditive beep.

  To do:
          o access from CLI and/or AREXX
          o backup of non-AmigaDOS partitions (AMAX, ...)
          o function to retrieve archive catalog (even  if  disks  are
          missing)