[Pc_Support] Re: Backup methodology -- rsync (Tridgell sort/sync algorithm)

Bryan J. Smith b.j.smith at ieee.org
Tue Jun 27 00:32:39 EDT 2006


On Mon, 2006-06-26 at 22:45 -0500, William A. Mahaffey III wrote:
> correct, not installed under SuSE 9.2 by default (not for me anyway).
> What package is it in ?

It should be included in all distros in the last 5 or so years.

> yeah, but you are doing diffs/whatever across the network, that has
> gotta eat up some time ....

Quite the opposite!  You should read up Tridgell's PhD thesis "Efficient
Algorithms for Sorting and Synchronization," the algorithm behind
rsync:  
  http://samba.org/~tridge/phd_thesis.pdf  

Or the "Cliff-Notes" c/o Wikipedia:  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rsync  

The algorithm is not merely used by rsync, but many other programs have
adopted it because it's just that damn good.  ;->

I sync GBs of data between my portables and my server's home directory
in under a minute, instead of several hours, over broadband links.

-- 
Bryan J. Smith           Professional, technical annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org     http://thebs413.blogspot.com
----------------------------------------------------------
The existence of Linux has far more to do with the breakup
of AT&T's monopoly than anything Microsoft has ever done.





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