--- name: "tob" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "tob" version: "0.14-2" release: "Debian 1.3 (Bo)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/tob" --- # tob(1) Tape Oriented Backup ## NAME tob - Tape Oriented Backup ## SYNOPSIS **tob** \[ **-rc** *rcfile* \] \[ **-backups** \] \[ **-check** \] \[ **-find** *specification* \] \[ **-full** *volume* \] \[ **-fullcount** *volume* \] \[ **-diff** *volume* \] \[ **-diffcount** *volume* \] \[ **-inc** *volume* \] \[ **-inccount** *volume* \] \[ **-restore** *\[directory\]* \] \[ **-verbose** \] ## DESCRIPTION **tob** is a simple yet configurable shell-script which, given a set of \`volume definitions', runs [**tar**(1)](/tar/1.md) or [**afio**(1)](/afio/1.md) based backups. **tob** is a general driver for the making and maintaining of backups. It makes full backups, differential backups (of the files which were changed since the last full backup), incremental backups (of the files which were changed since all previous backups), lets you determine the size of the backup before actually making it, and maintain listings of made backups. ## OPTIONS - **-rc** *resourcefile* This argument selects an alternative resource file instead of the standard *tob.rc* which is read from the directory */etc/tob*. When present, this argument must be the first on the command line. - **-backups** This flag will cause to show which backups were made and when. This information is retrieved from backup listings in the */var/lib/tob* directory. Sample output of this command is:\ \ VOLUME: test TYPE: Full DATE: Mar 7 10:09\ \ VOLUME: test TYPE: differential DATE: Mar 7 11:18\ \ VOLUME: unix TYPE: Full DATE: Feb 23 18:39 - **-check** This argument will cause to check its environment settings, to scan the resource file, and to report errors. When no errors are found, **tob** will report which volumes are defined. This argument may be useful when installing and testing **tob**. - **-find** *specification* This causes **tob** to scan its listing files and to report any files which match specification. The specification argument is a [**grep**(1)](/grep/1.md) expression, and may contain regular expression commands. The **-find** command is useful to determine in which backup a given file resides. E.g., the arguments **-find** *.\*in* list all files ending with in. The files can then be restored from the reported backup. The command **tob** *-find .* will list all files of all volumes. - **-full** *volume* These arguments start a full backup of *volume.* The volume is defined by its files in */etc/tob/volumes,* the backup device, backup program etc. are defined in the resource file. - **-fullcount** *volume* These arguments cause **tob** to report the size (in bytes) of a full backup of *volume.* The backup is not actually made; only its size is determined. - **-diff** *volume* This causes **tob** to start a differential backup of *volume.* Note that a differential backup is only possible when a previous full backup exists. - **-diffcount** *volume* These arguments cause **tob** to report the number of bytes which would be backed up during a differential backup. This command may be useful to determine whether a differential backup should be made yet. - **-inc** *volume* This flag causes **tob** to start an incremental backup. This type is only possible when a full backup exists and involves all files which are changed since all the backups of the volume. - **-inccount** *volume* These arguments cause **tob** to report the number of bytes which would be backed up during an incremental backup. - **-restore** *\[specification\_directory\]* These flags cause **tob** to restore all files which match the specification. The directory argument is optional; when present, **tob** restores the files under the mentioned directory. By default the files are restored under the current working directory. The specification may contain wildcards; e.g., */etc/def\** will restore any files which start with */etc/def.* Wildcards may have to be quoted to prevent shell expansion, as in:\ tob -restore '/etc/def\*' The file specification is actually a regular expression; this means that you can, e.g., restore all files which end in myfile with the expression *\*myfile*; no matter from which directory the files were backed up. - **-verbose** This command will list the contents of the backup device. Use **tob -verbose \| grep** *expression* to list only files on the backup device which match *expression*. ## FILES - **/etc/tob/tob.rc** The **tob** script depends on the variables specified in this resource file during its actions. The format of the resource file is variable=value, defining names for various variables which are used by **tob**. Comments can be present in the resource file, when preceded by a hash-mark. The resource file follows the standard */bin/sh* syntax. Please see the documentation and the examples supplied with tob. - **/etc/tob/volumes** Files in this directory define backup volumes. A volume *name*, is defined by a file *name***.startdir** which contains the starting directories of the backup with volume *name*. The format of this file is one directory per line. No comments may occur in this file. E.g., if your configuration has two disks filesystems mounted on */*and */usr* respectively, then a backup volume *bothdisks* which selects both filesystems is defined by the following file *bothdisks***.startdir** ``` / /usr ``` Note that the default behavior of **tob** is to select only files from one device and not to descend different devices. In this example, a starting directory */* would in this case therefore not include */usr,* as the latter is on a different filesystem. A second file, *name***.exclude** can be created to contain files to exclude from a backup *name*. This file is optional. When present, the exclude file must contain grep-expressions of the names to exclude, one name per line. E.g., for a backup named *unix* of the whole Unix filesystem it may be a good idea to exclude the temporary files from */tmp* and */usr/tmp.* A possible exclude file *unix.exclude:* might then contain ``` .*/tmp/.* ``` Please consult [**grep**(1)](/grep/1.md) for regular expressions. - **/var/lib/tob** Files in this directory are used to store listings of backup volumes made by **tob**. These files are managed internally by **tob.** Each backup volume has one associated list file. It contains information about name and path of each file, the time the file was last changed, it's owner, group and permissions, the inode and the number of hard links that point to it. - **/usr/doc/tob/\*** On Debian Linux, more documentation about **tob** is stored here. Please see the text file *tob.txt.gz* or the postscript version *tob.ps.gz* for a detailed description of tob. - **/usr/doc/examples/tob/\*** On Debian Linux, several examples for tob resource files are stored here. ## AUTHOR Karel Kubat \. ## DEBIAN MAINTAINER Dirk Eddelbuettel \. ## SEE ALSO [**tar**(1)](/tar/1.md), **afio**(5), [**grep**(1)](/grep/1.md).