d. The rsync script also allows for days of retention. After which older backup directories are deleted. And, thanks to hardlinking, files that were initially backed up in it are not deleted if they are hardlinked in any subsequent backup. `$RSYNC_RETENTION_DAYS` variables are calculated thusly: # of days wanted (i.e. 7) + the latest directory (1) + 1. So in this case, to keep 7 days worth of versioning, you would use a 9 for this variable.
d. The rsync script also allows for days of retention. After which older backup directories are deleted. And, thanks to hardlinking, files that were initially backed up in it are not deleted if they are hardlinked in any subsequent backup. `$RSYNC_RETENTION_DAYS` variables are calculated thusly: # of days wanted (i.e. 7) + the latest directory (1) + 1. So in this case, to keep 7 days worth of versioning, you would use a 9 for this variable.
e. The rsync includes a hacky fix for an issue I ran into rsyncing to an NFS destination. After backing up to the new directy as desired and updating the `latest` hardlink, the timestamps of both would change to the most recent date for the timestamp of 21:20. I have no idea why. And that would mess with the retention if I ran the backup multiple times in a day. As they would all have the same timestamp. So in between updating the `latest` hardlink and running the retention policy, the script runs a `touch` on a `timestamp.fix` file within the `$RSYNC_DEST_PATH`, which fixes the timestamps. If you aren't backing up to an NFS destination, you likely don't need this. And if you know why this is happening, please let me know. Or clone the repo, patch it, and do a pull request so that your fix can be tested and included.
e. The rsync script includes a hacky fix for an issue I ran into rsyncing to an NFS destination. After backing up to the new directory as desired and updating the `latest` hardlink, the timestamps of both would change to the most recent date for the timestamp of 21:20. I have no idea why. And that would mess with the retention if I ran the backup multiple times in a day. As they would all have the same timestamp. So in between updating the `latest` hardlink and running the retention policy, the script runs a `touch` on a `timestamp.fix` file within the `$RSYNC_DEST_PATH`, which fixes the timestamps. If you aren't backing up to an NFS destination, you likely don't need this. And if you know why this is happening, please let me know. Or clone the repo, patch it, and do a pull request so that your fix can be tested and included.
f. Pay attention to the restic tags in the script. When the script runs the forget and prune commands, it will run that against the entire repo. So you want to ensure the tags in that command match the backups you want it to actually affect. I would suggest, after running the initial backup in step 7 and then have the script ready, run it and then run the verification steps from step 8 again. Just to be sure you have it right. And if you have multiple sources going to the same repo, do the same. You can also perform [dry runs](https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/latest/060_forget.html#removing-snapshots-according-to-a-policy) on removal polices (and [on backups](https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/latest/040_backup.html#dry-runs) too, btw) to sanity check yourself before accidentally nuking your repo. See the disclaimer at the start of this README.
f. Pay attention to the restic tags in the script. When the script runs the forget and prune commands, it will run that against the entire repo. So you want to ensure the tags in that command match the backups you want it to actually affect. I would suggest, after running the initial backup in step 7 and then have the script ready, run it and then run the verification steps from step 8 again. Just to be sure you have it right. And if you have multiple sources going to the same repo, do the same. You can also perform [dry runs](https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/latest/060_forget.html#removing-snapshots-according-to-a-policy) on removal polices (and [on backups](https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/latest/040_backup.html#dry-runs) too, btw) to sanity check yourself before accidentally nuking your repo. See the disclaimer at the start of this README.
