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- .. include:: global.rst.inc
- .. highlight:: none
- .. _detailed_usage:
- Usage
- =====
- |project_name| consists of a number of commands. Each command accepts
- a number of arguments and options. The following sections will describe each
- command in detail.
- General
- -------
- .. include:: usage_general.rst.inc
- In case you are interested in more details (like formulas), please see
- :ref:`internals`. For details on the available JSON output, refer to
- :ref:`json_output`.
- Common options
- ++++++++++++++
- All |project_name| commands share these options:
- .. include:: usage/common-options.rst.inc
- .. include:: usage/init.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- ::
- # Local repository, repokey encryption, BLAKE2b (often faster, since Borg 1.1)
- $ borg init --encryption=repokey-blake2 /path/to/repo
- # Local repository (no encryption)
- $ borg init --encryption=none /path/to/repo
- # Remote repository (accesses a remote borg via ssh)
- $ borg init --encryption=repokey-blake2 user@hostname:backup
- # Remote repository (store the key your home dir)
- $ borg init --encryption=keyfile user@hostname:backup
- .. include:: usage/create.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- ::
- # Backup ~/Documents into an archive named "my-documents"
- $ borg create /path/to/repo::my-documents ~/Documents
- # same, but list all files as we process them
- $ borg create --list /path/to/repo::my-documents ~/Documents
- # Backup ~/Documents and ~/src but exclude pyc files
- $ borg create /path/to/repo::my-files \
- ~/Documents \
- ~/src \
- --exclude '*.pyc'
- # Backup home directories excluding image thumbnails (i.e. only
- # /home/*/.thumbnails is excluded, not /home/*/*/.thumbnails)
- $ borg create /path/to/repo::my-files /home \
- --exclude 're:^/home/[^/]+/\.thumbnails/'
- # Do the same using a shell-style pattern
- $ borg create /path/to/repo::my-files /home \
- --exclude 'sh:/home/*/.thumbnails'
- # Backup the root filesystem into an archive named "root-YYYY-MM-DD"
- # use zlib compression (good, but slow) - default is lz4 (fast, low compression ratio)
- $ borg create -C zlib,6 /path/to/repo::root-{now:%Y-%m-%d} / --one-file-system
- # Backup a remote host locally ("pull" style) using sshfs
- $ mkdir sshfs-mount
- $ sshfs root@example.com:/ sshfs-mount
- $ cd sshfs-mount
- $ borg create /path/to/repo::example.com-root-{now:%Y-%m-%d} .
- $ cd ..
- $ fusermount -u sshfs-mount
- # Make a big effort in fine granular deduplication (big chunk management
- # overhead, needs a lot of RAM and disk space, see formula in internals
- # docs - same parameters as borg < 1.0 or attic):
- $ borg create --chunker-params 10,23,16,4095 /path/to/repo::small /smallstuff
- # Backup a raw device (must not be active/in use/mounted at that time)
- $ dd if=/dev/sdx bs=10M | borg create /path/to/repo::my-sdx -
- # No compression (default)
- $ borg create /path/to/repo::arch ~
- # Super fast, low compression
- $ borg create --compression lz4 /path/to/repo::arch ~
- # Less fast, higher compression (N = 0..9)
- $ borg create --compression zlib,N /path/to/repo::arch ~
- # Even slower, even higher compression (N = 0..9)
- $ borg create --compression lzma,N /path/to/repo::arch ~
- # Use short hostname, user name and current time in archive name
- $ borg create /path/to/repo::{hostname}-{user}-{now} ~
- # Similar, use the same datetime format as borg 1.1 will have as default
- $ borg create /path/to/repo::{hostname}-{user}-{now:%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S} ~
- # As above, but add nanoseconds
- $ borg create /path/to/repo::{hostname}-{user}-{now:%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%f} ~
- # Backing up relative paths by moving into the correct directory first
- $ cd /home/user/Documents
- # The root directory of the archive will be "projectA"
- $ borg create /path/to/repo::daily-projectA-{now:%Y-%m-%d} projectA
- .. include:: usage/extract.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- ::
- # Extract entire archive
- $ borg extract /path/to/repo::my-files
- # Extract entire archive and list files while processing
- $ borg extract --list /path/to/repo::my-files
- # Verify whether an archive could be successfully extracted, but do not write files to disk
- $ borg extract --dry-run /path/to/repo::my-files
- # Extract the "src" directory
- $ borg extract /path/to/repo::my-files home/USERNAME/src
- # Extract the "src" directory but exclude object files
- $ borg extract /path/to/repo::my-files home/USERNAME/src --exclude '*.o'
- # Restore a raw device (must not be active/in use/mounted at that time)
- $ borg extract --stdout /path/to/repo::my-sdx | dd of=/dev/sdx bs=10M
- .. Note::
- Currently, extract always writes into the current working directory ("."),
- so make sure you ``cd`` to the right place before calling ``borg extract``.
- .. include:: usage/check.rst.inc
- .. include:: usage/rename.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- ::
- $ borg create /path/to/repo::archivename ~
- $ borg list /path/to/repo
- archivename Mon, 2016-02-15 19:50:19
- $ borg rename /path/to/repo::archivename newname
- $ borg list /path/to/repo
- newname Mon, 2016-02-15 19:50:19
- .. include:: usage/list.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- ::
- $ borg list /path/to/repo
- Monday Mon, 2016-02-15 19:15:11
- repo Mon, 2016-02-15 19:26:54
- root-2016-02-15 Mon, 2016-02-15 19:36:29
- newname Mon, 2016-02-15 19:50:19
- ...
- $ borg list /path/to/repo::root-2016-02-15
- drwxr-xr-x root root 0 Mon, 2016-02-15 17:44:27 .
- drwxrwxr-x root root 0 Mon, 2016-02-15 19:04:49 bin
- -rwxr-xr-x root root 1029624 Thu, 2014-11-13 00:08:51 bin/bash
- lrwxrwxrwx root root 0 Fri, 2015-03-27 20:24:26 bin/bzcmp -> bzdiff
- -rwxr-xr-x root root 2140 Fri, 2015-03-27 20:24:22 bin/bzdiff
- ...
- $ borg list /path/to/repo::archiveA --list-format="{mode} {user:6} {group:6} {size:8d} {isomtime} {path}{extra}{NEWLINE}"
- drwxrwxr-x user user 0 Sun, 2015-02-01 11:00:00 .
- drwxrwxr-x user user 0 Sun, 2015-02-01 11:00:00 code
- drwxrwxr-x user user 0 Sun, 2015-02-01 11:00:00 code/myproject
- -rw-rw-r-- user user 1416192 Sun, 2015-02-01 11:00:00 code/myproject/file.ext
- ...
- .. include:: usage/diff.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- ::
- $ borg init -e=none testrepo
- $ mkdir testdir
- $ cd testdir
- $ echo asdf > file1
- $ dd if=/dev/urandom bs=1M count=4 > file2
- $ touch file3
- $ borg create ../testrepo::archive1 .
- $ chmod a+x file1
- $ echo "something" >> file2
- $ borg create ../testrepo::archive2 .
- $ rm file3
- $ touch file4
- $ borg create ../testrepo::archive3 .
- $ cd ..
- $ borg diff testrepo::archive1 archive2
- [-rw-r--r-- -> -rwxr-xr-x] file1
- +135 B -252 B file2
- $ borg diff testrepo::archive2 archive3
- added 0 B file4
- removed 0 B file3
- $ borg diff testrepo::archive1 archive3
- [-rw-r--r-- -> -rwxr-xr-x] file1
- +135 B -252 B file2
- added 0 B file4
- removed 0 B file3
- .. include:: usage/delete.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- ::
- # delete a single backup archive:
- $ borg delete /path/to/repo::Monday
- # delete the whole repository and the related local cache:
- $ borg delete /path/to/repo
- You requested to completely DELETE the repository *including* all archives it contains:
- repo Mon, 2016-02-15 19:26:54
- root-2016-02-15 Mon, 2016-02-15 19:36:29
- newname Mon, 2016-02-15 19:50:19
- Type 'YES' if you understand this and want to continue: YES
- .. include:: usage/prune.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- Be careful, prune is a potentially dangerous command, it will remove backup
- archives.
- The default of prune is to apply to **all archives in the repository** unless
- you restrict its operation to a subset of the archives using ``--prefix``.
- When using ``--prefix``, be careful to choose a good prefix - e.g. do not use a
- prefix "foo" if you do not also want to match "foobar".
- It is strongly recommended to always run ``prune -v --list --dry-run ...``
- first so you will see what it would do without it actually doing anything.
- There is also a visualized prune example in ``docs/misc/prune-example.txt``.
- ::
- # Keep 7 end of day and 4 additional end of week archives.
- # Do a dry-run without actually deleting anything.
- $ borg prune -v --list --dry-run --keep-daily=7 --keep-weekly=4 /path/to/repo
- # Same as above but only apply to archive names starting with the hostname
- # of the machine followed by a "-" character:
- $ borg prune -v --list --keep-daily=7 --keep-weekly=4 --prefix='{hostname}-' /path/to/repo
- # Keep 7 end of day, 4 additional end of week archives,
- # and an end of month archive for every month:
- $ borg prune -v --list --keep-daily=7 --keep-weekly=4 --keep-monthly=-1 /path/to/repo
- # Keep all backups in the last 10 days, 4 additional end of week archives,
- # and an end of month archive for every month:
- $ borg prune -v --list --keep-within=10d --keep-weekly=4 --keep-monthly=-1 /path/to/repo
- .. include:: usage/info.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- ::
- $ borg info /path/to/repo::root-2016-02-15
- Name: root-2016-02-15
- Fingerprint: 57c827621f21b000a8d363c1e163cc55983822b3afff3a96df595077a660be50
- Hostname: myhostname
- Username: root
- Time (start): Mon, 2016-02-15 19:36:29
- Time (end): Mon, 2016-02-15 19:39:26
- Command line: /usr/local/bin/borg create --list -C zlib,6 /path/to/repo::root-2016-02-15 / --one-file-system
- Number of files: 38100
- Original size Compressed size Deduplicated size
- This archive: 1.33 GB 613.25 MB 571.64 MB
- All archives: 1.63 GB 853.66 MB 584.12 MB
- Unique chunks Total chunks
- Chunk index: 36858 48844
- .. include:: usage/mount.rst.inc
- .. include:: usage/umount.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- borg mount
- ++++++++++
- ::
- $ borg mount /path/to/repo::root-2016-02-15 /tmp/mymountpoint
- $ ls /tmp/mymountpoint
- bin boot etc home lib lib64 lost+found media mnt opt root sbin srv tmp usr var
- $ borg umount /tmp/mymountpoint
- ::
- $ borg mount -o versions /path/to/repo /tmp/mymountpoint
- $ ls -l /tmp/mymountpoint/home/user/doc.txt/
- total 24
- -rw-rw-r-- 1 user group 12357 Aug 26 21:19 doc.txt.cda00bc9
- -rw-rw-r-- 1 user group 12204 Aug 26 21:04 doc.txt.fa760f28
- $ fusermount -u /tmp/mymountpoint
- borgfs
- ++++++
- ::
- $ echo '/mnt/backup /tmp/myrepo fuse.borgfs defaults,noauto 0 0' >> /etc/fstab
- $ echo '/mnt/backup::root-2016-02-15 /tmp/myarchive fuse.borgfs defaults,noauto 0 0' >> /etc/fstab
- $ mount /tmp/myrepo
- $ mount /tmp/myarchive
- $ ls /tmp/myrepo
- root-2016-02-01 root-2016-02-2015
- $ ls /tmp/myarchive
- bin boot etc home lib lib64 lost+found media mnt opt root sbin srv tmp usr var
- .. Note::
- ``borgfs`` will be automatically provided if you used a distribution
- package, ``pip`` or ``setup.py`` to install |project_name|. Users of the
- standalone binary will have to manually create a symlink (see
- :ref:`pyinstaller-binary`).
- .. include:: usage/key_export.rst.inc
- .. include:: usage/key_import.rst.inc
- .. _borg-change-passphrase:
- .. include:: usage/key_change-passphrase.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- ::
- # Create a key file protected repository
- $ borg init --encryption=keyfile -v /path/to/repo
- Initializing repository at "/path/to/repo"
- Enter new passphrase:
- Enter same passphrase again:
- Remember your passphrase. Your data will be inaccessible without it.
- Key in "/root/.config/borg/keys/mnt_backup" created.
- Keep this key safe. Your data will be inaccessible without it.
- Synchronizing chunks cache...
- Archives: 0, w/ cached Idx: 0, w/ outdated Idx: 0, w/o cached Idx: 0.
- Done.
- # Change key file passphrase
- $ borg key change-passphrase -v /path/to/repo
- Enter passphrase for key /root/.config/borg/keys/mnt_backup:
- Enter new passphrase:
- Enter same passphrase again:
- Remember your passphrase. Your data will be inaccessible without it.
- Key updated
- Fully automated using environment variables:
- ::
- $ BORG_NEW_PASSPHRASE=old borg init -e=repokey repo
- # now "old" is the current passphrase.
- $ BORG_PASSPHRASE=old BORG_NEW_PASSPHRASE=new borg key change-passphrase repo
- # now "new" is the current passphrase.
- .. include:: usage/serve.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- borg serve has special support for ssh forced commands (see ``authorized_keys``
- example below): it will detect that you use such a forced command and extract
- the value of the ``--restrict-to-path`` option(s).
- It will then parse the original command that came from the client, makes sure
- that it is also ``borg serve`` and enforce path restriction(s) as given by the
- forced command. That way, other options given by the client (like ``--info`` or
- ``--umask``) are preserved (and are not fixed by the forced command).
- ::
- # Allow an SSH keypair to only run borg, and only have access to /path/to/repo.
- # Use key options to disable unneeded and potentially dangerous SSH functionality.
- # This will help to secure an automated remote backup system.
- $ cat ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
- command="borg serve --restrict-to-path /path/to/repo",no-pty,no-agent-forwarding,no-port-forwarding,no-X11-forwarding,no-user-rc ssh-rsa AAAAB3[...]
- .. include:: usage/upgrade.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- ::
- # Upgrade the borg repository to the most recent version.
- $ borg upgrade -v /path/to/repo
- making a hardlink copy in /path/to/repo.upgrade-2016-02-15-20:51:55
- opening attic repository with borg and converting
- no key file found for repository
- converting repo index /path/to/repo/index.0
- converting 1 segments...
- converting borg 0.xx to borg current
- no key file found for repository
- .. _borg_key_migrate-to-repokey:
- Upgrading a passphrase encrypted attic repo
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- attic offered a "passphrase" encryption mode, but this was removed in borg 1.0
- and replaced by the "repokey" mode (which stores the passphrase-protected
- encryption key into the repository config).
- Thus, to upgrade a "passphrase" attic repo to a "repokey" borg repo, 2 steps
- are needed, in this order:
- - borg upgrade repo
- - borg key migrate-to-repokey repo
- .. include:: usage/recreate.rst.inc
- Examples
- ~~~~~~~~
- ::
- # Make old (Attic / Borg 0.xx) archives deduplicate with Borg 1.x archives
- # Archives created with Borg 1.1+ and the default chunker params are skipped (archive ID stays the same)
- $ borg recreate /mnt/backup --chunker-params default --progress
- # Create a backup with little but fast compression
- $ borg create /mnt/backup::archive /some/files --compression lz4
- # Then compress it - this might take longer, but the backup has already completed, so no inconsistencies
- # from a long-running backup job.
- $ borg recreate /mnt/backup::archive --compression zlib,9
- # Remove unwanted files from all archives in a repository
- $ borg recreate /mnt/backup -e /home/icke/Pictures/drunk_photos
- # Change archive comment
- $ borg create --comment "This is a comment" /mnt/backup::archivename ~
- $ borg info /mnt/backup::archivename
- Name: archivename
- Fingerprint: ...
- Comment: This is a comment
- ...
- $ borg recreate --comment "This is a better comment" /mnt/backup::archivename
- $ borg info /mnt/backup::archivename
- Name: archivename
- Fingerprint: ...
- Comment: This is a better comment
- ...
- .. include:: usage/with-lock.rst.inc
- .. include:: usage/break-lock.rst.inc
- Miscellaneous Help
- ------------------
- .. include:: usage/help.rst.inc
- Debug Commands
- --------------
- There is a ``borg debug`` command that has some subcommands which are all
- **not intended for normal use** and **potentially very dangerous** if used incorrectly.
- For example, ``borg debug put-obj`` and ``borg debug delete-obj`` will only do
- what their name suggests: put objects into repo / delete objects from repo.
- Please note:
- - they will not update the chunks cache (chunks index) about the object
- - they will not update the manifest (so no automatic chunks index resync is triggered)
- - they will not check whether the object is in use (e.g. before delete-obj)
- - they will not update any metadata which may point to the object
- They exist to improve debugging capabilities without direct system access, e.g.
- in case you ever run into some severe malfunction. Use them only if you know
- what you are doing or if a trusted |project_name| developer tells you what to do.
- Additional Notes
- ----------------
- Here are misc. notes about topics that are maybe not covered in enough detail in the usage section.
- --chunker-params
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- The chunker params influence how input files are cut into pieces (chunks)
- which are then considered for deduplication. They also have a big impact on
- resource usage (RAM and disk space) as the amount of resources needed is
- (also) determined by the total amount of chunks in the repository (see
- `Indexes / Caches memory usage` for details).
- ``--chunker-params=10,23,16,4095`` results in a fine-grained deduplication
- and creates a big amount of chunks and thus uses a lot of resources to manage
- them. This is good for relatively small data volumes and if the machine has a
- good amount of free RAM and disk space.
- ``--chunker-params=19,23,21,4095`` (default) results in a coarse-grained
- deduplication and creates a much smaller amount of chunks and thus uses less
- resources. This is good for relatively big data volumes and if the machine has
- a relatively low amount of free RAM and disk space.
- If you already have made some archives in a repository and you then change
- chunker params, this of course impacts deduplication as the chunks will be
- cut differently.
- In the worst case (all files are big and were touched in between backups), this
- will store all content into the repository again.
- Usually, it is not that bad though:
- - usually most files are not touched, so it will just re-use the old chunks
- it already has in the repo
- - files smaller than the (both old and new) minimum chunksize result in only
- one chunk anyway, so the resulting chunks are same and deduplication will apply
- If you switch chunker params to save resources for an existing repo that
- already has some backup archives, you will see an increasing effect over time,
- when more and more files have been touched and stored again using the bigger
- chunksize **and** all references to the smaller older chunks have been removed
- (by deleting / pruning archives).
- If you want to see an immediate big effect on resource usage, you better start
- a new repository when changing chunker params.
- For more details, see :ref:`chunker_details`.
- --umask
- ~~~~~~~
- If you use ``--umask``, make sure that all repository-modifying borg commands
- (create, delete, prune) that access the repository in question use the same
- ``--umask`` value.
- If multiple machines access the same repository, this should hold true for all
- of them.
- --read-special
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- The --read-special option is special - you do not want to use it for normal
- full-filesystem backups, but rather after carefully picking some targets for it.
- The option ``--read-special`` triggers special treatment for block and char
- device files as well as FIFOs. Instead of storing them as such a device (or
- FIFO), they will get opened, their content will be read and in the backup
- archive they will show up like a regular file.
- Symlinks will also get special treatment if (and only if) they point to such
- a special file: instead of storing them as a symlink, the target special file
- will get processed as described above.
- One intended use case of this is backing up the contents of one or multiple
- block devices, like e.g. LVM snapshots or inactive LVs or disk partitions.
- You need to be careful about what you include when using ``--read-special``,
- e.g. if you include ``/dev/zero``, your backup will never terminate.
- Restoring such files' content is currently only supported one at a time via
- ``--stdout`` option (and you have to redirect stdout to where ever it shall go,
- maybe directly into an existing device file of your choice or indirectly via
- ``dd``).
- To some extent, mounting a backup archive with the backups of special files
- via ``borg mount`` and then loop-mounting the image files from inside the mount
- point will work. If you plan to access a lot of data in there, it likely will
- scale and perform better if you do not work via the FUSE mount.
- Example
- +++++++
- Imagine you have made some snapshots of logical volumes (LVs) you want to backup.
- .. note::
- For some scenarios, this is a good method to get "crash-like" consistency
- (I call it crash-like because it is the same as you would get if you just
- hit the reset button or your machine would abrubtly and completely crash).
- This is better than no consistency at all and a good method for some use
- cases, but likely not good enough if you have databases running.
- Then you create a backup archive of all these snapshots. The backup process will
- see a "frozen" state of the logical volumes, while the processes working in the
- original volumes continue changing the data stored there.
- You also add the output of ``lvdisplay`` to your backup, so you can see the LV
- sizes in case you ever need to recreate and restore them.
- After the backup has completed, you remove the snapshots again. ::
- $ # create snapshots here
- $ lvdisplay > lvdisplay.txt
- $ borg create --read-special /path/to/repo::arch lvdisplay.txt /dev/vg0/*-snapshot
- $ # remove snapshots here
- Now, let's see how to restore some LVs from such a backup. ::
- $ borg extract /path/to/repo::arch lvdisplay.txt
- $ # create empty LVs with correct sizes here (look into lvdisplay.txt).
- $ # we assume that you created an empty root and home LV and overwrite it now:
- $ borg extract --stdout /path/to/repo::arch dev/vg0/root-snapshot > /dev/vg0/root
- $ borg extract --stdout /path/to/repo::arch dev/vg0/home-snapshot > /dev/vg0/home
- .. _append_only_mode:
- Append-only mode
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- A repository can be made "append-only", which means that Borg will never overwrite or
- delete committed data (append-only refers to the segment files, but borg will also
- reject to delete the repository completely). This is useful for scenarios where a
- backup client machine backups remotely to a backup server using ``borg serve``, since
- a hacked client machine cannot delete backups on the server permanently.
- To activate append-only mode, edit the repository ``config`` file and add a line
- ``append_only=1`` to the ``[repository]`` section (or edit the line if it exists).
- In append-only mode Borg will create a transaction log in the ``transactions`` file,
- where each line is a transaction and a UTC timestamp.
- In addition, ``borg serve`` can act as if a repository is in append-only mode with
- its option ``--append-only``. This can be very useful for fine-tuning access control
- in ``.ssh/authorized_keys`` ::
- command="borg serve --append-only ..." ssh-rsa <key used for not-always-trustable backup clients>
- command="borg serve ..." ssh-rsa <key used for backup management>
- Example
- +++++++
- Suppose an attacker remotely deleted all backups, but your repository was in append-only
- mode. A transaction log in this situation might look like this: ::
- transaction 1, UTC time 2016-03-31T15:53:27.383532
- transaction 5, UTC time 2016-03-31T15:53:52.588922
- transaction 11, UTC time 2016-03-31T15:54:23.887256
- transaction 12, UTC time 2016-03-31T15:55:54.022540
- transaction 13, UTC time 2016-03-31T15:55:55.472564
- From your security logs you conclude the attacker gained access at 15:54:00 and all
- the backups where deleted or replaced by compromised backups. From the log you know
- that transactions 11 and later are compromised. Note that the transaction ID is the
- name of the *last* file in the transaction. For example, transaction 11 spans files 6
- to 11.
- In a real attack you'll likely want to keep the compromised repository
- intact to analyze what the attacker tried to achieve. It's also a good idea to make this
- copy just in case something goes wrong during the recovery. Since recovery is done by
- deleting some files, a hard link copy (``cp -al``) is sufficient.
- The first step to reset the repository to transaction 5, the last uncompromised transaction,
- is to remove the ``hints.N`` and ``index.N`` files in the repository (these two files are
- always expendable). In this example N is 13.
- Then remove or move all segment files from the segment directories in ``data/`` starting
- with file 6::
- rm data/**/{6..13}
- That's all to it.
- Drawbacks
- +++++++++
- As data is only appended, and nothing removed, commands like ``prune`` or ``delete``
- won't free disk space, they merely tag data as deleted in a new transaction.
- Be aware that as soon as you write to the repo in non-append-only mode (e.g. prune,
- delete or create archives from an admin machine), it will remove the deleted objects
- permanently (including the ones that were already marked as deleted, but not removed,
- in append-only mode).
- Note that you can go back-and-forth between normal and append-only operation by editing
- the configuration file, it's not a "one way trip".
- Further considerations
- ++++++++++++++++++++++
- Append-only mode is not respected by tools other than Borg. ``rm`` still works on the
- repository. Make sure that backup client machines only get to access the repository via
- ``borg serve``.
- Ensure that no remote access is possible if the repository is temporarily set to normal mode
- for e.g. regular pruning.
- Further protections can be implemented, but are outside of Borg's scope. For example,
- file system snapshots or wrapping ``borg serve`` to set special permissions or ACLs on
- new data files.
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