bk backups(7.3ce)           BitKeeper User's Manual          bk backups(7.3ce)

NAME
       bk backups - guide to doing backups of BitKeeper repositories

DESCRIPTION
       BitKeeper  repositories  with  no pending files can be safely backed up
       with any backup tool, such as tar or dump, etc.  To see  if  there  are
       any pending files, run

           bk pending

       No output indicates no pending files.

WARNING
       If the repository has pending files (files which are checked in but not
       yet committed to a changeset), then saving and restoring the repository
       should  be  done  carefully.   Problems  can arise if the repository is
       restored multiple times and the same pending deltas  are  committed  to
       different  changesets.   In other words, the following will cause prob-
       lems:

           cd REPO
           bk edit foo.c
           echo "I am a pending delta not yet committed" >> foo.c
           bk delta -yPENDING foo.c
           cd ..
           cp -r REPO COPY
           cd REPO
           bk commit
           cd ../COPY
           bk commit

       Why is it a problem?  Because the two commits both created a changeset,
       and  the  changesets  are different.  This means that the same delta to
       foo.c now belongs to two different changesets.  It is  not  fatal  when
       this  happens,  but  it may make it difficult to roll backwards to this
       point.

SUGGESTION
       If what you want is a copy of the repository, use bk clone to copy  it,
       not tar, cp, or some other file by file copy.

SEE ALSO
       bk pending
       bk gfiles
       bk status

CATEGORY
       Overview
       Repository

BitKeeper Inc                         1E1                    bk backups(7.3ce)