Small man page improvement regarding the dump levels specification.

[dump.git] / dump / dump.8.in

diff --git a/dump/dump.8.in b/dump/dump.8.in
index da2ba2e2902535824ae8629d1b3ded1f6da5ccf6..400eff20a493cc13be74367a24b576bffd34129e 100644 (file)
--- a/dump/dump.8.in
+++ b/dump/dump.8.in
@@ -26,14 +26,15 @@
 .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
 .\" SUCH DAMAGE.
 .\"
-.\"    $Id: dump.8.in,v 1.53 2003/05/07 14:45:20 stelian Exp $
+.\"    $Id: dump.8.in,v 1.59 2006/08/01 10:22:44 stelian Exp $
 .\"
 .TH DUMP 8 "version __VERSION__ of __DATE__" BSD "System management commands"
 .SH NAME
 dump \- ext2/3 filesystem backup
 .SH SYNOPSIS
 .B dump 
-[\fB\-0123456789ackMnqSuv\fR]
+[\fB\-\fIlevel#\fR]
+[\fB\-ackMnqSuv]
 [\fB\-A \fIfile\fR]
 [\fB\-B \fIrecords\fR]
 [\fB\-b \fIblocksize\fR]
@@ -56,9 +57,6 @@ dump \- ext2/3 filesystem backup
 .PP
 .B dump 
 [\fB\-W \fR| \fB\-w\fR]
-.PP
-(The 4.3BSD option syntax is implemented for backward compatibility but is not
-documented here.)
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .B Dump
 examines files on an ext2/3 filesystem and determines which files need to be
@@ -88,15 +86,17 @@ and all the files and directories must reside on the same filesystem.
 The following options are supported by
 .B dump:
 .TP
-.BI \-0\-9
-Dump levels. A level 0, full backup, guarantees the entire file system is
-copied (but see also the
+.BI \-level#
+The dump level (any integer). A level 0, full backup, specified by
+.B \-0
+guarantees the entire file system is copied (but see also the
 .B \-h
 option below). A level number above 0, incremental backup, tells
 .B dump
 to
 copy all files new or modified since the last dump of a lower level. The 
-default level is 9.
+default level is 9. Historically only levels 0 to 9 were usable in
+dump, this version is able to understand any integer as a dump level.
 .TP
 .BI \-a 
 \*(lqauto-size\*(rq. Bypass all tape length calculations, and write until an 
@@ -134,7 +134,15 @@ can detect end-of-media. When the specified size is reached,
 .B dump
 waits for you to change the volume.  This option overrides the calculation of 
 tape size based on length and density. If compression is on this limits the 
-size of the compressed output per volume.
+size of the compressed output per volume.  Multiple values may be given
+as a single argument separated by commas.  Each value will be used for one
+dump volume in the order listed; if
+.B dump
+creates more volumes than the
+number of values given, the last value will be used for the remaining
+volumes. This is useful for filling up already partially filled media
+(and then continuing with full size volumes on empty media) or mixing media
+of different sizes.
 .TP
 .BI \-c
 Change the defaults for use with a cartridge tape drive, with a density of 8000
@@ -187,7 +195,8 @@ media changes. If the name of the file is of the form
 or
 .I user@host:file
 .B dump
-writes to the named file on the remote host using
+writes to the named file on the remote host (which should already 
+exist, dump doesn't create a new remote file) using
 .BR rmt (8).
 The default path name of the remote
 .BR rmt (8)
@@ -275,6 +284,12 @@ Inodes which are either directories or have been modified since the last dump
 are saved in a regular way. Uses of this flag must be consistent, meaning that
 either every dump in an incremental dump set have the flag, or no one has it.
 .IP
+If you use this option, be aware that many programs that unpack
+files from archives (e.g. tar, rpm, unzip, dpkg) may set files'
+mtimes to dates in the past.  Files installed in this way may not be
+dumped correctly using "dump -m" if the modified mtime is earlier
+than the previous level dump.
+.IP
 Tapes written using such 'metadata only' inodes will not be compatible with the
 BSD tape format or older versions of
 .B restore.
@@ -519,6 +534,9 @@ set of tapes per dumped file system is used, also on a cyclical basis.
 .PP
 After several months or so, the daily and weekly tapes should get rotated out
 of the dump cycle and fresh tapes brought in.
+.PP
+(The 4.3BSD option syntax is implemented for backward compatibility but is not
+documented here.)
 .SH ENVIRONMENT
 .TP 
 .B TAPE