[Bobs-devel] Re: BOBS

[Rene R. <re...@gr...>]

Hi Davin

I'm CC'ing the bob...@li... 

> --being able to change, through the web interface, where files will be backed up. 

That is on my wishlist as well, but it is a fairly complicated job which
requires modifying a lot of the files.

> 
> --being able to compress files as they're backed up. 

Compression of the 'incremental' files shouldn't be too hard, but the
'current' files would have to be on a filesystem with compression since
it needs access to the uncompressed files to compare it to the active
files on the remote server.

> 
> --having more detailed, real time status info (for instance what files are being backup up at a particular moment; an estimate of how long backup/restore will take; more detailed info on errors). 

I don't know why you would want that, but basically that would be a
'tail -f /var/log/bobs.log' in the browser. I think Joe is implementing
this as an admin feature. I only want my users to be able to restore
files they lost and not much more since that is not what their jobs is.
Bobs is a service to the user, not a tool. Bobs is a tool to the
administrator.
Bobs was created because I didn't want to be interrupted in my work
every time a user needed a file on some tapebackup.


> Anyhow, I think it's a project with excellent potential and I'd like to be a contributor. I have beginning skills in PHP and intermediate skills with shell scripts and HTML/CSS. I'd really like to work on an interface overhaul--no offense, but I think it could use some improvement. I know that it's an admin tool, but I think it would be nice (down the road sometime) to allow them to apply different themes (skins) to the interface. 

If you can separate the html from the code and make it skinable that
would be great. 
My only concern with the interface was that it should be easy to use and
work in all browsers. It isn't perfect but good enough. If you can make
it smoother and more user friendly that would be great.


Cheers
Rene