NAME
    File::Rotate::Backup - Make backups of multiple directories and rotate
    them on unix.

SYNOPSIS
        my $params = { archive_copies => 2,
                       dir_copies => 1,
                       backup_dir => '/backups',
                       file_prefix => 'backup_'
                       secondary_backup_dir => '/backups2',
                       secondary_archive_copies => 2,
                       verbose => 1,
                       use_flock => 1,
                     };

        my $backup = File::Rotate::Backup->new($params);

        $backup->backup([ [ '/etc/httpd/conf' => 'httpd_conf' ],
                          [ '/var/named' => 'named' ],
                        ]);

        $backup->rotate;

DESCRIPTION
    This module will make backups and rotate them according to your
    specification. It creates a backup directory based on the file_prefix
    you specify and the current time. It then copies the directories you
    specified in the call to new() to that backup directory. Then a tar'd
    and compressed file is created from that directory. By default, bzip2 is
    used for compression.

    This module has only been tested on Linux and Solaris.

    The only external programs used are tar and a compression program.
    Copies and deletes are implemented internally.

METHODS
  new(\%params)
        my $params = { archive_copies => 2,
                       dir_copies => 1,
                       backup_dir => '/backups',
                       file_prefix => 'backup_'
                       secondary_backup_dir => '/backups2',
                       secondary_archive_copies => 2,
                       verbose => 1,
                       use_flock => 1,
                     };

        my $backup = File::Rotate::Backup->new($params);

    Creates a backup object.

    archive_copies
        The number of old archive files to keep.

    dir_copies
        The number of old backup directories to keep.

    backup_dir
        Where backups are placed.

    file_prefix
        The prefix to use for the backup directories and archive files. When
        the directories and archive files are created, the name for each is
        created by appending a timestamp to the end of the file prefix you
        specify.

    secondary_backup_dir
        Overflow directory to copy files to before deleting them from the
        backup directory when rotating.

    secondary_archive_copies
        The number of archive files to keep in the secondary backup
        directory.

    verbose
        If set to a true value, status messages will be printed as the files
        are being processed.

    use_flock
        If set to a true value, an attempt will be made to acquire a write
        lock on any file to be removed during rotation. If a lock cannot be
        acquired, the file will not be removed. This is useful for
        concurrency control, e.g., when your backup script gets run at the
        same time as another script that is writing the backups to tape.

  backup(\@conf)
    Makes the backup -- creates the backed up directory and archive file.
    @conf is an array where each element is either a string or an array. If
    it is a string, it is expected to be the path to a directory that is to
    be backed up. If the element is an array, the first element is expected
    to be a directory that is to be backed up, and the second should be the
    name the directory is called once it has been copied to the backup
    directory. The return value is the name of the archive file created.

  rotate()
    Rotates the backup directories and archive files. The number of archive
    files to keep and the number of directories to keep are specified in the
    new() constructor.

  my $archives = getArchiveDeleteList()
    Returns a list of archive files that will get deleted if the rotate()
    method is called.

  my $dirs = getDirDeleteList()
    Returns a list of directories that will get deleted if the rotate()
    method is called.

  setCompressProgramPath($path)
    Set the path to the compression program you want to use when creating
    the archive files in the call to backup(). The given compression program
    must provide the same API as gzip and bzip2, at least to the extent that
    it will except input from stdin and will write output to stdout when no
    file names are provided. This defaults to 'bzip2' (no explicit path).

  setCompressExtension($ext)
    This sets the extension given to the archive name after the .tar. This
    defaults to .bz2 if bzip2 is used for compression, and .gz if gzip is
    used.

  setTarPath($path)
    Set the path to the tar program. This defaults to 'tar' (no explicit
    path).

AUTHOR
        Don Owens <don@owensnet.com>

COPYRIGHT
        Copyright (c) 2003-2004 Don Owens

        All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can
        redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl
        itself.

VERSION
        0.07