kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Clemens Koller <cko@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello!

On 30/06/2020 18.46, Jon Evans wrote:
> Give this issue a thumbs up: https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/4763

Just some additions to this issue's desired features:

> 1. Capture the entire project state into a single backup archive (.zip file)

...including a timestamp in the .zip's or folder's name (outside of your VCS' visibility).

> 2. Configurable (turn the entire feature on or off, and control how many backups to keep
> 3. Store backups in a configurable location (default: a subdirectory of the project, like ./projectname-backups/)
> 4. Automatically save backups at some configurable interval (every N hours or days, maybe) -- NOT every time you save a file

... every minute(s)!
In the case KiCad crashes I can hardly remember the last 10 minutes of work I did.
Additionally: It might useful to save on each CreateUndoEntry to be able to reconstruct the a crash for debug purposes.

> 5. A feature (in project manager, probably) to restore a project's state from a given backup archive

Thanks,

Clemens



> 
> On Tue, Jun 30, 2020 at 12:21 PM Diego Herranz
> <diegoherranz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> This possibility to save the last N backups would be useful. It is what Altium does more or less and it has proven useful to me in the past. Especially if you change your mind after 2h working on something which is not going anywhere :)
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Diego
>>
>> On Tue, 30 Jun 2020 at 15:15, Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>
>>> Sounds like a great solution to me.
>>>
>>> On 6/30/20 10:12 AM, Jon Evans wrote:
>>>> JP, I agree that true backups are useful.
>>>>
>>>> Maybe even it is a good idea for KiCad to have a built-in backup function.
>>>>
>>>> I just don't think the current backup function is actually useful
>>>> because of my first point (backups are overwritten on each save).
>>>>
>>>> I would propose:
>>>>
>>>> 1) Remove the current backup file generation
>>>>
>>>> 2) Create a spec (in GitLab issue) for a better backup system that:
>>>>
>>>> - Can be turned on or off
>>>> - Backs up the whole project in a zip file
>>>> - Can keep the last N backups
>>>> - Runs on a schedule, not necessarily every time you click Save.
>>>>
>>>> Anyone opposed to this?
>>>>
>>>> -Jon
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Jun 30, 2020 at 3:32 AM jp charras <jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Le 30/06/2020 à 00:13, hauptmech a écrit :
>>>>>>
>>>>>> While I agree that it is not KiCad's job to do archival backups or version control, I do think that KiCad should preserve the integrity of users data through a crash. Even better if the work between the last save and the crash is also preserved and recovered on restart.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have had to use the backup files to recover data in the past. I have no idea if that recovery was related to something that is now no longer a possible issue.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -Hauptmech
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I am also thinking a backup can be useful when something unexpected happens.
>>>>>
>>>>> Backups, like any security system, bothers you as long as you do not need to use them.
>>>>> But you are happy to find them in case of trouble.
>>>>>
>>>>> I like the way some CAD tools manage backup:
>>>>> only one zip archive is created (for instance projectname_backup.zip) and contains all saved files
>>>>> (in our case: *.kicad_sch (and sub paths) and .kicad_pcb)
>>>>> This is not a full project backup, just main files are saved.
>>>>>
>>>>> This is not invasive (only one file, or a few .zip if one want to keep last n saved versions)
>>>>> and is a security against  unexpected cases.
>>>>>
>>>>> For me, backups are like a accident insurance: you need them and you hope never use them.
>>>>>
>>>>> And about VCS use:
>>>>>
>>>>> Many good electronics guys do not even know what is it, and have never compiled any source code.
>>>>> Electronics world and Software world are not exactly the same world.
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Jean-Pierre CHARRAS
>>>>>
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>>>>
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>>>
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>>
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