An 8 bit man in a 32 bit world.

BTW, the backup script is a cshell script but it is easy to tell what is going on. Apologies on the Perl script, it was written in 1997, before I knew about use strict.

daily cshell backup script

#! /bin/csh -f
# This script file backs up /www and /export directories
#
clear
set log = '/export/home/operator/daily.log'
set oldlog = '/export/home/operator/daily.old.log'
set problem = 0
set linect = 0

if (-e $log) then
   cat $log >> $oldlog
   rm $log
endif

# invoke Perl monitor job to run in background
/export/home/operator/bkup.monitor $log $linect &

echo "** ################################################### **" >> $l
+og
echo "** ATTENTION OPERATOR ** Please insert the Backup tape **" >> $l
+og
echo " " >> $log
echo -n "   After tape drive light becomes steady, press the return ke
+y" >> $log
echo " " >> $log
set var=($<)
if ($?var == 1) unset var
echo "** Backup begins   ("`date '+%y/%m/%d %H:%M'`") **" >> $log 
echo " " >> $log
echo "   Backing up -> /www" >> $log 
echo " " >> $log
ufsdump 0uf /dev/rmt/0n /www >> & $log
echo " " >> $log
   set rc = $status
   if ($rc != 0) then
      echo "--Error backing up /www " >> $log
      set problem = `expr $problem + 1`
   endif
echo "   Backing up -> /export" >> $log 
echo " " >> $log
ufsdump 0uf /dev/rmt/0n /export >> & $log
echo " " >> $log
   set rc = $status
   if ($rc != 0) then
      echo "--Error backing up /export " >> $log
      set problem = `expr $problem + 1`
   endif
echo "   Backing up -> /www2/export" >> $log 
echo " " >> $log
ufsdump 0uf /dev/rmt/0n /www2 >> & $log
echo " " >> $log
   set rc = $status
   if ($rc != 0) then
      echo "--Error backing up /www2 " >> $log
      set problem = `expr $problem + 1`
   endif

if ($problem != 0) then
   echo "** $problem PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED DURING BACKUP **" >> $log
   echo " " >> $log
   echo " " >> $log
   goto done
endif

echo "** BACKUP COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY **" >> $log
echo " " >> $log
echo " " >> $log


/export/home/operator/daily.listings "$log"

done:

echo "** JOB ENDED  "`date '+%y/%m/%d %H:%M'`" **" >> $log

echo " " >> $log
echo "** REWINDING & UNLOADING TAPE.  PLEASE WAIT . . ." >> $log
mt -f /dev/rmt/0 rewoffl

echo " " >> $log

exit -1
[download]

bkup.monitor Perl script

#!/usr/bin/perl
use English;

## name of log file is passed by the backup script, get PID of backup 
+(parent) script
$ppid = getppid;

## print "\$ppid: $ppid\n\n";
$logfile = @ARGV[0];
$lastlc  = @ARGV[1];

## print "\$lastlc: $lastlc\n\n";
## look to see if backup job is still running
## run while backup job is still running
while (getppid == $ppid) {
   ## how many lines are currently in the $logfile?
   $wc = `wc $logfile`;
   @awc = split " ", $wc;
   $linect = $awc[0];
   ## are there are more lines than the last time we checked?
   if ($linect > $lastlc) {
      ## display the new lines in the log file.
      &ShowLog ($linect, $lastlc);
      $lastlc = $linect;
   }
   ## I want to sleep for 5 seconds, you can make this shorter if you 
+like.
   ## I don't recommend not sleeping though, since it will chew up CPU
+ cycles
   sleep 5;
}

## backup job is no longer running
## check to see if any new lines have been added
$wc = `wc $logfile`;
@awc = split " ", $wc;
$linect = $awc[0];
if ($linect > $lastlc) {
   ## display new log file lines
   &ShowLog ($linect, $lastlc);
   $lastlc = $linect;
}

exit;

sub ShowLog {
   my ($linect, $lastlc) = @ARG;
   ## determine how many lines have been added
   $showlines = $linect - $lastlc;
   ## use tail command to display newly appended lines
   ## print "$showlines = $linect - $lastlc\n\n";
   system "tail -$showlines $logfile";
}
[download]

Update: Took out BLOCKQUOTE tags around code.

If the code and the comments disagree, then both are probably wrong. -- Norm Schryer