I have discovered the true benefit of open source: When I realize that I downloaded a large backup in ascii mode instead of bin last year, and several hundred megs worth of stuff is irrevocably corrupted, I can still get my code from Perlmonks and the mod_perl users mailing list. :)

PS: Always test your backups

-Matt

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: The true benefit of open source
by diotalevi (Canon) on Oct 22, 2002 at 14:19 UTC

    Well that's a benefit but hardly a motivation to do OS programming. Just take from this a lesson - test your backups by doing a test restore. You won't know that it will go swimmingly until you actually try it out.

    __SIG__
printf "You are here %08x\n", unpack "L!", unpack "P4", pack
  "L!", B::svref_2object(sub{})->OUTSIDE;

    [download]
[reply]
[d/l]
      You don't actually need to do a test restore if your backup software has a compare option. Invoke the compare once your backup has completed and flag any differences.

      This doubles the time of your backups, but buys you confidence that the backup is readable.

[reply]
Re: The true benefit of open source
by no_slogan (Deacon) on Oct 22, 2002 at 18:14 UTC
    Perlmonks doesn't exist to take the place of backups, of course. But I think it's true that memory is one of the functions of Perlmonks. The main reason I post code here is that I hope it will be preserved in some kind of community memory. Not that someone is going to use the actual programs I post -- I tend to simplify them to make them more understandable rather then generalize them to be more widely applicable. The place for code that's useful in itself is CPAN, it seems to me. What I'm hoping when I post here is that the ideas embodied in my code will be remembered, and someone will make them into something even better.

    Having a community memory is, I think, one of the big advantages of open source.

[reply]
Re: The true benefit of open source
by Anonymous Monk on Oct 22, 2002 at 23:48 UTC
[reply]

Back to Meditations