README, INSTALL improvements.

Improve basic example usage and mention that dss provides an additional
level of data security.

diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index bebfe05f5e50cad84c138a38a26ba85697a2c126..58a03fbae85a5e73962d53b2fa3364c6e9c47bf8 100644 (file)
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -12,45 +12,40 @@ NetBSD. However, it is run-tested on Linux only.
 Also make sure that rsync, http://rsync.samba.org/, is installed on
 your system. Version 2.6.1 or newer is required.
 
-In order to create snapshots of the existing directory
+Example:
+--------
 
-       /tmp/foo
+Suppose you'd like to create snapshots of the existing directory
 
-in the directory
-
-       /tmp/bar,
-
-execute the commands
+       /foo/bar
 
-       mkdir /tmp/bar
-       ./dss --run --source-dir /tmp/foo --dest-dir /tmp/bar
-
-To print a list of all snapshots created so far, use
+in the directory
 
-       ./dss --list --source-dir /tmp/foo --dest-dir /tmp/bar
+       /baz/qux.
 
-You might want to create the config file
+Create the config file
 
        ~/.dssrc
 
-that contains the values for the source and the destination
-directories. In the above example, this file would contain the
-following lines:
+that contains the values for the source and the destination directories
+as follows:
 
-       source-dir "/tmp/foo"
-       dest-dir "/tmp/bar"
+       echo 'source-dir "/foo/bar"' > ~/.dssrc
+       echo 'dest-dir "/baz/qux"' >> ~/.dssrc
 
-Using a configuration file allows you to simply type
+Then execute the commands
 
+       mkdir /baz/qux
        ./dss --run
 
-to start snapshot creation and
+In order to print the list of all snapshots created so far, use
 
        ./dss --list
 
-to list all avalable snapshots.
-
-Try
+Yes, it's really that easy. Of course, dss supports many more
+features and config options such as taking snapshots from remote
+hosts and several hooks that are executed whenever on certain events,
+for example whenever a snapshot was created successfully.  Try
 
        ./dss -h
 

diff --git a/README b/README
index 6a5a31e0880ed4c55dc3b61cdb0d1600dd085d89..f4fbad208b87e045766bdaf5ec1e431e59bd01d6 100644 (file)
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -2,18 +2,24 @@ dss creates hardlink-based snapshots of a given directory on a remote
 or local host using rsync's link-dest feature.
 
 dss is admin friendly: It is easy to configure and needs little
-attention once dss is configured to run in daemon mode because dss
-keeps track of the available disk space and removes snapshots if disk
-space becomes sparse or snapshots become older than the specified time.
+attention once configured to run in daemon mode. It keeps track of
+the available disk space and removes snapshots if disk space becomes
+sparse or snapshots become older than the specified time.
 
-It's also user-friendly because users can browse the snapshot
-directories and see the contents of the file system at the time the
-snapshot was taken. For example, users can simply copy data from the
-snapshot directory back to the live system in case they deleted files
-by accident.
+dss is also user-friendly because users can browse the snapshot
+directories without admin intervention and see the contents of the file
+system at the various times a snapshot was taken. In particular, users
+can easily restore accidently removed files by using their favorite
+file browser to simply copy files from the snapshot directory back
+to the live system.
+
+dss gives your data an additional level of security besides the usual
+tape-based backups: If the file server goes down and all data is lost
+you can simply use the most recent snapshot as an immediate replacement
+-- no need for a restore from tape that takes days to complete.
 
 Snapshot pruning takes place in a dyadic fashion: Many recent snapshots
 are available, but the number of snapshots per time interval decreases
 exponentially. For example, one can configure dss so that it keeps
 16 snapshots not older than one week, 8 snapshots between one and
-two weeks old, 4 snapshots between two and three weeks old and so on.
+two weeks old, 4 snapshots between two and three weeks old, and so on.