Configuration v2 proposal

Introduction

The current file format was decided at the time resticprofile was only using the toml format. Nesting pieces of configuration in blocks is not the easiest as you have to specify the whole path in the block:

[profile]

[profile.backup]
source = "some path"

Since then, I believe the yaml format is preferred over toml.

My proposal is to make a “version 2” of the configuration file, the current file format is “version 1”.

Both formats will continue to be valid:

• if no version is specified, the “version 1” is used. This is the current format
• if a version is specified (2) the new format will be expected

New format availability

The new format “version 2” will be available for:

• TOML
• YAML
• JSON

It won’t be available for HCL. This may not be definitive, but it’s not widely used and it’s becoming more and more difficult to support HCL.

HCL can still be used as is, “version = 1”

New format specifications

I will show the specification using the yaml as examples, because it’s probably the most readable format.

version

version: 2

global

The global section does not change. We’ll keep all the global configuration in there.

global:
    default-command: snapshots
    initialize: false
    priority: low

profiles

All your profiles will be nested under a profiles section. Please note the schedules are no longer described inside the profile, but in a separate section schedules (see the following example).

version: "2"

profiles:
    default:
        env:
            tmp: /tmp
        password-file: key
        repository: /backup

    documents:
        inherit: default
        backup:
            source: ~/Documents
        snapshots:
            tag:
                - documents

groups

The list of profiles will be nested under a profiles section, so we can add more configuration to groups later.

version: "2"

groups:
    full: # name of your group
        profiles:
            - root
            - documents
            - mysql

schedules

A new schedule section could schedule either a group or a list of profiles.

version: "2"

schedules:
    full-backup: # give a name to your schedule
        group: full
        schedule:
            - "Mon..Fri *:00,15,30,45" # every 15 minutes on weekdays
        permission: user
        run: backup # backup is the default if not specified

    other:
        profiles:
            - root
            - mysql
        schedule:
            - "Sat,Sun 0,12:00" # twice a day on week-ends
        permission: user
        run: prune

This format leaves more space for improvements later (like a repos section maybe?)