So maybe you have a backup solution in place and running periodically to make sure your databases are safe. At any point in time if the system fails, you’re prepared. But what if, right before a backup, an unruly visitor finds an expolit on your application and wipes out a few tables? Your “backup” is then no longer a backup you can rely on.

How do we fix this? Versioning. While popular source control management systems, such as Subversion, Git, and Bazaar, are normally used for collaborating on code together, they can also be extremely handy with backups.

In this example, we’ll be using Bazaar, but everything can easily be applied to Git or Subversion. Or CVS, but… let’s not go there.

To start, find a directory to store your backup repository. I personally use /root/mysql. Inside that directory, start up your repository:

bzr init

Read the rest of Versioned MySQL Backups with Bazaar

Package managers make life on Linux a whole lot easier. Instead of managing bits of software by yourself and sorting out the inevitable dependency hell, where one package depends upon another and that depends upon yet another and so on, you can have a clever bit of software do all the work.

Debian, Ubuntu and other derivatives use the .deb package format and Aptitude (Apt for short) as the package manager.

However, there are some occasions when your package manager can hinder, rather than help. It may end up insisting on installing or upgrading something you don’t want, or upgrading something you want left alone at its current version. Its persistence could extend to your update manager on your desktop nagging you every five minutes - wouldn’t it be nice to shut it up?

To avoid this problem, Apt users can specify to put specific packages on hold, preventing them from being upgraded or installed. Of course, you can easily remove this restriction later.

To do this, first install the Wajig program, which offers a simple command line interface to Dpkg and Apt.

$ sudo apt-get install wajig

Once the program is installed, you can put a package on hold, so it will be ignored by Apt, like so:

Read the rest of Exclude Packages from being Installed and Upgraded in Debian/Ubuntu

GNU Screen is an extremely versatile tool for running multiple terminal sessions within a single one and also offers many advanced terminal features.

I have covered GNU Screen for running remote commands previously, but I have not given a full beginner’s getting started guide to using the program.

So, let this tutorial serve as a long overdue return for FOSSwire Video.

In this video tutorial, I aim to take the Screen beginner so that they can start the program and set up multiple sessions within it. They will learn how to switch between the different sessions that are running and how to edit the title of each one for better organisation. Finally, they will learn how to detach and reattach from Screen.

To watch the video, click on the thumbnail below.

Watch Video