Keyless dry-run finds default config about tarsnap HOT 6 CLOSED

I can't reproduce in an obvious way. I mean, if I run

$ tarsnap --dry-run --print-stats --humanize-numbers --no-default-config -c ~/backup

then it's fine. If I run

$ tarsnap --dry-run --print-stats --humanize-numbers -c ~/backup

without a ~/.tarsnaprc then it's fine. If my ~/.tarsnaprc is empty (or commented out), then it's also fine.

If ~/.tarsnaprc points to a non-existent keyfile then it complains, but surely that's a PEBCAK ?

Isn't the real problem that somebody ended up with .../etc/tarsnap.conf instead of .../starsnap.conf.sample ? and that it wasn't obvious they could add --no-default-config?

from tarsnap.

Thinking "out loud", we don't want to automatically add --no-default-config if somebody specifies --dry-run, because their config file could usefully specify --humanize-numbers and their cache directory. And we definitely want to use the cache directory if it exists, otherwise the dry run will report that all data would be uploaded (which doesn't change anything in the "pre-signup case", but is definitely not what we want for "post-signup" accounts).

My current thought is that if they specify --dry-run and tarsnap encounters an error, it could prompt them to use --no-default-config if they haven't signed up. But the message should be clear that if they have signed up, and have generated a key, they shouldn't ignore the error.

Also, we should make sure that the tarsnap installation process doesn't end up with an unusable system. make install installs tarsnap.conf.sample as such, so maybe we should send a polite request to whichever packager did this? I've seen at least one few post-install script helpfully rename tarsnap.conf.sample to tarsnap.conf (to be fair, using tarsnap at all without a keyfile is a new feature).

from tarsnap.

Isn't the real problem that somebody ended up with .../etc/tarsnap.conf instead of .../tarsnap.conf.sample ? and that it wasn't obvious they could add --no-default-config?

Yes, but I want tarsnap.conf.sample to be installed as tarsnap.conf if no configuration file exists yet; the options in there are recommended.

from tarsnap.

Might be a good idea to add --no-default-config to your FAQ section:
https://www.tarsnap.com/faq.html#COST-BEFORE-SIGNUP

from tarsnap.

Good idea. I was hoping this would be a quick fix, but even if was, people running 1.0.36 would still be stuck until 1.0.37 came out.

EDIT: 1.0.37 -> 1.0.36, 1.0.38 -> 1.0.37.

from tarsnap.

Fixed in #91.

from tarsnap.