Telegard Backup
    Release 1.5  (September 21, 1997)
    Copyright (c) 1996-97 by Jon Parise
    North Star Technologies


ÚÄ--Introduction
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ--ú ú   ú

    So what did you just download?  In short, you now have in your possession
the most complete (in my feeble mind) backup utility designed specifically for
(Fan fare, please!) Telegard.  That's right, no longer will you experience
that nauseous feeling of anxiety you get in the pit of your stomach when you
go to mod your board, nor will you be up the creek if your drive goes south on
you (which is my own personal reason for writing this).  Now you can rest easy
knowing that the long hours you've spent customizing and configuring your BBS
are insured against most (un)natural disasters.


ÚÄ--Disclaimer
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ--ú ú   ú

    While this program is intended to aid you and make your life easier, I
cannot be responsible should something unexpected happen.  Hey, that's what
backups are for!  Remember, should something brake, you own all the pieces.


ÚÄ--Installation
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ--ú ú   ú

    1.      Unzip this archive wherever you want.  Telegard Backup does not
        require its own directory, but I like to keep everything neat and
        tidy by doing so.

   2.       Run the internal configuration program.  See 'Configuration'
        below for detailed information.

                TGBackup.Exe -C

   3.       Set it up in your nightly batch file or as a Telegard event.  See
        the Telegard Documentation for how to set that up.

            Simple execute it as: TGBackup.Exe
                  - No switches or parameters -


ÚÄ--Configuration
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ--ú ú   ú

    Renegade Backup has an internal configuration program, so there's no need
for you to edit a text file.  To enter it, type TGBackup -C from the command-
line.  Below is a detailed explanation of each command.

    Telegard Path
        The directory to your Config.Tg file.  Telegard Backup reads this
        file to determine your system's directories.  The file is opened in
        Read-Only mode, so no harm will come to it.

    Backup Path
        This is the directory where the backups will be created.  If this
        directory does not exist at runtime then it will be created.  All
        work and storage is done in the directory, so don't point this
        option to a Ram drive or a floppy that lacks adequate disk space.

    Archiver Path
        This is the path to where you store your archivers.  This way, you
        can specify the direct path to your archivers without them residing
        in your Path statement.

    Archiver
        This is the current archiver used to compress and archive the files
        being backed up.  Currently, the only supported archivers are PkZip,
        Arj, Lha, and Rar.  If you would like to request a additional
        archiver, please contact me and I'll add it in.

    Dated Backups
        Telegard Backup has a feature called Dated Backups.  By default, the
        backup file created is TGBackup.[Arc].  If Dated Backups are Enabled,
        then the filenames will be dated in the format TGB-mmdd.[Arc], where
        `mm` is the current month and `dd` the current day.  For example,
        a dated backup made on December 23 would be labeled as TGB-0210.[Arc].
        This allows you to keep a series of backups, instead of overwriting
        the previous one.

    Days to Keep
        Telegard Backup includes a maintenance option that will purge backups
        older than the number of days specified here.  Telegard Backup will
        use the file's creation date to determine if it is older than this
        number of days.  Maintenance can be forced with TGBackup.Exe -M.  The
        maximum number of days to purge back is 30.  Set this option to zero
        to disable maintenance.

    Screen Fades
        I coded in some text-mode screen fades just to make things look nicer.
        If you experience problems or just don't like them, you can turn them
        off here.

    Backup Main  -through-  Backup Msgs
        This allows you to be selective about which directories you want
        backed up.

    Mask
        These filemasks correlate to their repective directories listed to
        their left.  This option allows you to be even more selective with
        your backups by allowing you to only backup a specific filemask
        (ie. *.*, *.exe, *.ans) in each directory.

    Extra Paths
        I also added two extra paths options for you to fill in.  These
        directories, if they exist at runtime, will be backed up and stored
        as Extra1.[Arc] and Extra2.[Arc] in the final backup archive.

    When you're finished, press Escape and save the configuration.  The
configuration file must remain in the same directory as TGBackup.Exe.


ÚÄ--Commandline Parameters
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ--ú ú   ú

    -A <archiver>

        This options allows you to specify the archiver to use for compressing
        the backup.  Current valid types are ZIP, ARJ, LHA, and RAR.

    -B <filename>

        This option allows you to specify the filename (minus the extention)
        of the final backup archive to create.  There is an eight character
        limit.

    -C

        Loads the internal configuration utility.

    -M

        Forces TGBackup into Maintenance Mode.  No backups are backups are
        created.


ÚÄ--Notes
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ--ú ú   ú

    ù If Telegard Backup finds an existing backup archive of the same name as
      the one it's about to create, the older archive will be deleted to make
      room for the new.

    ù Telegard Backup appends a little tag to the day's Sysop.Log.  This will
      verify that the backup was made.  It includes both time and date of the
      backup.

    ù Arj and Lha use direct screen writes to display their progress on the
      screen.  Because of this, their output bleeds over the graphic border
      and scrolls the Progress window upward.  I have not yet found a fix for
      this.  The mechanics of the backup work perfectly, just the screen gets
      messed up.  It's just something you'll have to live with for now.
      Rar takes over the whole screen and gives you more to look at that I
      could ever supply.  Again, this won't interfere with the intended
      operation of the program, so please don't be concerned.

    ù Use OS/2!  Just common sense, but you already knew that.


ÚÄ--Closing
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ--ú ú   ú

    I'm just a lowly Pascal programmer trying to do some good in the world.
Therefore, Telegard Backup is released as Freeware.  I will still support it,
and can be reached at:

            Email: [email protected]
            Ftp:   ftp://connco.com/knights/

            Infinite Twilight
            Telegard/2 Beta/Support Site
            (908) 637-8243
            USRobotics Sportster 33.6 v34+
            FidoNet: 1:2606/421
            STN:     111:4908/0
            F'Req:   TGBackup


    This program was written using Borland International's Turbo Pascal 7.0.

    Good luck, and drop me a line if you like my work.  I would enjoy hearing
thoughts and comments.  Take care.

                                                        Jon Parise
                                                  North Star Technologies

  All archivers mentioned above and in Telegard Backup are the copyrighted
                     material of their respective owners.