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I would like to create a directory public_html/archive that is a mirror of public_html/images, except that deletions in the images directory don't cause corresponding deletions in archive.

I was going to manage all of this in code, but then I figured, maybe the system can handle it for me in a robust way.

Note that the website will reference archive in real time, so it has to be an instant mirror and not something done nightly, etc.

Is this possible? Thanks!

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Are all the new images created by a single program or script? If so, modifying that code to write to both places might be the easiest solution. – coneslayer Feb 7 '11 at 17:04
This is probably the best solution for most people. :) However, 1) I am curious, and 2) The "script" is a CMS, so the event "file is being saved" is a little less straightforward and requires making sure all the right hooks are attended to. – feedbackloop Feb 7 '11 at 17:15

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rsnapshot or unison might work if you didn't need it realtime. A realtime solution would end up being somewhat like sparkleshare - using inotify to check for changes, and copying changed files somewhere.

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Accepted for mentioning inotify, which led me here: superuser.com/questions/46441/rsync-as-a-background-process which mentions inotify-tools. Thanks! – feedbackloop Feb 8 '11 at 19:58
yay for the scattergun approach. amusingly this might help solve a project i was plotting myself, which would involve inotify – Journeyman Geek Feb 9 '11 at 0:02
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Using xcopy 's /D switch you can specify only files after [the day/time of last back up]. It sounds like you don't need to mirror so much as push new files into the archive.

For Linux, per the tag, you can run a find for files after [the day/time of last back up], the cp them to the destination directory (with something like $ find . \! -cnewer date_marker). You can dig into rsync and use the exclude tag for it as well, that might afford you more flexibility with directories.

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Local rsync looks close to what I want, except that I want the syncing to happen automatically without invoking a command. As soon as my app creates a file in "images", I want it to create one in "archive". Like a symlink except the target ignores deletions in the source. – feedbackloop Feb 7 '11 at 16:54
Hm. I know you can use cron to run it hourly or whatever... but I'm guessing you want instantaneous hence why you said mirroring. – mfg Feb 7 '11 at 17:07

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