quickie mac lj backup info

[jlsgaladriel]

Given the nervousness about lj's stability, this seems like a good time to be thinking about backup options. No, firing 20 out of 28 people does not mean that lj is going down tomorrow, but having a backup can certainly mitigate panic. (The process below should work on anything with the standard python libraries: MacOS X, all linux and unix

Comments

[falkreon]

That's pretty cool. Python on windows should make those files double-clickable, but is not installed by default. Basically, windows users should find it both easier and harder to do this. Below is an installer for the Windows version of Python, which is the hard part.

http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.6.1/python-2.6.1.msi

(I chose 2.6.1 instead of 3.0 because it's more compatible)

[betagoddess]

I'm having great trouble with this whole process. I'm sure I've saved both things in my home directory.

When I type in cd ljdump-1.2 am I then supposed to type Return?

And then when I type ./ljdump.py do I then type Return again?

I've done it this way and keep getting the message "IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'ljdump.config' "

I'm seriously about to give up. I am such a dummy. =<{

[jlsgaladriel]

oh, okay, that error message probably means you're in the right place, because it sounds like the sort of error the program would give you when it's running properly, but it can't find its input file.

Open terminal, and from your home directory -- where you probably start out -- type cd ljdump-1.2 and hit return. Then type ls and hit return. The list you see should include the following:
ljdump.config
ljdump.config.sample
ljdump.py

Except that the error message you're getting implies it's not finding ljdump.config, so I'm guessing when you look at the list you'll find you made a typo when saving the file? If there's something named, say, ljdump.confik, then you just need to rename it appropriately. You can do this in terminal by typing mv [oldname] [newname] -- for the misspelling above, this would look like
mv ljdump.confik ljdump.config

If you see nothing mis-spelled to rename ljdump.config, pop back up to the third step in my list, and follow down from there.

Hope this helps!

edit: removed some punctuation

[betagoddess]

That's okay. I really appreciate you doing this for me! =>}

I'm just not sure what you mean by, "from your home directory -- where you probably start out -- type cd ljdump-1.2 and hit return.". Do you mean IN the Terminal window thingy?

(like I said, I'm a REAL dummy when it comes to this kind of thing. *sigh*)

I'll try this out later for sure. Thanks again! =>}

[jlsgaladriel]

Yep, I mean in the terminal window thingy!

Although if you'd rather, you can check the name in the graphical interface -- in the normal OSX "finder." You'd just open up your hard drive, and choose your home directory from the "places" menu on the left side, and then double-click on the ljdump-1.2 folder to open it up. The principle is the same: the error message says there's no file in that folder named ljdump.config , and there needs to be!

Once you've named that file correctly, though, whether you do it in the finder or in the terminal window, everything should be fine.

If all the renaming seems too confusing, you could just go back to step three on the list, and start again. I don't think you'll have two typos!

Oh! I had a thought... make sure when you start at step 3 -- editing the ljdump.config.sample file and saving a copy as ljdump.config -- make sure you save that new file in your home directory with everything else! (If you put it in Documents or suchlike, the script won't be able to find it!)