[Info-vax] Backing up scattered files

[FrankS]

On Tuesday, April 3, 2012 6:25:18 PM UTC-4, Rich Jordan wrote:
> An old request just came up again; we need to back up a group of
> several dozen files, scattered across multiple directories on one
> disk, into a single saveset on a schedule; quiescing the apps is
> handled beforehand.  This is on an Alpha V7.3 system, no upgrade
> possible.  The filenames and paths vary enough that even wildcarding
> won't get the input spec to a valid size.
> 
> Thoughts appreciated.

On OpenVMS v7.3-2 the set of qualifiers for the Backup utility includes:

    /INPUT_FILES

       Input Save-Set Qualifier

       Directs BACKUP to treat the input-specifier as the file name of a
       list of files. This file specifies the input files for a BACKUP
       operation.

For example (from the paper documentation):

$ BACKUP FILE.DAT/INPUT_FILES MKA600:INFO.BCK/SAVE_SET

Where file.dat contains a list of files to be placed in the saveset.