Questions about file-system snapshot - fss(4)

[Paul Goyette <paul%whooppee.com@localhost>]

I'm a bit confused about fss ...

The name claims that it makes a snapshot of a filesystem, but the path 
argument to fssconfig(8) is a pathname.  The man page doesn't document 
any requirement that the path argument refer to the mount-point of a 
filesystem.

So, what happens if you specify a normal file as the path argument?  And 
what happens if you specify a directory somewhere within (but not at the 
root of) a filesystem?

Second question: the man page states that fss(4) is still experimental 
(since 2005).  Is there a known list of things that are broken?  (A 
search through gnats doesn't find any PRs.)

Finally,

Assuming that /home is the root of a mounted filesystem, if I create a 
snapshot using

        fssconfig -c /dev/fss0 /home /var/tmp/

can I then use

        dump -0a /home | ...

to get a self-consistent backup of the /home filesystem?



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