[lbackup-discussion] Backup Error Emails - Update

henri reply to this message via the mailing list
Fri Dec 25 14:46:30 NZDT 2009


> The idea behind the lmail template subsystem which currently has been in place for well over 3 years, is that in a future release of lmail it will be possible to specify within the configuration file, exactly which mail templates you would like to use on a per backup configuration basis. It is important to work towards an easily editable the template script sub-system as I outlined above. However, this is not going to make it into the upcoming 0.9.8r2 release.

An experimental implementation of the per configuration mail tempting system described above is part of the recently released LBackup 0.9.8r3-alpha5.

I will now outline how to enable custom mail templates.

First add the following line into your lmail configuration file :

	enableCustomMailTemplates="YES"

If lmail detects this line within your lmail configuration, then it will search within the LBackup configuration directory for a directory (or a symbolic link to a directory) called "message_templates". If this directory exists, then lmail will also check for the following template scripts :

  - mail_error.sh
  - mail_logerror_attachment.sh
  - mail_standard.sh
  - mail_standard_attachment.sh

If any of these components are not found, then the built in (default) mail templates will be used to generate an email reports. However, if all of these files located, then these custom mail templates will be used to generate the email reports.

As such, a good way to get started with customizing your email templates is to copy the built in LBackup mail templates : "/usr/local/libexec/lbackup/message_templates" into your LBackup configuration directory. Then you may edit the the copy you just made within your LBackup configuration directory. 

When you run lmail you should see a message which states that Custom mail templates are enabled.

If you have any suggestions on how to improve the custom email template system in this alpha release then reply to this message. Likewise, if you start using this system and find that it is not offering you the flexibility you require but are not sure how to improve the system then still let me know.

Keep in mind that this initial implementation is highly experimental. The way this works may radically change within a future release of LBackup. As such, if you enable custom mail templates then be aware that you will be compromising on the reliability of email reporting. This is particularly true if you upgrade to a newer version of LBackup in the future. You may find that your custom mail scripts stop working or not even be accessed. 

Feed back regarding this current approach will be elemental in deciding if this is the way LBackup custom reporting moves forward.

Thank you for all your support this year and all the best for 2010.




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