ProgramFix / shelf 4

Utilities the desk keeps · 241 tools

Tool: backoff 4.0 · 1.2 MB · 03 Oct 2014 · md5 77c2de91a40b · signed ML · back to its row on the shelf

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Placeholder page. These are the standard install steps, kept in the shape this shelf uses so nobody has to invent them twice. Anything in [brackets] is a value nobody has written down yet, and the tool-specific warnings have not been collected. Replace the brackets before this page is handed to anyone outside the desk.

backoff 4.0

1.2 MB · 03 Oct 2014 · md5 77c2de91a40b · signed ML · shelf 4

windowslinuxmacosfreewarereads store

Takes a verified export of a data store before anything else touches it. Writes only to the folder you name, and refuses to write inside the store itself.

backoff export --all --verify --out ./prebuild
3 files, 530 MB, 41 s, verified

Note from the shelf row: Point --out at a different volume from the store.

Before you install

  • Runs on: Windows, Linux, macOS. the application must be 4.0.7 to 4.1.6.
  • Space: about 1.2 MB for the download, plus [WORKING SPACE] while it runs. The export needs room for a full copy of the store, so budget twice the store size.
  • Rights: an ordinary user account; no elevation and no sudo for the tool itself
  • Know first: [PREREQUISITE] — whoever writes this page up properly should say here what has to be true before the tool will run at all.

Download and verify

Take the build for your platform from the [SHARE] and check it against the digest on the shelf row before you unpack anything. The digest is also printed below.

certutil -hashfile backoff-4.0-win64.zip MD5
md5sum backoff-4.0-linux-x64.tar.gz
md5 backoff-4.0-macos.tar.gz

Expected: 77c2de91a40b. The shelf row carries the same digest.

Install

Copy it into place and put it on the path. Nothing here installs a service or a scheduled task, so there is no installer to run and nothing to reboot.

Windows

Unpack the zip, then:

xcopy backoff-4.0-win64 C:\Tools\backoff /E /I
setx PATH "%PATH%;C:\Tools\backoff"
backoff --version

Linux

Unpack it and link it onto the path:

# unpack into place
sudo tar -xzf backoff-4.0-linux-x64.tar.gz -C /opt
sudo ln -sf /opt/backoff/backoff /usr/local/bin/backoff
backoff --version

macOS

Unpack it and link it onto the path:

# unpack into place
sudo tar -xzf backoff-4.0-macos.tar.gz -C /opt
sudo ln -sf /opt/backoff/backoff /usr/local/bin/backoff
backoff --version

Check it worked

Check the version first, then run the one command the tool exists for. If the output matches, it is working:

backoff --version
backoff export --all --verify --out ./prebuild
3 files, 530 MB, 41 s, verified

Expected output is the line shown in the block above; anything else means [TO DO: write the failure list].

Removing it

Delete the folder and drop the path entry. The tool keeps no state of its own, so there is nothing to unregister.

rmdir /s /q C:\Tools\backoff
sudo rm -rf /opt/backoff /usr/local/bin/backoff
sudo rm -rf /opt/backoff /usr/local/bin/backoff

If it goes wrong

  • [KNOWN FAILURE 1] — the usual fixes for this tool have not been written down yet. Add them the second time somebody hits one.
  • Wrong error number or a fault you cannot name: run the tool's own diagnostic first (shelf row), then the removal steps.
  • Before any repair that writes to a store, take the export — backoff is the tool for it.
  • If a tool on this shelf is being asked to fix something it was never written for, stop and ask the desk rather than reaching for a force flag.