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pilot-xfer(1) Conduits pilot-xfer(1)
NAME
pilot-xfer - backup, sync, and restore databases from a Palm handheld
device, such as those made from Palm, Handspring, Handera, TRGPro,
Sony or other PalmOS-based handheld.
SYNOPSIS
pilot-xfer [-p ] [-e ] [-b] [-u] [-s]
or
pilot-xfer [-p ] [-r ] [-l] [-L] [-P] [-f ]
[-d ] [-i ] [-m ] ...
(Note that some options are not shown above and short option aliases
are excluded for brevity. Please use pilot-xfer --help to get the
full list of available options).
DESCRIPTION
pilot-xfer allows the user to install databases contained in the stan-
dard .prc (Palm Resource Database), .pdb (Palm Record Database), and
.pqa (Palm Query Application) formats onto a Palm, retrieve databases
from the Palm, list the databases contained in a Palm, and backup or
restore all of the databases at once, and many other powerful opera-
tions.
OPTIONS
-p, --port
Use device file to communicate with the Palm handheld.
If this is not specified, will look for the $PILOTPORT environ-
ment variable. If both are not found, will fall back to
/dev/pilot.
-h, --help
Display the help synopsis for install-user.
-v, --version
Display version of install-user.
-a, --archive
Archives files which have been removed from the Palm to
instead of just deleting (unlinking) them.
-b, --backup
Backs up the Palm into the specified directory (which will be
created if it does not already exist). This operation must be
specified after any --exclude option.
-d, --delete
Delete the specified database(s) by name (without extension).
Obviously, be very careful with this one.
-e, --exclude
Reads a list of databases from <file> and prevents --backup,
--sync, or --update from operating on the listed database(s).
This option must be specified before the --backup, --sync, or
--update operation whose action it modifies.
-f, --fetch
Fetch each specified database out of the Palm into the current
directory.
-F, --Flash
Modifies the behavior of --backup, --sync, and --update to back
up non-OS databases which have been stored in Flash ROM
-i, --install <file> [...]
Install each specified file into the Palm. Wildcards are valid
with this syntax and multiple files may be listed at once.
-l, --list
List the databases in the Palm, excluding OS-specific
databases.
-L, --Listall
List all of the databases on the Palm, including OS-specific
native databases.
-m, --merge <file> [...]
Adds the records in each specified file into the corresponding
Palm database.
-O, --Osflash
Modifies the behavior of --backup, --sync, and --update to back
up OS databases which are stored in Flash ROM
-P, --Purge
Purge any deleted data that hasn't been cleaned up by a sync
(this is a safe operation, and will prevent your Palm from
accumulating crud if you delete records but aren't syncing with
a PIM.) The only information you can lose is archived but
un-synced records.
-r, --restore
Installs all files contained in a directory into the Palm. (Use
this to restore your Palm after a hard reset has cleared its
memory, using your backup directory as a baseline.)
-s, --sync
Backs up the Palm into the specified directory (which will be
created if it does not already exist). Any Palm databases which
have not been modified or created since the versions stored in
the specified directory will not be backed up.
NOTE: Any Palm databases which have been deleted will have
their corresponding backup file removed. This operation must be
specified after any --exclude option.
-u, --update
Backs up the Palm into the specified directory (which will be
created if it does not already exist). Any Palm databases
which have not been modified or created since the versions
stored in the specified directory will not be backed up. This
operation must be specified after any --exclude option.
-I, --Illegal
This will back up the UnsavedPreferences.pdb file from the
Palm. Normally this file is not backed up by normal means (Palm
Computing recommends that you do not restore this file upon
restoration of your device using --restore
This also modifies the behavior of --backup, --sync, and
--update.
USAGE
The program will connect to a target Palm handheld and port, prompt
the user to hit HotSync, and perform the requested options specified
by the user on the commandline.
EXAMPLES
To performa a full backup of your Palm handheld:
# using long options
pilot-xfer --port /dev/pilot --backup $HOME/pilot/Backup
or # over IrDA, using short options
pilot-xfer -p /dev/ircomm0 -b $HOME/pilot/Backup
To restore that backup to a non-standard serial port (for example, to
a xcopilot or POSE session, assuming you have xcopilot or POSE config-
ured properly for this operation, see the appropriate man pages for
details on configuring your emulator):
pilot-xfer -p /dev/ttyqe --restore $HOME/pilot/Backup
To fetch a file that is on your Palm handheld, such as the Palm
Address Book database:
pilot-xfer -p /dev/pilot --fetch AddressDB
BUGS
KNOWN BUGS
--backup will currently truncate/corrupt pdb/prc files if com-
munication is interrupted during sync. Ideally, this should
restore the original file, or delete the corrupted version and
restore the original version back into place.
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs at http://bugs.pilot-link.org/
AUTHOR
pilot-xfer written by Kenneth Albanowski. This manual page was origi-
nally written by Kenneth Albanowski and David H. Silber. Completely
rewritten by David A. Desrosiers.
SEE ALSO
pilot-link(7)
(c) FSF 1996-2003 pilot-link - 0.11.8 pilot-xfer(1)
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