DARE 1.0

DARE is a small Linux kernel patch to VFS (Virtual Filesystem) which transparently moves files into a special directory on each filesystem instead of removing them. DARE works similar like Novell Netware Data Recovery or MS Windows Recycle Bin.

DARE is independent on filesystem type, so it can be used without constraints on almost every filesystem. Deleted files are collected in directory deleted on the filesystem root dir. This directory have to be created manualy on each filesystem on which you want the DARE functionality. Filesystem without directory deleted works without DARE.

Deleted files are grouped into subdirectories by N hours. The N is configurable at the kernel compiling time. This simplifies removing of old deleted files from directory deleted. Subdirectories are named numericaly by UNIX time. Aditionaly to each subdirectory, an informational file is created.

This file is named the same way as corresponding subdirectory and aditionaly the file has suffix .inf. Informational file contains informations about deleted files, directories, special files including original pathname, permissions, deletion time and id of user who deleted this file.

There are also user space utilities for dealing with deleted files and content of directory deleted. There are these utilities:

lsdel - list of files deleted in actual directory
salvage - recovery deleted files
purge - utterly remove deleted files
deleted - daemon watching disks free space and removing old deleted files to keep disk free space in defined boundaries.