diff --git a/docs/faq.rst b/docs/faq.rst index fd9c6e50e..e23f45a30 100644 --- a/docs/faq.rst +++ b/docs/faq.rst @@ -682,6 +682,31 @@ the corruption is caused by a one time event such as a power outage, running `borg check --repair` will fix most problems. +Why isn't there more progress / ETA information displayed? +---------------------------------------------------------- + +Some borg runs take quite a bit, so it would be nice to see a progress display, +maybe even including a ETA (expected time of "arrival" [here rather "completion"]). + +For some functionality, this can be done: if the total amount of work is more or +less known, we can display progress. So check if there is a ``--progress`` option. + +But sometimes, the total amount is unknown (e.g. for ``borg create`` we just do +a single pass over the filesystem, so we do not know the total file count or data +volume before reaching the end). Adding another pass just to determine that would +take additional time and could be incorrect, if the filesystem is changing. + +Even if the fs does not change and we knew count and size of all files, we still +could not compute the ``borg create`` ETA as we do not know the amount of changed +chunks, how the bandwidth of source and destination or system performance might +fluctuate. + +You see, trying to display ETA would be futile. The borg developers prefer to +rather not implement progress / ETA display than doing futile attempts. + +See also: https://xkcd.com/612/ + + Miscellaneous #############