Magic Mirror Backup(tm) 1.0 README
Magic Mirror Backup(tm) ("the software") is Copyright 2001 - 2007 by
Pensamos Digital(tm), Inc. In order to use the software, which is
protected under international copyright law as a work of
Pensamos Digital, Inc., you must
adhere to all the terms and conditions of the accompanying license.
The license is available as part of the installation in the file named
LICENSE.html.
If you do not
agree to be bound by this license you may not use the software.
The only exception is if you have obtained written permission from
Pensamos Digital, Inc. to use it under a different license.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY
OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO
EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE
OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
This software contains an MD5 library that is copyright 1996 - 2007
by various people and which is distributed under the terms of the
GNU LGPL. Please see
the modifications section and the
file LICENSE.html for details.
This copy of Magic Mirror Backup is a stasis release. This means that
it is not being actively maintained at present, though it may be in
the future. It is being provided primarily as a courtesy to existing
users and won't necessarily provide sufficient backup coverage on
newer systems as it was written before the most recent consumer
operating systems were publicly available. Consequently, it is very
strongly recommended that it be used as a supplement to an existing
backup strategy. The software should not be relied upon to provide
reliable backups until development is active and testing is complete.
You are strongly encouraged to run your own tests to analyze the
reliability of the solution for your own configuration and to report
any problems to Pensamos Digital, Inc.
As the software is not yet feature complete, it contains some limitations
that users should be aware of:
- It is recommended that this release only be used on machines with
static IP addresses (internal static addresses are fine). When
the software is started, it searches for peers at their previous
IP addresses. While address changes will be detected and
compensated for under some circumstances, this support is not
complete enough yet to recommend use of the software under
schemes such as DHCP where all IP addresses can change frequently.
- Recovery of files might not work in cases were filenames contain
disallowed filename characters on the system used for recovery. For
instance, if the backup of a Linux machine contains a file with a
colon (':') in its name, recovery will fail if attempted from a
Windows machine as the colon is a disallowed character. The
recommended solution for the time being is to attempt recovery on
a like system when problems arise.
- Magic Mirror Backup only runs when the user who installed it is
logged in. One consequence of this is that machines which typically
don't have any users logged in (such as a dedicated web server)
will not be available to store backups for other machines. This
issue may be addressed based on feedback from the testing community
on what would be the preferable circumstances to run the software.
- Machines which are used by multiple users will require a separate
install of Magic Mirror Backup for each user wishing to use the software.
- The backup functionality has not been tested for files which are in
use when backups are performed.
- It is very strongly recommended that users periodically test
extraction of their backed up files to verify that they are being
properly stored.
- The software has not yet been tested with large amounts of data
to be backed up. If performance is unsatisfactory for a certain
amount of data, it is recommended that the backups be restricted
to the most important data. If you do find performance for a particular
amount of data to be unsatisfactory, please contact Pensamos
Digital, Inc. with a description of the data size and layout as well as
the performance that you would like to see achieved.
- Magic Mirror Backup(tm) uses industry standard encryption techniques
to password protect your backups. Specifically, the default
cipher identified as "PBEWithMD5AndDES" by Java is used. Alternative
ciphers and custom key sizes may also be used in custom built versions
of Magic Mirror Backup(tm) where such alterations have been
requested. If you would like to commission the creation of a custom
version of Magic Mirror Backup(tm), please contact the contract
software development department of Pensamos Digital, Inc. at
consulting@pensamos.com . Network connections are encoded
using a proprietary technique, and the protection
used is not as rigorous as encryption would provide and may be breakable
by those with a high level of technical expertise. However, the backups
are encrypted using industry standard encryption before
being sent over the network. Naturally, these protections are of
minimal help if the machine where the backups are made is insecure
as somebody with access to the source machine can read the
password file or just directly read the files which are backed up
- Magic Mirror Backup(tm) will not bring security to an insecure
machine.
- On machines used simultaneously by multiple, untrusted users,
it is recommended that the permissions on the file
state/sigauth (which is automatically created upon
running the software) be changed so that the file can be
read from and written to only by the user who the backup software is
installed for. The ability to read this file gives local users
the ability to show the administrative console and to shut down
the software.
Magic Mirror Backup requests various information from the user
and gathers information about the environment it is run in
(such as the operating system in use) and relays this information
to Pensamos Digital, Inc. This information is
used for debugging, support, and marketing purposes. In all cases
where the user's email address is requested, the option to
opt out of marketing email is clearly presented.
The information gathered about the environment is solely for
debugging and support purposes - the only information used for
marketing purposes is the registration information which is
entered and edited by the user. The information gathered about
the environment is relevant to the proper functioning and
support of Magic Mirror Backup. Magic Mirror Backup is not
spyware and will not monitor or interfere with programs that
are not relevant to its functioning.
In the event of an automatic software update, these release notes
will also be updated to reflect any changes in the information
sent to Pensamos Digital, Inc. by Magic Mirror Backup and how it is used.
Modifications to the Magic Mirror Backup software are not permitted.
The only exception is that the MD5 library used by the software
may be modified under the terms of GNU LGPL. The MD5 library is
based on Timothy W Macinta's Fast MD5 implementation which is available at
http://www.twmacinta.com/myjava/fast_md5.php.
The MD5 library is included in the file named lib/dist.jar
including the the source code. The applicable license can be
found in lib/MD5-license.txt.
The following files, and only the following files, may be extracted
from lib/dist.jar. They may be used for the purpose of modifying
the MD5 library:
- com/twmacinta/io/NullOutputStream.java
- com/twmacinta/util/MD5.java
- com/twmacinta/util/MD5.h
- com/twmacinta/util/MD5.c
- com/twmacinta/util/MD5InputStream.java
- com/twmacinta/util/MD5OutputStream.java
- com/twmacinta/util/MD5State.java
- com/twmacinta/util/test/MD5OutputStreamTest.java
The MD5 library that ships with Magic Mirror Backup can be replaced with
a modified version by placing the modified classes before the lib/dist.jar
file in the classpath in each of the scripts and/or shortcuts installed
with Magic Mirror Backup. Please note that any future upgrades to the Magic
Mirror Backup software might require the changes to be re-applied and
might have a different mechanism for replacing the MD5 library (please see
the documentation for the upgrade for details).
Thanks to JRSoftware.org for use of the excellent
Inno Setup
installer.