PILOT-XFER(1)

NAME
pilot-xfer - backup and restore databases to and from a 3Com Pilot

SYNOPSIS
pilot-xfer [serial-device] [--exclude file] --backup | --update | --sync directory

or

pilot-xfer [serial-device] [ --restore directory | --list | --purge | --fetch dbname ... | --delete dbname ... | --install file ... | --merge file ... ] ...

(Note that short option aliases are excluded for clarity.)

DESCRIPTION
pilot-xfer allows the user to install databases contained in the standard .prc and .pdb formats into a Pilot, retrieve databases from a Pilot, list the databases contained in a Pilot, and backup or restore all of the databases at once. Once the user has executed pilot-xfer the user must invoke HotSync on the target device.

TARGET DEVICE
The default serial device used to communicate with a Pilot is /dev/pilot. If the environment variable PILOTPORT is set, its value will override the default. A serial device specified on the command-line will be used regardless of any PILOTPORT setting.

OPTIONS
Several options exist, including

-b dir, --backup dir
    Backs up the Pilot into the specified directory (which will be created if it does not already exist). This operation must be specified after any exclude option.

-d dbname [...], --delete dbname [...]
    Delete the specified database(s). Obviously, be careful with this one.

-e file, --exclude file
    Reads a list of databases from file. 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 dbname [...], --fetch dbname [...]
    Fetch each specified database out of the Pilot into the current directory.

-h, --help
    Displays a reminder list of pilot-xfer's usage and exits.

-i file [...], --install file [...]
    Install each specified file into the Pilot.

-l, --list
    List the databases in the Pilot.

-m file [...], --merge file [...]
    Adds the records in each specified file into the corresponding Pilot database.

-p, --purge
    Purge any deleted data that hasn't been cleaned up by a sync (this is a safe operation, and will prevent your Pilot from accumulating crud if you delete records but aren't syncing with the PIM. The only information you can lose is archived but un-synced records.)

-r dir, --restore dir
    Installs all files contained in a directory into the Pilot. (Use this to restore your Pilot after a hard reset has cleared its memory.)

-s dir, --sync dir
    Backs up the Pilot into the specified directory (which will be created if it does not already exist). Any Pilot databases which have not been modified or created since the versions stored in the specified directory will not be backed up. Any Pilot databases which have been deleted will have their corresponding backup file removed. This operation must be specified after any exclude option.

-u dir, --update dir
    Backs up the Pilot into the specified directory (which will be created if it does not already exist). Any Pilot 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.

-v, --version
    Displays the version of pilot-link from which this program was installed and exits.

USAGE
The program will connect to a target, prompt the user to HotSync, and perform the requested database options.

EXAMPLES
To backup a Pilot:
    pilot-xfer --backup /home/pilot/Backup
To restore that backup to a non-standard serial port (for example, to a xcopilot):
    pilot-xfer /dev/ttyqe --restore /home/pilot/Backup

SEE ALSO
pilot-link(7).

AUTHOR
pilot-xfer was written by Kenneth Albanowski. This manual page was written by (Kenneth Albanowski?) and David H. Silber.