Bacula, the Open Source, Enterprise ready, Network Backup Tool for Linux, Unix, and Windows

Feature Requests

Funded Development

Now that Bacula Systems SA exists, it is possible to sponsor funded development projects. This is a contractual relationship where the Bacula Systems developers agree to implement a specific project within a specific time frame. All code that is developed by Bacula Systems developers, goes into the Bacula community source repository, so is available for everyone to use.

Community Development

If you are not interested in sponsoring a development project, you can nevertheless submit a feature request to have a favorite feature implemented (and even submit your own patch for it).

In the past, users informally submitted feature requests by email, and we collected them, then once a version was released, we would publish the list for users to vote on.

Now that Bacula has become a bigger project, this process has been formalized a bit more. The main change is for users to carefully think about their feature, and submit it on a feature request form. A mostly empty form is shown below along with an example of an actual filled in form. A text copy of the form can be found in the projects file in the main source directory of the Bacula release. That file also contains a list of all the currently approved projects and their status.

The best time to submit a Feature Request is just after a release when we officially request feature requests for the next version. The worst time to submit a feature request is just prior to a new release (we are very busy at that time). To actually submit the Feature request, fill out the form, and submit it to both the bacula-users and the bacula-devel email lists. It will then be openly discussed.

Once the Feature Request has beeen adequately discussed, Bacula Project Manager (Kern) will either reject it, approve it, or possibly request some modifications. If you plan to implement the feature or donate funds to have it implemented, this is important to note, otherwise, the feature, even if approved, may wait a long time for someone to implement it.

Once the Feature request is approved, we will add it to the projects file, which contains a list of all open Feature Requests. The projects file is updated from time to time

The current (though possibly somewhat old) list of projects can also be found on the Web site by clicking on the Projects menu item to the left of this window.

Feature Request Form

Item n:   One line summary ...
  Origin: Name and email of originator.
  Date:   Date submitted (e.g. 28 October 2005)
  Status:

  What:   More detailed explanation ...

  Why:    Why it is important ...

  Notes:  Additional notes or features ...

An Example Feature Request

Item 1:   Implement a Migration job type that will move the job
          data from one device to another.
  Date:   28 October 2005
  Origin: Sponsored by Riege Sofware International GmbH. Contact:
          Daniel Holtkamp 
  Status: Partially coded in 1.37 -- much more to do. Assigned to
          Kern.

  What:   The ability to copy, move, or archive data that is on a
          device to another device is very important.

  Why:    An ISP might want to backup to disk, but after 30 days
          migrate the data to tape backup and delete it from
          disk.  Bacula should be able to handle this
          automatically.  It needs to know what was put where,
          and when, and what to migrate -- it is a bit like
          retention periods.  Doing so would allow space to be
          freed up for current backups while maintaining older
          data on tape drives.

  Notes:  Migration could be triggered by:
           Number of Jobs
           Number of Volumes
           Age of Jobs
           Highwater size (keep total size)
           Lowwater mark