in reply to Using Perl to help backup Linux server
I'd recommend a little-known utility called 'faubackup'.
It's written in perl, and available in Debian for sure.
Faubackup is really slick in that 1) when it does a new backup, it creates links for unchanged files, saving mucho disk space and 2) it comes pre-configured (on Debian at least) to keep something like 2 yearly images, 12 monthlies, 4 weeklies, and 14 dailys. It's designed to go disk-->disk, but you can then take those backup dirs and put them on media of your choice.
Very slick and small little utility -- one of my favorites.
In Section
Seekers of Perl Wisdom