Support more reliable way to assume identity of snapshots

[benjaminweb]

rustic snapshots
I've got five different snapshot categories of the identical host.
This is caused by different network names on different networks (LAN, WIFI) and adding a label in the config later.
To me it shouldn't be the user's job to sort this out.

Desired: The host identity gets resolved automatically without depending on host and/or label names.
Could this be done as simple as generating a UUID to the config or a separate file?

[aawsome]

Actually you have several options here:

• manually set the host name, this can also be done in the [backup] section of the config profile.
• don't group by hostname, this can also be configured in the config profile

[benjaminweb]

Thanks for the options. Does deduplication still apply for non-grouped snapshots? And how does the merge command behave then?

…

On Tue, 26 Aug 2025, at 18:48, aawsome wrote: *aawsome* left a comment (rustic-rs/rustic#1538) <#1538 (comment)> Actually you have several options here: • manually set the host name, this can also be done in the [backup] section of the config profile. • don't group by hostname, this can also be configured in the config profile — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1538 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAJ3EVJZHY5Y75V7PPADYDT3PSFUDAVCNFSM6AAAAACEXQXWOGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTEMRUHE3TCNBTG4>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[aawsome]

grouping is just used for showing snapshots in the snapshots command or for finding the latest snapshot or parent snapshot when backing up. It has nothing to do with deduplication (which applies for all data in the repo be it in different or the same snapshot). Also the merge command just may use grouping for finding snapshots. Once the snapshots to merge are defined, it works solely on the snapshot's trees.