-dbusername = root
-dbpassword = test
-dbhost = localhost
-databases = all
-backupdir = /var/backups/mysql
-hotcopy = yes
-sqldump = yes
+### backupninja mysql config file ###
+
+databases = all
+backupdir = /var/backups/mysql
+hotcopy = no
+sqldump = yes
compress = yes
+### authentication ###
+
+# three authentication methods:
+#
+# 1. setting the user, so that /home/user/.my.cnf is used.
+# user = some-unix-user
+#
+# 2. specifying the mysql dbuser and dbpassword,
+# which generates a temporary .my.cnf in /root/.my.cnf
+# dbusername = <some-mysql-user>
+# dbpassword = <password>
+#
+# 3. specify which config file to use with configfile
+# (this option does not work with hotcopy)
+# configfile = /etc/mysql/debian.cnf
#
-# user = <user>
+# if user and dbusername are not specified, the default is to use
+# /etc/mysql/debian.cnf for configfile.
+
+### all options ###
+
+# configfile = < path/to/file > (default = /etc/mysql/debian.cnf)
+# The config file is passed to mysql with --defaults-file.
+# On debian, this default will allow backupninja to make backups
+# of mysql without configuring any additional options.
+# (this option is not compatible with "user" or "dbusername").
+#
+# user = <user> (default = root)
# Run mysql commands as 'user'. A valid .my.cnf must exist with a
# database username and password in the user's home directory.
-# If this option is not set, use dbusername and dbpassword instead.
+# (this option is not compatible with "configfile" or "dbusername").
#
-# dbusername = <dbuser>
+# dbusername = <dbuser> (no default)
# The user must have access to the databases specified later.
-# Use this option if not using the 'user' option.
+# (this option is not compatible with "configfile" or "user").
#
-# dbpassword = <dbpass>
-# The password. this password will NOT be passed on the command line
-# and is not readable using "ps aux". make sure that this file is not
-# world readable. Use this to specify the password in this config file
-# instead of ~user/.my.cnf.
+# dbpassword = <dbpass> (no default)
+# The password used with dbusername. this password will NOT be passed
+# on the command line and is not readable using "ps aux".
#
-# dbhost = <host>
+# dbhost = <host> (default = localhost)
# only localhost works right now.
#
-# databases = < all | db1 db2 db3 >
+# databases = < all | db1 db2 db3 > (default = all)
# which databases to backup. should either be the word 'all' or a
-# comma seperated list of database names.
+# space separated list of database names.
#
-# backupdir = < path/to/destination >
+# backupdir = < path/to/destination > (default = /var/backups/mysql)
# where to dump the backups. hotcopy backups will be in a subdirectory 'hotcopy' and
# sqldump backups will be in a subdirectory 'sqldump'
#
-# hotcopy = < yes | no >
+# hotcopy = < yes | no > (default = no)
# make a backup of the actual database binary files using mysqlhotcopy.
#
-# sqldump = < yes | no >
+# sqldump = < yes | no > (default = no)
# make a backup using mysqldump. this creates text files with sql commands
# sufficient to recontruct the database.
#
-# compress = < yes | no >
+# compress = < yes | no > (default = yes)
# if yes, compress the sqldump output.
#
-
+# vsname = <vserver> (no default)
+# what vserver to operate on, only used if vserver = yes in /etc/backupninja.conf
+# if you do not specify a vsname the host will be operated on
+#
+# NB: databases = all doesn't seem to work with hotcopy = yes when vsname is specified
+# I would like to know how to fix this.