--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/bash
+
+date=$(date +%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M)
+output=/root/etc-planetlab-snapshots/$date
+
+# mention the first arg if provided in the resulting filename
+[[ -n "$1" ]] && { message=$1 ; shift ; output="${output}-${message}" ; }
+
+[ -d $output ] && { echo "refusing to use pre-existing target dir $output" ; exit 1 ; }
+
+mkdir $output
+
+tar -C /etc/planetlab -cf - . | tar -C $output -xf -
+
+
+
+