rbackup - A simple rsync backup utility¶
Principle of Operation¶
Each time the backup script for rbackup is run, it creates a new snapshot and runs a backup of included paths using rsync to that new snapshot. This ensures that backup data does not overwrite pre-existing data. Paths are included by including paths relative to / in files suffixed with -include.conf in /etc/rbackup.
The backup script follows this procedure:
Load specified repository and existing snapshots if any.
If specified repository is new, then set up metadata.
Create a new snapshot in the specified repository. If a name is specified, give the snapshot said name. If a snapshot with said name already exists, then overwrite that snapshot instead.
Aggregate all desired and excluded paths into two separate temporary files. Pass both files and default arguments to rsync.
Run the rsync process and wait until process is finished
If there is an existing symlink pointing to a snapshot in the repository, then delete it.
Create a symlink in the repository root directory pointing to the new snapshot.
Important
Repositories are not network-aware. rbackup does not have provisions to handle remote hosts.
The Scripts¶
backup
Options
- -c, --use-checksums
use rsync’s checksum feature to detect file changes
- -d, --dry-run
make this backup a dry run
- --debug
show debug messages
- -n, --name
name to give to the backup snapshot
- -s, --run-post-sync
run sync syscall after backup
- -v, --verbose
show info messages
Usage
backup [options] [repository path]
On each run of this script, a new snapshot is made and any unchanged files are hardlinked into the new snapshot.
restore
Options
TODO insert options here
snapshot-manager
Usage
TODO insert more stuff here
Configuration¶
The directory for configuration files is /etc/rbackup.
Paths to include in the backup are included in *-include.conf files located in the configuration directory. Likewise, paths to exclude from the backup are in *-exclude.conf files in the same directory. The backup script automatically looks for and includes paths written in these files. Each path, whether include or exclude should be relative to the root directory (/).
For example, if the /etc/NetworkManager directory was desired for backup, one would write etc/NetworkManager in a file that could be named ‘etc-include.conf’ in /etc/rbackup. Users can separate different paths into multiple include files for organization.
Installation¶
To install system-wide:
$ python setup.py build
# python setup.py install --prefix="/usr" --optimize=1 --skip-build
To install in a specified directory/package
$ python setup.py build
$ python setup.py install --prefix="/usr" --root="targetdir" --optimize=1 --skip-build