In March 2020, rdiff-backup superior to model 2, 11 years after the final main launch. The deprecation of Python 2 firstly of 2020 was the impetus for this replace, but it surely gave the improvement group the chance to include different options and advantages.
For about twenty years, rdiff-backup has helped Linux customers keep full backups of their information domestically or remotely with out needlessly draining assets. This is as a result of the open supply resolution does reverse incremental backups—backing up solely the information that modified from the earlier backup.
The revamp (or, as some are saying, rebirth) got here because of the efforts of a brand new, self-organized improvement group (led by Eric Zolf and Patrik Dufresne from IKUS Software and Otto Kekäläinen from Seravo) that put heads and arms collectively for the good thing about all rdiff-backup customers.
New options in rdiff-backup
Along with the migration to Python three, spearheaded by Eric, the challenge was migrated to a brand new, enterprise-free repository to welcome contributions. The group additionally integrated all the patches submitted through the years, together with sparse file help and a repair for onerous hyperlinks.
Automation with Travis CI
Another enormous enchancment is the addition of a steady integration/steady supply (CI/CD) pipeline utilizing open supply Travis CI. This permits rdiff-backup testing in numerous environments, which ensures that modifications don’t have an effect on the answer’s stability. The CI/CD pipeline contains integration of builds and binary distribution for all main platforms.
Easy set up with yum and apt
The new rdiff-backup resolution runs on all main Linux distributions, together with Fedora, Red Hat, Elementary, Debian, and plenty of extra. Frank and Otto labored arduously to supply open repositories to facilitate entry and set up. You can set up rdiff-backup utilizing your bundle supervisor or comply with the step-by-step instructions on the GitHub challenge web page.
A brand new residence
The group migrated the web site from Savannah to GitHub Pages and is revamping the official rdiff-backup.net web site to incorporate new content material and make the feel and appear extra on level.
How to make use of rdiff-backup
If you are new to rdiff-backup, you could be stunned by how straightforward it’s to make use of. A backup resolution must be non-intimidating so that you just really feel snug with the backup and restoration processes.
Start a backup
To provoke a backup to a neighborhood drive, similar to one hooked up by USB, enter the rdiff-backup command adopted by the drive you need to again up and the goal listing the place you need to retailer the information.
For instance, to again as much as a neighborhood drive referred to as my_backup_drive, enter:
$ rdiff-backup /residence/tux/ /run/media/tux/my_backup_drive/To again up your information to offsite storage, use the distant server’s location adopted by :: to level to the backup drive’s mount level:
$ rdiff-backup /residence/tux/ tux@instance.com::/my_backup_drive/You could have to set up SSH keys to make this course of easy.
Restore information
The motive to make backups is that generally information go lacking. To make restoration so simple as attainable, you do not even want rdiff-backup to revive information (though utilizing the rdiff-backup command offers some conveniences).
If that you must get a file out of your backup drive, you’ll be able to simply copy it over from the backup drive to your native system utilizing cp for a neighborhood drive or scp for a distant drive.
For a neighborhood drive, use:
$ cp _run_media/tux/my_backup_drive/Documents/instance.txt ~/DocumentsOr for a distant drive:
$ scp tux@instance.com::/my_backup_drive/Documents/instance.txt ~/DocumentsHowever, utilizing the rdiff-backup command offers different choices, together with the --restore-as-of possibility. This lets you specify which model of your file you need to rescue.
For instance, suppose you need to rescue a file because it appeared 4 days in the past:
$ rdiff-backup --restore-as-of 4D /run/media/tux/foo.txt ~/foo_4D.txtYou may also use rdiff-backup to seize the most recent model:
$ rdiff-backup --restore-as-of now /run/media/tux/foo.txt ~/foo_4D.txtIt’s that straightforward. Also, rdiff-backup has many different choices, e.g., you’ll be able to exclude information from an inventory, again up from one distant to a different distant, and extra, which you’ll be able to study within the documentation.
Back it up
Our improvement group hopes customers will recognize this revamped open supply rdiff-backup resolution, which is the end result of our steady efforts. We additionally recognize our contributors, who really reveal the ability of open supply.
