simback — simple backup program Support This Project

simback is to generally cover the daily backup need of the average Linux user. Its usage should be very simple and its function rudimentary, just that sort of thing you can use out of the box.

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2005-08-26 simback is now ready to be used in a productive environment: several bugs and smaller issues with the alpha version have been successfully fixed. You can go get the new version.

2005-02-21 I take great pride in announcing the first (pre-)version ("alpha") of simback is finally available in the released files section as source code!

To install, type make && sudo make install. Though it is still alpha, the package can clearly be used safely. There won't be any new features in the final simback-0.1 (all of them going into simback-0.2), for alpha-versions are a place where only further security enhancements are being applied to the code.

You can help!

Helpers, testers and supporters are urgently needed. Feel free to contact me. Even if you cannot help maintaing the source code itself, there surely is something you can do: create RPMs, write ebuilds, do some work on the web site and so on and so furth. I do appreciate every little piece of help gratefully.

Installation

Installation is very easy and can be done for most users in four steps (see file INSTALL distributed with the simback source code package). The first method is to download the latest stable version's source code and to compile the code yourself:
1. tar -xzf simback-0.1.tar.gz
2. cd simback-main
3. make
4. (as root) make install and you're done.

It's also possible to just copy simback.pl out of the archive to /usr/bin, if you prefer to use the perl script directly.

I have also produced a binary package version (incl. manpage) for linux users.

Manpage

The following information is taken from simback's man page.

NAME

simback - simple backup tool  

SYNOPSIS

simback [-cn] source destination-prefix [backup-step in days]  

DESCRIPTION

simback handles the daily backup need of an "average" Linux user savely and autonomously, yet under certain circumstances being able to perform so-calld ad hoc backups (backup now).

It is recommended to call the programs over functions such as cron or let it be executed at log-in time. The backup file can be, after your choice, either of type tar.bz2 or ZIP.  

OPTIONS

-n
Perform the backup now (ad hoc backup).
-z
Use ZIP.
 

FILES

~/.simback-conf
Per user configuration file (not yet implemented)
 

INTERNAL OPERATIONS

If not using the -n option, simback looks for a file called .simback-SOURCEFILENAME in the source folder, in which the date of the last backup operation is saved. So, if you call simback as simback ~/testfile ~/backupfile 0.3, it will open ~/.simback-testfile and figure out, whether or not a new backup is needed. This is done by comparing the current date with the date saved in ~/.simback-testfile added to the backupstep in days, which is in this case 0.3. You left the last argument out? Then a default backup step of 1 will be used.  

TIPS

It is recommended to call the program over functions such as cron or let it be executed at log in time. If simback fails for any reason, please double-check this list:

 *  
Please specify a path to a file or directory as the first argument and a prefix for the name of the backup file as the second.

 *  
The source file must be readable and the destination file has to be in a directory with wirte privileges for the current user!

 *  
Have you installed these programs?: tar, bzip2, zip
 

BUGS

At this stage of development simback is very likely to contain minor bugs, even though there aren't any known at the release date of this version. Please do contact the author if you find any, though.  

AUTHOR

Moritz Beller <moritzbeller AT sourceforge DOT net>, Moritz Beller's 4momo.de.