rdiff-backup is a simple backup tool which can be used locally and remotely, on Linux and Windows, and even cross-platform between both. Users have reported using it successfully on FreeBSD and MacOS X.
Beside its ease of use, one of the main advantages of rdiff-backup is that it does use the same efficient protocol as rsync to transfer and store data. Because rdiff-backup only stores the differences from the previous backup to the next one (a so called reverse incremental backup), the latest backup is always a full backup, making it easiest and fastest to restore the most recent backups, combining the space advantages of incremental backups while keeping the speed advantages of full backups (at least for recent ones).
If the optional dependencies pylibacl and pyxattr are installed, rdiff-backup will support Access Control Lists and Extended Attributes provided the file system(s) also support these features.
In older Linux distributions the rdiff-backup versions are of the 1.x series, which is not recommended for new installs anymore. Follow the instructions below to install the latest 2.x release of rdiff-backup.
sudo apt install rdiff-backup
sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rdiff-backup/rdiff-backup-backports
sudo apt update
sudo apt install rdiff-backup
yum install yum-plugin-copr epel-release
yum copr enable frankcrawford/rdiff-backup
yum install rdiff-backup
yum install dnf-plugins-core epel-release
dnf copr enable frankcrawford/rdiff-backup
yum install rdiff-backup
sudo apt install python3-pip python3-setuptools python3-pylibacl python3-pyxattr
sudo pip3 install rdiff-backup
Notice: If your platform is not i386 or amd64, you may need other dependencies build-essentials, librsync-dev.
You need to make sure that the following requirements are met:
- Python 3.5 or higher
- librsync 1.0.0
- pylibacl (optional, to support ACLs)
- pyxattr (optional, to support extended attributes) - the xattr library (without py) isn't regularly tested but should work and you will be helped
- SSH for remote operations
curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
sudo python3 get-pip.py
sudo pip3 install rdiff-backup
Just download and unpack the file rdiff-backup-VERSION.win32exe.zip
available as asset attached to one of the releases available in the
releases section and
drop the binary rdiff-backup.exe somewhere in your PATH and it should work,
as it comes with all dependencies included.
For remote operations, you will need to have an SSH package installed. We recommand using OpenSSH from http://www.mls-software.com/opensshd.html
Creating your first backup is as easy as calling rdiff-backup <source-dir> <backup-dir>
(possibly as root), e.g. rdiff-backup -v5 /home/myuser /run/media/myuser/MYUSBDRIVE/homebackup
would save your whole home directory (under Linux) to a USB drive (which you should have
formatted with a POSIX file system, e.g. ext4 or xfs). Without the -v5 (v for verbosity),
rdiff-backup isn't very talkative, hence the recommendation.
Subsequent backups can simply be done by calling exactly the same command, again and again. Only the differences will be saved to the backup directory.
If you need to restore the latest version of a file you lost, it can be as simple as copying
it back using normal operating system means (cp or copy, or even pointing your file browser at
the backup directory). E.g. taking the above example cp -i /run/media/myuser/MYUSBDRIVE/homebackup/mydir/myfile /home/myuser/mydir/myfile and the lost file is back!
There are many more ways to use and tweak rdiff-backup, they're documented in the man pages, in the documentation directory, or on our website.
If you have everything installed properly, and it still doesn't work, see the enclosed FAQ, the rdiff-backup web page and/or the rdiff-backup-users mailing list.
We're also happy to help if you create an issue to our
GitHub repo. The most
important is probably to explain what happened with which version of rdiff-backup,
with which command parameters on which operating system version, and attach the output
of rdiff-backup run with the very verbose option -v9.
The FAQ in particular is an important reference, especially if you are using smbfs/CIFS, Windows, or have compiled by hand on Mac OS X.
Rdiff-backup is an open source software developed by many people over a long period of time. There is no particular company backing the development of rdiff-backup, so we rely very much on individual contributors who "scratch their itch". All contributions are welcome!
There are many ways to contribute:
- Testing, troubleshooting and writing good bug reports that are easy for other developers to read and act upon
- Reviewing and triaging existing bug reports and issues, helping other developers focus their efforts
- Writing documentation (e.g. the man page), or updating the webpage rdiff-backup.net
- Packaging and shipping rdiff-backup in your own favorite Linux distribution or operating system
- Running tests on your favorite platforms and fixing failing tests
- Writing new tests to get test coverage up
- Fixing bug in existing features or adding new features
If you don't have anything particular in your mind but want to help out, just browse the list of issues. Both coding and non-coding tasks have been filed as issues.
For source code related documentation see docs/DEVELOP.md
To provide meaningful bug reports and help with testing, please use the latest development release.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rdiff-backup/rdiff-backup-development
sudo apt update
sudo apt install rdiff-backup
sudo pip3 install rdiff-backup --pre