duply(1) - Linux man page

Version

Description

Duply deals as a wrapper for the mighty duplicity magic. It simplifies running duplicity with cron or on command line by:

• keeping recurring settings in profiles per backup job

• enabling batch operations eg. backup_verify_purge

• executing pre/post scripts for every command

• precondition checking for flawless duplicity operation

For each backup job one configuration profile must be created. The profile folder will be stored under '~/.duply/<profile>' (where ~ is the current users home directory).

Hint:
If the folder '/etc/duply' exists, the profiles for the super user root will be searched & created there.

Usage

first time usage (profile creation):

duply <profile> create
general usage in single or batch mode (see EXAMPLES):: duply <profile> <command>[_<command>_...] [<options> ...]
Non duply options are passed on to duplicity (see OPTIONS). All conf parameters can also be defined in the environment instead.

Profile

Indicated by a path or a profile name (<profile>), which is resolved to '~/.duply/<profile>' (~ expands to environment variable $HOME).

Superuser root can place profiles under '/etc/duply'. Simply create the folder manually before running duply as superuser.

Note:
Already existing profiles in root's profile folder will cease to work unless there are moved to the new location manually.
example 1:: duply humbug backup
Alternatively a _path_ might be used e.g. useful for quick testing, restoring or exotic locations. Shell expansion should work as usual.
Hint:
The path must contain at least one path separator '/', e.g. './test' instead of only 'test'.
example 2:: duply ~/.duply/humbug backup

Commands

usage
get usage help text
create
creates a configuration profile
backup
backup with pre/post script execution (batch: pre_bkp_post), full (if full_if_older matches or no earlier backup is found) incremental (in all other cases)
pre/post: execute '<profile>/pre', '<profile>/post' scripts
bkp
as above but without executing pre/post scripts
full
force full backup
incr
force incremental backup
list [<age>]: list all files in backup (as it was at <age>, default: now)
status
prints backup sets and chains currently in repository
verify
list files changed since latest backup
restore <target_path> [<age>]: restore the complete backup to <target_path> [as it was at <age>]
fetch <src_path> <target_path> [<age>]: fetch single file/folder from backup [as it was at <age>]
purge [<max_age>] [--force]: list outdated backup files (older than $MAX_AGE) [use --force to actually delete these files]
purge-full [<max_full_backups>] [--force]: list outdated backup files ($MAX_FULL_BACKUPS being the number of full backups and associated incrementals to keep, counting in reverse chronological order) [use --force to actually delete these files]
cleanup [--force]: list broken backup chain files archives (e.g. after unfinished run) [use --force to actually delete these files]
changelog: print changelog / todo list
txt2man: feature for package maintainers - create a manpage based on the usage output. download txt2man from http://mvertes.free.fr/, put it in the PATH and run 'duply txt2man' to create a man page.

Options

--force

passed to duplicity (see commands: purge, purge-full, cleanup)
--preview: do nothing but print out generated duplicity command lines
--disable-encryption: disable encryption, overrides profile settings

Pre Post Scripts

All internal duply variables will be readable in the scripts. Some of interest might be

CONFDIR, SOURCE, TARGET_URL_<PROT|HOSTPATH|USER|PASS>,
GPG_<KEYS_ENC|KEY_SIGN|PW>, CMD_<PREV|NEXT>

The CMD_* variables were introduced to allow different actions according to the command the scripts were attached to e.g. 'pre_bkp_post_pre_verify_post' will call the pre script two times, with CMD_NEXT variable set to 'bkp' on the first and to 'verify' on the second run.

Examples

create profile 'humbug':

duply humbug create (now edit the resulting conf file)
backup 'humbug' now:: duply humbug backup
list available backup sets of profile 'humbug':: duply humbug status
list and delete obsolete backup archives of 'humbug':: duply humbug purge --force
restore latest backup of 'humbug' to /mnt/restore:: duply humbug restore /mnt/restore
restore /etc/passwd of 'humbug' from 4 days ago to /root/pw:: duply humbug fetch etc/passwd /root/pw 4D (see "duplicity manpage", section TIME FORMATS)
a one line batch job on 'humbug' for cron execution:: duply humbug backup_verify_purge --force

Files

in profile folder '~/.duply/<profile>' or '/etc/duply'

conf
profile configuration file
pre,post: pre/post scripts (see above for details)
gpgkey.*.asc: exported GPG key files
exclude: a globbing list of included or excluded files/folders (see "duplicity manpage", section FILE SELECTION)

Important

Copy the _whole_ profile folder after the first backup to a safe place. It contains everything needed to restore your backups. You will need it if you have to restore the backup from another system (e.g. after a system crash). Keep access to these files restricted as they contain _all_ informations (gpg data, ftp data) to access and modify your backups.

Repeat this step after _all_ configuration changes. Some configuration options are crucial for restoration.