bup-join(1)

💖 bup-join(1) — bestie edition 💖

okay so this is a page from the General Commands Manual, and it's all about bup-join, one of the lil' bup besties. let's get into it 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

bup-join — concatenate files from a bup repository

like. it smooshes files back together out of ur bup repo. that's the whole vibe. 🌸

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

bup join [-r host:path] [refs or hashes...]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so bup join is roughly the opposite operation to bup-split(1). no cap. split takes stuff apart, join puts it back together. main character energy, honestly.

you can use it to retrieve the contents of a file from a local or remote bup repository 💅

the list of refs or hashes u hand it can be in any format accepted by git(1) — and I mean any: branch names, commit ids, tree ids, or blob ids. all of them. iconic.

and if you don't give it any refs or hashes on the command line? it doesn't throw a fit, it just reads them from stdin instead. considerate queen. 👑

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• -r, --remote=[user@]host:[path], --remote=URL — pulls the data from the remote repository you specify, and by default it goes over SSH. if u wanna know more, go peek at bup(1) REMOTE OPTIONS. periodt. ✨

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

okay these are the fun part, look:

# split and then rejoin a file using its tree id
TREE=$(tar -cvf - /etc | bup split -t)
bup join $TREE | tar -tf -

# make two backups, then get the second-most-recent.
# mybackup~1 is git(1) notation for the second most
# recent commit on the branch named mybackup.
tar -cvf - /etc | bup split -n mybackup
tar -cvf - /etc | bup split -n mybackup
bup join mybackup~1 | tar -tf -

first one: split a thing, grab its tree id, then rejoin it using that tree id. clean. 🧚

second one: make two backups, then grab the second-most-recent one — and mybackup~1 is the git(1) notation for the second most recent commit on the branch named mybackup. iykyk 🍓

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

bup-split(1), bup-save(1), bup-cat-file, ssh_config(5)

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👑 BUP 👑

part of the bup(1) suite. obviously. she's a family member 💜

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💀 AUTHORS 💀

Avery Pennarun apenwarr@gmail.com

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aaaand that's the whole page bestie!! this was Bup 0.34, dated 2026-09-01, and the manual page itself is bup-join(1). slay, go back up that repo 🫶✨💖