NBACKUP(1)

💾 NBACKUP(1) — the Firebird physical backup manager, but make it a group chat 💅

okay bestie, welcome to nbackup(1), the Firebird documentation's own physical backup manager. yeah. it does the whole incremental-backup thing and it's kind of a big deal. let's get into it ✨

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📓 NAME

nbackup — Physical backup manager for Firebird

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🦋 SYNOPSIS

nbackup [option...] -l|-u|-f database
nbackup [option...] -b level database file
nbackup [option...] -r database file0 [file1...]

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🌸 DESCRIPTION

so nbackup lets you make incremental backups of firebird databases. that's the whole vibe. it also lets you lock database files so you can copy them with OS tools like cp(1). very "i contain multitudes" of it, honestly. 🫶

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👑 COMMANDS

🔒 Locking it down

• -l database
• -lock database

Locks the database so you can do a filesystem copy of it. very "nobody move, i'm copying" energy.

Options of the -lock command:

• -s
• -size

Prints the database size (in database pages) after locking. numbers!! we love numbers ✨

🔓 Unlocking it

• -un database
• -unlock database

Unlocks a database that you previously locked. freedom restored, slay.

🛠️ Fixing it up

• -f database
• -fixup database

Fixes up the database after a filesystem copy. literally mandatory on the target database before you use it, bestie. don't skip this one, it's not a suggestion. 💀

📦 Making the backup

• -b level database file
• -backup level database file

Creates an incremental backup at level level. Level 0 means full backup. Level N includes all the changes since the last backup of level N. (iykyk 🧚)

file may be "stdout", which means write the backup data straight to standard output. very "just pipe it" of you.

Additional options to the -backup command:

• -d on|off
• -direct on|off

Turns direct I/O on or off during database backup. on or off, pick your fighter.

Direct I/O may be useful when the database is much larger than RAM, because in that case using buffered I/O may cause replacing useful cache contents with database file contents, which are generally read only once. so like... your cache is the main character and we're not evicting her for a one-time read. 💅

🪄 Bringing it back

• -r database file0 [file1...]
• -restore database file0 [file1...]

Restores an incremental backup. file0 is the level 0 backup, file1 is the level 1 backup, and so on — stacked in order like a little backup tower. 🌈

Additional -restore options:

• -de command
• -decompress command

Decompresses the backup file contents using the given command.

Note: -restore should be the last argument to nbackup, followed only by database and file names. All other options must come before -restore, or they'll be interpreted as backup file names. yes really. it will just eat them. put them first, periodt. 😭

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🎀 COMMON OPTIONS

• -u user
• -user user

User name for connecting to the firebird server. ✨

• -p password
• -password password

Password for connecting to the firebird server. 🔑

• -fetch_password file

Reads the password from the specified file. no typing it out in the open, we're being discreet here 🙈

• -nod
• -nodbtriggers

Do not run database-level triggers. as in, they simply will not fire. that's the whole point.

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👀 SEE ALSO

• gbak(1)

Additional documentation about nbackup and other Firebird utilities can be found on the Firebird Project website, <http://www.firebirdsql.org>.

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💖 AUTHOR

The original idea is of Sean Leyne sean@broadviewsoftware.com. Designed and implemented by Nickolay Samofatov skidder@bssys.com. This work was funded through a grant from BroadView Software, Inc.

This manual page was written by Damyan Ivanov dmn@debian.org for the Debian project. Permission is granted to use this document, with or without modifications, provided that this notice is retained. If we meet some day, and you think this stuff is worth it, you can buy me a beer in return. 🍓

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and that's the whole page, bestie — brought to you by Firebird 4.0, dated 2026-06-28, filed under NBACKUP(1). go forth and back up incrementally. no cap. 💜