PLAKAR-BACKUP(1)

📦
version 1.1.7 · 2 versions
, in nixpkgs unstable

💾 plakar-backup(1) — aka the plakar-backup manual page, bestie 💖

okay so real talk, this is the general commands manual for plakar-backup, and I'm gonna walk you through it like we're texting at 2am. grab a snack 🍓

🌸 NAME 🌸

plakar-backup — literally creates a new snapshot in a Kloset store. that's the whole vibe. no cap. ✨

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

plakar backup [-cache path] [-category category] [-check] [-dry-run]
       [-environment environment] [-force-timestamp timestamp]
       [-ignore pattern] [-ignore-file file] [-job job] [-name name]
       [-no-progress] [-no-xattr] [-o option=value] [-packfiles path]
       [-perimeter perimeter] [-tag tag] [place ...]

look at all those flags. she's got range 💅

👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

so plakar backup makes a shiny new snapshot of place, or of the current directory if you don't say otherwise. and yeah, snapshots can be filtered to ignore specific files or directories based on patterns you hand over through the options. slay.

place can be any of these three icons:

  • a path
  • a URI
  • a label in the form @name that references a source connector you configured with plakar-source(1)

the alias can ALSO be in the form @name[:path-override] if you wanna override the alias path right there on the command line — main character energy fr fr. here's the rule: if path-override starts with /, the whole path gets replaced with the override. otherwise it gets appended to the existing path. iykyk.

you can give multiple places too, as long as they all refer to different paths on the same remote — like different files or different prefixes on the same bucket. 🪣 but heads up, not all importer connectors support this feature, so go read their documentation before you come for me 🙈

The options are as follows:

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -cache path — tell it where to stash the vfs cache. special value no disables caching entirely, and special value vfs uses the in-memory vfs cache (which is the default, periodt).
  • -category category — set the snapshot category. cute little label, love that for you 🎀
  • -check — do a full check on the backup after it succeeds. like a little vibe check but for your data ⭐
  • -dry-run — do NOT write a snapshot. instead, do a dry run and print out the list of files and directories that would have been included. it respects all exclude patterns and the other options, but makes zero changes to the Kloset store. zero. none. it's giving window shopping 🛍️
  • -environment environment — set the snapshot environment.
  • -force-timestamp timestamp — force a fixed timestamp (in ISO 8601 or relative human format) for the snapshot. super useful if you wanna reimport an existing backup with the same timestamp. lowkey iconic.
  • -ignore pattern — drop in individual gitignore exclusion patterns to ignore files or directories in the backup. and yes, this option can be repeated — stack 'em 🔥
  • -ignore-file file — point at a file full of gitignore exclusion patterns, one per line, to ignore files or directories in the backup.
  • -job job — name the snapshot job.
  • -name name — name the snapshot.
  • -no-progress — don't compute or display progress. here's the lore: by default plakar backup does two passes on the source — one to count the items, and a second to actually process them. this flag kills that first counting pass. it's also set implicitly for some importer connectors that just don't support the two-passes thing. not their fault tbh 💀
  • -no-xattr — skip extended attributes (xattrs) when creating the backup. bye bestie 👋
  • -o option=value — pass extra arguments to the source connector. the option you give here takes precedence over the configuration file. she said my rules 💅
  • -packfiles path — choose where to put the temporary packfiles instead of building them in the default temporary directory. if you pass the special value memory, the packfiles get built in memory. fast girl summer 🌈
  • -perimeter perimeter — set the snapshot perimeter.
  • -tag tag — comma-separated list of tags to apply to the snapshot. tag it like you mean it 🏷️

🌿 ENVIRONMENT 🌿

  • PLAKAR_TAGS — comma-separated list of tags to apply to the snapshot during backup. but plot twist: it gets overridden by the -tag command-line flag. command line stays winning 👑

💀 EXIT STATUS 💀

plakar-backup exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs. that's it. that's the whole story.

🧚 EXAMPLES 🧚

okay these are the good part, the actual demonstrations 🍓

create a snapshot of the current directory with two tags:

$ plakar backup -tag daily-backup,production

ignore files using patterns in a given file:

$ plakar backup -ignore-file ~/my-ignore-file /var/www

ignore files using patterns in one or more files, or from the command line — or honestly both, why not:

$ plakar backup -ignore-file ~/.plkignore -ignore "*.tmp" /var/www

define an alias for an s3 bucket and then back up multiple path prefixes. multi-place queen 👑:

$ plakar source add bucket s3://example.com \
        access_key=... secret_access_key=...
$ plakar backup @bucket:/assets @bucket:/uploads @bucket:/logs

pass an option to the importer — in this case, to NOT traverse mount points:

$ plakar backup -o dont_traverse_fs=true /

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

plakar(1), plakar-source(1) — go read those too, they're besties with this one 🫶

ngl this page is from Debian, dated July 23, 2026, and it's the PLAKAR-BACKUP(1) general commands manual page. now go back up your stuff, bestie 💜🎀✨
📦 where this page comes from