simplebackup.conf(5)

✨ simplebackup.conf ✨

okay bestie, sit down, we're talking about simplebackup.conf(5) — the config file for the simplebackup suite. it's giving "little file, huge responsibility" and honestly? iconic. 💖

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💅 NAME

simplebackup.conf — the configuration file for simplebackup(1). periodt.

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🌸 DESCRIPTION

this file holds all the configuration for the backups that simplebackup(1) does. that's it. that's the whole vibe. everything you tell your backup to do lives right here. 🎀

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🦋 SYNTAX

so here's the tea, and it's important tea: this file is a bash(1) shell script. not "script-like", not "kind of shellish" — it is a shell script, fr fr. you use it to set some shell variables and a shell function, and the backup script picks them up.

⚠️ be careful what you write in here. the configuration file gets sourced, and every single command inside it is executed at the beginning of a backup. every one. no cap. if you paste something cursed in here, it runs. 💀

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👑 VARIABLES

🌈 SILENT

if you set this to true, simplebackup will only print errors and warnings. quiet queen behaviour — less yapping, same results. ✨

💖 TARGETDIR

this is the directory where the backup gets written to. make sure you actually have enough free disk space here, bestie, or it's gonna be a whole thing. 😭

🎀 WORKDIR

this is the directory where the backup is prepared before it becomes a real backup. the disk space you need here is the sum of all the data you're backing up. and heads up — this directory gets deleted on startup, so do not point it at anything important. i'm so serious. 🙈

🧚 BACKUPDIRS

these paths and all their subdirectories get backed up, and it crosses file system boundaries while doing it. use : to separate multiple paths. multitasking icon. 💅

🌸 BACKUPDIRS_ONEFS

same deal, these paths and their subdirectories get backed up — but no file system boundaries will be crossed this time. use : to separate multiple paths. stay in your lane, queen. 🦋

⭐ NAME

this is the name of the backup. later on it gets a timestamp prepended to it. so it goes from cute to cute and chronologically identifiable. glow up. 💖

🔥 LOCKFILE

this lockfile is how the script detects that another backup is already running. the fun part? you can run multiple different backups in parallel by using different lockfiles in different configurations. parallel slay. ✨

💜 NICELEVEL

the nice level to run with. 20 is low priority, 0 is normal, -20 is high priority — and only root can do that last one, so don't get any ideas unless you've got the permissions. 👑

🍓 CHROOT

chroot path. if you wanna back up another system that's reachable through your file system, you point this variable at that other system's root directory. leave it empty for normal operation. lowkey the most underrated variable here. 🧚

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🫶 FUNCTIONS

💖 extracommands()

these commands run before the backup. this is your moment to dump databases, save your partition layout, whatever else you need. drop any additional files you want backed up into $WORKDIR or subdirectories of it.

and a detail you do NOT wanna miss: extracommand() is executed before entering a possible $CHROOT. (yes, the manpage spells it extracommand() there — we're keeping it exactly as it is, no editing the source material in this house. 💅)

🌸 postcopy()

these commands run after all files have been copied into $WORKDIR, but before they get put into the backup archive. so if some files need to be excluded from $BACKUPDIRS, you delete them right here. postcopy() is executed outside a possible $CHROOT. timing is everything, bestie. ⏰

🌈 postbackup()

these commands run after the backup. the new backup filename is available to you as $BACKUPFILE. go off. 🎉

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🔍 SEE ALSO

• simplebackup(1)
• expirebackups(1)

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✍️ AUTHOR

simplebackup was written by Christian Garbs <mitch@cgarbs.de>. legend behaviour. 👑

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⚖️ COPYRIGHT

simplebackup is licensed under GNU GPL v2 or later. share the love, share the source. 💜

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this was version 0.1.6 of simplebackup.conf(5), brought to you by the one and only Christian Garbs — now go write a config that slays responsibly. mwah. 💅✨🎀