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https://github.com/sourcefrog/conserve

🌲 Robust file backup tool in Rust
https://github.com/sourcefrog/conserve

backup linux macos restore robust rust windows

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🌲 Robust file backup tool in Rust

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README 

        
# Conserve: a robust backup program



[![GitHub build status](https://github.com/sourcefrog/conserve/workflows/Rust/badge.svg?branch=main)](https://github.com/sourcefrog/conserve/actions?query=workflow%3ARust)

[![crates.io](https://img.shields.io/crates/v/conserve.svg)](https://crates.io/crates/conserve)

![Maturity: Beta](https://img.shields.io/badge/maturity-beta-yellow.svg)



Conserve's [guiding principles](doc/manifesto.md):



- **Safe**: Conserve is written in [Rust][rust], a fast systems programming

  language with compile-time guarantees about types, memory safety, and

  concurrency. Conserve uses a

  [conservative log-structured format](doc/format.md).



- **Robust**: If one file is corrupted in storage or due to a bug in Conserve,

  or if the backup is interrupted, you can still restore what was written.

  (Conserve doesn't need a large transaction to complete for data to be

  accessible.)



- **Careful**: Backup data files are never touched or altered after they're

  written, unless you choose to purge them.



- **When you need help now**: Restoring a subset of a large backup is fast,

  because it doesn't require reading the whole backup.



- **Always making progress**: Even if the backup process or its network

  connection is repeatedly killed, Conserve can quickly pick up where it left

  off and make forward progress.



- **Ready for today**: The storage format is fast and reliable on on

  high-latency, limited-capability, unlimited-capacity, eventually-consistent

  cloud object storage.



- **Fast**: Conserve exploits Rust's _fearless concurrency_ to make full use of

  multiple cores and IO bandwidth. (In the current release there's still room to

  add more concurrency.)



- **Portable**: Conserve is tested on Windows, Linux (x86 and ARM), and OS X.



## Quick start guide



Conserve storage is within an _archive_ directory created by `conserve init`:



    conserve init /backup/home.cons



`conserve backup` copies a source directory into a new _version_ within the

archive. Conserve copies files, directories, and (on Unix) symlinks. If the

`conserve backup` command completes successfully (copying the whole source

tree), the backup is considered _complete_.



    conserve backup /backup/home.cons ~ --exclude /.cache



`conserve diff` shows what's different between an archive and a source

directory. It should typically be given the same `--exclude` options as were

used to make the backup.



    conserve diff /backup/home.cons ~ --exclude /.cache



`conserve versions` lists the versions in an archive, whether or not the backup

is _complete_, the time at which the backup started, and the time taken to

complete it. Each version is identified by a name starting with `b`.



    $ conserve versions /backup/home.cons

    b0000                      complete   2016-11-19T07:30:09+11:00     71s

    b0001                      incomplete 2016-11-20T06:26:46+11:00

    b0002                      incomplete 2016-11-20T06:30:45+11:00

    b0003                      complete   2016-11-20T06:42:13+11:00    286s

    b0004                      complete   2016-12-01T07:08:48+11:00     84s

    b0005                      complete   2016-12-18T02:43:59+11:00      4s



`conserve ls` shows all the files in a particular version. Like all commands

that read a band from an archive, it operates on the most recent by default, and

you can specify a different version using `-b`. (You can also omit leading zeros

from the backup version.)



    conserve ls -b b0 /backup/home.cons | less



`conserve restore` copies a version back out of an archive:



    conserve restore /backup/home.cons /tmp/trial-restore



`conserve validate` checks the integrity of an archive:



    conserve validate /backup/home.cons



`conserve delete` deletes specific named backups from an archive:



    conserve delete /backup/home.cons -b b1



## Exclusions



The `--exclude GLOB` option can be given to commands that operate on files,

including `backup`, `restore`, `ls` and `list-source`.



A `/` at the start of the exclusion pattern anchors it to the top of the backup

tree (not the root of the filesystem.) `**` recursively matches any number of

directories. `*.o` matches anywhere in the tree.



`--exclude-from` reads exclusion patterns from a file, one per line, ignoring

leading and trailing whitespace, and skipping comment lines that start with a

`#`.



The syntax is comes from the Rust [globset](https://docs.rs/globset/#syntax)

crate.



Directories marked with [`CACHEDIR.TAG`](https://bford.info/cachedir/) are

automatically excluded from backups.



## S3 support



From 23.9 Conserve supports storing backups in Amazon S3. AWS IAM credentials are

read from the standard sources: the environment, config file, or, on EC2, the instance metadata service.



S3 support can be turned off by passing `cargo install --no-default-features`. (There's no

runtime impact if it is not used, but it does add a lot of build-time dependencies.)



To use this, just specify an S3 URL for the archive location. The bucket must already exist.



    conserve init s3://my-bucket/

    conserve backup s3://my-bucket/ ~



Files are written in the `INTELLIGENT_TIERING` storage class.



(This should work on API-compatible services but has not been tested; experience reports are welcome.)



## Install



To build Conserve you need [Rust][rust] and a C compiler that can be used by

Rust.



To install the most recent release from crates.io, run



    cargo install conserve



To install from a git checkout, run



    cargo install -f --path .



[rust]: https://rustup.rs/



On nightly Rust only, and only on x86_64, you can enable a slight speed-up with



    cargo +nightly install -f --path . --features blake2-rfc/simd_asm



### Arch Linux



To install from from available

[AUR packages](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/?O=0&SeB=nd&K=Robust+portable+backup+tool+written&outdated=&SB=n&SO=a&PP=50&do_Search=Go),

use an [AUR helper](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AUR_helpers):



    yay -S conserve



## More documentation



- [A comparison to other backup systems][comparison]



[comparison]: https://github.com/sourcefrog/conserve/wiki/Compared-to-others



- [Software and format versioning](doc/versioning.md)



- [Archive format](doc/format.md)



- [Design](doc/design.md)



- [Release notes](NEWS.md)



## Performance on Windows



Windows Defender and Windows Search Indexing can severely slow down any program that does intensive file IO, including Conserve. I recommend you exclude the backup directory from both systems.



## Project status



Conserve is at a reasonable level of maturity; the format is stable and the basic features are complete. I have used it as a primary backup system for over a year.

There is still room for several performance improvements and features.



The current data format (called "0.6") will be readable by future releases for at least two years.



Be aware Conserve is developed as a part-time non-commercial project and there's no guarantee of support or reliability. Bug reports are welcome but I cannot promise they will receive a resolution within any particular time frame.



## Licence and non-warranty



Copyright 2012-2023 Martin Pool.



This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under

the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software

Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later

version.



This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY

WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A

PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.