Backups
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Topics for consideration
- How can I start backups automatically when I login? Don't want to do this until a network connection is available, and possibly my keyring has been unlocked.
- How can I start a backup run periodically? Is this necessary given that I usually login at least once every 24 hours?
- How can I put an icon in the system menu that shows backup status/process? Similar to Nextcloud would be useful with a tick for complete, circular arrows for in process, and a cross for failed.
Existing software
- tar
- Obnam
- restic
- Borg
- rdiff-backup
- deja-dup
- rclone (for backing up from/to cloud services such as Google Docs)
Writing new software
Powerful Command-Line Applications in Go - may be useful
MVP:
- Include file (one per line)
- Exclude file (one per line)
- Copy files from X to Y
- Database (SQLite? DuckDB?) to hold metadata (map hashes to file paths)
- File size and SHA-3 for deduplication
Thoughts:
- Can the hash checking of files be done in parallel?
- Should we compare file size first, and only calculate hashes if the sizes are the same?
- What metadata should we store about each file?
- How to restore files?
- How to prune files?
- Deduplication at the file level - could also do this with chunks of files at a later date?
- Can we compress the files? Can this be done in parallel?
- What is the fastest collision-resistant algorithm for file comparison?
- How do we stop two backup processes running simultaneously?
Security:
- Assumption is that you trust the backup target
- If you want encryption at rest, use LUKS etc. to encrypt the underlying device
- If you want encryption in transit, use SSH or TLS