backintime

backintime [global options] command [args]

backintime is the command-line client for Back In Time, a Linux backup tool that uses rsync(1) and filesystem hard links. Each run is a complete tree of every selected file, but only changed files are copied; unchanged files are hard-linked to the previous backup, so a backup looks like a full copy while using incremental space.Profiles can store backups locally, over SSH, or encrypted with gocryptfs (local or SSH). Scheduling is done with cron(1); check-config writes the crontab entries. The Qt GUI is backintime-qt. Restore can be done from this CLI, the GUI, or a file manager browsing the dated backup directories.The term snapshot was used until version 1.6.0; starting with 1.6.0 the project says backup so it is not confused with volume images.

-h, --help

Show help.

Select the profile by name or numeric ID.

Read configuration from PATH (default $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/backintime/config).

Suppress status messages on standard output.

Print debug messages.

Print the version.

Print the license.

Print diagnostic information for bug reports.

Create a new backup. Foreground runs always take a backup. --background daemonizes and does not force a run, so a scheduled job may skip when the profile is not due or the machine is on battery. --checksum compares files by checksum instead of size and mtime.

List backup IDs (or paths with --path). --last limits the list to the youngest backup. --profiles lists profiles. --usage reports logical size, real disk use, and space saved by hard links.

Restore a file or directory. Empty WHERE restores to the original location. BACKUPID_ is an ID or an index (0 = last backup, -1 = oldest). --delete removes destination files that are not in the backup (dangerous on /). --local-backup / --no-local-backup control FILE.backup.YYYYMMDD safety copies. --only-new uses rsync --update.

Delete one or more backups. --skip-confirmation skips the prompt.

Delete backups according to the profile's Remove & Retention policy.

Unmount the current profile.

Power off after the running backup finishes.

Verify the configuration, create backup destination paths, and install crontab entries. --no-crontab skips crontab changes.

Control the password-cache daemon used by non-interactive cron jobs.

Per-user file at ~/.config/backintime/config (`$XDGCONFIGHOME/backintime/config`). Lines are keyword=value; values are not quoted. Profiles are numbered (profile1, profile2, …). A global /etc/backintime/config is no longer supported.Typical keys:

$ profile1.snapshots.mode=local
profile1.snapshots.path=/mnt/backup
profile1.schedule.mode=20
profile1.schedule.time=200

This is a file-level backup tool, not a full-system imager; use something like timeshift or a disk-clone tool for OS restore. Cloud drives that are not a real filesystem or SSH target do not work. EncFS modes were removed in 2.0; remaining EncFS profiles are stripped from the config on load (a backup of the file is kept). Destination filesystems should support Unix hard links; NTFS and many Samba shares are a poor fit. restore --delete can destroy a system if pointed at /. rsync exit code 23 is reported as an error even when only some files failed (for example dangling symlinks).

Back In Time was created by Oprea Dan in 2008, inspired by FlyBack. Germar Reitze maintained it from about 2012 to 2019, adding SSH destinations, EncFS encryption, and a single backintime-qt GUI. After a quiet period, Christian Buhtz, Jürgen Altfeld, and Michael Büker restarted development in 2022. Version 2.0 (release candidate 2026) drops EncFS in favor of gocryptfs.

rsync(1), cron(8), timeshift(1), restic(1), borg(1), duplicity(1), gocryptfs(1), ssh(1)

Source code · Documentation