duplicity

encrypted bandwidth-efficient backup tool

TLDR

Backup a directory to remote location

$ duplicity [/path/to/source] [sftp://user@host/backup]

Incremental backup

$ duplicity --full-if-older-than [30D] [/path/to/source] [file:///backup/destination]

Restore from backup

$ duplicity restore [sftp://user@host/backup] [/path/to/restore]

Restore specific file

$ duplicity restore --file-to-restore [relative/path/file] [backup_url] [/path/to/restore]

List files in backup

$ duplicity list-current-files [backup_url]

Verify backup against source

$ duplicity verify [backup_url] [/path/to/source]

Remove old backups

$ duplicity remove-older-than [60D] [backup_url]

Encrypt with GPG key

$ duplicity --encrypt-key [KEY_ID] [/source] [destination]

SYNOPSIS

duplicity [options] source destination

duplicity is a backup tool that creates encrypted, bandwidth-efficient backups. It uses librsync to produce incremental archives that only contain changed parts of files, and GnuPG for encryption and signing.Backups can be stored locally or on various remote backends including SFTP, S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure, WebDAV, and many others. The combination of encryption and incremental transfers makes duplicity suitable for remote/cloud backups over untrusted networks.A full backup is periodically created, with subsequent incremental backups storing only changes. This allows point-in-time recovery while minimizing storage and bandwidth usage.

PARAMETERS

full

Force a full backup.

incremental

Force incremental backup.

restore

Restore from backup.

verify

Verify backup integrity.

list-current-files

List files in current backup.

remove-older-than time

Delete old backup sets.

remove-all-but-n-full n

Keep only n full backups.

--full-if-older-than time

Full backup if last one is older than time.

--encrypt-key keyid_

GPG key for encryption.

--sign-key keyid_

GPG key for signing.

--no-encryption

Disable encryption entirely.

--include pattern

Include files matching pattern.

--exclude pattern

Exclude files matching pattern.

--file-to-restore path

Restore specific file.

-t time, --restore-time time

Restore from specific time.

--tempdir path

Use specific directory for temporary files.

--progress

Display upload progress and estimated upload time.

--verbosity level

Set verbosity level (0-9, default 3).

INSTALL

sudo apt install duplicity

sudo dnf install duplicity

sudo pacman -S duplicity

sudo apk add duplicity

sudo zypper install duplicity

brew install duplicity

nix profile install nixpkgs#duplicity

CAVEATS

GPG passphrase required for encrypted backups (use PASSPHRASE env var for scripting). First backup is always full and may take time. Restoring individual files requires downloading multiple increments. Backend credentials may need configuration.

HISTORY

duplicity was created by Ben Escoto in 2002 as an encrypted backup solution. It combined rsync's efficient delta-transfer algorithm with GnuPG encryption. The project has been maintained by various contributors and expanded to support numerous cloud storage backends. It remains a popular choice for secure, automated backups.