# rbackup
**rbackup** is a fast, cross-platform, and multithreaded command-line utility written in Rust for performing incremental
backups of directories. It is inspired by tools like `rsync` and `robocopy`, but designed with simplicity, portability,
and localization in mind.
[](LICENSE)
[](https://github.com/umpire274/rBackup/releases)
[](https://github.com/umpire274/rbackup/releases)
📋 [View recent changes (Changelog)](CHANGELOG.md)
---
## ✨ Features
- 🚀 **Incremental backup** – copies only new or modified files
- ⚡ **Multithreaded** – uses all CPU cores to speed up large backups
- 🌍 **Multilingual support** – English and Italian (with auto-detection)
- 📦 **Portable** – no installation required, single binary
- 🧾 **Optional logging** – write backup reports to a file
- 📊 **Progress bar** – display graphical progress bar during copy process
- 🤫 **Quiet mode** – suppress all output for silent operation
---
## 📦 Installation
[](https://repology.org/project/rbackup/versions)
### 🐧 AUR (Arch Linux)
[](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/rbackup)
```bash
yay -S rfortune
# or
paru -S rfortune
```
### 🍺 Homebrew (macOS/Linux)
[](https://github.com/umpire274/homebrew-rbackup)
```bash
brew tap umpire274/rbackup
brew install rbackup
```
### 🦀 Crates.io (Rust)
[](https://crates.io/crates/rbackup)
```bash
cargo install rbackup
```
---
## 🚀 Usage
```sh
rbackup <source> <destination> [OPTIONS]
```
> Note: If `rbackup` is executed without any subcommand or positional arguments, the program will print the full help
> message and exit successfully with status code 0. This behavior is intended so invoking the binary with no arguments
> acts as a safe help display rather than an error.
---
## ✅ Basic example
```sh
rbackup ~/Documents /mnt/backup_drive/Documents
```
---
## 🧩 Options
Global options (applicable to all commands)
| `-q`, `--quiet` | Suppress console output |
| `-t`, `--timestamp` | Prepend timestamp to messages |
| `--log <FILE>` | Write output to a log file |
| `-l`, `--lang <code>` | Force language (e.g. `en`, `it`) |
| `-V`, `--version` | Show version |
| `-h`, `--help` | Show help message |
---
## 📌 Commands
Below are the top-level commands with the most relevant options and quick usage notes for each. This layout is easier to scan than a dense table when commands have many options.
### copy
Description: Perform an incremental backup from a `source` directory to a `destination` directory. Only new or modified files are copied.
Usage:
```sh
rbackup copy <source> <destination> [OPTIONS]
```
Important options:
- `<source> <destination>` — required positional arguments
- `-q`, `--quiet` — suppress console output
- `-t`, `--timestamp` — prepend timestamps to messages
- `--log <FILE>` — write output to a log file
- `-x, --exclude <PATTERN>` — exclude files matching the given glob pattern (repeatable)
- `--absolute-exclude` — match exclude patterns against absolute source paths
- `--ignore-case` — perform case-insensitive matching for exclude patterns
- `--dry-run` — perform a dry-run without copying files
Example:
```sh
rbackup copy C:\source\folder D:\backup\folder --exclude "*.tmp" --dry-run --log dryrun.log
```
---
### config
Description: Manage the configuration file (view, initialize or edit).
Usage:
```sh
rbackup config [OPTIONS]
```
Important options:
- `--init` — initialize a default configuration file
- `--print` — print the current configuration to stdout
- `--edit` — open the configuration in the user's editor
- `--editor <EDITOR>` — specify the editor to use (overrides $EDITOR/$VISUAL)
Example:
```sh
rbackup config --init
```
---
### help
Usage:
```sh
rbackup help [COMMAND]
```
Description: Print help for a specific command (e.g. `rbackup help copy`).
---
## 🔎 Exclude patterns (`--exclude`)
`rbackup copy` supports flexible exclude patterns to skip files and directories during a backup. The
`--exclude <PATTERN>` option can be used multiple times to provide multiple glob patterns.
Where patterns are matched
- By default, patterns are matched against the path *relative* to the source directory. Example: with source
`/home/me/project`, pattern `build/**` matches `/home/me/project/build/foo`.
- Use `--absolute-exclude` to match the pattern against the absolute path of the source file instead.
- The matcher also tests the file basename (the filename only). This means a simple pattern like `$RECYCLE.BIN` or
`Thumbs.db` will match files whose name equals that string anywhere in the source tree.
Case sensitivity
- By default, matching is case-sensitive.
- Use `--ignore-case` to enable case-insensitive matching for exclude patterns.
Examples
- Exclude macOS DMG files and Thumbs.db files (case-insensitive):
```bash
rbackup copy /source /dest --log backup.log --exclude '*.dmg' --exclude 'Thumbs.db' --ignore-case
```
- Exclude the Windows Recycle Bin directory by basename and hidden files starting with a dot:
```bash
rbackup copy /source /dest --exclude '$RECYCLE.BIN' --exclude '.*'
```
> Tip: In `zsh`/`bash` wrap patterns that contain `$` or other special characters in single quotes: `'$RECYCLE.BIN'`.
Absolute vs relative matching
- Relative match (default): `--exclude 'temp/**'` will skip anything under `source/temp/`.
- Absolute match: `--absolute-exclude` with `--exclude '/home/me/project/temp/**'` will match only that absolute path.
Dry-run and logging
- Combine `--dry-run` with `--log` to generate a report of what would be copied or skipped — but without changing the
destination:
```bash
rbackup copy /source /dest --exclude '*.tmp' --dry-run --log dryrun.log
```
- The log file contains both `Copied` and `Skipped` entries. Skipped entries include the exclude pattern that caused the
skip when applicable, which helps debugging complex exclude sets. Skipped files are also printed to the console unless
the `--quiet` option is used.
Use-cases
- Backup only source code files, ignoring build artifacts:
```bash
rbackup copy /home/dev/project /backup/project --exclude 'target/**' --exclude '*.o' --exclude '*.class'
```
- Mirror a user's Documents folder but exclude large media files and the Recycle Bin:
```bash
rbackup copy ~/Documents /mnt/backup/Documents --exclude '*.mp4' --exclude '$RECYCLE.BIN' --exclude 'Thumbs.db' --ignore-case
```
- Debug why a file is skipped: run a dry-run with logging and inspect the log — each skipped line shows the pattern that
caused the skip.
---
## Use cases (CLI & developer)
This section provides concise, copy-pastable examples for common CLI workflows and for managing translations during
development.
### 1) Incremental backup (copy)
- Basic backup:
```bash
rbackup C:\Users\alice\Documents D:\Backups\alice\Documents
```
- Backup with logging, timestamps and quiet off:
```bash
rbackup C:\source\folder D:\backup\folder --log backup.log --timestamp
```
- Dry-run to debug excludes and generate a report (Windows `cmd.exe`):
```bat
rbackup C:\source D:\dest --exclude "*.tmp" --dry-run --log dryrun.log
```
### 2) Manage configuration
- Initialize a default configuration file:
```bat
rbackup config --init
```
- Edit configuration using the default editor (Windows will use Notepad if $EDITOR not set):
```bat
rbackup config --edit
```
### 3) Developer: translations workflow (translations_tool)
A small helper script is provided at `scripts/translations_tool` to validate translations and to generate/apply language
templates.
- Validate all language entries have the same keys (must be run from the repo root):
```bat
cd scripts\translations_tool
cargo run -- validate
```
- Generate a template for a new language `es` and print it (prefill with English values):
```bat
cd scripts\translations_tool
cargo run -- template es --fill-en
```
- Apply (insert) a template for `es` into `assets/translations.json`, creating a timestamped backup, and do not
overwrite if `es` already exists:
```bat
cd scripts\translations_tool
cargo run -- apply es --fill-en
```
- Force overwrite an existing language entry (use with caution):
```bat
cd scripts\translations_tool
cargo run -- apply es --fill-en --force
```
Notes:
- The `apply` command creates a backup file under `assets/` named like `translations.json.YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.bak` before
modifying `assets/translations.json`.
- After applying a template, translate the values in-place with your editor, then run `cargo run -- validate` to ensure
key consistency.
---
## 📝 Example
```sh
rbackup /home/alex/Projects /mnt/usb-backup --log backup.log --timestamp
```
## 🧪 Build from source
To compile rbackup yourself:
```sh
git clone https://github.com/your-username/rbackup.git
cd rbackup
cargo build --release
```
For Windows, rbackup.rc will be embedded automatically in the executable.
---
## 🔒 License
This project is licensed under the MIT License.
© 2025 Alessandro Maestri
---
## 💡 Contributing
Pull requests are welcome! If you’d like to add support for more languages, improve performance, or fix bugs, feel free
to fork the repo and contribute.