thwapback

thwapback is a shell script that provides a simple interface for performing backups using borgbackup (full backups) and rdiff-backup (work backups). Repositories are stored under /srv/backup/{borg,rdiff} at a SHA256-hashed path keyed by OS (normalized: Linux/FreeBSD), architecture (normalized to BSD style: amd64/arm64), fully-qualified hostname, and username. A human-readable recovery symlink tree is automatically created at <base>/recovery/<OS>/<arch>/<hostname>/<user> pointing to the hashed repository. FUSE mounting uses friendly paths under /tmp/{borg,rdiff}/<OS>/<arch>/<hostname>/<user>. It also supports rotating backups with tagged intervals (hourly/daily/weekly/monthly/semiannual/annual/onetime) and sending notifications via the 9P protocol.

Requirements

• borgbackup (for full backups)
• rdiff-backup (for work backups)
• borgfs (optional, for mounting borg repositories)
• rdiff-backup-fs (optional, for mounting rdiff-backup repositories)
• 9p (optional, for sending notifications)

Installation

1. Place thwapback.sh somewhere in your PATH (e.g., ~/bin/thwapback).
2. Make it executable:

   chmod +x ~/bin/thwapback
   

3. (Optional) Create a configuration file at ~/.config/thwap/thwapback.conf to override default settings.

Usage

thwapback <CMD> [ARGS]

Commands

Command	Description
full	Perform a full backup using borgbackup
work	Perform a work backup using rdiff-backup
help	Show general help

Full backup options (thwapback full [ARGS])

Flag	Description
-c <file>	Use an alternative configuration file
-R	Rotate backups after completion (default)
-N	Do not rotate backups after completion
-h	Tag backup as hourly
-d	Tag backup as daily
-w	Tag backup as weekly
-m	Tag backup as monthly
-s	Tag backup as semiannual
-a	Tag backup as annual
-r	Tag backup as one‑off
-M	Mount the borg repository via FUSE
-U	Unmount the borg repository

Work backup options (thwapback work [ARGS])

Flag	Description
-c <file>	Use an alternative configuration file
-M	Mount the rdiff-backup repository via FUSE
-U	Unmount the rdiff-backup repository

Examples

# Perform a full backup with rotation and a daily tag
thwapback full -Rd

# Mount the borg repository for inspection
thwapback full -M

# Unmount the borg repository
thwapback full -U

# Perform a work backup (rdiff-backup)
thwapback work

# Mount the rdiff-backup repository
thwapback work -M

Configuration

The script sources ~/.config/thwap/thwapback.conf if it exists. You can override the following variables in that file:

Variable	Default	Description
BORG_CMD	borgbackup	Command for borgbackup
BORG_FS_CMD	borgfs	Command for borgfs
BORG_TGT_BASE	/srv/backup/borg	Base directory for borg repositories
BORG_SRC	$HOME	Source directory for full backups
RDIFF_CMD	rdiff-backup	Command for rdiff-backup
RDIFF_FS_CMD	rdiff-backup-fs	Command for rdiff-backup-fs
RDIFF_TGT_BASE	/srv/backup/rdiff	Base directory for rdiff-backup repositories
RDIFF_SRC	$HOME/THWAP	Source directory for work backups
NOTIFY_HOST	10.24.10.22	Host for 9P notifications

Notifications

If the 9p command is available and NOTIFY_HOST is reachable, the script will send a success or failure notification after each backup operation.

License

This script is provided as‑is. Use at your own risk.