gniza - Linux Backup Manager

A generic Linux backup tool with a Python Textual TUI, web GUI, and CLI interface. Define named backup targets (sets of directories), configure remote destinations (SSH, local, S3, Google Drive), and run incremental backups with rsync --link-dest deduplication.

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Features

• Target-based backups - Define named profiles with sets of directories to back up
• Include/exclude filters - Rsync include or exclude patterns per target (comma-separated)
• MySQL backup - Dump all or selected databases alongside directory backups
• Multiple remote types - SSH, local (USB/NFS), S3, Google Drive
• Incremental snapshots - rsync --link-dest for space-efficient deduplication
• Disk space safety - Abort backup if remote disk usage exceeds configurable threshold (default 95%)
• Textual TUI - Beautiful terminal UI powered by Textual
• Web dashboard - Access the full TUI from any browser with HTTP Basic Auth
• CLI interface - Scriptable commands for automation and cron
• Atomic snapshots - .partial directory during backup, renamed on success
• Retention policies - Automatic pruning of old snapshots
• Pre/post hooks - Run custom commands before/after backups
• Email notifications - SMTP or system mail on success/failure
• Root and user mode - Works as root (system-wide) or regular user (per-user)
• Cron scheduling - Manage cron jobs through TUI or CLI

Installation

One-liner (root)

curl -sSL https://git.linux-hosting.co.il/shukivaknin/gniza4linux/raw/branch/main/scripts/install.sh | sudo bash

One-liner (user mode)

curl -sSL https://git.linux-hosting.co.il/shukivaknin/gniza4linux/raw/branch/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

From source

git clone https://git.linux-hosting.co.il/shukivaknin/gniza4linux.git
cd gniza4linux
sudo bash scripts/install.sh    # root mode
# or
bash scripts/install.sh          # user mode

Root mode installs to /usr/local/gniza. User mode installs to ~/.local/share/gniza.

Dependencies

• Required: bash 4+, rsync
• Optional: ssh, curl (SMTP notifications), rclone (S3/GDrive)
• TUI/Web: python3, textual, textual-serve (installed automatically)

Quick Start

# Launch TUI
gniza

# Or use CLI
gniza targets add --name=mysite --folders=/var/www,/etc/nginx
gniza remotes add --name=backup-server    # (edit config manually)
gniza --cli backup --target=mysite
gniza --cli backup --all

Usage

gniza [OPTIONS] [COMMAND]

Options:
  --cli             Force CLI mode (no TUI)
  --debug           Enable debug logging
  --config=FILE     Override config file path
  --help            Show help
  --version         Show version

Commands:
  backup            [--target=NAME] [--remote=NAME] [--all]
  restore           --target=NAME [--snapshot=TS] [--remote=NAME] [--dest=DIR]
  targets           list|add|delete|show [--name=NAME] [--folders=PATHS]
  remotes           list|add|delete|show|test|disk-info-short [--name=NAME]
  snapshots         list [--target=NAME] [--remote=NAME]
  retention         [--target=NAME] [--remote=NAME] [--all]
  schedule          install|show|remove
  logs              [--last] [--tail=N]

Configuration

Mode	Config	Logs	Lock
Root	/etc/gniza/	/var/log/gniza/	/var/run/gniza.lock
User	~/.config/gniza/	~/.local/state/gniza/log/	$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/gniza-$UID.lock

Config subdirectories: targets.d/*.conf, remotes.d/*.conf, schedules.d/*.conf

Target Config (targets.d/mysite.conf)

TARGET_NAME="mysite"
TARGET_FOLDERS="/var/www,/etc/nginx"
TARGET_EXCLUDE="*.log,*.tmp,.cache"
TARGET_INCLUDE=""
TARGET_REMOTE=""
TARGET_RETENTION=""
TARGET_PRE_HOOK=""
TARGET_POST_HOOK=""
TARGET_ENABLED="yes"

# MySQL backup (optional)
TARGET_MYSQL_ENABLED="no"
TARGET_MYSQL_MODE="all"
TARGET_MYSQL_DATABASES=""
TARGET_MYSQL_EXCLUDE=""
TARGET_MYSQL_USER=""
TARGET_MYSQL_PASSWORD=""
TARGET_MYSQL_HOST="localhost"
TARGET_MYSQL_PORT="3306"
TARGET_MYSQL_EXTRA_OPTS="--single-transaction --routines --triggers"

Include vs Exclude: Set TARGET_INCLUDE to back up only matching files (e.g. *.conf,*.sh). When include is set, everything else is excluded. If only TARGET_EXCLUDE is set, matching files are skipped. Patterns are comma-separated and support rsync glob syntax.

Remote Config (remotes.d/backup-server.conf)

REMOTE_TYPE="ssh"
REMOTE_HOST="backup.example.com"
REMOTE_PORT=22
REMOTE_USER="root"
REMOTE_AUTH_METHOD="key"
REMOTE_KEY="/root/.ssh/backup_key"
REMOTE_BASE="/backups"
BWLIMIT=0
RETENTION_COUNT=30

For local remotes (USB/NFS):

REMOTE_TYPE="local"
REMOTE_BASE="/mnt/backup-drive"

How Incremental Backups Work

GNIZA uses rsync's --link-dest option to create space-efficient incremental backups using hardlinks.

The first backup copies every file from source to destination. This takes the most time and disk space, since every file must be transferred in full. Depending on the size of your data and network speed, this initial backup may take a long time — this is normal.

Every backup after the first is significantly faster. Rsync compares each file against the previous snapshot. Files that haven't changed are not transferred again — instead, rsync creates a hardlink to the same data block on disk from the previous snapshot. Only new or modified files are actually copied.

This means:

• Each snapshot appears as a full, complete directory tree — you can browse or restore any snapshot independently.
• Unchanged files share disk space between snapshots through hardlinks, so 10 snapshots of 50 GB with only minor changes might use 55 GB total instead of 500 GB.
• Deleting an old snapshot only frees space for files that are not referenced by any other snapshot.
• Subsequent backups typically finish in seconds or minutes rather than hours, since only the differences are transferred.

Example: A first backup of 20 GB takes 45 minutes over SSH. The next day, only 200 MB of files changed — the second backup takes under 2 minutes and uses only 200 MB of additional disk space, while still appearing as a complete 20 GB snapshot.

Snapshot Structure

$BASE/<hostname>/targets/<target>/snapshots/<YYYY-MM-DDTHHMMSS>/
├── meta.json
├── manifest.txt
├── var/www/
├── etc/nginx/
└── _mysql/              # MySQL dumps (if enabled)
    ├── dbname.sql.gz
    └── _grants.sql.gz

Web Dashboard

The TUI can be served in a browser via textual-serve with HTTP Basic Auth:

# Enable during install (generates admin password)
curl -sSL .../install.sh | sudo bash
# Answer "y" to "Enable web dashboard?"

# Or manually
gniza web install-service   # Install systemd service (port 2323)
gniza web start             # Start the service
gniza web stop              # Stop the service

Access at http://<server-ip>:2323. Credentials are stored in gniza.conf as WEB_USER and WEB_API_KEY.

Testing

bash tests/test_utils.sh
bash tests/test_config.sh
bash tests/test_targets.sh

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.