Universal Automated Backup Utility

A lightweight, zero-dependency Python snapshot backup tool for Linux servers, homelabs, and development workstations. Creates compressed archives of specified directories and automatically enforces rolling retention policies.

✨ Features

• Zero Third-Party Dependencies: Pure Python 3 standard library (tarfile, shutil, argparse).
• Flexible Compression: Supports gz (gzip), bz2 (bzip2), and uncompressed archives.
• Smart Retention Management: Prunes backups older than a specified number of days (--retention-days) or exceeding a maximum archive count (--keep-count).
• Smart Exclusion: Preconfigured to skip noise directories (__pycache__, node_modules, .git, .venv, temp files).
• Dry-Run Safe: Preview archiving and deletion actions without modifying files.

🚀 Usage

Simple Backup

python3 backup_task.py --source /path/to/data --destination /backups

$ python3 backup_task.py --source /opt/configs --destination /backups --verbose
[2026-09-20 03:00:01] Archiving /opt/configs -> /backups/backup_configs_20260920_030001.tar.gz
[2026-09-20 03:00:04] Archive created: 18.4 MB (SHA256: e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8...)
[2026-09-20 03:00:04] Enforcing retention policy: 7 days retention, 10 archives max
[2026-09-20 03:00:04] Backup cycle completed successfully.

Multiple Directories with 14-day Retention

python3 backup_task.py \
  --source /etc/nginx /opt/configs \
  --destination /var/backups/homelab \
  --retention-days 14 \
  --keep-count 20

Test via Dry Run

python3 backup_task.py --source . --destination ./backups --dry-run --verbose

Automated Cron Job (Daily at 3 AM)

0 3 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/backup_task.py --source /home/user/data --destination /backup/daily --retention-days 7 >> /var/log/backup.log 2>&1

📄 License

MIT License.