BACKER

A Rust command line tool for backing up a specific file b4 u wreck it

We already know what you did.
We know why you searched for backup tools.
That's why I made the tool. I wrecked one-too-many important source files.
This tool was built for Linux, but also works on Windoze.

Installation

If using the github tool: gh repo clone rlovell3/backer
If using git: git clone https://github.com/rlovell3/backer.git

Or be creative and create a new RUST project:
cargo new backer
cd backer
Add chrono to your Cargo.toml:
cargo add chrono
Replace hello world source code with code from main.rs in this repository.

Compile your project:
cargo build --release
The backer executable will be in target/release directory.

Deploy backer into your path

Copy the executable into a place on your path.
I created a directory in my home directory for storing links to tools like this.
mkdir ~/bin

cp target/release/backer ~/bin/

or create a symlink there so you can map to your stash of repositories:
ln -s path/to/repository/backer/target/release/backer ~/bin/backer

After you relaunch your shell, you should be set.

Use

backer filename

Include a path if you are not currently in the same directory.
backer path/to/main.rs

Backer will provide confirmation of saving your @ss:
Backup path: .path/to/main.20230915:1517-34.backup.rs

Do that a few times, pausing a second or two between commands.
Go look at the src dir after backing up your precious file a few times:
ls -al src/
-rw-rw-r-- 1 rl rl 45 Sep 15 15:17 main.20230915_1517-22.backup.rs
-rw-rw-r-- 1 rl rl 45 Sep 15 15:19 main.20230915_1519-12.backup.rs
-rw-rw-r-- 1 rl rl 45 Sep 15 15:21 main.20230915_1521-17.backup.rs
-rw-rw-r-- 1 rl rl 45 Sep 15 15:03 main.rs

Your backups are naturally sorted, making your life easy.
See how happy your are now that life just got easy?

backup filenames are in this format: path/filename.YYYYMMDD_HHMM-s.backup.file_extension

Edit your .gitignore to exclude adding backups to your repository

vim .gitignore
Add the following line:
*.backup

You're welcome. We've all done it.
Just get into the habit of using backer before unleashing your inner wrecking ball.

Build Notes

2024-10-26 Added seconds an file extension to the backup filename.
2023-12-09 Use std::io::copy instead of fs::copy.