- about
- configuration
- run using the binary
- run with Docker
- run on Synology NAS
- run on Kubernetes
- scheduling backups
- rotating backups
- notifications
- logging
- setting provider credentials
- additional options
- restoring backups
soba is tool for backing up private and public git repositories hosted on the most popular hosting providers. It generates a git bundle that stores a backup of each repository as a single file.
As unchanged git repositories create identical bundle files, new bundles will only be stored if changes to the repository have been made. This can be done by re-cloning each repository every time soba runs, or by comparing refs without cloning.
soba includes its own scheduler that triggers it to run every specified number of hours, or it can be run with other schedulers such as cron.
soba can run as a binary or using docker with the prebuilt image distributed with each release. For example, the following will create git bundles of all repositories in your GitHub user's account in the soba-backups directory:
$ mkdir soba-backups
$ docker run --rm -v ./soba-backups:/backups -e GITHUB_TOKEN=<token-here> -e GIT_BACKUP_DIR=/backups jonhadfield/soba:latest
- Add Telegram notifications
- Let user define the request timeout
- Increase clone timeout to allow for larger repos and slower connections
- Performance improvement
- Add Slack notifications
See full changelog here.
Tested on Windows 10, MacOS, and Linux (amd64). Not tested, but should also work on builds for: Linux (386, arm386 and arm64), FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD.
- Azure DevOps
- BitBucket
- Gitea
- GitHub
- GitLab
soba can be run from the command line or as a container. In both cases the only configuration required is an environment variable with the directory in which to create backups, and additional to define credentials for each the providers.
On Windows 10:
- search for 'environment variables' and choose 'Edit environment variables for your account'
- choose 'New...' under the top pane and enter the name/key and value for each of the settings
On Linux and MacOS you would set these using:
export GIT_BACKUP_DIR="/repo-backups/"To set provider credentials see below.
Download the latest release here and then install:
install <soba binary> /usr/local/bin/sobaAfter setting GIT_BACKUP_DIR, set your provider token(s) as detailed here.
and then run:
sobaUsing Docker enables you to run soba without anything else installed.
Docker requires you pass environment variables to the container using the '-e' option and that you mount your preferred backup directory. For example:
docker run --rm -t \
-v <your backup dir>:/backup \
-e GIT_BACKUP_DIR='/backup' \
-e GITHUB_TOKEN='MYGITHUBTOKEN' \
-e GITLAB_TOKEN='MYGITLABTOKEN' \
ghcr.io/jonhadfield/sobaTo hide credentials, you can instead use exported environment variables and specify using this syntax:
docker run --rm -t \
-v <your backup dir>:/backup \
-e GIT_BACKUP_DIR='/backup' \
-e GITHUB_TOKEN=$GITHUB_TOKEN \
-e GITLAB_TOKEN=$GITLAB_TOKEN \
ghcr.io/jonhadfield/sobaFor instructions on how to run soba on Kubernetes, see here.
Backups can be scheduled to run by setting an additional environment variable: GIT_BACKUP_INTERVAL. The value can be specified in hours (default) or minutes. For example, this will run the backup daily:
export GIT_BACKUP_INTERVAL=24hand this will run the backup every 45 minutes:
export GIT_BACKUP_INTERVAL=45mnote:
- if you don't specify the trailing 'm' or 'h' then hours are assumed.
- the interval is added to the start of the last backup and not the time it finished, therefore ensure the interval is greater than the duration of a backup.
A new bundle is created every time a change is detected in the repository. To keep only the x most recent, use the
following provider specific environment variables:
GITEA_BACKUPS=x
GITHUB_BACKUPS=x
GITLAB_BACKUPS=x
BITBUCKET_BACKUPS=x
By default, soba will wait up to five minutes for a response to complete. This could be anything from an API call to discover repositories to a clone of a large repository.
If you have a slow connection or very large repositories, you may want to increase this. To do so, set the environment variable GIT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT to the number of seconds you wish to wait. For example, to wait up to ten minutes:
export GIT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT=600(since release 1.2.20)
To send a Telegram message on completion, set the environment variables:
SOBA_TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN with the bot token
SOBA_TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID with the chat/group id
To get the bot token:
- send a message to @BotFather of /newbot
- submit a name, e.g. soba-notifier
- submit a username for the bot
- record bot token
To get the chat id:
- add the bot user to the group (get group info and click Add)
- run command:
curl -s -X POST https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_BOT_TOKEN>/getUpdates - record the chat id in the response
(since release 1.2.16)
To send a Slack message on completion, set the environment variables:
SLACK_CHANNEL_ID with the channel id
SLACK_API_TOKEN with the token for the Slack app
For example:
$ export SLACK_CHANNEL_ID=C12345678
$ export SLACK_API_TOKEN=xoxb-***********-************-************************
- channel id can be in
Aboutsection at bottom of the channel details - the app needs to be added under
Appsin theIntegrationssection of channel details - use the token starting with
xoxb-and not the one starting withxoxp-
(since release 1.2.8)
To send a webhook on completion of a run: set the environment variable SOBA_WEBHOOK_URL with the url of the endpoint.
For example:
$ export SOBA_WEBHOOK_URL=https://api.example.com/webhook
The payload is a JSON document containing details of the backup run. The default format lists each repository and the success or failure of its backup. You can see an example here.
For a shorter format, with just stats on the success and failure counts, use the environment variable SOBA_WEBHOOK_FORMAT.
For example:
$ export SOBA_WEBHOOK_FORMAT=short
You can see a sample here.
The default format (if not specified) is long
NOTE: The long format webhook will contain a list of your repos and, if there's an error, may contain other details including URLs. Please keep this in mind when sending to endpoints that may be insecure.
(since release 1.2.10)
ntfy is a popular service that enables push notifications for desktop and mobile apps.
To send a message on completion of a run: set the environment variable SOBA_NTFY_URL with the url of the endpoint.
For example:
$ export SOBA_NTFY_URL=https://ntfy.sh/example-topic
Messages are written to stdout and can be persisted by directing to a file, e.g.
soba > soba.log
create a user called soba:
sudo adduser soba
create a log directory:
sudo mkdir /var/log/soba
set user permissions:
sudo chown soba /var/log/soba && sudo chmod 700 /var/log/soba
switch to soba user:
sudo su - soba
run soba and direct output:
soba > /var/log/soba/soba.log
Logrotate is a utility that comes with most Linux distributions and removes and/or compresses messages older than a certain number of hours or days.
This example assumes you persist the log file to /var/log/soba/soba.log
create a file in /etc/logrotate.d/soba with the following content:
/var/log/soba/soba.log {
rotate 7 # remove backups older than seven days
daily # process log file each day
compress # compress the backup
copytruncate # don't delete the file after backup, but instread truncate
}
Each day, this copy the latest logs to a new file that is then compressed. The existing log file is then truncated. Any backups older than seven days are then removed.
In case the computer is rebooted or the process ends for another reason, you can ensure it automatically restarts with a simple script and cron job.
For example:
#!/bin/bash -e
export GIT_BACKUP_DIR=/backup-dir
export GITHUB_TOKEN=xxxxxxx # avoid hard-coding if possible
export GITHUB_BACKUPS=7
export GIT_BACKUP_INTERVAL=12
export GITHUB_COMPARE=refs
/usr/local/bin/soba
ensure the user running soba has an entry in /etc/cron.allow.
run crontab -e
add the following (assuming you have a user called soba with a script to run it called backup in their home directory):
* * * * * /usr/bin/flock -n /tmp/soba.lockfile /home/soba/backup >> /var/log/soba/soba.log 2>&1
note: A useful tool for testing cron jobs is crontab guru.
On Linux and MacOS you can set environment variables manually before each time you run soba:
export NAME='VALUE'or by defining in a startup file for your shell so they are automatically set and available when you need them. For example, if using the bash shell and running soba as your user, add the relevant export statements to the following file:
/home/<your-user-id>/.bashrcand run:
source /home/<your-user-id>/.bashrc| Provider | Environment Variable(s) | Generating token |
|---|---|---|
| Azure DevOps | AZURE_DEVOPS_USERNAME | instructions |
| AZURE_DEVOPS_PAT | ||
| AZURE_DEVOPS_ORGS | ||
| BitBucket | BITBUCKET_USER | instructions |
| BITBUCKET_KEY | ||
| BITBUCKET_SECRET | ||
| Gitea | GITEA_APIURL | instructions |
| GITEA_TOKEN | ||
| GitHub | GITHUB_TOKEN | instructions |
| GitLab | GITLAB_TOKEN | instructions |
| GITLAB_PROJECT_MIN_ACCESS_LEVEL | instructions |
An organisation must be specified using environment variable AZURE_DEVOPS_ORGS in order for soba to discover the projects and their repos. Note: Only a single organisation is currently supported.
Environment variable: AZURE_DEVOPS_COMPARE
| Value | |
|---|---|
| clone (default) | Clone the remote and compare latest bundle |
| refs | Compare refs without downloading (available since soba 1.1.4) |
Environment variable: BITBUCKET_COMPARE
| Value | |
|---|---|
| clone (default) | Clone the remote and compare latest bundle |
| refs | Compare refs without downloading (available since soba 1.1.4) |
The value for GITEA_APIURL needs to be in the format: https://[domain]/api/v1, where domain is something like gitea.example.com.
GITEA_TOKEN is the secret you need to generate using the API (see official documentation above), or via the web GUI:
- Login to Gitea
- Select your user icon in the top right-hand corner and choose
Settingsfrom the dropdown - Select
Applications - Enter a Token Name, e.g. "soba backups"
- Select
Public onlyorAlldepending on use-case - Expand the
Select permissionsmenu - Select
read:organizationandread:repository. - Click on
Generate Tokenand the value will appear at the top of the page
Repositories in Gitea organisations are not backed up by default. To back these up, specify a comma separated
list of organisations in the environment variable: GITEA_ORGS. To include "all" organisations, set to *.
Environment variable: GITEA_COMPARE
| Value | |
|---|---|
| clone (default) | Clone the remote and compare latest bundle |
| refs | Compare refs without downloading (available since soba 1.1.4) |
Repositories in GitHub organisations are not backed up by default. To back these up, specify a comma separated list of organisations in the environment variable: GITHUB_ORGS.
By default, all users' repositories will be backed up, even when specifying organisations. To skip user repositories set environment variable: GITHUB_SKIP_USER_REPOS to true.
By default, all repositories a user is affiliated with, e.g. a collaborator on, are included for backup. To limit these to only those owned by the user, set environment variable: GITHUB_LIMIT_USER_OWNED to true.
Environment variable: GITHUB_COMPARE
| Value | |
|---|---|
| clone (default) | Clone the remote and compare latest bundle |
| refs | Compare refs without downloading (available since soba 1.1.4) |
The way in which a user's GitLab Projects are returned. By default, every Project a user has at
least Reporter access to will be returned. New environment variable GITLAB_PROJECT_MIN_ACCESS_LEVEL can be set to
override this, by specifying the number matching the desired access level shown here and here:
| Access Level | Value |
|---|---|
| Guest | 10 |
| Reporter | 20 |
| Developer | 30 |
| Maintainer | 40 |
| Owner | 50 |
Environment variable: GITLAB_COMPARE
| Value | |
|---|---|
| clone (default) | Clone the remote and compare latest bundle |
| refs | Compare refs without downloading (available since soba 1.1.4) |
By default, each repository will be cloned, bundled, and that bundle compared with the latest local bundle to check if it should be kept or discarded.
When processing many large repositories, this can be a lengthy process.
Alternatively, you can now compare the Git refs of the latest local bundle with the remote repository without having to clone.
This is carried out using native commands git bundle list-heads <bundle file> and git ls-remote <remote repository>.
This process is far quicker than cloning but should only be used if the following is understood: Comparing refs means comparing the tips of, and not the entire history of, the repository. This post on Stack Overflow goes into additional detail.
- Create a directory on your NAS for backing up Git repositories to
- Install Docker from the Synology Package Center
- Open Docker and select 'Image'
- Select 'Add' from the top menu and choose 'Add From URL'
- In 'Repository URL' enter 'jonhadfield/soba', leave other options as default and click 'Add'
- When it asks to 'Choose Tag' accept the default 'latest' by pressing 'Select'
- Select image 'jonhadfield/soba:latest' from the list and click 'Launch' from the top menu
- Set 'Container Name' to 'soba' and select 'Advanced Settings'
- Check 'Enable auto-restart'
- Under 'Volume' select 'Add folder' and choose the directory created in step 1. Set the 'Mount Path' to '/backup'
- Under 'Network' check 'Use the same network as Docker Host'
- Under 'Environment' click '+' to add the common configuration:
- variable GIT_BACKUP_DIR Value /backup
- variable GIT_BACKUP_INTERVAL Value (hours between backups)
- Also under 'Environment' click '+' to add the relevant provider specific configuration:
- variable BITBUCKET_USER Value
- variable BITBUCKET_KEY Value
- variable BITBUCKET_SECRET Value
- variable BITBUCKET_BACKUPS Value (Number of backups to keep for each repo)
- variable GITEA_APIURL Value
- variable GITEA_TOKEN Value
- variable GITEA_ORGS Value
- variable GITEA_BACKUPS Value
- variable GITHUB_TOKEN Value
- variable GITHUB_ORGS Value (Optional - comma separated list of organisations)
- variable GITHUB_SKIP_USER_REPOS Value (Optional - defaults to false)
- variable GITHUB_LIMIT_USER_OWNED Value (Optional - defaults to false)
- variable GITHUB_BACKUPS Value (Number of backups to keep for each repo)
- variable GITLAB_TOKEN Value
- variable GITLAB_BACKUPS Value (Number of backups to keep for each repo)
- variable GITLAB_PROJECT_MIN_ACCESS_LEVEL Value (Optional - scope of repos to backup)
- Click 'Apply'
- Leave settings as default and select 'Next'
- Check 'Run this container after the wizard is finished' and click 'Apply'
The container should launch in a few seconds. You can view progress by choosing 'Container' in the left-hand menu, select 'soba', choose 'details' and then click on 'Log'
A Git bundle is an archive of a Git repository. The simplest way to restore is to clone it like a remote repository.
git clone soba.20180708153107.bundle soba