FlickSave -- automatic snapshot each time you hit save

FlickSave automagically backup a timestamped snapshot of a file that you edit with any program, without getting in your way.

For example, each time you hit Ctrl-S within a drawing software, FlickSave will make a copy the current version of your file, along with the precise date of this version.

This may be useful for digital artists that want to prepare a time-lapse of their on-going work without having to think about it.

Usage

You should start FlickSave with the file you want to save as an argument and let it run during the time you want to create snapshots. Once started, it will watch for modifications on the given file and create the snapshots by himself each time something happens.

By default, the snapshot has the same name than the targeted file, with the addition of the timestamp. For instance, with a target file named test.svg, a snapshot will look like test_2017-11-28T21:02:59.svg.

Synopsis

flicksave.py [-h] [-d DIRECTORY] [-y DELAY] [-s SEPARATOR] [-t TEMPLATE] [-v {DEBUG,INFO,WARNING,ERROR}] target

Required positional argument

target: The file to save each time it's modified.

Optional arguments

• -h, --help: show this help message and exit.
• -d DIRECTORY, --directory DIRECTORY: The directory in which to copy the saved versions. (default: .)
• -y DELAY, --delay DELAY: The minimum time (in seconds) between the creation of different saved files. (default: 10)
• -s SEPARATOR, --separator SEPARATOR: Separator character between the file name and the date stamp. (default: _)
• -t TEMPLATE, --template TEMPLATE: Template of the date stamp. (default: %Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S)
• -v {DEBUG,INFO,WARNING,ERROR}, --verbose {DEBUG,INFO,WARNING,ERROR}: Verbosity level. (default: WARNING)

Examples

Command line

Just start FlickSave with your target file as an argument:

$ ./flicksave.py my_file.svg

Then edit your file and save it. As usual, hit Ctrl-C (or close the terminal) to stop FlickSave.

If you want to specify a directory in which to put your snapshots, with no more than one separate file every minute:

$ ./flicksave.py -d flicksave -y 60 my_file.xcf

If you want to see what's going on and when the snapshots are created, ask it to be more verbose:

$ touch test.txt
$ ./flicksave.py -v INFO test.txt &
[1] 4303
echo "." >> test.txt
2017-11-29T21:15:51 -- ./test.txt -> ./test_2017-11-29T21:15:51.txt
$ kill 4303
[1]+  Complété              ./flicksave.py -v INFO test.txt

Authors

Original Author: nojhan ()