Provided by: borgbackup_1.2.0-1_amd64 bug

NAME

       borg-create - Create new archive

SYNOPSIS

       borg [common options] create [options] ARCHIVE [PATH...]

DESCRIPTION

       This  command  creates  a  backup  archive  containing  all  files found while recursively
       traversing all paths specified. Paths are added to the archive as  they  are  given,  that
       means if relative paths are desired, the command has to be run from the correct directory.

       When giving '-' as path, borg will read data from standard input and create a file 'stdin'
       in the created archive from that  data.  In  some  cases  it's  more  appropriate  to  use
       --content-from-command, however. See section Reading from stdin below for details.

       The  archive  will  consume  almost  no  disk  space for files or parts of files that have
       already been stored in other archives.

       The archive name needs to be unique. It must not end in '.checkpoint'  or  '.checkpoint.N'
       (with  N  being  a  number),  because  these names are used for checkpoints and treated in
       special ways.

       In the archive name, you may use the  following  placeholders:  {now},  {utcnow},  {fqdn},
       {hostname}, {user} and some others.

       Backup  speed  is  increased  by  not reprocessing files that are already part of existing
       archives and weren't modified. The detection of unmodified  files  is  done  by  comparing
       multiple file metadata values with previous values kept in the files cache.

       This comparison can operate in different modes as given by --files-cache:

       • ctime,size,inode (default)

       • mtime,size,inode (default behaviour of borg versions older than 1.1.0rc4)

       • ctime,size (ignore the inode number)

       • mtime,size (ignore the inode number)

       • rechunk,ctime (all files are considered modified - rechunk, cache ctime)

       • rechunk,mtime (all files are considered modified - rechunk, cache mtime)

       • disabled (disable the files cache, all files considered modified - rechunk)

       inode number: better safety, but often unstable on network filesystems

       Normally,  detecting  file modifications will take inode information into consideration to
       improve the reliability of file change detection.  This is problematic for  files  located
       on  sshfs and similar network file systems which do not provide stable inode numbers, such
       files will always be considered modified. You can use modes without inode in this case  to
       improve performance, but reliability of change detection might be reduced.

       ctime vs. mtime: safety vs. speed

       • ctime is a rather safe way to detect changes to a file (metadata and contents) as it can
         not be set from userspace. But, a metadata-only change will already update the ctime, so
         there  might  be  some  unnecessary  chunking/hashing even without content changes. Some
         filesystems do not support ctime (change time).  E.g. doing a chown or chmod to  a  file
         will change its ctime.

       • mtime  usually  works  and  only updates if file contents were changed. But mtime can be
         arbitrarily set from userspace, e.g. to set mtime back to the same value it had before a
         content change happened. This can be used maliciously as well as well-meant, but in both
         cases mtime based cache modes can be problematic.

       The mount points of filesystems or filesystem snapshots  should  be  the  same  for  every
       creation of a new archive to ensure fast operation. This is because the file cache that is
       used to determine changed files quickly uses absolute filenames.  If this is not possible,
       consider creating a bind mount to a stable location.

       The --progress option shows (from left to right) Original, Compressed and Deduplicated (O,
       C and D, respectively), then the Number of files (N) processed so  far,  followed  by  the
       currently processed path.

       When using --stats, you will get some statistics about how much data was added - the "This
       Archive" deduplicated size there is most interesting as that is how much  your  repository
       will  grow.  Please  note that the "All archives" stats refer to the state after creation.
       Also, the --stats and --dry-run options are mutually exclusive because  the  data  is  not
       actually compressed and deduplicated during a dry run.

       For more help on include/exclude patterns, see the borg_patterns command output.

       For more help on placeholders, see the borg_placeholders command output.

OPTIONS

       See borg-common(1) for common options of Borg commands.

   arguments
       ARCHIVE
              name of archive to create (must be also a valid directory name)

       PATH   paths to archive

   optional arguments
       -n, --dry-run
              do not create a backup archive

       -s, --stats
              print statistics for the created archive

       --list output verbose list of items (files, dirs, ...)

       --filter STATUSCHARS
              only display items with the given status characters (see description)

       --json output stats as JSON. Implies --stats.

       --no-cache-sync
              experimental: do not synchronize the cache. Implies not using the files cache.

       --stdin-name NAME
              use NAME in archive for stdin data (default: 'stdin')

       --stdin-user USER
              set user USER in archive for stdin data (default: 'root')

       --stdin-group GROUP
              set group GROUP in archive for stdin data (default: 'wheel')

       --stdin-mode M
              set mode to M in archive for stdin data (default: 0660)

       --content-from-command
              interpret PATH as command and store its stdout. See also section Reading from stdin
              below.

       --paths-from-stdin
              read DELIM-separated list of paths to backup from  stdin.  Will  not  recurse  into
              directories.

       --paths-from-command
              interpret PATH as command and treat its output as --paths-from-stdin

       --paths-delimiter DELIM
              set path delimiter for --paths-from-stdin and --paths-from-command (default: n)

   Exclusion options
       -e PATTERN, --exclude PATTERN
              exclude paths matching PATTERN

       --exclude-from EXCLUDEFILE
              read exclude patterns from EXCLUDEFILE, one per line

       --pattern PATTERN
              include/exclude paths matching PATTERN

       --patterns-from PATTERNFILE
              read include/exclude patterns from PATTERNFILE, one per line

       --exclude-caches
              exclude     directories     that     contain     a     CACHEDIR.TAG     file     (‐
              http://www.bford.info/cachedir/spec.html)

       --exclude-if-present NAME
              exclude directories that are tagged by containing  a  filesystem  object  with  the
              given NAME

       --keep-exclude-tags
              if  tag objects are specified with --exclude-if-present, don't omit the tag objects
              themselves from the backup archive

       --exclude-nodump
              exclude files flagged NODUMP

   Filesystem options
       -x, --one-file-system
              stay in the same file system and do not store mount points of other  file  systems.
              This might behave different from your expectations, see the docs.

       --numeric-owner
              deprecated, use --numeric-ids instead

       --numeric-ids
              only store numeric user and group identifiers

       --noatime
              do not store atime into archive

       --atime
              do store atime into archive

       --noctime
              do not store ctime into archive

       --nobirthtime
              do not store birthtime (creation date) into archive

       --nobsdflags
              deprecated, use --noflags instead

       --noflags
              do not read and store flags (e.g. NODUMP, IMMUTABLE) into archive

       --noacls
              do not read and store ACLs into archive

       --noxattrs
              do not read and store xattrs into archive

       --sparse
              detect sparse holes in input (supported only by fixed chunker)

       --files-cache MODE
              operate files cache in MODE. default: ctime,size,inode

       --read-special
              open  and read block and char device files as well as FIFOs as if they were regular
              files. Also follows symlinks pointing to these kinds of files.

   Archive options
       --comment COMMENT
              add a comment text to the archive

       --timestamp TIMESTAMP
              manually specify the archive creation date/time (UTC, yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss  format).
              Alternatively, give a reference file/directory.

       -c SECONDS, --checkpoint-interval SECONDS
              write checkpoint every SECONDS seconds (Default: 1800)

       --chunker-params PARAMS
              specify the chunker parameters (ALGO, CHUNK_MIN_EXP, CHUNK_MAX_EXP, HASH_MASK_BITS,
              HASH_WINDOW_SIZE). default: buzhash,19,23,21,4095

       -C COMPRESSION, --compression COMPRESSION
              select compression algorithm, see the output of the "borg help compression" command
              for details.

EXAMPLES

          # Backup ~/Documents into an archive named "my-documents"
          $ borg create /path/to/repo::my-documents ~/Documents

          # same, but list all files as we process them
          $ borg create --list /path/to/repo::my-documents ~/Documents

          # Backup ~/Documents and ~/src but exclude pyc files
          $ borg create /path/to/repo::my-files \
              ~/Documents                       \
              ~/src                             \
              --exclude '*.pyc'

          # Backup home directories excluding image thumbnails (i.e. only
          # /home/<one directory>/.thumbnails is excluded, not /home/*/*/.thumbnails etc.)
          $ borg create /path/to/repo::my-files /home \
              --exclude 'sh:/home/*/.thumbnails'

          # Backup the root filesystem into an archive named "root-YYYY-MM-DD"
          # use zlib compression (good, but slow) - default is lz4 (fast, low compression ratio)
          $ borg create -C zlib,6 --one-file-system /path/to/repo::root-{now:%Y-%m-%d} /

          # Backup onto a remote host ("push" style) via ssh to port 2222,
          # logging in as user "borg" and storing into /path/to/repo
          $ borg create ssh://borg@backup.example.org:2222/path/to/repo::{fqdn}-root-{now} /

          # Backup a remote host locally ("pull" style) using sshfs
          $ mkdir sshfs-mount
          $ sshfs root@example.com:/ sshfs-mount
          $ cd sshfs-mount
          $ borg create /path/to/repo::example.com-root-{now:%Y-%m-%d} .
          $ cd ..
          $ fusermount -u sshfs-mount

          # Make a big effort in fine granular deduplication (big chunk management
          # overhead, needs a lot of RAM and disk space, see formula in internals
          # docs - same parameters as borg < 1.0 or attic):
          $ borg create --chunker-params buzhash,10,23,16,4095 /path/to/repo::small /smallstuff

          # Backup a raw device (must not be active/in use/mounted at that time)
          $ borg create --read-special --chunker-params fixed,4194304 /path/to/repo::my-sdx /dev/sdX

          # Backup a sparse disk image (must not be active/in use/mounted at that time)
          $ borg create --sparse --chunker-params fixed,4194304 /path/to/repo::my-disk my-disk.raw

          # No compression (none)
          $ borg create --compression none /path/to/repo::arch ~

          # Super fast, low compression (lz4, default)
          $ borg create /path/to/repo::arch ~

          # Less fast, higher compression (zlib, N = 0..9)
          $ borg create --compression zlib,N /path/to/repo::arch ~

          # Even slower, even higher compression (lzma, N = 0..9)
          $ borg create --compression lzma,N /path/to/repo::arch ~

          # Only compress compressible data with lzma,N (N = 0..9)
          $ borg create --compression auto,lzma,N /path/to/repo::arch ~

          # Use short hostname, user name and current time in archive name
          $ borg create /path/to/repo::{hostname}-{user}-{now} ~
          # Similar, use the same datetime format that is default as of borg 1.1
          $ borg create /path/to/repo::{hostname}-{user}-{now:%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S} ~
          # As above, but add nanoseconds
          $ borg create /path/to/repo::{hostname}-{user}-{now:%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%f} ~

          # Backing up relative paths by moving into the correct directory first
          $ cd /home/user/Documents
          # The root directory of the archive will be "projectA"
          $ borg create /path/to/repo::daily-projectA-{now:%Y-%m-%d} projectA

          # Use external command to determine files to archive
          # Use --paths-from-stdin with find to only backup files less than 1MB in size
          $ find ~ -size -1000k | borg create --paths-from-stdin /path/to/repo::small-files-only
          # Use --paths-from-command with find to only backup files from a given user
          $ borg create --paths-from-command /path/to/repo::joes-files -- find /srv/samba/shared -user joe
          # Use --paths-from-stdin with --paths-delimiter (for example, for filenames with newlines in them)
          $ find ~ -size -1000k -print0 | borg create \
              --paths-from-stdin \
              --paths-delimiter "\0" \
              /path/to/repo::smallfiles-handle-newline

NOTES

       The  --exclude  patterns  are  not  like  tar. In tar --exclude .bundler/gems will exclude
       foo/.bundler/gems. In borg it will not, you need to use --exclude '*/.bundler/gems' to get
       the same effect.

       In  addition  to  using  --exclude patterns, it is possible to use --exclude-if-present to
       specify the name of a filesystem object (e.g. a file or folder name) which, when contained
       within  another  folder,  will  prevent  the  containing  folder from being backed up.  By
       default, the containing folder and all of its contents will be omitted  from  the  backup.
       If,  however,  you  wish  to only include the objects specified by --exclude-if-present in
       your backup, and not include any other contents of the  containing  folder,  this  can  be
       enabled through using the --keep-exclude-tags option.

       The  -x  or  --one-file-system  option  excludes  directories,  that  are mountpoints (and
       everything in them).  It detects mountpoints by  comparing  the  device  number  from  the
       output  of  stat()  of  the  directory and its parent directory. Specifically, it excludes
       directories for which stat() reports a device number different from the device  number  of
       their  parent.  Be aware that in Linux (and possibly elsewhere) there are directories with
       device number different from their parent, which the kernel does not consider a mountpoint
       and  also the other way around. Examples are bind mounts (possibly same device number, but
       always a mountpoint) and ALL subvolumes of a btrfs (different device  number  from  parent
       but not necessarily a mountpoint). Therefore when using --one-file-system, one should make
       doubly sure that the backup works as intended especially when using btrfs.  This  is  even
       more  important,  if  the  btrfs  layout  was created by someone else, e.g. a distribution
       installer.

   Item flags
       --list outputs a list of all files, directories and other file system items it  considered
       (no  matter  whether  they  had  content  changes  or  not).  For each item, it prefixes a
       single-letter flag that indicates type and/or status of the item.

       If you are interested only in a subset of that output, you can give e.g.  --filter=AME and
       it will only show regular files with A, M or E status (see below).

       A  uppercase  character  represents  the  status of a regular file relative to the "files"
       cache (not relative to the repo -- this is an issue if  the  files  cache  is  not  used).
       Metadata  is  stored  in any case and for 'A' and 'M' also new data chunks are stored. For
       'U' all data chunks refer to already existing chunks.

       • 'A' = regular file, added (see also a_status_oddity in the FAQ)

       • 'M' = regular file, modified

       • 'U' = regular file, unchanged

       • 'C' = regular file, it changed while we backed it up

       • 'E' = regular file, an error happened while accessing/reading this file

       A lowercase character means a file type other than  a  regular  file,  borg  usually  just
       stores their metadata:

       • 'd' = directory

       • 'b' = block device

       • 'c' = char device

       • 'h' = regular file, hardlink (to already seen inodes)

       • 's' = symlink

       • 'f' = fifo

       Other flags used include:

       • 'i' = backup data was read from standard input (stdin)

       • '-' = dry run, item was not backed up

       • 'x' = excluded, item was not backed up

       • '?' = missing status code (if you see this, please file a bug report!)

   Reading from stdin
       There  are  two  methods to read from stdin. Either specify - as path and pipe directly to
       borg:

          backup-vm --id myvm --stdout | borg create REPO::ARCHIVE -

       Or use --content-from-command to have Borg manage the execution of the command and piping.
       If you do so, the first PATH argument is interpreted as command to execute and any further
       arguments are treated as arguments to the command:

          borg create --content-from-command REPO::ARCHIVE -- backup-vm --id myvm --stdout

       -- is used to ensure --id and --stdout are not considered arguments  to  borg  but  rather
       backup-vm.

       The  difference  between the two approaches is that piping to borg creates an archive even
       if the command piping to borg exits with a failure. In this case,  one  can  end  up  with
       truncated  output  being  backed  up.  Using  --content-from-command, in contrast, borg is
       guaranteed to fail without creating an archive should the command  fail.  The  command  is
       considered failed when it returned a non-zero exit code.

       Reading  from stdin yields just a stream of data without file metadata associated with it,
       and the files cache is not needed at all. So it is safe to disable  it  via  --files-cache
       disabled and speed up backup creation a bit.

       By  default,  the  content  read  from  stdin  is  stored  in  a file called 'stdin'.  Use
       --stdin-name to change the name.

SEE ALSO

       borg-common(1),   borg-delete(1),    borg-prune(1),    borg-check(1),    borg-patterns(1),
       borg-placeholders(1), borg-compression(1)

AUTHOR

       The Borg Collective

                                            2022-02-19                             BORG-CREATE(1)