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rdiff-backup

Reverse-incremental backups preserving file history

Backup & Recovery ★ 1.3k stars Medium setup GPL-2.0

rdiff-backup backs up one directory to another, keeping the latest copy plus reverse diffs for older versions. It preserves permissions, ownership, and special files while working over SSH.

Official siteSource code

Key features

  • Reverse-incremental storage
  • Preserves file metadata
  • Works over SSH

Strengths

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Python
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM

Is rdiff-backup secure?

OSV.dev has no published security advisories for rdiff-backup's repository. No known vulnerabilities is not proof of security: it means none have been publicly catalogued.

Source: OSV.dev, checked 2026-10-14. How this is measured.

rdiff-backup replaces

Self-hosted Time Machine alternatives

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SelfHostIndex: 65 · good

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