10 years raspiBackup (Retrospective by framp)
Today (August 07, 2023) 10 years ago the first version of raspiBackup was stored in my local cvs.
revision 1.1
date: 2013-08-07 21:28:14 0200; author: framp; state: Exp; commitid: 10052029FC71A98602F;
Initial version
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Unfortunately, this cvs no longer exists, because it would be interesting to see how the script has changed over the last 10 years. Initially there were about 50 lines of code. Now there are 8000 lines of code.
In the wayback machine I found an initial version of raspiBackup on this website 6/2013. initial version of raspiBackup. I put it on my website as raspiBackup_201306.sh. It was not 50 but 314 lines of code.
My son gave me a Raspberry for Christmas 2013. I enthusiastically started I started working with it enthusiastically and quickly added a second Raspberry, which was then was also used in production. As SD cards unfortunately only have a limited shelf life, raspiBackup was created. At first it was only used privately - but but after it did its job very well, it was made available to the community. made available to the community.
I had underestimated the amount of work involved: there is a difference difference between writing and using a small script yourself and having it used by other users. used by other users. A lot of tests for incorrect input and system and system environments had to be added. Corresponding error messages also had to be error messages had to be written. As the error messages are only short, various websites were created in parallel, on which the functionality of raspiBackup, as well as more detailed descriptions of the error messages and error messages and how the errors can be rectified.
The installer was then created to simplify the initial installation. Soon friends of raspiBackup were also found who helped to add language support Finnish, Chinese and French in addition to German and English. in addition to German and English.
There was a lot of feedback and suggestions from raspiBackup users on what else would be would be useful features in raspiBackup. Without these suggestions from raspiBackup users, raspiBackup would still have the initial functionality that I need @home. There were and are many helpers. Initially I once maintained a website on which all helpers were listed. At some point it just became too much and I took the website off the net. from the net.
Thanks to this help, raspiBackup has continued to develop over the last 10 years. in its range of functions. At first, all feedback came via the comment function on my website. However, this proved to be very cumbersome and eventually the cvs code was moved to GitHub. This simplified the creation of feature requests considerably. In addition reporting bugs and questions about raspiBackup usage has been is much easier.
Relatively quickly, I then registered in the German Raspberry Forum relatively quickly. The members there helped me a lot to get to know my Raspberry and how to use it. At some point I then asked whether it wouldn't make sense to create a backup subforum, which was then done. Since then I have been helping in the subforum for questions about raspiBackup.
I don't really think much of videos, but prefer textual descriptions descriptions, because you can search in them. But in the boring Corona period I did create various videos about raspiBackup and published them on them on Youtube. I didn't put much effort into it - in contrast to other people who publish very fancy videos on Youtube: A few slides and then explained them in presentation mode. Later I videos with practical use of raspiBackup on the command line. command line. But the number of people watching the videos is growing. So the effort was not useless.
Franjo from Raspberryforum wrote a small tool called raspiBackupDialog, with which the backup and restore with which the backup and restore with raspiBackup can be done dialog guided. can be done dialog-guided.
At some point I also created a Facebook group for raspiBackup. Initially users could contact me directly via raspiBackup. But that became too much for me at some point, as it eventually led to an unpaid 7/24 hotline support for raspiBackup.
Finally I set up a Paypal account to which everyone can pay the like raspiBackup can donate. Furthermore anyone can donate as a sponsor via GitHub.
Of course, this won't make me rich, but it is a recognizable acknowledgement of the work, that I put into raspiBackup development and support.
I can also use it to buy test hardware, because I cannot and will not shut down my productive systems to test and maintain raspiBackup. to test and maintain raspiBackup. In addition, I am no longer prepared to invest a cent in required HW for raspiBackup. raspiBackup is available for free and users should show their appreciation and finance the required HW through donations.
For example, a user donated a CM4 so that I could install and test NVMe support in raspiBackup.
From the general small donations I was able to purchase an RPi4 with 8GB memory and install Ubuntu support in raspiBackup and install it.
Finally, someone donated so that I could buy an RPi5. The donation was made because there was a problem with rpi-clone that could not be reproduced on an RPi4. So I was finally able to reproduce and fix the intermittent problem on the RPi5. (rpi-clone is a useful clone tool - not a backup tool like raspiBackup, but often requested, which I also keep an eye on).
In May 2025, simonz put a lot of effort and energy into a new git repository raspiBackupDoc, to bring the previous documentation of raspiBackup on my website into this repository and to improve the documentation significantly. All tooling as well as the transfer and customization from my web pages into the repository is due to him. This repository and the generated raspiBackup documentation will replace the documentation on my website in the future.
In addition, many small scripts were created to support the use of raspiBackup. in its use.
Herewith I give out a virtual round of free beer to celebrate the day.