Duplicity is a software suite

Software suite

A software suite or application suite is a collection of computer programs, usually application software and programming software of related functionality, often sharing a more-or-less common user interface and some ability to smoothly exchange data with each other.Sometimes software makers...

 that provides easy encrypted, digitally signed

Digital signature

A digital signature or digital signature scheme is a mathematical scheme for demonstrating the authenticity of a digital message or document. A valid digital signature gives a recipient reason to believe that the message was created by a known sender, and that it was not altered in transit...

, versioned, remote backup of files requiring little of the remote server. It is capable of both full backups and incremental backups where only changes since the prior backup was made are stored. Chains consisting of a full backup and a series of incremental backups can be recovered to the point in time that any of the incremental steps were taken at. If any of the incremental backups are missing then the incremental backups following it cannot be reconstructed. It does this using GnuPG, librsync, tar

Tar (file format)

In computing, tar is both a file format and the name of a program used to handle such files...

, and rdiff. To transmit data it can use SSH

Secure Shell

Secure Shell is a network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution and other secure network services between two networked computers that it connects via a secure channel over an insecure network: a server and a client...

/SCP

Secure copy

Secure Copy or SCP is a means of securely transferring computer files between a local and a remote host or between two remote hosts. It is based on the Secure Shell protocol....

, local file access, rsync

Rsync

rsync is a software application and network protocol for Unix-like and Windows systems which synchronizes files and directories from one location to another while minimizing data transfer using delta encoding when appropriate. An important feature of rsync not found in most similar...

, FTP

File Transfer Protocol

File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...

, and Amazon S3

Amazon S3

Amazon S3 is an online storage web service offered by Amazon Web Services. Amazon S3 provides storage through web services interfaces...

.

Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License

GNU General Public License

The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

 (GPL), Duplicity is free software

Free software

Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

.

Duplicity works best under Unix-like

Unix-like

A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....

 operating systems (such as Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

, BSD, and Mac OS X

Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

), though it can be used with Windows under Cygwin

Cygwin

Cygwin is a Unix-like environment and command-line interface for Microsoft Windows. Cygwin provides native integration of Windows-based applications, data, and other system resources with applications, software tools, and data of the Unix-like environment...

. Currently duplicity supports deleted files, full Unix permissions, directories, and symbolic link

Symbolic link

In computing, a symbolic link is a special type of file that contains a reference to another file or directory in the form of an absolute or relative path and that affects pathname resolution. Symbolic links were already present by 1978 in mini-computer operating systems from DEC and Data...

s, fifos, and device files, but not hard link

Hard link

In computing, a hard link is a directory entry that associates a name with a file on a file system. . The term is used in file systems which allow multiple hard links to be created for the same file. This has the effect of creating multiple names for the same file, causing an aliasing effect: e.g...

s.

External links

• Duplicity home page
• duply (simple duplicity) - usability improving shell front-end
• Déjà Dup - a GUI front-end using GTK+ and its own scheduler
• Duplicati - a C# reimplementation of duplicity with a friendly user interface
• Time Drive - snapshot-oriented backup tool based on duplicity
• ftplicity - simplified FTP-only shell front-end (no longer under development, use duply)