backhub

README

BackHub

 

BackHub is a simple GitHub repository backup tool that creates complete local mirrors of your repositories.

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Features

• Full repository mirroring including all branches, tags, and history
• Concurrent backup processing for multiple repositories defined in a YAML config file
• GitHub token-based authentication (to be used in an environment variable)
• Easy restoration capability due to it being local mirror
• Multi-arch and multi-OS binary for simple one-time usage

Installation

Binary

The easiest way to use Backhub is to download it from the project releases for your OS and architecture.

Development Build

go install github.com/tanq16/backhub@latest

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/tanq16/backhub.git && \
cd backhub && \
go build

Usage

Backhub uses an environment variable to authenticate to GitHub. To do this, set your GH_TOKEN variable. This can be done inline with:

GH_TOKEN=pat_jsdhksjdskhjdhkajshkdjh backhub

Alternatively, export it to your shell session with:

export GH_TOKEN=pat_jsdhksjdskhjdhkajshkdjh

With the environment variable exported, backhub can be directly executed multiple times from the command line like so:

# config file
backhub /path/to/config.yaml

# direct repo
backhub github.com/tanq16/backhub

YAML Config File

BackHub uses a simple YAML configuration file:

repos:
  - github.com/username/repo1
  - github.com/username/repo2
  - github.com/org/repo3

For Docker, put the config file in the mounted directory and name it config.yaml.

Using the Local Mirrors

To use a local mirror as a Git repository source (like when you need to restore from the backup), the following can be done:

1. Directly pull or clone from the mirror treating it as a backup remote in an existing repository:

   git remote add backup /path/to/your/mirror.git
   git pull backup main # or any other branch
   git clone /path/to/your/mirror.git new-repo
   

2. Serve the mirror via a local git server and use it :

   git daemon --base-path=/path/to/mirror --export-all
   git clone git://localhost/mirror.git # in a different path
   

3. Use the mirror as a git server by refering to it through the file protocol:

   git clone file:///path/to/mirror.git
   

Being a mirror, it contains all references (branches, tags, etc.), so cloning or pulling from it allows accessing everything as if it's the original. Use git branch -a to see all branches and git tag -l to see all tags in the mirror.