For fun, convenience and a chance to learn shell scripting for myself, I've been working on a collection of scripts to semi-automate the backup of my computer, two network connected Raspberry Pi's and my Android phone with Termux.
The main script basically runs a bunch of remote backup scripts, then copies those remote backups to a dedicated partition on my computer and finally creates a copy of that partition to an external drive connected to my computer. I use rsync
and it's dry run feature so I am able to examine any file changes which has been super useful to me for catching mistakes and issues as I've been learning how to self-host over the past half year.
I have a simplified version of those backup scripts that makes a copy of my /home directory:
#!/bin/sh
# VARIABLES
## ENABLE FILE TRANSFER: Change variable `DRY_RUN` to `#DRY_RUN` to enable file tranfers
DRY_RUN="--dry-run" # Disables all file transfers
## PATHS (USER DEFINED)
SOURCE_DIRECTORY_PATH="/home"
SOURCE_DIRECTORY_PATH_EXCLUSIONS="--exclude=lost+found --exclude=.cache/*"
BACKUP_NAME="home"
BACKUP_BASE_PATH="/backup"
## PATHS (SCRIPT DEFINED/DO NOT TOUCH)
SOURCE_DIR="${SOURCE_DIRECTORY_PATH}/"
DESTINATION_DIR="${BACKUP_BASE_PATH}/${BACKUP_NAME}/"
## EXCLUSIONS (SCRIPT DEFINED/DO NOT TOUCH)
EXCLUDE_DIR="${SOURCE_DIRECTORY_PATH_EXCLUSIONS}"
## OPTIONS (SCRIPT DEFINED/DO NOT TOUCH)
OPTIONS="--archive --acls --one-file-system --xattrs --hard-links --sparse --verbose --human-readable --partial --progress --compress"
OPTIONS_EXTRA="--delete --numeric-ids"
# FUNCTIONS
## SPACER
SPACER() {
printf "\n\n\n\n\n"
}
## RSYNC ERROR WARNINGS
ERROR_WARNINGS() {
if [ "$RSYNC_STATUS" -eq 0 ]; then
# SUCCESSFUL
printf "\nSync successful"
printf "\nExit status(0): %s\n" "$RSYNC_STATUS"
else
# ERRORS OCCURED
printf "\nSome error occurred"
printf "\nExit status(0): %s\n" "$RSYNC_STATUS"
fi
}
## CONFIRMATION (YES/NO)
CONFIRM_YESNO() {
while true; do
prompt="${1}"
printf "%s (Yes/No): " "${prompt}" >&2 # FUNCTION CALL REQUIRES TEXT PROMPT ARGUMENT
read -r reply
case $reply in
[Yy]* ) return 0;; # YES
[Nn]* ) return 1;; # NO
* ) printf "Options: y / n\n";;
esac
done
}
##### START
# CHECK FOR ROOT
if ! [ "$(id -u)" = 0 ]; then
# EXIT WITH NO ACTIONS TAKEN
printf "\nRoot access required\n\n"
return
else
printf "\nStarting backup process..."
# ${SOURCE_DIR} TO ${DESTINATION_DIR} DRY RUN
SPACER
printf "\nStarting %s dry run\n" "${SOURCE_DIR}"
rsync --dry-run ${OPTIONS} ${OPTIONS_EXTRA} ${EXCLUDE_DIR} "${SOURCE_DIR}" "${DESTINATION_DIR}"
RSYNC_STATUS=$?
ERROR_WARNINGS
# CONFIRM ${SOURCE_DIR} TO ${DESTINATION_DIR} BACKUP
SPACER
if CONFIRM_YESNO "Proceed with ${SOURCE_DIR} backup?"; then
# CONTINUE ${SOURCE_DIR} TO ${DESTINATION_DIR} BACKUP & EXIT
printf "\nContinuing %s backup\n" "${SOURCE_DIR}"
rsync ${DRY_RUN} ${OPTIONS} ${OPTIONS_EXTRA} ${EXCLUDE_DIR} "${SOURCE_DIR}" "${DESTINATION_DIR}"
RSYNC_STATUS=$?
ERROR_WARNINGS
printf "\n%s backup completed\n\n" "${SOURCE_DIR}"
return
else
# SKIP ${SOURCE_DIR} TO ${DESTINATION_DIR} BACKUP & EXIT
printf "\n%s backup skipped\n\n" "${SOURCE_DIR}"
return
fi
fi
##### FINISH
I would like to adapt this script so that I can add multiple copies of the following variables:
## PATHS (USER DEFINED)
SOURCE_DIRECTORY_PATH="/home"
SOURCE_DIRECTORY_PATH_EXCLUSIONS="--exclude=lost+found --exclude=.cache/*"
BACKUP_NAME="home"
BACKUP_BASE_PATH="/backup"
without having to make multiple copies of the following commands within the running script:
# ${SOURCE_DIR} TO ${DESTINATION_DIR} DRY RUN
SPACER
printf "\nStarting %s dry run\n" "${SOURCE_DIR}"
rsync --dry-run ${OPTIONS} ${OPTIONS_EXTRA} ${EXCLUDE_DIR} "${SOURCE_DIR}" "${DESTINATION_DIR}"
RSYNC_STATUS=$?
ERROR_WARNINGS
I'm mainly just looking for a way to avoid touching the script commands itself so I don't have to change the variable names for each additional directory I want to add. I'm not sure what that would be called or where to look. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I apologize, I misread "want to keep using shell" as "want to keep using the shell" and I figured that you probably meant you didn't get what the shebang was for.