[Release] XBMC Backup

robweber · 2012-04-20 21:21

For a lot of different reasons (testing, new xbmc system, computer crashes) it is a good idea to backup your XBMC data. I've spent enough time copying my userdata folder around that I decided that being able to just click a button and send it on it's way was worth the time coding an addon for it.

The XBMC Backup Addon

This is a real quick way to export your XBMC data to another folder or network share for backup purposes. Scheduling backups and having a max number of archived backups are also configurable options. This allows you to use the addon as a completely hands off backup solution. The types of files you can backup from XBMC include:

User Addons - Addon's you've downloaded
Addon Data - Settings associated with your addons
Database - The SQLite Databases
Playlists - Your playlist folder
Thumbnails/Fanart - downloaded images
Config Files - sources.xml, guisettings.xml, advancedsettings.xml, etc
Up to 2 non-xbmc directories on your local system

Since this addon is using the xbmcvfs python module to actually do the file copy you should be able to backup to any location read/writeable by XBMC. You can also write directly to a Dropbox target without needing the Dropbox client on your HTPC. Right now you can download the addon from the main XBMC Add-on repo or the github page for this project. Please post any problems and suggestions here.

Download
In XBMC: Settings->Add-ons->Get Add-ons->Programs
or
Github: https://github.com/robweber/xbmcbackup

FAQ

I can't see any restore points when choosing "Restore", what is the problem?

If you've created restore points with an older version of the addon (pre 0.3.6) you may see this issue. New versions of the addon look for a file called xbmcbackup.val to validate that a folder is a valid restore archive. Your older restore folders may not have this file. All you need to do is create a blank text file and rename it to xbmcbackup.val. Then put this file inside the archive directory. Your restore points should show up after selecting "Restore" in the addon again.

Several settings aren't being restored, this includes views, weather, etc. How do I get these back?

GUISETTINGS.xml is a configuration file used heavily by XBMC for remembering GUI specific settings. Due to the fact that XBMC reads this file on startup, and writes from memory to this file on shutdown; it is not possible to restore this file while XBMC is running. You must manually move this file from your backup archives if you wish to restore it. User SouthMark has posted the following steps for restoring in the OpenELEC system where this is more difficult:

1. Run the restore of your backup
2. SSH using putty to the IP Address of your media centre username: root Password openelec
3. Type touch /var/lock/xbmc.disabled and then press enter
4. Type kill all -9 xbmc.bin and then press enter - Your media center machine should now go blank
5. Connect to your machine using WinSCP and copy the guisettings.xml file to the userdata folder (this is the guisettings.xml file from your backup)
6. go back to your putty window and type rm /var/lock/xbmc.disabled

Why is the Addon prompting me to restart XBMC to continue?

If you have an advancedsettings file in your restore folder the addon will ask you if you want to restore this file and restart xbmc to continue. This is because the advancedsettings file may contain path substitution information that you want to be loaded when doing the rest of your restore. By restoring this file and restarting xbmc it will be loaded and the rest of your files will go where they are supposed to. If you know your file does not contain any path substitutions you can select "no" and continue as normal.

avp387 · 2012-04-22 15:27

Good effort. This is definitely needed. At this point though, on a linux system I find the following method to work well for me:

http://linuxplained.com/automatic-backup...ntu-linux/

It is automatic and came in handy for me at least once when I had to restore all my xbmc settings.

robweber · 2012-04-22 16:55

Thanks for the link. As with a lot of things there are numerous ways to get the job done. I guess with this addon I'm aiming at cross-platform, or people on "out of the box" systems like XBMCbuntu that may not want to muck around with the command line. As far as automation goes, I don't think that is something I'll put specifically into this addon, but you could schedule it with something like Cron XBMC (again, keep it all within the media center). Once the restore mode is finished I think this will really bring things full circle. I think it would be great to install XBMC, download this one addon, then pull a restore to get back everything I had previously.

paddycarey · 2012-04-24 15:10

you can walk non-local paths (or local ones for that matter) using the json api instead of os.walk. It's pretty nice and has a few added benefits like being able to walk inside compressed directories (the compressed backup file for instance). I use it in my mmabrowser plugin to walk a defined share, whether local or remote like so:

Code:

def getDirList(path):

    dirList = []

    currentLevelDirList = [path]

    while True:

        prevLevelDirList = []

        if len(currentLevelDirList) > 0:

            for dirName in currentLevelDirList:

                prevLevelDirList.append(dirName)

                dirList.append(dirName)

            currentLevelDirList = []

        else:

            break

        for dirName in prevLevelDirList:

            log('Checking for directories in: %s' % dirName)

            json_response = xbmc.executeJSONRPC('{ "jsonrpc" : "2.0" , "method" : "Files.GetDirectory" , "params" : { "directory" : "%s" , "sort" : { "method" : "file" } } , "id" : 1 }' % dirName.encode('utf-8').replace('\\', '\\\\'))

            jsonobject = simplejson.loads(json_response)

            if jsonobject['result']['files']:

                for item in jsonobject['result']['files']:

                    if item['filetype'] == 'directory':

                        currentLevelDirList.append(item['file'])

    return dirList

def getFileList(path):

    fileList = []

    dirList = getDirList(path)

    for dirName in dirList:

        log('Checking for files in: %s' % dirName)

        json_response = xbmc.executeJSONRPC('{ "jsonrpc" : "2.0" , "method" : "Files.GetDirectory" , "params" : { "directory" : "%s" , "sort" : { "method" : "file" } , "media" : "video" } , "id" : 1 }' % dirName.encode('utf-8').replace('\\', '\\\\'))

        jsonobject = simplejson.loads(json_response)

        if jsonobject['result']['files']:

            for item in jsonobject['result']['files']:

                if item['filetype'] == 'file':

                    fileList.append(item['file'])

                    log('Found video: %s' % item['file'])

    return fileList

Might help with some of the caveats above.

Paddy

robweber · 2012-04-24 15:52

That is awesome, thanks for the code. I had seen the Files.GetDirectory method in the JSON API but never thought of using it that way. My solution for the time being was to write a restore.txt file during the backup that included all files and directories, and then read that file back in later for the restore. I didn't really like this as a permanent solution though, I like your cross platform way of walking through the directory tree much better.

dallasnights · 2012-04-24 18:42

Great work I am using it on ATV2 to my media share on a Windows 7 pc
Would love to see if you can add only backup updates since last backup

Thanks

Bobby Blixberg · 2012-04-24 21:21

Great job.

paddycarey · 2012-04-26 03:36

I took a quick stab at writing something to solve the walk problem and i came up with this https://github.com/paddycarey/script.mod...kit/vfs.py

it's still rough round the edges but i'll fix it up as best i can

if you just drop it in your addon for now (until i get the module shipshape), do a:

Code:

import vfs as xbmcvfs

and you should now have all the functionality of xbmcvfs plus a walk and listdir method which should work on local or remote shares

robweber · 2012-04-26 04:00

(2012-04-26 03:36)paddycarey Wrote: I took a quick stab at writing something to solve the walk problem and i came up with this https://github.com/paddycarey/script.mod...kit/vfs.py

it's still rough round the edges but i'll fix it up as best i can

if you just drop it in your addon for now (until i get the module shipshape), do a:

Code:

import vfs as xbmcvfs

and you should now have all the functionality of xbmcvfs plus a walk and listdir method which should work on local or remote shares

That is really great - thank you for taking this on! Am I understanding the comparepathlists() function correctly? The way it looks to me is that by giving it two paths, say C:\xbmc\userdata\ and nfs:\\192.168.1.102\foo\xbmc\userdata it will return the common directory of "xbmc\userdata". Is that right?

I was working on the code snippet you gave me but this is much better than the one or two functions I would have done. I like the idea of making it a comprehensive module for extending xbmcvfs. I should get around to integrating this with the backup addon within a day or two. I'm watching your repo so as you improve it I can keep up.

paddycarey · 2012-04-26 04:08

comparepathlists isn't quite finished yet, it's intended to be a function to use to compare the contents of two directories. so one list of files that exist in both lists, one list of files that exists only in the first list but not the second list and vice versa.

The results could then be used to perform a sort of one way sync, copying any new files, skipping any common files and removing any deleted files.

Not sure of any way to get a timestamp from a remote file though so you can't be sure which file is newer.

avp387 Junior Member Posts: 3 Joined: Oct 2011 Reputation: 0	2012-04-22 15:27 Post: #2 Good effort. This is definitely needed. At this point though, on a linux system I find the following method to work well for me: http://linuxplained.com/automatic-backup...ntu-linux/ It is automatic and came in handy for me at least once when I had to restore all my xbmc settings. (This post was last modified: 2013-04-05 18:55 by avp387.)
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dallasnights Fan Posts: 502 Joined: Jan 2011 Reputation: 0	2012-04-24 18:42 Post: #6 Great work I am using it on ATV2 to my media share on a Windows 7 pc Would love to see if you can add only backup updates since last backup Thanks
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Bobby Blixberg Member+ Posts: 364 Joined: Apr 2009 Reputation: 1	2012-04-24 21:21 Post: #7 Great job. MIFcom Mini-ITX ASUS ION2 \| 4GB RAM \| 120 GB SSD \| XBMCbuntu Philips 42PFL8684
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