How To Install backuppc on Debian 12

Learn how to install backuppc on Debian 12 with this tutorial. backuppc is high-performance, enterprise-grade system for backing up PCs

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install backuppc on Debian 12.

What is backuppc

backuppc is:

BackupPC is disk based and not tape based. This particularity allows features not found in any other backup solution:

  • Clever pooling scheme minimizes disk storage and disk I/O. Identical files across multiple backups of the same or different PC are stored only once resulting in substantial savings in disk storage and disk writes. Also known as “data deduplication”.
  • Optional compression provides additional reductions in storage. CPU impact of compression is low since only new files (those not already in the pool) need to be compressed.
  • A powerful http/cgi user interface allows administrators to view log files, configuration, current status and allows users to initiate and cancel backups and browse and restore files from backups very quickly.
  • No client-side software is needed. On WinXX the smb protocol is used. On Linux or Unix clients, rsync or tar (over ssh/rsh/nfs) can be used
  • Flexible restore options. Single files can be downloaded from any backup directly from the CGI interface. Zip or Tar archives for selected files or directories can also be downloaded from the CGI interface.
  • BackupPC supports mobile environments where laptops are only intermittently connected to the network and have dynamic IP addresses (DHCP).
  • Flexible configuration parameters allow multiple backups to be performed in parallel.
  • and more to discover in the manual…

If you intent to backup Linux/Unix/macOS hosts, you’ll typically need the recommended packages backup-rsync and openssh-client installed on the server side and the normal rsync package on the client side.

A less performant alternative is using tar over SSH instead of rsync, e.g. in case of rsync server/client protocol incompatibilities.

If you intent to backup Windows hosts, you’ll typically need the recommended package smbclient installed.

There is also the possibility to backup Windows hosts over SSH and rsync or tar if you have an SSH daemon installed on the Windows host, e.g. via Cygwin or Windows subsystem for Linux (WSL). In that case the same packages as with Linux/Unix/macOS are needed.

There are three methods to install backuppc on Debian 12. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install backuppc Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install backuppc using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install backuppc

Install backuppc Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install backuppc using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install backuppc

Install backuppc Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Debian. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install backuppc using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install backuppc

How To Uninstall backuppc on Debian 12

To uninstall only the backuppc package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove backuppc

Uninstall backuppc And Its Dependencies

To uninstall backuppc and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 12, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove backuppc

Remove backuppc Configurations and Data

To remove backuppc configuration and data from Debian 12 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge backuppc

Remove backuppc configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove backuppc configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge backuppc

Dependencies

backuppc have the following dependencies:

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install backuppc package on Debian 12 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.