BackupTool for Dokuwiki

• Author: Terence J. Grant
• License: GNU GPL v2
• Last Update: 2008-08-24
• Donate: Your donations are appreciated!

It's not required, but please consider linking to this page or the main page from your site if you like this product.

As with any data backup tool, there is always a possibilty for data loss– especially unintentionally.

Neither I nor this site will be held responsible for any data loss caused by this product.

So download and use at your own risk!

Before downloading or using this product, make sure you understand and accept the terms of the license as well as the disclaimer above.

Also by downloading, you agree that you have read and understood the disclaimer above.

After downloading, make sure to follow the install instructions or upgrading instructions below.

• This is the latest version, compatible with the current DokuWiki:
  • Latest Version: Version 2008-08-24 on GitHub
  • Previous Version: BackupTool for Dokuwiki - August 2, 2008
  • Previous Version: BackupTool for Dokuwiki - April 5, 2007
  • Previous Version: BackupTool for Dokuwiki - March 11, 2007
  • Previous Version: BackupTool for Dokuwiki - October 12, 2006
  • Previous Version: BackupTool for Dokuwiki - August 3, 2006
  • Previous Version: BackupTool for Dokuwiki - July 29, 2006

This is a plugin for DokuWiki which enables you to backup the most important parts of your site; this includes all of your pages, all old revisions, meta data, subscriptions, media files (your downloads), as well as your plugins and templates.

This is in case, for some odd reason, your host accidentally loses all your files; its happened to me personally twice, on two different hosts since I began using DokuWiki– and backing up manually can be quite a nightmare.

To access the plugin, make sure you're on the admin account, and click the admin button on your wiki site.

An entry named "Backup Tool" should be listed in the the available administrative tasks. Click it, and you should see something like the following image below:

Simply check the items you wish to backup, and uncheck the ones you don't. For instance, you may not care about old revisions of documents, so you don't have to include them if you don't want to.

Click the Create Backup button, and the process of backing up starts. For large sites, it may take some time; it may even time out– in which case you may wish to backup each section individually– though this is unlikely. It will usually take at least a little time for the page to respond, so please be patient.

The backup file is generated and put in the root of your media directory. So you're then able to download it from there, and you may wish to delete it afterwards.

As a plugin all you need to do is unpack the file into the lib/plugins/ directory (you should end up with a lib/plugins/backup folder.)

To upgrade, remove the original lib/plugins/backup folder, and install the new version as instructed above.

August 24, 2008

• New backup method: "Lazy and Quick" method. This method runs in O(1) constant time rather than the other two methods that run in O(n) linear time. This method should be used for folks with big sites to back up, but is only available if the GNU Tar method is supported.
• For folks with installs on Macintosh based servers, files named ".DS_Store" and files beginning with "._" will be excluded from PEAR and GNU Tar methods now.
• Some minor tweaks to the language files.

August 2, 2008

Major update!

Here's what's new:

• I've made an effort for all run-time errors to be handled.
• I've replaced shell_exec with just exec, since this is more appropriate for the command line version.
• PEAR is now supported as an alternate to exec, thanks to Andreas Wagner for this.
• The list of files to backup is much improved, again thanks to Andreas Wagner.
• Backups will not archive existing backups, again thanks to Andreas Wagner.
• I've added auto-detection of PEAR and/or exec availability, since not all users will have access to these.
• You can choose between PEAR and exec if you have the option of both.
• All files entries for the exec version are relative instead of absolute now for exec, thanks to Uwe Koloska for this.
• Both backup methods generate the same file structure now as well.
• Backup file names have changed slightly, files now start with "dw-backup-".
• Backup options selected are now saved as defaults for future sessions.
• Compression options are chosen based on what's available, in the order of bzip2, gzip, and no compression for both PEAR and exec.
• Backup files are created directly into the media directory, so no moving is necessary.

July 10, 2008

I've finally gotten time to check the new ACL compatibility.

As it turns out, I was mistaken– ACL file names and structure have not changed, simply the interface to modify ACL has, and this does not affect BackupTool for Dokuwiki at all.

Therefore BackupTool for Dokuwiki will work regardless of the DokuWiki's version.

So in other words, the April 7, 2007 version will work, and is safe to use.

April 5, 2007

• Backup files are now timestamped with date and time, thanks to Syv Ritch for the push.

March 11, 2007

• Added conf/mime.conf to list of things backed up under "configuration settings"

October 12, 2006

• New BackupTool release, fixes compatibility with new DokuWiki versions.

August 3, 2006

• Internationalization support complete

July 29, 2006

• Initial release