Vorta - A Boring Open Source GUI for BorgBackup

Vorta is an open source macOS/Linux GUI for BorgBackup. It's currently in beta status.

Main features

• Encrypted, deduplicated and compressed backups.
• Works with any local or remote Borg repo. Try BorgBase for advanced features like append-only repositories and monitoring.
• Add SSH keys and initialize repos directly from the GUI.
• Repo keys are securely stored in macOS Keychain, SecretService or KWallet.
• Mount existing archives via FUSE.
• Manage multiple backup profiles with different source folders, destinations and settings.
• Prune and check backups periodically.
• Flexible scheduling for automatic background backups. Only allow on certain Wifis.
• View a list of archives and action logs.
• Exclude options/patterns.
• Automatic updates using Sparkle (on macOS)

Installation and Download

Vorta should work on all platforms that support Qt and Borg. Currently Borg doesn't support Windows, but this may change in the future. Setting allowed Wifi networks is currently not supported on Linux, but everything else should work.

macOS

Download the pre-built macOS binary from Releases. Just download, unzip and run. If you want detailed steps, there is also a tutorial.

Linux

First install Borg and its dependencies. Then install Vorta from Pypi:

$ pip install vorta

After installation run with the vorta command.

$ vorta

Debugging and Bugs

Please report any errors you may encounter by opening an issue on Github. Please include steps to reproduce and all logging output. Logs can be found in these folders:

• Linux: $HOME/.cache/Vorta/log
• macOS: $HOME/Library/Logs/Vorta

Development

Install in development/editable mode while in the repo:

$ pip install -e .

Then run as Python script:

$ vorta

Install developer packages we use (pytest, tox, pyinstaller):

pip install -r requirements-dev.txt

Qt Creator is used to edit views. Install from their site or using Homebrew and then open the .ui files in vorta/UI:

$ brew cask install qt-creator
$ brew install qt

To build a macOS app package:

• add Sparkle.framework from here and borg from here in bin/macosx64
• then uncomment or change the Apple signing profile to be used in Makefile
• finally run to $ make Vorta.app to build the app into the dist folder.

Testing (work in progress)

Tests are in the folder /tests. Testing happens at the level of UI components. Calls to borg are mocked and can be replaced with some example json-output. To run tests:

$ pytest

Why the Name?

Vorta are a race referenced in Star Trek. They serve the Dominion and are replaced by their clones if they die. Just like our backups.

Privacy Policy

• No personal data is ever stored or transmitted by this application.
• During beta, crash reports are sent to Sentry to quickly find bugs. You can disable this by setting the env variable NO_SENTRY=1. Your repo password will be scrubbed before the test report is transmitted.

Author

(C) 2018 Manuel Riel for BorgBase.com

License and Credits

• Licensed under GPLv3. See LICENSE.txt for details.
• Uses the excellent BorgBackup
• Based on PyQt and Qt.
• Icons by FontAwesome