7D2D Backup & Restore Script (Linux Edition)

A robust Bash utility designed for managing 7 Days to Die save games on Linux. This tool offers an interactive menu for ease of use and powerful command-line arguments for automation.

Inspired by a Powershell backup script from LewsTherinSedai, this Linux port is optimized for performance and reliability on distributions like Fedora, Ubuntu, and Debian.

Key Features

• Multi-Format Support: Defaults to .tar.gz for native Linux efficiency, with optional .zip support for cross-platform compatibility, and .tar for maximum speed (no compression).
• Safety First: Automatically triggers a PreRestore snapshot before overwriting any data during a restore operation, ensuring you never lose progress accidentally.
• Flexible Scope: Backup a specific "default" save game or the entire Saves directory.
• Interactive CLI: Color-coded, menu-driven interface for easy manual management.
• Automation Ready: Full support for command-line arguments, making it perfect for cron jobs or systemd timers.
• Smart Structure: Archives are created with clean, relative paths to avoid absolute path clutter.

Prerequisites

The script requires Bash 4.0+ and standard Linux utilities. Most are pre-installed on major distributions.

• tar: For default compression (usually pre-installed).
• util-linux: Provides getopt for advanced argument parsing.
• coreutils: Provides realpath.
• zip / unzip: Required only if you use the .zip format.

Installation of Dependencies

Fedora:

sudo dnf install tar util-linux coreutils zip unzip

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install tar util-linux coreutils zip unzip

Installation

1. Clone or Download this repository.
2. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x backup7D2D.sh

Configuration

Open backup7D2D.sh in your preferred text editor to customize the paths if your setup differs from the defaults:

# Standard paths for Steam on Linux
SAVE_ROOT="$HOME/.local/share/7DaysToDie/Saves"

# The specific world/save you play most often
DEFAULT_SAVE_NAME="Votute County"

# Where backups will be stored
BACKUP_PATH="$HOME/Documents/7d2dBackups"

Usage

1. Interactive Mode

Simply run the script without arguments to launch the text-based UI:

./backup7D2D.sh

You will be presented with a menu:

1. Backup default save: Backs up the folder specified in DEFAULT_SAVE_NAME.
2. Backup ALL saves: Backs up the entire SAVE_ROOT.
3. Restore default save: Lists available backups for the default save and restores the selection.
4. Restore ALL saves: Lists available backups for the global saves folder and restores the selection.
5. Toggle Format: Switch between .tar.gz, .zip, and .tar (uncompressed) for the current session.

2. Automation (Command Line)

Use flags to bypass the menu, ideal for scheduled backups.

Flag (Short/Long)	Options	Description
-h, --help	N/A	Show help message.
-b, --backup	N/A	Triggers the backup action immediately.
-r, --restore	FILE	Triggers the restore action for the specified backup file.
-t, --type	Default, All	Optional. Defaults to Default. Determines if you backup the single target save or everything.
-f, --format	tar.gz, zip, tar	Optional. Defaults to tar.gz. Overrides the script default format. Use tar for no compression.
-o, --output	PATH	Optional. Custom output backup path.
-s, --save-path	PATH	Optional. Custom save root directory.
-n, --name	NAME	Optional. Custom default save name.

Examples:

Backup the default save (Standard):

./backup7D2D.sh --backup

Backup ALL saves:

./backup7D2D.sh -b -t All

Backup default save as a ZIP file:

./backup7D2D.sh --backup --format zip

Backup default save with no compression (Fastest):

./backup7D2D.sh --backup --format tar

Backup to a custom directory:

./backup7D2D.sh -b -o /mnt/external_drive/7d2d_backups

Backup a specific world/save by name:

./backup7D2D.sh -b -n "MyCustomWorld"

Restore a specific backup:

./backup7D2D.sh --restore ./my_backup.tar.gz

Restoration & Safety

When you choose to Restore, the script performs the following actions:

1. Safety Snapshot: Immediately creates a backup of the current state of the target folder (suffixed with _PreRestore).
2. Extraction: Decompresses the selected archive, overwriting files in the target directory.

This ensures that if you restore the wrong file or change your mind, your pre-restore state is safely saved in the backup folder.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See the LICENSE file for the full text.

Credits

• Author: fedoraBee
• Source: GitHub
• Inspiration: LewsTherinSedai's Public Repo