obackupper

OpenWRT backup tool.

obackupper backs up and restores the writable OpenWrt overlay layer: /overlay/upper.

What it stores

• Full archive of /overlay/upper
• Installed package list
• Router and OpenWrt metadata
• SHA-256 checksums for strict verification

Backup layout

Backups are stored as:

BACKUP_ROOT/hostname/OpenWrt_version_timestamp

Example:

/mnt/sda1/obackupper_backups/hEx/OpenWrt_24.10.5_r29087-d9c5716d1d_2026-07-10_15-47-39

Default retention is 20 backups per hostname.

How backup works

1. Read /overlay/upper
2. Create overlay-upper.tar.gz
3. Write package list and metadata
4. Verify archive and checksums
5. Save backup into the hostname folder

Interactive menus

All selection screens use the same keyboard controls:

• Up/Down arrows move selection
• Enter selects
• q cancels

There is no numbered prompt for list, restore without arguments, selected-backup actions, or place.

How restore works

obackupper restore without arguments is safe: it opens the same selector as obackupper list and does not immediately restore the latest backup.

1. Select a hostname folder
2. Select a concrete backup folder
3. Select restore, delete, or cancel
4. For restore, verify sha256sums.txt
5. Show source router info and destructive restore warning
6. Require explicit confirmation
7. Clear the target directory
8. Extract the saved overlay
9. Request reboot if target is /overlay/upper

Direct restore is still available:

obackupper restore /mnt/sda1/obackupper_backups/hEx/OpenWrt_24.10.5_r29087-d9c5716d1d_2026-07-10_15-47-39

How storage selection works

obackupper place opens an interactive storage selector instead of asking for a path.

It shows:

1. Existing writable obackupper_backups roots, including the current configured root when present
2. Writable storage locations where obackupper_backups can be created automatically

After selection, obackupper creates the backup root if needed, verifies it is writable, and writes /etc/openwrt_overlay_backupper.conf.

Requirements

• Root access
• OpenWrt with opkg or apk
• tar, sha256sum, mount, awk, sed, grep, sort
• stty, dd, and cmp for interactive arrow-key menus
• pigz recommended
• One downloader: wget, uclient-fetch, or curl

Recommended packages

opkg

opkg update
opkg install pigz wget-ssl coreutils-stty

apk

apk update
apk add pigz wget coreutils-stty

Use --gzip if pigz is not available.

Install

Download the script anywhere, make it executable, and run it.

On first run it:

• checks GitHub for updates
• checks required prerequisites
• installs itself to /usr/bin/obackupper.sh
• creates /usr/bin/obackupper
• writes the default backup config if it does not exist

For an installed copy, GitHub is checked before every command. If a newer version is available, obackupper installs it and restarts the same command. obackupper help shows the GitHub main commit and commit date checked at startup.

wget

cd /root
wget -O obackupper.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BlackF1re/obackupper/main/obackupper.sh
chmod +x obackupper.sh
./obackupper.sh

uclient-fetch

cd /root
uclient-fetch -O obackupper.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BlackF1re/obackupper/main/obackupper.sh
chmod +x obackupper.sh
./obackupper.sh

curl

cd /root
curl -L -o obackupper.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BlackF1re/obackupper/main/obackupper.sh
chmod +x obackupper.sh
./obackupper.sh

Commands

obackupper backup
obackupper list
obackupper restore
obackupper restore BACKUP_DIR [TARGET]
obackupper place
obackupper -remove

Notes

• list first shows hostname groups from BACKUP_ROOT/<hostname>, with the current router hostname pinned to the top and shown in green.
• After selecting a hostname, list shows the concrete backup folders stored under that hostname.
• restore without arguments opens the selector and never auto-restores the latest backup.
• place shows existing backup roots and writable disks/directories; it does not start with a manual path prompt.
• Restore is destructive and requires explicit confirmation.
• Backups on the same device still protect against bad changes, but not storage failure.
• Installed copies check GitHub for updates at most once per hour by default.

License

BSD 3-Clause. See LICENSE.