Thank you for trying rdiff-backup. To install, run:
python3 setup.py install
The build process can be also be run separately:
python3 setup.py build
The default prefix is generally /usr, so files would be put in /usr/bin, /usr/share/man/, etc. An alternate prefix can be specified using the --prefix= option. For example:
python3 setup.py install --prefix=/usr/local
The default prefix depends on how you (or your distribution) installed and configured Python. Suggested reading is "How installation works" from the Python docs, which includes commands to determine your default prefix: https://docs.python.org/3/install/index.html#how-installation-works
The setup script expects to find librsync headers and libraries in the default location, usually /usr/include and /usr/lib. If you want the setup script to check different locations, use the --librsync-dir switch or the LIBRSYNC_DIR environment variable. For instance,
python3 setup.py --librsync-dir=/usr/local build
instructs the setup program to look in /usr/local/include and /usr/local/lib for the librsync files.
Finally, the --lflags and --libs options, and the LFLAGS and LIBS environment variables are also recognized. Running setup.py with no arguments will display some help. Additional help is displayed by the command:
python3 setup.py install --help
More information about using setup.py and how rdiff-backup is installed is available from the Python guide, Installing Python Modules for System Administrators, located at https://docs.python.org/3/install/index.html
NB: There is no uninstall command provided by the Python distutils system. One strategy is to use the python3 setup.py install --record option to save a list of the files installed to .
To build from source on Windows, check the Windows tools to build a single executable file which contains Python, librsync, and all required modules.
Remember that you must have Python 3.5 or later and librsync 1.0.0 or later installed. For Python, see https://www.python.org/. The rdiff-backup homepage at https://rdiff-backup.net/ should have a recent version of librsync; otherwise see the librsync homepage at http://librsync.sourceforge.net/. On Windows, you must have the Python for Windows extensions installed if you are building from source. The extensions can be downloaded from: https://github.com/mhammond/pywin32 If you are not building from source on Windows, you do not need Python or librsync; they are bundled with the executable.
For remote operation, rdiff-backup should be installed and in the PATH on remote system(s) (see man page for more information). On Windows, if you are using the provided .exe binary, you must have an SSH package installed for remote operation.
The python modules pylibacl and pyxattr are optional. If they are installed and in the default pythonpath, rdiff-backup will support access control lists and user extended attributes, provided the file system(s) also support these features. Pylibacl and pyxattr can be downloaded from http://pylibacl.sourceforge.net/ and http://pyxattr.sourceforge.net/. Mac OS X users need a different pyxattr module, which can be downloaded from https://pypi.org/project/xattr/
In order to build rdiff-backup, you need python3-devel and librsync-devel, as well as a C compiler (gcc).
If you have everything installed properly, and it still doesn't work, see the enclosed FAQ.html, the rdiff-backup web page and/or the rdiff-backup-users mailing list.
We're also happy to help if you create an issue to our
GitHub repo. The most
important is probably to explain what happened and attach the output of
rdiff-backup run with the very verbose option -v9.
The FAQ in particular is an important reference, especially if you are using smbfs/CIFS, Windows, or have compiled by hand on Mac OS X.