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Fake iOS Backup Filesystem (fibfs)

A FUSE-based filesystem that is to be used with idevicebackup for iOS backups. The filesystem discards the actual backup data, but retains metadata such as plists and Manifest.* files.

This filesystem is helpful if you only need to get data that is contained within the metadata files. By discarding all the backup data, a backup only consumes less than 10 MB of actual disk space. It also reduces disk I/O, which helps to speed up the backup process.

It works by layering on top of a backing directory. For files whose contents are to be discarded, it writes only a single byte at the end of the file, but for files which need to be preserved, it writes the contents in its entirety. For efficient storage, it uses sparse files in the backing directory. This way, all the file metadata (such as size, last modified time, etc) is preserved, but the backup data files will contain all zero bytes and take up a minimal amount of space.

Usage

You will need Python & FUSE (and Python bindings for FUSE). On Fedora/RHEL, you can install it like so:

yum install fuse-python

The simplest usage is to specify a directory to mount the filesystem:

fibfs.py <mountpoint>

A backing directory will be automatically created in /tmp, and when the filesystem is unmounted, this directory will be destroyed. If you need to save any data, do it before you unmount the filesystem.

If you wish to retain the files or you already have files from a previous backup session, you can manually specify a backing directory with --backing-dir. This directory will NOT be removed after an unmount.

License

fibfs is licensed under the 3-clause ("modified") BSD License.

Copyright (C) 2017 Darell Tan

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

  1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
  2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
  3. The name of the author may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.