Changing permissions for application settings to enable automatic backups for Deja Dup

[Grace]

Good evening, apologies if this has already been covered, I have not yet seen an answer for LM, there is a solution for Gnome on youtube.

https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.gnome.DejaDup

Having downloaded the file from the above site, the file sets a page (see attachment) in Software Manager, (which I haven't seen happen before) and makes the flat pack version available to install from there.

I've installed the app and try to set automatic backups, and an error message comes saying permission for the app to run in the background need to be set, (see attachment) and gives instructions for Gnome users, though this is not the same as LM. I haven't found a setting to change application permissions on LM.

If someone knows about this please let us know how to remedy, or another good backup program that may be a simpler solution. Maybe automation is only possible on Gnome and not LM?
Thanks

Running Linux Mint 20.1 Cinnamon version 4.8.6 x86_64

[mikeflan]

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry, but I don't run that software.
Can you show us what is in Settings - Application - Backups?

I don't hear too much about Deja Dup, but I think I have heard good things about it. On the other hand, the reviews over the last year have been poor, partly due to the tie-in with Google:

Code: Select all

feralhound 2 months ago - 2 Rating
To be fair, this is a really old version. The flatpak in the Mint store defaults 
to Google Drive, but doesn't ask for your Good ID unless you use it. That said, 
I found it didn't back up everything, even after multiple attempts. I was glad 
that certain mission-critical files were stored in my pCloud account as well, 
or they would have been lost. I'll be trying something else for my file backups.

FreshMints 8 months ago - 2 Rating
Need access to my google account..? haha. Bye. Removed.

mizifih 11 months ago - 2 Rating
Not a fan of having to use my google account "just because". It says in the 
description that I can use this with "cloud backup locations such as Nextcloud", 
well... Do I need to log in with my google info for Nextcloud? Does it support 
only OneDrive as I write this? I mean, if there is a reason, I can''t see it. I saw 
Ubuntu One being used in the images tho :)

And it never gives me an Install in the Software Manager.

Other programs to try:

BackinTime - I have not used it.

FreeFileSync - I have used it and recommend it.

RealTimeSync - I have not used it, but it is somewhat automatic if you want that.

Grsync might be good too, but I don't know many people who use it.

[Grace]

mikeflan, thanks for the reviews and response.

Can you show us what is in Settings - Application - Backups?

Yes, though not sure which Settings to look for and where I can find this? I can see System Settings in the menu that has Startup Applications and Preferred Applications, and going into the menu that opens the program itself (see attachment).

The messages about Google account access seem a bit strange, so maybe best to try other programs first, and will look at some you've recommended and suggested.

[AndyMH]

Don't use dejadup, happy with timeshift/backintime.

Instead of installing the flatpak version, install from deb, your permission issues may disappear (and it will use less disk space):
https://pkgs.org/download/deja-dup

assuming you are running LM20, then you want the focal version:
https://ubuntu.pkgs.org/20.04/ubuntu-ma ... 4.deb.html

In a terminal:

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wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/d/deja-dup/deja-dup_40.6-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb

it will download the deb to the current folder, install as you would any other deb.

[mikeflan]

mikeflan, thanks for the reviews and response.

Can you show us what is in Settings - Application - Backups?

Yes, though not sure which Settings to look for and where I can find this?

I assumed the Settings - Application - Backups was inside Deja Dup and not in the menu settings, but maybe not.

[Grace]

I assumed the Settings - Application - Backups was inside Deja Dup and not in the menu settings, but maybe not.

I can't see anything about permission settings in the app's menu pages.

Have downloaded DD again, this time from the software manager, not the flatpak, and now there is an alert for untrusted python3-pydrive package to enable backups. So I will try FreeFileSync, although this has some feedback about it not working optimally unless using the portable version by donation, which is fine, will just try it out first.

Latest Reviews
rolf99 2 months ago
unfortunately skips files when syncing. although source directories and files are the same the files skipped are different when running FFS 11.9 on different yet similar mint 20 machines. Manually the related files can be copied and read / altered. thus not really reliable ;-( message: EINVAL: Das Argument ist ungültig [read]

scalpa 6 months ago
On Mint 20, refuses to delete some folders, no idea why. The portable version, downloaded from the site, does it flawless.

[Grace]

Don't use dejadup, happy with timeshift/backintime.

AndyMH, thanks, I will also try backintime. Timeshift is already saving to the laptop, I've never used it to restore, but seems to be saving the file system without any problems. I don't include the files in Home, due to storage limitations on the laptop, and just need to save the whole of it on the portable drive in case of an update going wrong, it's only happened once in three years of using Linux, touch wood.

Instead of installing the flatpak version, install from deb, your permission issues may disappear (and it will use less disk space):
https://pkgs.org/download/deja-dup

assuming you are running LM20, then you want the focal version:
https://ubuntu.pkgs.org/20.04/ubuntu-ma ... 4.deb.html

In a terminal:

Code: Select all

wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/d/deja-dup/deja-dup_40.6-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb

it will download the deb to the current folder, install as you would any other deb.

They may have updated Deja Dup on the software manager in the last week or so, as I downloaded from the terminal and came up a message saying there was a later version of 40.7 in a software channel. As per the previous message today, I will delay installing DD as it's asking to install an untrusted python3-pydrive package to enable backups,and with the other two recommended apps to try shortly, hopefully one if not both will work out fine.

[mikeflan]

So I will try FreeFileSync, although this has some feedback about it not working optimally unless using the portable version by donation, which is fine, will just try it out first.

Indeed. I am very surprised to see that I have the 'org.freefilesync.FreeFileSync' in my Software Manager installed. It is a flatpak. When I hit the 'Launch' button it opens ver 11.11. I have never used that.

The one I am using is from the website. It is ver 11.9 and is a tar.gz. I do pay for it (contributions), but that is totally unnecessary. The free version works identical to the contribution version as far as I can see. I use it constantly - easily a dozen times per day. It only takes seconds if you use batch files like I do.

I would be very surprised if any version of FFS did not work as intended. I have had it very rarely fail on some files (not folders), but it is obvious when this happens. The last time it happened I had to fix the disk with chkdsk, or something like that.

If you use FFS, you probably want to set it up as 'Mirror'. Then you might want to turn on soft link copying. For some unknown reason it is turned off by default.

[HimInDoors]

The answer is quite simple, but not obvious: you need to download and use the Flatpak app Flatseal. When you launch this app it will display a list of all the Flatpak apps that you have installed. Select Deja-Dup then, in the right hand pane, scroll almost to the bottom where you will find the setting that will allow the app to run in the background. Restart Deja-Dup and you are now able to schedule backups.

You are quite correct that the instructions in the Flatpak version of Deja-Dup only apply to the Gnome desktop environment because it has this capability built in, while other DEs, such as Cinnamon, do not. I have opened an Issue/Feature Request with the Cinnamon team to ask for this capability to be added to Cinnamon. I have also opened an Issue with the Deja-Dup maintainer to ask him to modify the content of the pop-up message so that it mentions that you can also use Flatseal to change the app permissions.

Hope this helps.

[daisy42]

I'm using Mint 21. I tried the Flatseal solution last night and it didn't solve the problem for me. When installed, Flatseal showed the relevant permission set to 'on', but the problem persisted. What did work for me though was uninstalling the Flatpak version and installing the non-Flatpak version instead - problem gone.

I have been using BackInTime successfully for over a year but have recently switched it to encrypted backups. I run it on the Repeated (anacron) setting, daily. It now prompts for the passphrase when it wants to do the backup. If you're not around when the pop-up appears it gets bored after a while and disappears, leaving the backup undone. I leave a USB-connected hard drive powered on and I want the daily backup to be taken automatically, without me having to do anything. From other fora there appears to be an unresolved issue concerning storage of the password (the Save Password to Keyring option in settings is greyed out).

I've tried Vorta and that makes the automatic backups without requesting the password. But an important potential use of the backups is to be able to switch the drive to a different machine if the everyday one breaks and restore to a new machine. I have spare laptop but haven't been able to access the Vorta archives on the detchable hard-drive using it, so far, in spite of reading around a bit.

[HimInDoors]

Hi Daisy42,

Is your Mint 21 an upgrade or is it a fresh install?
I have recently upgraded my desktop from 20.3 to 21, and Deja-Dup has continued to work as expected.

[daisy42]

Sorry for slow response, I don't look at the Forum very often. My Mint 21 is an upgrade rather than a fresh install. I solved the problem I had with Vorta - it's necessary to have a copy of the config file on the backup medium, then you can successfully restore to another computer, so I now have Vorta running automatically daily. Overkill, but I also use and like Duplicati, which runs automatically to make encrypted backups without asking for a password and from which I've demonstrated I can restore to a different machine. I still have Back in Time set up, but haven't overcome the problem of it requesting a password in order to do encrypted backups.