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.TH "bup\-on" "1" "2026\-09\-01" "Bup 0.34+"
.SH NAME
bup\-on \- run a bup on a remote host, communicating with a local server
.SH SYNOPSIS
bup on [\f[I]user\f[R]\(at]\f[I]host\f[R][:\f[I]port\f[R]] index \&...
.PD 0
.P
.PD
bup on [\f[I]user\f[R]\(at]\f[I]host\f[R][:\f[I]port\f[R]] save \&...
.PD 0
.P
.PD
bup on [\f[I]user\f[R]\(at]\f[I]host\f[R][:\f[I]port\f[R]] restore \&...
.PD 0
.P
.PD
bup on [\f[I]user\f[R]\(at]\f[I]host\f[R][:\f[I]port\f[R]] split \&...
.PD 0
.P
.PD
bup on [\f[I]user\f[R]\(at]\f[I]host\f[R][:\f[I]port\f[R]] version \&...
.PD 0
.P
.PD
bup on [\f[I]user\f[R]\(at]\f[I]host\f[R][:\f[I]port\f[R]] features
\&...
.PD 0
.P
.PD
bup on [\f[I]user\f[R]\(at]\f[I]host\f[R][:\f[I]port\f[R]] help \&...
.PP
bup on [\f[I]user\f[R]\(at]\f[I]host\f[R][:\f[I]port\f[R]] get \&...
.PD 0
.P
.PD
(Prefer \f[CR]bup get \-\-source\-url ssh://<hostname>...\f[R])
.SH DESCRIPTION
\f[CR]bup on\f[R] runs the command on the remote host via ssh, connected
to a bup server running on the local machine, so that remote commands
like \f[CR]bup save\f[R] can back up to the local repository.
See \f[CR]bup\-index\f[R](1), \f[CR]bup\-save\f[R](1), and so on for the
command details.
.PP
Note that you don\(cqt need to (and shouldn\(cqt) provide a
\f[CR]\-\-remote\f[R] option.
This \(lqreverse mode\(rq is useful when the machine being backed up
isn\(cqt supposed to be able to ssh into the backup server.
Instead, the backup server, even if hidden behind a one\-way firewall on
a private or dynamic IP address, can connect to each of your important
machines using an ssh key, and initiate a backup that saves the remote
data to the local repository.
.SH EXAMPLES
.IP
.EX
# First index the files on the remote server

$ bup on myserver index \-vux /etc
bup server: reading from stdin.
Indexing: 2465, done.
bup: merging indexes (186668/186668), done.
bup server: done

# Now save the files from the remote server to the
# local $BUP_DIR

$ bup on myserver save \-n myserver\-backup /etc
bup server: reading from stdin.
bup server: command: \(aqlist\-indexes\(aq
PackIdxList: using 7 indexes.
Saving: 100.00% (241/241k, 648/648 files), done.    
bup server: received 55 objects.
Indexing objects: 100% (55/55), done.
bup server: command: \(aqquit\(aq
bup server: done

# Now we can look at the resulting repo on the local
# machine

$ bup ftp \(aqcat /myserver\-backup/latest/etc/passwd\(aq
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/bin/sh
bin:x:2:2:bin:/bin:/bin/sh
sys:x:3:3:sys:/dev:/bin/sh
sync:x:4:65534:sync:/bin:/bin/sync
\&...
.EE
.SH SEE ALSO
\f[CR]bup\-index\f[R](1), \f[CR]bup\-save\f[R](1),
\f[CR]bup\-split\f[R](1), \f[CR]bup\-get\f[R](1)
.SH BUP
Part of the \f[CR]bup\f[R](1) suite.
.SH AUTHORS
Avery Pennarun \c
.MT apenwarr@gmail.com
.ME \c.