Cyclops Backup 1.0.0

First stable release of Cyclops Backup — an independent Linux utility for weekly USB backups of project folders, Git repositories and evidence. Choose folders, review, back up, verify with SHA-256, then safely eject. No background service, no cloud account.

What's new since 0.1.0

• The Cyclops look — dark navy panels with a single cyan eye, colour-coded status (green verified, amber waiting, red problem) and a new eye icon. Styling stays private to Cyclops Backup; your desktop theme is never changed (CYCLOPS_BACKUP_PLAIN=1 turns it off).
• Profiles — keep separate folder lists (e.g. weekly projects vs. a large evidence set) and switch between them. All profiles share the same backup USB.
• View folders window — profile dropdown on top, your folders below, and buttons to add, remove, leave out a file or subfolder, or put it back. Changes save instantly; nothing is copied from there.
• USB lock — opens straight into the control panel. Backup and preview stay locked until your USB is plugged in and verified, and a waiting window continues by itself once it is.
• Copy preview — see exactly what the next run will copy (NEW / CHANGED / PERMS) before anything happens.
• Clear finish — a popup confirms Backup successful — safe to eject, or explains what went wrong.
• Friendlier folder names — suggested automatically, cleaned as you type, with a live preview of where they'll land on the USB.

The copy and verification engine is unchanged since 0.2.0. 107 automated tests cover it on Python 3.11–3.13.

Install (Zorin / Ubuntu)

sudo apt install python3 rsync git util-linux zenity desktop-file-utils python3-gi gir1.2-gtk-3.0
python3 install.py

Already installed? Run python3 install.py again to get the new icon. Your settings carry over and open as the Default profile.

Requires a USB formatted as ext4, xfs or btrfs. As with any new backup tool, start with a small folder and keep another copy of anything irreplaceable.

Checksums (SHA-256)

98b3b341a49892167f83495abeca9b795d79a43abc66842779680e947b9c9564  CyclopsBackup-1.0.0.zip
a911255e2b6bdc4005ffdb4a143fe691bf985919b24ff5374637b782ebe301e4  CyclopsBackup-1.0.0.tar.gz

MIT licence. Full details in CHANGELOG.md.

v0.1.0 — First public preview

First public preview of Cyclops Backup for Linux, Zorin and Ubuntu.

Includes explicit project/evidence setup, a desktop launcher, USB UUID selection, incremental checksum-based copying, retained deletions and previous versions, SHA-256 verification, readable/JSON reports, and recovery instructions. MIT licensed.

The release has a clean public history and contains no personal project registry, USB identities or private backup reports. Configure your own folders and USB before use.

Validation: 45 synthetic fixture checks, using real rsync/Git/hashing/sync. The full physical backup of a large project set has not yet been validated. This release is marked as a preview. Review estimates use size/mtime and can differ from checksum-based actual transfer.

Download the ZIP or tar.gz, extract it, install the system dependencies listed in README.md, then run python3 install.py. See README.md for terminal use and recovery. SHA256SUMS is attached for archive checks.