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sigbak

sigbak is a utility to read the backups created by the Signal Android app. It can be used to export messages, attachments and other data.

For example, the following two commands will export all messages and attachments from the backup signal-2022-01-23-12-34-56.backup. Messages will be exported to the messages directory and attachments to the attachments directory:

sigbak export-messages signal-2022-01-23-12-34-56.backup messages
sigbak export-attachments signal-2022-01-23-12-34-56.backup attachments

The complete documentation is available in the sigbak.1 manual page. You can also read it online.

Dependencies

sigbak depends on libcrypto (from either LibreSSL or OpenSSL), protobuf-c and SQLite. You will also need a C compiler, make and pkg-config.

Building

sigbak should build on most modern Unix-like systems. This section contains generic build instructions. See the sections below for build instructions for specific systems.

First install all required packages (see the "Dependencies" section above). For example, on Debian or Ubuntu, run:

sudo apt-get install build-essential git libprotobuf-c-dev libsqlite3-dev libssl-dev pkg-config protobuf-c-compiler

After you have installed the required packages, run:

git clone https://github.com/tbvdm/sigbak.git
cd sigbak
git checkout portable
make

Building on OpenBSD

To build sigbak on OpenBSD, run:

doas pkg_add git protobuf-c sqlite3
git clone https://github.com/tbvdm/sigbak.git
cd sigbak
make

Building on macOS

On macOS, first install Homebrew. Then install the sigbak formula from my Homebrew tap:

brew install --HEAD tbvdm/tap/sigbak

To update the sigbak formula, run:

brew upgrade --fetch-HEAD sigbak

If you prefer to build sigbak manually, run:

brew install libressl make pkg-config protobuf-c
git clone https://github.com/tbvdm/sigbak.git
cd sigbak
git checkout portable
PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$(brew --prefix libressl)/lib/pkgconfig PROTOC=protoc gmake

Building on Windows

On Windows, first install Cygwin. During the installation, you will be given the opportunity to install additional packages. Ensure the curl, gcc-core, gcc-g++, git, libprotobuf-devel, libsqlite3-devel, libssl-devel, make and pkg-config packages are installed.

The Cygwin User's Guide might be useful if you need help with the installation.

After the installation has completed, start the Cygwin terminal.

Unfortunately, Cygwin does not provide a package for protobuf-c, so you will have to build it from source. In the Cygwin terminal, run:

curl -LO https://github.com/protobuf-c/protobuf-c/releases/download/v1.4.1/protobuf-c-1.4.1.tar.gz
tar fxz protobuf-c-1.4.1.tar.gz
cd protobuf-c-1.4.1
./configure
make install
cd ..
rm -r protobuf-c-1.4.1

Now you can build sigbak. In the Cygwin terminal, run:

git clone https://github.com/tbvdm/sigbak.git
cd sigbak
git checkout portable
PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig make install

If you prefer, you can use this PowerShell script to install Cygwin and sigbak automatically. Press Windows+R to open the Run window, paste the following command and press Enter:

powershell -nop -c "iex (iwr https://github.com/tbvdm/cygwin-install-scripts/raw/master/install-cygwin-sigbak.ps1)"

In the Cygwin terminal, you can access your Windows drives through the /cygdrive directory. For example:

cd /cygdrive/c/Users/Alice/Documents
sigbak export-messages signal.backup messages

Reporting problems

Please report bugs and other problems with sigbak. If sigbak shows errors or warnings unexpectedly, please report them as well. You can open an issue on GitHub or send an email.