Suggested feature: “Export-based Backup & Safe Wipe (Linux desktop)”
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Export-based Backup & Safe Wipe (Linux desktop)
Purpose
- Provide a safe, automated flow that ensures local DB residue cannot cause cross-account data bleed by creating verified export archives (not just moving DB files), then optionally wiping the local DB. Use standard Linux tooling (logrotate) to manage retention.
High-level behavior
- Discover app data and export capability
- Detect the desktop app instance and confirm Export Notes is available (desktop File → Export Notes). If the app is not running or the UI export cannot be invoked, provide a CLI fallback that runs an export routine.
- Create timestamped export archive
- Trigger a full Export Notes operation (JSON/zip) and store the resulting archive in a default backups directory: ~/.simplenote-exports/ (or user-configurable). Use filename pattern: simplenote-export-YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.zip
- Verify the archive was produced and is not empty. If verification fails, abort and present an error to the user.
- Secure the archive with permissions
- Ensure the export file is owned by the user and only user-readable by default (chmod 600 or equivalent for JSON; for zip, ensure the file is only user-accessible). Inform the user of the location.
- Optionally wipe local DB
- After a successful export and user confirmation, remove (rm -rf) or move the application data folders (for safety, move to a short-lived quarantine folder) so the desktop app starts clean. Warn clearly that this is destructive.
- Retention & purge via logrotate
- Ship a default logrotate-compatible configuration that manages ~/.simplenote-exports/*.zip with reasonable defaults (e.g., keep weekly daily/weekly rotations or keep N recent files). Example approach:
- Provide /etc/logrotate.d/simplenote-export (or a per-user equivalent ~/.config/simplenote/logrotate.conf) that rotates simplenote-export-*.zip, keeps 7 rotations, compresses archived rotations, and purges older backups. Make retention configurable in Settings.
- Alternatively, provide a small built-in retention manager for non-root installs that calls the same policy (keep N, keep files for X days, max total bytes).
- Ship a default logrotate-compatible configuration that manages ~/.simplenote-exports/*.zip with reasonable defaults (e.g., keep weekly daily/weekly rotations or keep N recent files). Example approach:
- Restore & recovery
- Provide a “Restore from export” action in Settings → Tools that lists available exports and can re-import a selected archive or restore the original local DB from quarantine.
- Safety-first UX
- Require explicit confirmation before wipe, show detected paths and export file location, and always point users to Export Notes manual UI as an additional safety step.
Implementation notes & edge cases
- Use Export Notes (JSON/zip) rather than copying raw local DB files. Exports are the supported portable archive format and are safer for restores and for server imports.
- For snap/flatpak users, either run export via the UI in the sandboxed app, or provide clear instructions / helper that runs with the correct sandbox permissions to write to ~/.simplenote-exports.
- For users who cannot use logrotate (no root), provide a per-user rotate script and a systemd user timer or a simple built-in retention manager. Ship a sample logrotate conf that can be installed by users or by package maintainers.
- Always verify the export file’s integrity (non-zero size and contains expected JSON files) before allowing a wipe.
- Don’t automatically delete backups unless the user opts into an automatic purge policy.
Suggested UI text (short) for Settings → Tools
- “Export & Wipe Local DB” — Creates a timestamped export in ~/.simplenote-exports/, verifies it, and optionally wipes local app data. Backups are retained using your configured retention policy (logrotate or built-in).
- Buttons: Scan paths • Export Now • Verify Export • Wipe Local DB (requires export verification) • Manage Backups (open backups folder) • Restore from Backup
- Warning banner: “Exporting is required. Deleting local app data is destructive. Make sure your export completed successfully before wiping.”
Suggested default logrotate configuration (forum-ready example)
- Provide this snippet to post in the forums or include in packaging:
/home/USERNAME/.simplenote-exports/simplenote-export-*.zip { daily rotate 7 missingok notifempty compress delaycompress copytruncate }
Notes for packaging: path substitution for per-user installs should be handled by the packager; for system-wide packages, provide /etc/logrotate.d/simplenote-export that rotates /var/backups/simplenote/*.zip instead.
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Wouldn’t it be LOVELY if the export file created included some reference to the Account the export was created from?
Or is the account already included in the export.zip archive somewhere? If so, how do I decode that in my growing pile of export.zip archives?
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Hi. Since you’re a long-time user, I expect you’ve seen this post, https://forums.simplenote.com/forums/topic/customer-update-on-simplenote/. So a big implementation update, especially one applying to only one of 6 Simplenote platforms, is pretty unlikely.
Since you’re already collecting exported backups, you can rename them to reflect their source.
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Does anyone know if the notes.zip contain some indicator of the account it came from?
Hahaha John, I’m a long time user of WordPress (18 years) and a very short time user of Simplenote (months). Thank you for your thoughts! -
I guessed from the reported age of your login here; I guess that’s your time with WordPress. Anyway, we’ve been told that Simplenote is basically in maintenance mode, and there a lot of more pressing fixes pending before adding complex new features. Unless you wish to tackle it yourself…
I don’t believe the exported file identifies the “account” it came from, since you just login to the account, then the app runs with that connection. But you can open the zip and see for yourself. It’s just a json file and a folder of text files. The json is just an array of documents and their attributes.
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