qr-backup v1.1 is released. qr-backup is a command-line Linux program. You can use it to back up a file as a series of QR codes. You can restore the QR codes using a webcam or scanner, and get back the original file.

The main features of qr-backup are ease-of-use and futureproofing (restore does not require qr-backup).

Please report any bugs on github. Once this is stable, I will do the first pip/package manager release. To test the alpha, check out the latest code using git.

See also USAGE and extensive FAQ.

New features in v1.1:

• Feature complete. New features are unlikely to be added. Future efforts will focus on quality, GUIs, and porting.
• restore using qr-backup. Previously, the only restore was a bash one-liner (which still works).
  • qr-backup --restore restores using the webcam
  • qr-backup --restore IMAGE IMAGE IMAGE restores from scanned images
• After generating a PDF backup, qr-backup automatically does a digital test of the restore process
• Erasure coding. Lose up to 30% of QRs and restore will still work, as long as you are using qr-backup to restore
• Increased code density, which about cancels out the erasure coding.
• Back up directories and files. qr-backup makes a .tar file for you
• Option to use password protection (encryption)
• Option to print multiple copies of every QR code
• Option to randomize order of QR codes
• Optionally print extra cover sheet instructions on how to restore. For long-term archivists.
• Option to add custom notes and labels to each page
• Improved support for using qr-backup in a pipe
• Various bugfixes
• See CHANGELOG for complete details

P.S. As a special request, if anyone is on OS X, let me know if it works for you?

qr-backup is a program to back up digital documents to physical paper. Restore is done with a webcam, video camera, or scanner. Someday smart phone cameras will work.

I’ve been making some progress on qr-backup v1.1. So far I’ve added:

• --restore, which does a one-step restore for you, instead of needing a bash one-line restore process
• --encrypt provides password-based encryption
• An automatic restore check that checks the generated PDF. This is mostly useful for me while maintaining qr-backup, but it also provides peace-of-mind to users.
• --instructions to give more fine-tuned control over printing instructions. There’s a “plain english” explanation of how qr-backup works that you can attach to the backup.
• --note for adding an arbitrary message to every sheet
• Base-64 encoding is now per-QR code, each QR is self-contained.
• Codes are labeled N01/50 instead of 01/50, to support more code types in the future.
• Code cleanup of QR generation process.
• Several bugfixes.

v1.1 will be released when I make qr-backup feature complete:

• Erasure coding, so you only need 70% of the QRs to do a restore.
• Improve webcam restore slightly.

v1.2 will focus on adding a GUI and support for Windows, Mac, and Android. Switching off zbar is a requirement to allow multi-platform support, and will likely improve storage density.