Install imap-backup with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• imap-backup

Project history

The RubyGems version history shows `imap-backup` beginning with 0.0.1 in 2012 and reaching 1.0.0 in early 2013. The project's developer documentation states design goals of secure local configuration, restartable operation, and independence from a mail client or MTA.

The tool has grown from basic account backup into a broader IMAP maintenance utility. Recent changelog entries document download strategies, Thunderbird export improvements, configuration-free single-account backups, container images, a consolidated `copy` command replacing older migration and mirror flows, account locking, metadata migrations, and internationalization.

Adoption history

imap-backup is distributed as a RubyGem and as a Homebrew formula. RubyGems download counts are much higher than Homebrew installs, which fits a Ruby CLI whose main package channel is the gem ecosystem, while Homebrew gives Mac and Linux users a convenient binary-package entry point.

The package's adoption comes from a durable personal-infrastructure problem: IMAP accounts need local, restartable, scriptable backups without coupling the archive to a desktop mail client. Its docs also cover migration and restore operations, so the tool is used for both preservation and moving mail between providers.

How it is used

`imap-backup setup` creates configuration, and `imap-backup backup` copies messages for configured accounts to disk. The backup command is incremental and interruptible, and stores email in mboxrd files with IMAP metadata containing offsets and message lengths.

The config documentation records the default path as `~/.imap-backup/config.json` and warns that usernames and passwords are stored in plain text there, with permissions set on Unix-like systems. Other commands include restore, copy, and single-account backup flows, with performance settings for delayed metadata writes and multi-fetch size.

Why package nerds care

imap-backup is package-nerd significant because it turns email portability into a boring CLI workflow. It also demonstrates the tradeoffs of local-first backup tools: plain JSON configuration, mboxrd serialization, metadata version migrations, locking, and careful restart behavior matter more than a large service backend.

Timeline

• 2012: imap-backup 0.0.1 was published to RubyGems.
• 2013: imap-backup 1.0.0 was published to RubyGems.
• 2022: The changelog records backup flags, mirror mode, stats, and provider-specific backup fixes in the 6.x and 7.x lines.
• 2023: Version 14.0.0 added configuration-free single-account backups, and 14.3.0 added container images.
• 2024: Version 16.0.0 added the `copy` command and deprecated older migrate/mirror commands.
• 2026: The 16.x and 17.0.0.rc0 lines added localization, account locking, metadata migration, and mboxrd serialization fixes.

Related projects

• imap-backup is related to IMAP synchronization and archival tools such as isync/mbsync and offline mail workflows, but its docs emphasize local mboxrd backups plus restore/copy operations rather than maintaining a live Maildir mirror.

Sources

• https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/imap-backup.json
• https://github.com/joeyates/imap-backup
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joeyates/imap-backup/main/CHANGELOG.md
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joeyates/imap-backup/main/docs/commands/backup.md
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joeyates/imap-backup/main/docs/files/config.md
• https://rubygems.org/api/v1/gems/imap-backup.json
• https://rubygems.org/api/v1/versions/imap-backup.json