Backup Solutions

Backing up minetest data can be a real pain due to the size and complexity of some worlds and mods. We have written this guide to provide you with some information regarding backing up data.

World Backups

Worlds will usually be contained in the minetest data directory under the worlds directory.

Inside, one can see the individual worlds. For the structure of the worlds directory, see [the relevant wiki page].

To back up a world, these are some solutions:

World Backup Solutions

Solution	Details	Strengths and weaknesses
Copying the directoy	By taking the world directory and copying it somewhere else, a simple backup may be achieved.	Will double the space taken by the world and is not very efficent
Git	Using a git repository to contain the world	Again, git will take the world and save it under the .git directory for keepeing. It can be good for documenting changes but is not reccomended for most usecases
Compression	Using a compression algorithm to make the world smaller	Makes a smaller file, reducing total space taken, but can be slow or memory-intensive on some devices.

Mod Backups

Due to the constantly-changing nature of mods (which both makes them securer and insecurer), creating a backup is not reccomended. Mods will eventually grow out of date and you will both miss out on the latest features and security fixes.

Mods can be backed up in the same way as worlds, or you could use the following script:

One can write down git repositories in a file and use the following script to download them again:

import os

# Read the file containing the list of repositories
with open('repositories.txt') as f:
    repositories = f.readlines()

# Loop through the repositories and clone each one
for repo in repositories:
    # Remove any whitespace or newlines from the repository URL
    repo = repo.strip()

    # Clone the repository using Git
    os.system(f'git clone {repo}')

This approach can work quite well if you want the latest features and to be able to update things.

User Data

Other user data is important.

minetest.conf in the root directory will contain all the setting you changed, and the screenshots directory contains any photos you made.