FastBack vs mcwrapper

FastBack is a free Minecraft mod for making incremental snapshots of Java worlds: each snapshot records only the parts that have changed. It can save backups locally, send them to another Git repository, or write them to a network drive without a Git server. Automatic backups can run when a world shuts down or after Minecraft autosaves, with a configurable minimum wait between runs. A snapshot can be restored as a separate world copy, so the current world files remain unchanged. Retention options include daily, fixed-count, GFS, and all-snapshots policies; snapshots can also include mod jars and configuration files. FastBack works on Minecraft clients and dedicated servers, with Linux, Mac, and Windows support. Separate Fabric and NeoForge mod files are listed. It requires native Git and Git LFS to be installed and available on the Minecraft process PATH. Garbage collection can take more than five minutes, and the documentation recommends running git gc directly for worlds larger than 1 GB. The mod is distributed under GNU Public License version 2; modpack use requires attribution with a link to the project page.

mcwrapper is a free Minecraft server wrapper for Linux, macOS, and other POSIX-compatible systems, intended for server administrators. It can start, stop, restart, and check a server’s status, and send arbitrary commands through a named pipe called command_input. Its backup action temporarily prevents world-data writing while it copies and compresses data, then enables writing again. Backups are timestamped, a latest symlink is created, and the default retention is five backups. The restore action stops the server if needed, saves current data, copies a selected backup into the world directory, and restarts the server if it had been running. Restoring disconnects connected clients because it requires an interruption. The log action follows the server log in real time. The install action downloads the current minecraft_server.jar from Mojang and places it in the configured location. Settings can come from environment variables or mcwrapper.conf files in four documented locations. Installation is available from RubyGems.org with the command gem install mcwrapper. The project provides a README and wiki pages on setup, actions, configuration, and automated backups. It is distributed under the MIT License, which provides the software as-is without warranty.