versionio 0.1.1

Drop-in replacement for open() with automatic file versioning

versionIO

A drop-in replacement for Python's open() function that automatically versions your files.

Features

• 🔄 Drop-in replacement for Python's built-in open()
• 📦 Automatic backups before every write operation
• 🗂️ Version history with timestamps
• 🔧 Configurable retention policies (keep last N versions)
• 🚀 Zero dependencies - uses only Python standard library
• 🖥️ Cross-platform - Windows, macOS, Linux
• 🔒 Thread-safe with file locking

Installation

pip install versionio

Quick Start

Drop-in Replacement

Simply replace Python's open() with versionIO's:

# Instead of:
# from builtins import open

# Use:
from versionio import open

# Your existing code works without changes!
with open('important_file.txt', 'w') as f:
    f.write('New content')  # Old version automatically backed up!

High-level Interface

from versionio import VersionedFile

vf = VersionedFile('config.json')

# Write new content (auto-versioned)
vf.write('{"setting": "new_value"}')

# List all versions
for version in vf.versions():
    print(f"{version.timestamp}: {version.size} bytes")

# Restore previous version
vf.restore(vf.versions()[0])

Retention Policy

Keep only the last N versions to save space:

from versionio import open, VersionPolicy

# Keep only last 5 versions
policy = VersionPolicy(max_versions=5)

with open('data.csv', 'w', policy=policy) as f:
    f.write('id,name,value\n1,example,100')

How It Works

versionIO automatically creates backups before modifying files:

myfile.txt                    # Current file
.versions/
└── myfile.txt/
    ├── 20240115_143022_001.txt   # Backup from Jan 15, 14:30:22
    ├── 20240115_151533_001.txt   # Backup from Jan 15, 15:15:33
    └── 20240116_091000_001.txt   # Backup from Jan 16, 09:10:00

Advanced Features

Disable Versioning

# Disable for specific files
with open('temp.txt', 'w', versioning=False) as f:
    f.write('No backup needed')

Custom Policies

from versionio import VersionPolicy

policy = VersionPolicy(
    max_versions=10,      # Keep last 10 versions
    compress=False,       # Don't compress (future feature)
    diff_based=False,     # Store full copies (future feature)
)

Use Cases

• Configuration files - Track every change to your app's settings
• Data files - Keep history of CSV, JSON, or other data files
• Log files - Maintain append history with automatic rotation
• Critical documents - Never lose important modifications
• Development - Simple version control for single files

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see our Contributing Guide for details.

License

Licensed under the MIT License.

Links

• PyPI Package
• GitHub Repository