Moodle Time Machine (local_timemachine)

Admin-only local plugin (Moodle 4.5+) to automatically back up all courses in a selected category when content changes are detected. Keeps up to 7 backup versions per course, stores them under moodledata in the fixed folder "MoodleTimeMachine" and optionally uploads each backup to an FTP server.

Key features

• Admin-only access and configuration


• Category selection to include courses


• Change-detection to avoid unnecessary backups


• Retention of last 7 versions per course


• Admin interface with search, download and deletion


• Optional FTP upload (passive mode supported)


• Fixed storage folder: moodledata/MoodleTimeMachine (auto-created)

Scheduled Task

• Runs daily at 02:00 by default (Site administration -> Server -> Scheduled tasks -> Moodle Time Machine)

Settings

• Site administration -> Plugins -> Local plugins -> Moodle Time Machine (storage folder is not configurable)

Security and robustness

• Storage folder is auto-created under moodledata with sanity checks to prevent traversal


• Download and deletion actions enforce sesskey, capability checks and storage-bound paths


• Backups are streamed to disk to avoid loading large archives into memory


• Retention and cleanup use guarded deletions to avoid touching files outside the plugin storage


• FTP upload is optional, validated for readable files and avoids logging credentials