Quick Tumblr Backup Guide (Linux)
Go to www.tumblr.com/oauth/apps and click the "Register Application" button
Fill in the form. I used the following values for the required fields: Application Name - tumblr-arch Application Website - https://github.com/Cebtenzzre/tumblr-utils Application Description - tumblr archival instance based on tumblr-utils Adminstrative contact email - < my personal email > Default callback URL - https://github.com/Cebtenzzre/tumblr-utils OAuth2 redirect URLs - https://github.com/Cebtenzzre/tumblr-utils
Get the OAuth Consumer Key for your application. It should be listed right on the www.tumblr.com/oauth/apps page.
Do python things:
# check python version: python --version # I've got Python 3.9.9 # create a venv: python -m venv --prompt tumblr-bkp --upgrade-deps venv # activate the venv: source venv/bin/activate # install dependencies: pip install tumblr-backup pip install tumblr-backup[video] pip install tumblr-backup[jq] pip install tumblr-backup[bs4] # Check dependencies are all installed: pip freeze # set the api key: tumblr-backup --set-api-key <OAuth Consumer Key>
So far I have backed up two blogs using the following:
tumblr-backup --save-audio --save-video --tag-index --save-notes --incremental -j --no-post-clobber --media-list <blog name>
There have been two issues I had to deal with so far:
one of the blogs was getting a "Non-OK API repsonse: HTTP 401 Unauthorized". It further stated that "This is a dashboard-only blog, so you probably don't have the right cookies. Try --cookiefile." I resolved the issue by a) setting the "Hide from people without an account" to off and b) enabling a custom theme. I think only step a) was actually necessary though.
"Newly registered consumers are rate limited to 1,000 requests per hour, and 5,000 requests per day. If your application requires more requests for either of these periods, please use the 'Request rate limit removal' link on an app above." Depending on how big your blog is, you may need to break up the download. I suspect using the "-n COUNT" or "--count COUNT" to save only COUNT posts at a time, combined with the "--incremental" will allow you to space things out. You would have to perform multiple passes though. I will have to play with that, so I'll report back my findings.