diff --git a/backup.bash b/backup.bash
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+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# pass backup - Password Store Extension (https://www.passwordstore.org/)
+# Copyright (C) 2019
+#
+#    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+#    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+#    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+#    (at your option) any later version.
+#
+#    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+#    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+#    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+#    GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+#    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+#    along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+# []
+
+VERSION="1.1.1"
+PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DEBUG=false              # true or false, prints debugging messages
+PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DIR=".backups"           # default backup directory is $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DIR; if it is a relative path it becomes $PASSWORD_STORE_DIR/$PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DIR
+PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_BASENAME="passwordstore" # to create backup filenames like passwordstore.190407.123423.tar.gz2
+TAR=$(which tar)
+
+cmd_backup_usage() {
+  cat <<-_EOF
+Usage:
+    $PROGRAM backup [backuplocation]
+        On the first run it creates a directory ".backups" in \$PASSWORD_STORE_DIR.
+        By default this is ~/.password-store/.backups".
+        It creates a backup of the complete password store by creating a
+        compressed tar-file with extension .tar.bz2.
+        Backups themselves are excluded from the backup.
+        Without argument the backup file will receive the default name "passwordstore.DATE.TIME.tar.bz2"
+        where DATE and TIME are the current date and time.
+        If an argument is given and it is a directory, the backup file will be placed
+        into the specified directory instead of the default ".backups" directory.
+        If an argument is given and it is not a directory, it is used as a file
+        name and the backup is stored with this filename with .at.gz2 appended.
+    $PROGRAM backup help
+        Prints this help message.
+    $PROGRAM backup version
+        Prints the version number.
+
+Example: $PROGRAM backup
+            this is the typical usage
+            creates a backup and places it into \$PASSWORD_STORE_DIR/.backups
+            e.g. ~/.password-store/.backups/passwordstore.190407.122034.tar.gz2
+Example: $PROGRAM backup Documents/Backups/
+            creates a backup and places it into Documents/Backups/
+            i.e. Documents/Backups/passwordstore.190407.122034.tar.gz2
+Example: $PROGRAM backup Documents/Backups/mypassbackup
+            creates a backup and places it into
+            Documents/Backups/mypassbackup.tar.gz2
+
+For installation place this bash script file "backup.bash" into
+the passwordstore extension directory specified with \$PASSWORD_STORE_EXTENSIONS_DIR.
+By default this is ~/.password-store/.extensions.
+E.g. cp backup.bash ~/.password-store/.extensions
+Give the file execution permissions:
+E.g. chmod 700 ~/.password-store/.extensions/backup.bash
+Set the variable PASSWORD_STORE_ENABLE_EXTENSIONS to true to enable extensions.
+E.g. export PASSWORD_STORE_ENABLE_EXTENSIONS=true
+Source the bash completion file "pass-backup.bash.completion" for bash completion.
+E.g. source ~/.password-store/.bash-completions/pass-backup.bash.completion
+Type "pass backup" to create your first backup.
+E.g. pass backup
+_EOF
+  exit 0
+}
+
+cmd_backup_version() {
+  echo $VERSION
+  exit 0
+}
+
+cmd_backup_createbackup() {
+  [[ $# -gt 1 ]] && die "Too many arguments. At most 1 argument allowed."
+
+  [[ -z "$TAR" ]] && die "Failed to generate backup: tar is not installed."
+  TODAYTIME=$(date "+%Y%m%d.%H%M%S") # e.g. 20190409.212327
+
+  # expect 0 or 1 argument
+  # ignore 2nd argument and higher
+  if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
+    PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_PATH="$PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DIR/${PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_BASENAME}.${TODAYTIME}.tar.bz2" # path includes filename
+    $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DEBUG && echo "No arguments supplied. That is okay."
+    $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DEBUG && echo "Setting backup directory to $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DIR"
+    $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DEBUG && echo "Setting backup file to $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_PATH"
+  else
+    ARG1="$1"
+    case "$ARG1" in
+    /*)
+      $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DEBUG && echo "$ARG1 is an absolute path"
+      ;;
+    *)
+      $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DEBUG && echo "$ARG1 is a relative path"
+      ARG1="$(pwd)/$ARG1"
+      $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DEBUG && echo "Now $ARG1 is an absolute path"
+      ;;
+    esac
+
+    if [[ -d "$ARG1" ]]; then
+      $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DEBUG && echo "Argument $ARG1 is a directory"
+      PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_PATH="$ARG1/${PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_BASENAME}.${TODAYTIME}.tar.bz2" # path includes filename
+    else
+      $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DEBUG && echo "Argument $ARG1 treated as a filename"
+      PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_PATH="${ARG1}.tar.bz2"
+    fi
+    $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DEBUG && echo "Setting exclusion directory to $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DIR"
+    $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DEBUG && echo "Setting backup file to $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_PATH"
+  fi
+
+  [[ -f "$PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_PATH" ]] && yesno "File $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_PATH already exists. Overwrite it?"
+
+  if [ -z "$PASSWORD_STORE_DIR" ]; then # var is empty
+    PASSWORD_STORE_DIR="${HOME}/.password-store"
+  fi
+  $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DEBUG && echo "Password storage directory is $PASSWORD_STORE_DIR"
+
+  pushd "${PASSWORD_STORE_DIR}" >/dev/null || die "Could not cd into directory $PASSWORD_STORE_DIR. Aborting."
+  mkdir -p "${PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DIR}" >/dev/null || die "Could not create directory $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DIR. Aborting."
+  tar --exclude="${PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_DIR}" -cjf "${PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_PATH}" . # add v for debugging if need be
+  chmod 400 "${PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_PATH}" >/dev/null || die "Could not change permissions to read-only on file $PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_PATH. Aborting."
+  BZ2SIZE=$(wc -c <"${PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_PATH}") # returns size in bytes
+  BZ2ENTRIES=$(tar -tf "${PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_PATH}" | wc -l)
+  echo "Created backup file \"${PASSWORD_STORE_BACKUP_PATH}\" of size ${BZ2SIZE} bytes with ${BZ2ENTRIES} entries."
+  popd >/dev/null || die "Could not change directory. Aborting."
+}
+
+case "$1" in
+help | --help | -h)
+  shift
+  cmd_backup_usage "$@"
+  ;;
+version | --version | -v)
+  shift
+  cmd_backup_version "$@"
+  ;;
+*) cmd_backup_createbackup "$@" ;;
+esac
+exit 0