Is it possible to start BmuS with different configs?

Published on 09.01.2026

Yes.

Native installation

sudo CONFIG_FILE=/home/user/bmus_alternative.conf /home/user/bmus.sh

You can also add several cronjobs that execute different configs.

Open crontab.

sudo crontab -e

Daily at 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. with alternative configs.

0 3 * * * CONFIG_FILE=/home/user/bmus.conf /home/user/bmus.sh
0 6 * * * CONFIG_FILE=/home/user/bmus_alternative.conf /home/user/bmus.sh

Docker installation

sudo docker exec -it -e CONFIG_FILE=/config/bmus_alternative.conf bmus_backup /app/bmus.sh [ARGUMENTS]

Make sure that bmus_alternative.conf is in the config/ folder.

Daily at 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. with alternative docker configs.

0 4 * * * sudo docker exec -e CONFIG_FILE=/config/bmus.conf bmus_backup /app/bmus.sh
0 18 * * * sudo docker exec -e CONFIG_FILE=/config/bmus_alternative.conf bmus_backup /app/bmus.sh

You could also tweak the docker-compose.yml.

But since the Docker container (more precisely, the entrypoint.sh script) is hard-coded to always load /config/bmus.conf, you nee to use a “mount trick” here:

For the second container (bmus_alternative), we mount the file bmus_alternative.conf (from the host) directly over bmus.conf (in the container). The container “thinks” it is loading the default configuration, but in reality it is reading your second configuration.

services:
  # ---------------------------------------------------------
  # 1. Standard container (uses bmus.conf)
  # ---------------------------------------------------------
  bmus:
    image: backmeupscotty/bmus:latest
    container_name: bmus_backup
    restart: unless-stopped
    privileged: true
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config
      - /:/host_root:ro
    environment:
      - TZ=Europe/Berlin

  # ----------------------------------- ----------------------
  # 2. Second container (uses bmus_alternative.conf)
  # ------------------------------------------------------ ---
  bmus_secondary:
    image: backmeupscotty/bmus:latest
    container_name: bmus_backup_secondary
    restart: unless-stopped
    privileged: true
    volumes:
      # First mount the entire folder (for credentials, etc.)
      - ./config:/config
      
      # TRICK: We overwrite the bmus.conf in the container with the bmus_alternative.conf from the host
      - ./config/bmus_alternative.conf:/config/bmus.conf
      
      # OPTIONAL: We also redirect the log file so that they don't get mixed up
      # (Host: bmus_alternative.log -> Container: bmus.log)
      # IMPORTANT: Create an empty ‘bmus_alternative.log’ on the host beforehand!
      - ./config/bmus_alternative.log:/config/bmus.log
      
      - /:/host_root:ro
    environment:
      - TZ=Europe/Berlin

Both containers now run completely independently of each other. This means you can define completely different schedules (CRON_SCHEDULE), backup destinations, or sources in bmus_alternative.conf than in the first file.

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