The closest I recall to that was where somebody had their database from an interrupted first backup (no dlist), and spent an hour writing a rough Python script. Restore Backup with only dblock and dindex files.
Above is extreme but just shows that it’s possible. Usual bottom-up is Independent restore program then Duplicati.CommandLine.RecoveryTool.exe if somehow the GUI stops working. If download stops working then you download files another way, decrypt with standard or Duplicati tools, and let RecoveryTool finish. These tools seem to actually get used very infrequently (based on forum reports), but it’s best they exist.
Occasionally (especially since this is still a beta) problems do occur where best way out is a new backup. Backup wisely, don’t run Duplicati as an archiver (then delete your original), do keep multiple backups, etc.
Recovering by using the Duplicati Recovery tool
How the backup process works
How the restore process works
Developer documentation
Local database format
All details are not yet spelled out (maybe someday this will improve) but it’s far from secret. Open-source.
Restore speeds are lower than simple formats (direct copy being maybe the extreme example of simple). There have definitely been people who want something direct. Windows File History comes pretty close to direct copy (it puts date information in the filenames, to keep versions separate). Some other ideas are at:
Create incremental backups without .zip or any compression
If you decide a more complex format is worth it, my quick supplement to other questions is that gmail can probably be solved and other benefits gained by having a third-party monitor send email from its own site: Duplicati-monitoring.com - central monitoring of multiple Duplicati instances + nice email reports
Process email body with script reminds me of “include my data”, though I’m not clear on exactly what it is.
Your “reboot or shutdown” could possibly go in a –run-script-after but the timing of things would have to be checked to make sure everything else you need is done by then, including any reporting you needed done. Extreme control can be had if you avoid the GUI, and just use command line to drive the backup, boot, etc.