Re: How to exclude all dotfiles in a folder but include a specific set?

[Tobias Leupold]

Hi Eric!

Thanks for yout reply!

The problem is that I don't know the complete list of the "normal" 
folders I want to include. But I know a complete list of dotfiles I want 
to include.

So, if we have

/tmp/from/1
/tmp/from/2
/tmp/from/3
/tmp/from/.1
/tmp/from/.2
/tmp/from/.3

I want to exclude all the files starting with a ., but include a list of 
specific files starting with a ".", e.g. /tmp/from/.2 (at this point, 
it's not a problem yet I think ...).

But I also want to include all the regular files and folders from 
/tmp/from, with e.g. the exception of /tmp/from/2. But I don't know the 
list to include. And that's the problem -- there could also be 
/tmp/from/4, /tmp/from/5 and so on.

Now if I do

    rdiff-backup \
        --include /tmp/from/\* \
        --exclude /tmp/from/2 \
        --include /tmp/from/.2 \
        --exclude /tmp/from/.\* \
        --exclude / \
        / ./to

all the files from /tmp/from are included (also /tmp/from/2 and all the 
/tmp/from/.whatever files) no matter the order of the --include and 
--exclude statements.

I also tried to mess with --include-regexp, but e.g. this:

    rdiff-backup --terminal-verbosity 5 \
        --include-regexp "/tmp/from/[^\.].+" \
        --exclude / \
        / ./to

leads to no files included at all ...

Am 09.01.23 um 07:16 schrieb Eric Zolf:
> Hi Tobias,
>
> what about something like:
>
> mkdir /tmp/from
> touch /tmp/from/.{un,}wanted /tmp/from/also{un,}wanted
>
> rdiff-backup -v5 backup \
>      --include /tmp/from/.wanted --exclude /tmp/from/.\* \
>      --include /tmp/from/alsowanted --exclude /tmp/from/\* \
>      /tmp/from /tmp/bak
>
> (and /tmp/bak contains then only the wanted files)
>
> So first the includes, then the corresponding excludes. It shouldn't 
> make a difference if from the command line using --include/exclude or 
> using files with --include/exclude-globbing-filelist
>
> Hope this helps,
> Eric
>
> On 08/01/2023 23:32, Tobias Leupold wrote:
> > Dear list,
> >
> > I use rdiff-backup to do automated backups on my server. I backup /, 
> > but I
> > exclude everything and only include what I need. E.g. I use the 
> > following call
> >
> >      rdiff-backup --include-globbing-filelist /etc/backup.include \
> >                   --exclude / \
> >                   / /backup/data
> >
> > and specify a list of folders I want in /etc/backup.include, e.g.
> >
> >      /etc/crontab
> >      /etc/postfix
> >      /etc/dovecot
> >      /usr/local/bin
> >      /usr/local/sbin
> >      /srv
> >
> > That works just fine.
> >
> > Now I'm trying to adapt this to a machine with similar requirements, but
> > including some parts of a home directory.
> >
> > What I can't get to work is: I want to include the home directory, but 
> > without
> > all the .whatever files. But I want SOME of them.
> >
> > E.g. I want:
> >
> >      /etc/some/config_file
> >      /etc/some/other/config_file
> >
> > And also all the "normal" files and folders in /home/my_user
> >
> >      /home/my_user/folder_1
> >      /home/my_user/folder_2
> >      /home/my_user/foo
> >      /home/my_user/bar
> >
> > and so on, but I don't want
> >
> >      /home/my_user/.*
> >
> > but I DO want a defined set of dotfiles, e.g.
> >
> >      /home/my_user/.ssh
> >      /home/my_user/.local/share/foo
> >
> > I can't get this to work. I played around a lot with --include-globbing-
> > filelist, --exclude-globbing-filelist, --include and --exclude, but 
> > either, I
> > get none of the .whatever files inside /home/my_user, or I get all of 
> > them.
> >
> > Is it possible to do this? Thanks in advance for all help!
> >
> > Cheers, Tobias