Simple --exclude case fails?

[Johann Schoonees]

Dear List

I've been using rdiff-backup reliably for several years - what a great 
program.

I recently added a new --exclude option which rdiff-backup seems to 
ignore in my backup cron script.  The newly added line below is:
    --exclude "/root/snap" \

However the output listing below shows directories and files under 
/root/snap being backed up up anyway.  The rest of the include/exclude 
hierarchy seems to behave as expected.  Details follow:

$ uname -a
Linux <hostname> 4.15.0-202-generic #213-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jan 5 19:19:12 
UTC 2023 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

rdiff-backup invocation inside my bash script:
nice -n 10 rdiff-backup -v5 \
    --exclude-device-files \
    --exclude-fifos \
    --exclude-other-filesystems \
    --exclude-sockets \
    --include "/etc" \
    --exclude "/home/*/.local/share/Trash" \
    --exclude "/home/*/.cache" \
    --exclude "/home/*/Downloads" \
    --exclude "/home/*/.dropbox*" \
    --exclude "/home/*/Dropbox/.dropbox.cache" \
    --exclude "/home/*/snap" \
    --exclude "/home/*/tmp" \
    --exclude "/home/guest" \
    --include "/home" \
    --exclude "/root/snap" \
    --include "/root" \
    --exclude "/usr/local/MATLAB" \
    --include "/usr/local" \
    --exclude "/usr" \
    --exclude "**" \
    /  /media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff

Output:
Using rdiff-backup version 1.2.8
Unable to import win32security module. Windows ACLs
not supported by filesystem at /
escape_dos_devices not required by filesystem at /
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Detected abilities for source (read only) file system:
  Access control lists                         On
  Extended attributes                          On
  Windows access control lists                 Off
  Case sensitivity                             On
  Escape DOS devices                           Off
  Escape trailing spaces                       Off
  Mac OS X style resource forks                Off
  Mac OS X Finder information                  Off
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Unable to import win32security module. Windows ACLs
not supported by filesystem at 
/media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff/rdiff-backup-data/rdiff-backup.tmp.0
escape_dos_devices not required by filesystem at 
/media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff/rdiff-backup-data/rdiff-backup.tmp.0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Detected abilities for destination (read/write) file system:
  Ownership changing                           On
  Hard linking                                 On
  fsync() directories                          On
  Directory inc permissions                    On
  High-bit permissions                         On
  Symlink permissions                          Off
  Extended filenames                           On
  Windows reserved filenames                   Off
  Access control lists                         On
  Extended attributes                          On
  Windows access control lists                 Off
  Case sensitivity                             On
  Escape DOS devices                           Off
  Escape trailing spaces                       Off
  Mac OS X style resource forks                Off
  Mac OS X Finder information                  Off
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Backup: must_escape_dos_devices = 0
Starting increment operation / to /media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff
Processing changed file .
Incrementing mirror file /media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff
Processing changed file etc
Incrementing mirror file /media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff/etc
...
Processing changed file root
Incrementing mirror file /media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff/root
Processing changed file root/.bash_history
Incrementing mirror file 
/media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff/root/.bash_history
...
Processing changed file root/.synaptic/synaptic.conf
Incrementing mirror file 
/media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff/root/.synaptic/synaptic.conf
Processing changed file root/snap
Incrementing mirror file /media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff/root/snap
Processing changed file root/snap/brave
Incrementing mirror file /media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff/root/snap/brave
Processing changed file root/snap/brave/180
Incrementing mirror file 
/media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff/root/snap/brave/180
Processing changed file root/snap/brave/180/.config
Incrementing mirror file 
/media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff/root/snap/brave/180/.config
...
Processing changed file root/snap/brave/current
Incrementing mirror file 
/media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff/root/snap/brave/current
Processing changed file usr
Incrementing mirror file /media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff/usr
Processing changed file usr/local
Incrementing mirror file /media/backup_petrel_2/backup-rdiff/usr/local
...

I've had to trim the output above, but the full output shows 
rdiff-backup working through the entire /root/snap hierarchy.

Expected behaviour:
The /root/snap hierarchy excluded from backup.

Am I doing something wrong in the rdiff-backup invocation?  is it a bug?

I have just become aware of the new rdiff-backup version 2 and I should 
soon upgrade.  However I would in the meantime be grateful for any fix 
to my current backup problem.

Cheers,
Johann



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