Re: Parse error - dar does not accept prune directories with trailing slash anymore

I'll just note that a lot of shell expansion will add the trailing slash
for directories.  It is also something I often use when I want to force
something to be a directory; for instance, "mv foo bar/" ensures that I
don't overwrite a file named bar with the file named foo, and instead
move foo into the directory named bar.

- John

On Sun, Jun 01 2025, Denis Corbin wrote:

> Hi Thomas,
>
> Changelog for 2.7.17 reports
> - fixed bug where -R path ending with // was breaking the path filtering
>   mechanism (-P/-g/-[/-] options).
>
> see commit 503326bf8735d8eab48d4ff0ab9c000ffa031dec
>
> The fix was needed for the filtering mechanism to work with those uncommon but
> valid paths (some//path)... sorry if this impacts training slashes. Is it a big
> problem to avoid using trailing slash in paths?
>
> Regards,
> Denis
>
> On 01/06/2025 16:53, Thomas wrote:
>> Hi!
>> ;TLDR
>> =====
>> With v2.7.17 and later one can't use '-P cdrom/' anymore. Dar aborts
>> with the error message:
>> ,---- [  ]
>> | Parse error: cdrom/ is an not a valid path: Empty string as subdirectory
>> | does not make a valid path
>> `----
>> The following works:
>> '-P cdrom'
>> or
>> '-P cdrom/*'
>> Bug or feature?
>> Long version
>> ============
>> I have a couple of directories I wan't to have in the backup but without
>> the files.
>> I used for a long time for example '--empty-dir -P cdrom/' without
>> problems.
>> Now with v2.7.17 and v2.7.18 I only get en error message:
>> ,---- [  ]
>> | Parse error: cdrom/ is an not a valid path: Empty string as subdirectory
>> | does not make a valid path
>> `----
>> What went wrong? The message does not enlighten me. I would say cdrom/
>> is a perfect path and is not empty either.
>> How to reproduce:
>> -----------------
>> export BASE=/tmp/dar_debug
>> mkdir -p ${BASE}/bak ${BASE}/files/cdrom
>> touch ${BASE}/files/file1 ${BASE}/files/cdrom/cdromfile1
>> dar --version
>> dar --create ${BASE}/bak/full_with_slash    --empty-dir --fs-root ${BASE}/files/ -P cdrom/
>> dar --create ${BASE}/bak/full_wo_slash      --empty-dir --fs-root ${BASE}/files/ -P cdrom
>> dar --create ${BASE}/bak/full_with_asterisk --empty-dir --fs-root ${BASE}/files/ -P cdrom/*
>> Results with v2.7.16
>> --------------------
>> All three create-commands are working as expected. They generate a
>> backup file including file1 and an empty cdrom directory.
>> cdromfile1 is not included as expected.
>> dar --list ${BASE}/bak/full_with_slash
>> [Data ][D][ EA  ][FSA][Compr][S]| Permission | User  | Group | Size    |          Date                 |    filename
>> --------------------------------+------------+-------+-------+---------+-------------------------------+------------
>> [Saved][ ]       [---][     ][ ]  -rw-rw-r--   1000	1000	0	Sun Jun  1 12:49:26 2025	file1
>> [Saved][-]       [---][     ][ ]  drwxrwxr-x   1000	1000	0	Sun Jun  1 12:49:26 2025	cdrom
>> dar --list ${BASE}/bak/full_wo_slash
>> [Data ][D][ EA  ][FSA][Compr][S]| Permission | User  | Group | Size    |          Date                 |    filename
>> --------------------------------+------------+-------+-------+---------+-------------------------------+------------
>> [Saved][ ]       [---][     ][ ]  -rw-rw-r--   1000	1000	0	Sun Jun  1 12:49:26 2025	file1
>> [Saved][-]       [---][     ][ ]  drwxrwxr-x   1000	1000	0	Sun Jun  1 12:49:26 2025	cdrom
>> dar --list ${BASE}/bak/full_with_asterisk
>> [Data ][D][ EA  ][FSA][Compr][S]| Permission | User  | Group | Size    |          Date                 |    filename
>> --------------------------------+------------+-------+-------+---------+-------------------------------+------------
>> [Saved][ ]       [---][     ][ ]  -rw-rw-r--   1000	1000	0	Sun Jun  1 12:49:26 2025	file1
>> [Saved][-]       [---][     ][ ]  drwxrwxr-x   1000	1000	0	Sun Jun  1 12:49:26 2025	cdrom
>> Results with v2.7.17 and v2.7.18
>> --------------------------------
>> The first create command failes with the error message above.
>> The second and third are working as expected.
>> dar --list ${BASE}/bak/full_with_slash
>> No backup file is present in file:///tmp/dar_debug/bak for archive
>> full_with_slash, please provide the last file of the set. [return = YES | Esc
>> = NO]
>> dar --list ${BASE}/bak/full_wo_slash
>> [Data ][D][ EA  ][FSA][Compr][S]| Permission | User  | Group | Size    |          Date                 |    filename
>> --------------------------------+------------+-------+-------+---------+-------------------------------+------------
>> [Saved][ ]       [---][     ][ ]  -rw-rw-r--   1000	1000	0	Sun Jun  1 12:49:26 2025	file1
>> [Saved][-]       [---][     ][ ]  drwxrwxr-x   1000	1000	0	Sun Jun  1 12:49:26 2025	cdrom
>> dar --list ${BASE}/bak/full_with_asterisk
>> [Data ][D][ EA  ][FSA][Compr][S]| Permission | User  | Group | Size    |          Date                 |    filename
>> --------------------------------+------------+-------+-------+---------+-------------------------------+------------
>> [Saved][ ]       [---][     ][ ]  -rw-rw-r--   1000	1000	0	Sun Jun  1 12:49:26 2025	file1
>> [Saved][-]       [---][     ][ ]  drwxrwxr-x   1000	1000	0	Sun Jun  1 12:49:26 2025	cdrom
>> Something between v2.7.16 and v2.7.17 has changed.
>> I would say this is a bug but it could be intentional. So my question
>> is:
>> Is it a bug or a feature?
>> Thanks for your support.
>> Tom
>>