Max size to the exclude = line?

Is there a maximum string size to the exclude = line?

Ran into a weird problem.

One of our backups has been failing since the 27th.

The last change applied was an added file to the exclude = line.

I upgraded to the latest version and the problem still occurred.

the inclist files had this within it.

root@atlas: /backups/atlas/etc/bak >more inc*
::::::::::::::
inclist.daily
::::::::::::::
1089876601
::::::::::::::
inclist.monthly
::::::::::::::
1088667000
::::::::::::::
inclist.weekly
::::::::::::::
1089790203

After I removed some entries from the exclude = line, the problem went away.

Is it a tar problem or an hdup configuration problem?


A if there is a limit, warn of such when exceeded.

Also. Can we add a keyword such as

exclude file = /etc/hdup/hdup.excludelist

so I can have a static external file that can be adjusted externally?