Re: Question about using --exclude

Hi,

On 25/02/2025 18:18, Eric Beversluis via Any discussion of rdiff-backup 
wrote:
> Eric,/h
> I just did a brand new rdiff-backup on a newly formatted USB drive. I 
> included the  '--exclude '/home/eric/VirtualBox VMs',' but rdiff-backup 
> went and included ca 250 GB of that directory in the backup.
> 
> PS--I think the old backup got corrupted somehow. When I tried to do 
> 'regress', it kept telling me not enough space on the disk, and when I 
> tried to do rdiff-backup-delete, it told me that target I gave it wasn't 
> an rdiff-backup...

The regress can take some place, so it's not impossible, but if you get 
out of space during a backup or a regress, anything can happen, up to 
corruption, which can explain why rdiff-backup-delete complains.

> So I started over. But why doesn't the --exclude parameter work?
> 
> Here's the command I used:
> 
> sudo rdiff-backup --api-version 201 backup  --exclude '/home/eric/ 
> VirtualBox&VMs' --include /home/eric --include /var/www --include /var/ 
> lib/mysql --include /usr/share/fonts --exclude '**' / '/run/media/eric/ 
> backup 2025-02/XPS-2025-02'

I said a question mark not an ampersand. Else I would also check that 
the capitalization is exactly correct, because it's case sensitive.

KR, Eric

> 
> Thanks for any insight into this. I'll try rdiff-backup-delete to get 
> rid of all those GBs filling up my USB disk.
> 
> 
> Eric Beversluis
> www.ericbeversluis.com
> 2x Honorable Mention--Writer's Digest Contest
> 
> 
> On 2/23/25 4:17 PM, EricZolf wrote:
>> No, the previous inclusion of the VM wouldn't cause the later 
>> exclusion to be ignored,  but it might take a while until it's moved 
>> away, due to the delta mechanism.
>> Removing the file using rdiff-backup-delete might be a better option 
>> (but then it's completely gone).
>>
>> On February 23, 2025 7:44:07 PM UTC, Eric Beversluis via Any 
>> discussion of rdiff-backup <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Eric, sorry about replying privately. I don't know what made me think 
>>> you had replied to me privately. When I look now, I see it was 
>>> addressed to the list. Thanks for the suggestions re the command.
>>>
>>> Eric Beversluis
>>> www.ericbeversluis.com
>>> 2x Honorable Mention--Writer's Digest Contest
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/23/25 12:51 PM, EricZolf wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> again, please reply to the list and only to the list.
>>>>
>>>> On 23/02/2025 12:54, Eric Beversluis wrote:
>>>>> HI Eric,
>>>>> Maybe I edited too much out of the command to keep it brief. Here's 
>>>>> the complete command. It's the one I've been long using with the 
>>>>> addition of '--api-version 201' and '--exclude '/home/eric/ 
>>>>> VirtualBox VMs''.
>>>>>
>>>>> sudo rdiff-backup --api-version 201 backup  --exclude '/home/eric/ 
>>>>> VirtualBox VMs' --include /home/eric --include /var/www --include / 
>>>>> var/ lib/mysql --include /usr/share/fonts --exclude '**' / /run/ 
>>>>> media/eric/ ec90af29-6371-4399-9f2f-5eaf005af33e/XPS-2024-11-08
>>>>>
>>>>> The 'VirtualBox VMs' directory has gotten too big, with the new VM 
>>>>> in there (that I created from scratch) and the files of the VM I 
>>>>> was trying to restore from rdiff-backup. And since VirtualBox 
>>>>> didn't like what I restored from rdiff-backup, I decided to leave 
>>>>> that whole directory out of the backup.
>>>> You didn't say which version of rdiff-backup you're using, but the 
>>>> command line looks correct to me.
>>>> You could do 2 things:
>>>>
>>>> 1. add `--verbosity 5` (or more) _before_ backup to list the f\iles 
>>>> backed-up and see which files are really listed. Without it, how do 
>>>> you know which files are backed up?
>>> I knew it was backing up the \VirtualBox VMs directory when the 
>>> backup was taking way too long, and I took a look at what was being 
>>> written to the backup disk and the amount of space being used on the 
>>> disk. At that point I aborted the backup and have since regressed it 
>>> to the Feb 18 backup.
>>>
>>> (Using rdiff-backup 2.2.6 on Fedora 40.)
>>>
>>> Since the previous backup included \VirtualBox VMs, would that cause 
>>> rdiff-backup to ignore the --exclude argument in the revised command?
>>>
>>>> 2. replace the space through a question mark in '/home/eric/ 
>>>> VirtualBox?VMs'; it shouldn't be an issue but you never know.
>>>>
>>>> KR, Eric
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks.
>>>>>
>>>>> Eric Beversluis
>>>>> www.ericbeversluis.com
>>>>> 2x Honorable Mention--Writer's Digest Contest
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2/23/25 2:51 AM, EricZolf wrote:
>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>> are you sure this is the right command? It should have source and 
>>>>>> target directory, but this one has only target. Which version of 
>>>>>> rdiff-backup are you using?
>>>>>> KR, Eric (too)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On February 23, 2025 5:13:15 AM UTC, Eric Beversluis via Any 
>>>>>> discussion of rdiff-backup <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>> I'm trying to back up my home directory while excluding the / 
>>>>>>> VirtualBox VMs directory. I came up with this new command that, 
>>>>>>> according to the syntax instructions, should mean rdiff-backup 
>>>>>>> would henceforth skip that directory.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>     rdiff-backup --api-version 201 backup  --exclude
>>>>>>>     '/home/eric/VirtualBox VMs' --include /home/eric
>>>>>>>     --exclude '**' /run/media/eric/backup
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Yet, when I ran this command, it proceeded to backup the 
>>>>>>> 'VirtualBox VMs' folder. I thought I understood the syntax as 
>>>>>>> saying that the -- exclude Folder, coming before the --include / 
>>>>>>> home/eric would take precedence and leave Folder out of the / 
>>>>>>> home/eric backup.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> What am I getting wrong here?
>>>>
>>>
> 
>