Qn about rsnapshot/rsync directory filter rules

[Suvayu Ali]

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for your response.

On Fri, 18 Feb 2011 21:05:38 -0430
Patrick O'Callaghan <pocallaghan at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 2011-02-18 at 14:11 -0800, suvayu ali wrote:
>
> > In other words I wanted to rsnapshot to backup _only_ the
> > directories/files explicitly specified and skip everythign else.
> > 
> 
> I have the following rule in my /etc/rsnapshot.conf:
> 
> exclude_file    /etc/rsnapshot-exclude
> 
> where /etc/rsnapshot-exclude contains the following:
> 
> .adobe/
> .alexandria/
> .amaya/
> ...<snipped>

Yes I follow that, but my problem is this exclude list needs to be
updated everytime I create a new directory (maybe I try out some new
application) or file (which I don't really want to backup). I only want
to backup certian directories/files.

> *.o
> *.flv
> *.mpg
> *.mov
> *.torrent
> 

This however helped me. With this I can consistently ignore certain file
types I don't want to backup ever e.g. downloaded video files or
object/binary files from compilations. I can't do the same for stray
text files I usually end up with when trying to experiment with coding
or looking at log files or temporarily generated list of things with
grep, temporarily downloaded pdf files (I can't ignore all pdfs as I
want to keep papers or notes I am interested in) and many others like
that.

I wish to understand the filter so that I can build the entire rule set
in layers. Something like this,

1. ignore all files
2. add backup_root/dir1
3. add backup_root/some_file

So the subsequent layers overrule (I think logically its an OR) the
previous rule set. This way the backup process will ignore files unless
other wise specified. Is that possible? Or am I asking for something
which is achieved more easily/differently?

>
> poc
> 

Thanks for any thoughts.

-- 
Suvayu

Open source is the future. It sets us free.