On 07/16/18 10:00, Albert Cardona wrote: > In invoking the command: > > $ /usr/bin/tarsnap -c --configfile ~/.tarsnaprc -f backup-`date > +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S` --totals --dry-run /home/albert > > ... I am greeted with: > > tarsnap: Warning: Archive contains no files > > The /home/albert directory is certainly not empty. > The ~/.tarsnaprc contains a number of include directories like: > > include /home/albert/lab/manuscripts > include /home/albert/lab/grants
The 'include' directive is kind of broken. Or rather, it works, but the situations where it's useful are so rare that it confuses people more than it helps them. My recommendation: Remove the 'include' directives from .tarsnaprc and change your command line to /usr/bin/tarsnap -c --configfile ~/.tarsnaprc -f backup-`date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S` --totals --dry-run /home/albert/lab/manuscripts /home/albert/lab/grants -- Colin Percival Security Officer Emeritus, FreeBSD | The power to serve Founder, Tarsnap | www.tarsnap.com | Online backups for the truly paranoid