tar version #################################################### tar (GNU tar) 1.34 Copyright (C) 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Written by John Gilmore and Jay Fenlason. #################################################### I'm passing on this solution to help others avoid my frustration and wasted time. If you've done "RTFM" on tar, you'll find out that "TFM" is broken or out-of-date or whatever, re: "--exclude=PATTERN". I'm fighting the urge to turn this into a rant. Here's my situation... I either log in as root or "su -" and then "cd /home". I want to tar up /home/waltdnes, and transfer it to another machine. While I'm at it, I want to exlude directory /home/waltdnes/.cache/ and all *.xz files in directory /home/waltdnes/pm/ The "--exclude=" never worked. After much hair pulling, I was ready to give up on the exclude, and simply transfer all the unnecessary garbage. Then "I asked Mr. Google". It seems that I wasn't the only person running into problems. After some searching, I finally found a syntax that works... #################################################### #!/bin/bash export GZIP=-9 tar cvzf wd.tgz --exclude ".cache/*" --exclude "pm/*.xz" waltdnes #################################################### Notes... 1) This is obviously not in line with the man page. Specifically, "--exclude" is followed by one space, not an equals sign. 2) ***THERE MUST BE EXACTLY ONE SPACE BETWEEN EACH WORD*** 3) All directories and/or files to exclude must be listed as relative paths to the directory being tarred, i.e. last parameter on the command line. 4) I don't know the maximum line-length, which would limit the number of --exclude entries. In those cases, I wonder if "--exclude-from=FILE" works as "--exclude-from FILE". -- Walter Dnes <waltd...@waltdnes.org> I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications
