TAR Exclude everything in folder except this folder

rationalthinker1 · 04-30-2012, 01:13 AM

Hello, I want to create a backup of my Home folder. Here's what I've done.

Code:

GZIP=-9
time=`date "+%y.%m.%d.%H.%M.%S"`
tar cvzf "/home/raza/Ubuntu One/$time.backup.tar.gz" \
--exclude="*.tmp" \
--exclude-caches-all \
--exclude="/home/raza/backup.sh" \
--exclude="/home/raza/*[Cc]ache*" \
--exclude="/home/raza/*[Tt]humbnails*" \
--exclude="/home/raza/*[Ii]cons?*" \
--exclude="/home/raza/*[Ll]ogs?*" \
--exclude="/home/raza/.opera/vps" \
--exclude="/home/raza/.opera/temporary_downloads" \
--exclude="/home/raza/Downloads" \
--exclude="/home/raza/Ubuntu One" \
--exclude="/home/raza/.local/share/Trash" \
"/home/raza/" > fileSaved.txt

There's a folder called /home/raza/.config/sublime-text-2/ that I want to exclude EXCEPT this this directory /home/raza/.config/sublime-text-2/Packages/User.

How do I do that?

Thank You.

sys64738 · 04-30-2012, 01:39 AM

Hi
how about adding these files after the first tar:

Code:

# to be included
tar avzf "/home/raza/Ubuntu One/$time.backup.tar.gz" \
 /home/raza/.config/sublime-text-2/Packages/User \
>> fileSaved.txt

rationalthinker1 · 04-30-2012, 02:28 AM

I tried that too, it didn't work. It gave me no errors, just didn't archive it.

Edit:

Ohhhh, I get it, I'll try that.

rationalthinker1 · 04-30-2012, 08:26 AM

I tried:

Quote:

tar avzf "/home/raza/Ubuntu One/$time.backup.tar.gz" \
/home/raza/.config/sublime-text-2/Packages/User \
>> fileSaved.txt

tar: You must specify one of the `-Acdtrux' or `--test-label' options
Try `tar --help' or `tar --usage' for more information.

Quote:

tar rvzf "/home/raza/Ubuntu One/$time.backup.tar.gz" \
/home/raza/.config/sublime-text-2/Packages/User \
>> fileSaved.txt

tar: Cannot update compressed archives
Try `tar --help' or `tar --usage' for more information.

Again, thank you.

em31amit · 04-30-2012, 08:46 AM

you are actually trying to updating a compressed archive that will not work for adding files later on. first you need to create uncompressed tar package and than Add file with "r" than compress it. using gzip

First Part

Quote:

GZIP=-9
time=`date "+%y.%m.%d.%H.%M.%S"`
tar cvf "/home/raza/Ubuntu One/$time.backup.tar" \
--exclude="*.tmp" \
--exclude-caches-all \
--exclude="/home/raza/backup.sh" \
--exclude="/home/raza/*[Cc]ache*" \
--exclude="/home/raza/*[Tt]humbnails*" \
--exclude="/home/raza/*[Ii]cons?*" \
--exclude="/home/raza/*[Ll]ogs?*" \
--exclude="/home/raza/.opera/vps" \
--exclude="/home/raza/.opera/temporary_downloads" \
--exclude="/home/raza/Downloads" \
--exclude="/home/raza/Ubuntu One" \
--exclude="/home/raza/.local/share/Trash" \
"/home/raza/" > fileSaved.txt

Second Part

Quote:

tar rvf "/home/raza/Ubuntu One/$time.backup.tar" \
/home/raza/.config/sublime-text-2/Packages/User \
>> fileSaved.txt

third part

Quote:

gzip -9 /home/raza/Ubuntu One/$time.backup.tar

I am Pretty much sure that it will work perfectly.

Thanks,
em31amit
Amit M.

rationalthinker1 · 04-30-2012, 08:20 PM

Yes, that works perfectly.

Thank you.

For reference:

Code:

 GZIP=-9
 time=`date "+%y.%m.%d.%H.%M.%S"`
 tar cvpf "/home/raza/Ubuntu One/$time.backup.tar" \
 --exclude="*.tmp" \
 --exclude-caches-all \
 --exclude="/home/raza/*[Cc]ache*" \
 --exclude="/home/raza/*[Tt]humbnails*" \
 --exclude="/home/raza/*[Ii]cons?*" \
 --exclude="/home/raza/*[Ll]ogs?*" \
 --exclude="/home/raza/.opera/vps" \
 --exclude="/home/raza/.opera/temporary_downloads" \
 --exclude="/home/raza/Downloads" \
 --exclude="/home/raza/Ubuntu One" \
 --exclude="/home/raza/.local/share/Trash" \
 --exclude="/home/raza/.config/sublime-text-2" \
 --exclude="/home/raza/.thunderbird/*/ImapMail" \
 "/home/raza/" > fileSaved.txt

 tar rvpf "/home/raza/Ubuntu One/$time.backup.tar" \
 "/home/raza/.config/sublime-text-2/Packages/User" \
 >> fileSaved.txt

 gzip -9 "/home/raza/Ubuntu One/$time.backup.tar"