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Full Discussion: Using variables for exclusion in tar
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting Using variables for exclusion in tar Post 302438068 by mij on Sunday 18th of July 2010 07:02:30 AM
Old 07-18-2010
Using variables for exclusion in tar
Hello.

I am writing a backup script which uses a function to create a tar archive for a specified directory. For some reason though I cannot get tar to exclude a specified path when passed as a variable. The problem does not seem to be with the command though as it works when entered in the script directly.

Here are the relevant portions of the script:

Code:
BUP_ROOT=$HOME/backup
bup_files () {
   cd $2
   [[ "$3" ]] && BUP_EXCLUDE="--exclude='$3'" || BUP_EXCLUDE=""
   tar $BUP_EXCLUDE -czf $BUP_ROOT/$1.tgz ./
}

bup_files name_of_archive /path/to/archive "download/*"

This works except the specified directory is not excluded. If I put an 'echo' in front of the tar command it shows the $BUP_EXCLUDE variable is being set and with what I would expect. e.g.

Code:
tar --exclude='download/*' -czf /home/username/backup/name_of_archive.tgz ./

Wondering if the use of putting the whole exclusion option in a variable was a problem, as a test I rewrote the command as

Code:
tar --exclude='$3' -czf $BUP_ROOT/$1.tgz ./

This did not make any different though. As a final test I put the exclusion directly in the tar command

Code:
tar --exclude='download/*' -czf $BUP_ROOT/$1.tgz ./

This worked, the archive was created with the required path excluded. This leads me to think there is some problem with the shell passing the variable correctly rather than with the tar command. The wildcard is supposed to be a literal for tar to do its own pattern matching, and by testing with echo in front of the tar command it does seem to be passed as one, there is no globbing. I have even tried putting quotes around the $BUP_EXCLUDE" variable in the tar command to see if that helps with no effect.

The shell is BASH version 3.00.15 and I have tried searching for a solution with no luck so I hope I am missing something obvious here.

Thanks,

Michael.
 

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LEARN ABOUT DEBIAN

gpodder-backup

GPODDER-BACKUP(1)						   User Commands						 GPODDER-BACKUP(1)

NAME

       gpodder-backup - Backup and restore utility for gPodder user data

SYNOPSIS

       gpodder-backup [--create|--extract] <archive.gpo.tar.gz> [options] gpodder-backup --purge

DESCRIPTION

       This utility can be used to create a dump of the current gPodder data (configuration files + downloads), optionally replacing the real con-
       tents of the download folder with zero-byte files (for submitting your data to a bug report without having to transfer lots of data).

OPTIONS

       --version
	      show program's version number and exit

       -h, --help
	      show this help message and exit

       -c <FILE>, --create=<FILE>
	      Create a new archive

       -x <FILE>, --extract=<FILE>
	      Extract an existing archive

       -f, --fake-downloads
	      Store downloads as zero-byte files in backup

       -n, --no-covers
	      Do not include cover files in archive

       -D <DIR>, --destination=<DIR>
	      Extract downloads in different folder

       -P, --purge
	      Remove current data (can be combined with --extract)

USAGE FOR BUG REPORTING

       This command is useful if you want to report a bug in gPodder:

       gpodder-backup --create bug123.gpo.tar.gz --fake-downloads
	      Backup your current data to file bug123.gpo.tar.gz, but don't store download data (create zero-size dummy files  instead).  You  can
	      then attach bug123.gpo.tar.gz to the bug report.

       If you are instructed to try gPodder from a "clean state", you can use the following command (be sure to backup your data before!):

       gpodder-backup --purge
	      Remove all gPodder data, so you can start from a clean state

EXAMPLES

       gpodder-backup --create today.gpo.tar.gz
	      Backup your current data to file today.gpo.tar.gz

       gpodder-backup --extract mybackup.gpo.tar.gz
	      Restore (without purging) the contents of mybackup.gpo.tar.gz

       gpodder-backup --extract default.gpo.tar.gz --purge
	      Remove current data, then restore the contents of default.gpo.tar.gz

       gpodder-backup --purge
	      Remove all gPodder data, so you can start from a clean state

EXTRACTING FAKED DOWNLOADS

       Please  note  that  any	existing  downloads will be overwritten with zero-byte files when using the --extract option of the gpodder-backup
       utility with a backup created with --fake-downloads

AUTHOR

       gpodder-backup was written by Thomas Perl (thp@gpodder.org)

gpodder-backup 1.0						   December 2010						 GPODDER-BACKUP(1)
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