it`s very annoying to use exclude like this #tar \ --exclude… \ --exclude… \ --exclude… \ --exclude… \ -cvpzf home_bup.tgz /home/username I suggest such manner for fedora core #tar cvpzPf /tmp/backup.tar.gz –exclude={/proc/*,/sys/*,/tmp/*,/dev/*} / for Debian #tar cvfpP /tmp/debian2.tar –exclude={“/proc/*”,”/sys*”,”/tmp/*”,”/home/user/*”} / and more common if i need backup using ssh #ssh root@192.168.0.1 “cd /;nice -n 10 tar cvpP –exclude={“/proc/*”,”/sys*”,”/tmp/*”,”/home/user/*”} /”>backup.tar.gz
TEST:
[user1@home html]$man tar --exclude PATTERN exclude files based upon PATTERN -X, --exclude-from FILE exclude files listed in FILE [user1@home html]$pwd /var/www/html [user1@home html]$ mkdir test{1,2,3} drwxrwsr-x 2 user1 group1 4096 Nov 27 15:32 test1 drwxrwsr-x 2 user1 group1 4096 Nov 27 15:32 test2 drwxrwsr-x 2 user1 group1 4096 Nov 27 15:32 test3 [user1@home html]$ ll total 10000 -rw-r--r-- 1 user1 group1 493 Nov 2 16:09 1.php -rw-r--r-- 1 user1 group1 493 Nov 2 16:09 1.php.bak -rw-r--r-- 1 user1 group1 466 Nov 2 15:36 2.php -rw-r--r-- 1 user1 group1 1090 Nov 3 14:22 3a.php -rw-r--r-- 1 user1 group1 1047 Nov 3 14:16 3a.php.bak -rw-r--r-- 1 user1 group1 513 Nov 3 13:58 3.php -rw-r--r-- 1 user1 group1 525 Nov 2 16:24 3.php.bak -rw-r--r-- 1 user1 group1 160 Nov 2 16:56 4.php -rw-r--r-- 1 user1 group1 160 Nov 2 16:56 4.php.bak -rw-r--r-- 1 user1 group1 1013 Nov 3 12:35 5.php -rw-r--r-- 1 user1 group1 1013 Nov 3 12:33 5.php.bak -rw-r--r-- 1 user1 group1 295 Nov 3 12:49 6.php -rw-r--r-- 1 user1 group1 232 Nov 3 12:48 6.php.bak [user1@home html]$ cp [1-4]*.php test1 [user1@home html]$ cp [5-7]*.php test2 ##create a tarball of all the test directories except test1 directory [user1@home html]$ tar cvpzPf testnov27.tar.gz --exclude=test1 test* test2/ test2/6.php test2/5.php test3/ [user1@home html]$ tar tvf testnov27.tar.gz drwxrwsr-x user1 group1 0 2009-11-27 15:33:36 test2/ -rw-r--r-- user1 group1 295 2009-11-27 15:33:36 test2/6.php -rw-r--r-- user1 group1 1013 2009-11-27 15:33:36 test2/5.php drwxrwsr-x user1 group1 0 2009-11-27 15:32:44 test3/
##camera server
[/var/www] # tar -cvzf camerawww.tar.bz2 --exclude=html/pics html/
Reference: http://hobbylobby.wordpress.com/2007/11/04/exclude-directories-when-tarring-with-tar/