Re: [Help-tar] Need specifying path for exclude.

[Jakob Bohm]

On 7/4/2014 5:00 PM, Randy Powers wrote:
> First here is the directory structure:
> test/
> test/subtest1/
> test/subtest1/subtest11.xml
> test/subtest1/subtest12.xml
> test/subtest1/subtest13.xml
> test/subtest1/subtest2/
> test/subtest1/subtest2/subtest21.xml
> test/subtest1/subtest2/subtest22.xml
> test/subtest1/subtest2/subtest23.xml
> test/subtest2/
> test/subtest2/subtest21.xml
> test/subtest2/subtest22.xml
> test/subtest2/subtest23.xml
> test/subtest3/
> test/subtest3/subtest31.xml
> test/subtest3/subtest32.xml
> test/subtest3/subtest33.xml
> test/test1.xml
> test/test2.xml
> test/test3.xml
>
> I want to archive test. I want to exclude the directory
> test/subtest1/subtest2
>
> I have tried every combination of this command that I can think of and
> nothing has worked.
> tar -cvf test.tar test --exclude=test/subtest1/subtest2
> tar -cvf test.tar test --exclude=test/subtest1/subtest2/
> tar -cvf test.tar test --exclude=subtest1/subtest2
> tar -cvf test.tar test --exclude=subtest1/subtest2/
> tar -cvf test.tar test --exclude="test/subtest1/subtest2"
> tar -cvf test.tar test --exclude="test/subtest1/subtest2/"
> tar -cvf test.tar test --exclude="subtest1/subtest2"
> tar -cvf test.tar test --exclude="subtest1/subtest2/"
> tar -cvf test.tar test --exclude='test/subtest1/subtest2'
> tar -cvf test.tar test --exclude='test/subtest1/subtest2/'
> tar -cvf test.tar test --exclude='subtest1/subtest2'
> tar -cvf test.tar test --exclude='subtest1/subtest2/'
>
> tar -cvf test.tar --exclude=test/subtest1/subtest2 test
> .... all the same cases as above
>
> tar -c -v --exclude=test/subtest1/subtest2 test -f test.tar
> .... all the same cases as above
>
> I have also tried removing the "=" and converting to all absolute paths.
> Everything has produced the exact same result. The
> test/subtest1/subtest2 is archived.
>
> I am using GNU tar on Windows 7 Service Pack 1. Here is the --version
> result:
> tar (GNU tar) 1.13
>
> Copyright (C) 1988, 92,93,94,95,96,97,98, 1999 Free Software Foundation,
> Inc.
> This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
> warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
>
> Written by John Gilmore and Jay Fenlason.
How was this (15 year old) tar compiled?, and from what shell was it 
invoked?

I suspect that the combination of posix emulation layer compiled in and
command line shell used for the invocation causes your partially quoted
arguments such as --exclude='something' to reach the code inside tar
with the quotes intact, thus matching nothing.  You may have better luck
with "--exclude=something" so the quotes are at the outer edges of the
argument and get stripped off by the shell or posix emulation layer.

> Many years ago I used tar to create archives using excludes. I have
> tried repeating what I did back then but got the same result.

Another possibility is some oddity in the meaning of the --exclude
option in GNU tar 1.13.  I don't remember its old docs that clearly.


Enjoy

Jakob
--
Jakob Bohm, CIO, Partner, WiseMo A/S.  http://www.wisemo.com
Transformervej 29, 2730 Herlev, Denmark.  Direct +45 31 13 16 10
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