Backup only hidden (dot) files with duplicity

Question

I would like to backup config files (hidden, starting with a dot) with duplicity. Only files, no directories. The following command

duplicity --include '/home/foo/.*' --exclude '/home/foo/**' /home/foo sftp://myserver/backup --dry-run

backups everything starting with a dot, thus config directories are also included.

On the other hand

duplicity --exclude '/home/foo/**' --include '/home/foo/.*' /home/foo sftp://myserver/backup --dry-run

produces

Command-line include glob: /home/foo/.* only specifies that files be included. Because the default is to include all files, the expression is redundant. Exiting because this probably isn't what you meant.

I have no other idea. How can I backup only files starting with a dot.

Answer 1

katonag,

try to add --exclude '/home/foo/.*/' or --exclude '/home/foo/.*/**' in the beginning eg.

--exclude '/home/foo/.*/' --include '/home/foo/.*' --exclude '**'

.

duplicity tests in/exclude by given order. so the above translates to

- /home/foo/.*/
+ /home/foo/.*
- **

where the first matches .folder but not the .file, which is matched by the second directive and the third excludes everything else.

if /home/foo/.*/ does not work, try /home/foo/.*/**. that is because the duplicity matching code might not differentiate between files and folders, i have no time to test that.

good luck.. ede/duply.net

PS: there is a chapter in the duplicity man page about in/exclusion http://duplicity.nongnu.org/duplicity.1.html#sect9

Answer 2

To back up only hidden file you can use below command Here i am copying the hidden files to /tmp/location as backup

ls -latr | awk '$1 ~ "-rw" && $9 ~ "^." {print "cp -rvfp" " " $9 " " "/tmp/"}' | sh

To backup both Hidden files and directories in /tmp/ location You can use below command

ls -latr | awk '$9 ~ "^." {print "cp -rvfp" " " $9 " " "/tmp/"}' | sh