Exclude everything except a few dirs

[littlesandra88]

Dear all =)

I would like to make a backup of a few specific directories. So I have tried the following that gives me empty backups.

location:
    source_directories:
        - /home/a/

    repositories:
        - path: /home/a/borg/dotfiles_large

    atime: false
    ctime: true
    birthtime: true

    patterns_from:
        - /home/a/borg/dotfiles_large.patterns

storage:
    encryption_passphrase: x
    compression: zstd

retention:
    keep_daily: 2

and dotfiles_large.patterns contains

P sh

R /home/a/

# exclude everything also .files and .dirs
- *

# include
+ */.config/google-chrome*

Question

Can anyone see why .config/google-chrome* isn't included in the backup?

Hugs,
Sandra =)

[ThomasWaldmann]

It's on a first match basis and your first match is to exclude everything, done.
So, move the include to above of the exclude-all.

[littlesandra88]

Now I have

P sh

R /home/a/

# include
+ */.config/google-chrome*

# exclude everything also .files and .dirs
- *

an still get empty backups.

$ borgmatic -v 1 create --stats -c dotfiles_large.yaml 
/home/a/borg/dotfiles_large: Creating archive
Creating archive at "/home/a/borg/dotfiles_large::t470s-2023-04-25T15:38:56.766899"
/home/a/.local/share/containers/storage/overlay/7550a21aafa52ef8bd473de54486ab4ce2c72aa26378f87a0bd5eb9f52baf0f7/work/work: dir_open: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'work'
/home/a/.local/share/containers/storage/overlay/49f6adbbada1ac7bed18ab3a1ee70f65ea5214587494d4e901647d97077cec10/diff/var/cache/apt/archives/partial: dir_open: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'partial'
/home/a/.local/share/containers/storage/overlay/b74f3c613b13701d3053160da843514d07c5ab88a7adede706350cb5a8b15685/diff/var/cache/apt/archives/partial: dir_open: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'partial'
/home/a/.local/share/containers/storage/overlay/8a28b0e3ad12bc806dc470f9fdc2b6225c67ee4c1163c6132367e1b420024549/diff/var/cache/apt/archives/partial: dir_open: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'partial'
/home/a/.local/share/containers/storage/overlay/19f464b603f96f81f11ff8e37669acae0f27458b14020e378a34318e7c8485e6/diff/var/lib/apt/lists/partial: dir_open: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'partial'
/home/a/.local/share/containers/storage/overlay/066ff1a52fc346e415db6bbc8f843554406387bf93970ec0f288d395d1af7f69/work/work: dir_open: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'work'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Repository: /home/a/borg/dotfiles_large
Archive name: t470s-2023-04-25T15:38:56.766899
Archive fingerprint: 6b28c159cfc73dde3e6cc942b37868a319bed21c2c4e12ee226b99d36ae49448
Time (start): Tue, 2023-04-25 15:38:56
Time (end):   Tue, 2023-04-25 15:39:04
Duration: 7.41 seconds
Number of files: 0
Utilization of max. archive size: 0%
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Original size      Compressed size    Deduplicated size
This archive:                  644 B                591 B                591 B
All archives:                    0 B                  0 B              5.30 kB
                       Unique chunks         Total chunks
Chunk index:                       9                    9
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

summary:
dotfiles_large.yaml: Successfully ran configuration file

Other things I should do differently?

[littlesandra88]

Found a solution. Seams as if R doesn't work. The following worked:

P sh

# include
+ /home/a/.config/google-chrome*

# exclude everything also .files and .dirs
- *

Notice I here used absolute path.

[ThomasWaldmann]

Maybe check borg help patterns or the online docs again.

The pattern must match the full(*) path and must use correct syntax according to the pattern type.

(*) except the leading slash, because borg removes that. Easiest is to look at borg list output, so that you see how the paths inside the archive look like. Patterns must match what you see there.

borg create -v --list --dry-run ... can be useful to quickly test include/exclude behaviour.

I am not yet aware of R not working, it should behave as giving the path on the command line (as a recursion root == starting path).

[littlesandra88]

Very interesting about how to debug the includes/excludes!

Can you explain why

P sh
- /home/a/.borgmatic

is not the same as

P sh
R /home/a
- .borgmatic

?

The first one does what I want, and the second not.

[ThomasWaldmann]

It's because there is no relationship/influence between R and + / - / ! includes/excludes.

[littlesandra88]

Then I don't understand the purpose of R.

Is R the same as source_directories: ?

I had hoped I could use R to shorten all the patterns =)

[ThomasWaldmann]

R is same as giving PATH on the cli interface of borg create ... PATH [PATH ...].

[littlesandra88]

Only then it makes sense.

Thanks for clearing that out =)