From 50b8f9dd67f418d609336a80008232b68b313c74 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christian Ebner Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2020 16:32:39 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] docs: Add documentation for .pxarexclude files Signed-off-by: Christian Ebner --- docs/administration-guide.rst | 83 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 83 insertions(+) diff --git a/docs/administration-guide.rst b/docs/administration-guide.rst index 69b2fa48..0a91e5e8 100644 --- a/docs/administration-guide.rst +++ b/docs/administration-guide.rst @@ -285,6 +285,89 @@ device: # proxmox-backup-client backup mydata.img:/dev/mylvm/mydata +Excluding files/folders from a backup +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Sometimes it is desired to exclude certain files or folders from a backup archive. +Using the proxmox backup client this is possible via simple text based +``.pxarexclude`` files placed in the filesystem hierarchy. + +Whenever such a file is encountered in a directory, the backup client reads its +content and lines are interpreted as glob match patterns for files/directories +to exclude from the archive. +The file must contain a single glob pattern on each line. Empty lines are ignored. +The same is true for lines starting with ``#``, indicating a line containing comments. +Lines starting with ``!`` correspond to glob match patterns for explicit inclusion +of files previously excluded by a match. This allows for example to exclude +all entries in a directory except for a few single files. +Lines ending in ``/`` match directory entries only. +The folder containing the ``.pxarexclude`` file is considered to be the root of +the given patterns. It is only possible to match files in this or below this folder. + +``\`` is used to escape glob characters. ``?`` matches any single character, +``*`` matches any character including the empty string. +``**`` is used to match also subdirectories and can be used to exclude for example +all files ending in ``.tmp`` within the directory or a subdirectory by the +following pattern ``**/*.tmp``. +``[...]`` matches a single character from any of the provided characters within +the brackets. ``[!...]`` does the complementary and matches any singe character +not contained within the brackets. It is also possible to specify ranges by two +characters separated by ``-``. For example ``[a-z]`` matches any lowercase +alphabetic character, ``[0-9]`` matches any one single digit. + +The order of the glob match patterns defines if the file is finally included or +excluded, later entries win over previous ones. +This is also true for match patterns encountered deeper down the directory tree, +which may then override a previous exclusion. +Note however that folders marked for exclusion are not read by the client, +so ``.pxarexclude`` files contained within have no effect. +``.pxarexclude`` files are treated as regular files and are also included in the +backup archive. + +For example, consider the following folder structure: + +.. code-block:: console + + # ls -aR folder + folder/: + . .. .pxarexclude subfolder0 subfolder1 + + folder/subfolder0: + . .. file0 file1 file2 file3 .pxarexclude + + folder/subfolder1: + . .. file0 file1 file2 file3 + +The ``.pxarexclude`` files containing the following: + +.. code-block:: console + + # cat folder/.pxarexclude + /subfolder0/file1 + /subfolder1/* + !/subfolder1/file2 + +.. code-block:: console + + # cat folder/subfolder0/.pxarexclude + file3 + +This would exclude ``file1`` and ``file3`` in ``subfolder0`` and all of +``subfolder1`` except ``file2``. + +Restoring this archive form backup results in: + +.. code-block:: console + + ls -aR restored + restored/: + . .. .pxarexclude subfolder0 subfolder1 + + restored/subfolder0: + . .. file0 file2 .pxarexclude + + restored/subfolder1: + . .. file2 Encryption ^^^^^^^^^^