Small problem using tar

[jms1989]

Hi, I have a folder or web root, rather, I need to backup. Problem, exclude all subsites and only include just the files needed for the webapp.

The contents, an old drupal install along with a number of subsites.

jms1989@compaq-linux:~/domains/www.compaq-web.org/public_html$ ls 
anime          downloads    files     index.php          install.php  LICENSE.txt      misc     phpinfo.php  profiles    sites   torrent_files  Wallpaper
CHANGELOG.txt  favicon.ico  gallery   INSTALL.mysql.txt  INSTALL.txt  mail             modules  poll         robots.txt  tf      update.php     webalizer
cron.php       feeds        includes  INSTALL.pgsql.txt  lg           MAINTAINERS.txt  moviedb  poll.php     scripts     themes  UPGRADE.txt    xmlrpc.php

The idea, tar all files related to drupal install.

The reason, to backup before upgrade.

Below is the command I've been trying to use.

tar -pczf backup.tar.gz --exclude=anime/ --exclude=downloads/ --exclude=feeds/ --exclude=files/ --exclude=gallery/ --exclude=lg/ --exclude=moviedb/ --exclude=poll/ --exclude=tf --exclude=Wallpaper/ --exclude=webalizer/ --exclude=backup.tar.gz ./

The solution should be obvious but from the way I see it, it should be simple. The install isn't that big and yet it wants to create a 100mb+ file.

Help will be appreciated.

[Tim Sharitt]

Since you are pointing tar to the ./ directory, you need to use it in you excludes.

tar -pczf backup.tar.gz --exclude=./file ./

[jms1989]

Thank you. It worked.