Rsync --exclude rules for system backup

[cogset]

I must admit,I thought this was going to be way easier:after backing up my system with a tar of my / directory with all the exclusions suggested here https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BackupYourSystem/TAR
I was suggested that rsync also may be worth trying,so I had a go at backing up again with rsync trying to append the same exclusions as with tar,namely

/proc /sys /lost+found /mnt /media /dev

well it apparently doesn't work the same way ,I keep getting some of these directories in the dry run test of rsync:can someone please point out what I'm doing wrong?

[SlugSlug]

each folder needs the --exclude eg

--exclude /proc --exclude /tmp



take a look at back in time - its a good backup util

[Habitual]

SlugSlug is correct, Here's a working example.

rsync -avz . /run/media/jj/Keepers --exclude ".cache/" --exclude "VirtualBox VMs/" --stats --delete

HTH!

[bodhi.zazen]

FWIW, this question is answered on the Ubuntu wiki

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/rsync

[Slim Odds]

If you have a lot of exclusions, it's much better (and easier) to use the --exclude-from option and create a file that contains all of the exclusions.

[bodhi.zazen]

if you have a lot of exclusions, it's much better (and easier) to use the --exclude-from option and create a file that contains all of the exclusions.

+1

[cogset]

Thank you all for the replies (especially the tip about the --exclude-from option,very interesting):yes,I had a look at the wiki before asking but-as far as the exclude option goes-it doesn't look very accurate to me,as I've found no evidence of the quotation marks that are apparently needed to make it work.
I kinda thought it was just the same as the --exclude option of tar,but there it works without quotes,in rsync I couldn't make it work.

EDIT:later on,searching for useful tips,I've came across this line

A lot of users do mistake when specifing path. This path should be relative to source directory

in this webpage http://supportex.net/2011/07/excepti...rectory-rsync/ ,it may sound all too obvious but IMHO adding this simple remark to the wiki page would make things a lot easier for newbies like me.