create exclude file

.rsync-ignore

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+.gvfs
+.cache/*
+.local/share/[Tt]rash*
+*.backup*
+*~
+.dropbox*
+.Private
+
+# Flatpack
+.var/app/*/cache
+.var/app/*/.cache
+
+# Recently used files
+.local/share/RecentDocuments
+.recently-used
+.recently-used.xbel
+recently-used.xbel
+.thumbnails
+.thumb
+Thumbs.db
+.DS_Store
+.localised
+.CFUserTextEncoding
+.zcompdump*
+.wget-hsts
+
+# Thunderbird Cache in your profile folder
+.thunderbird/*/Cache
+
+#Google Chrome:
+.config/google-chrome/ShaderCache
+.config/google-chrome/*/Local Storage
+.config/google-chrome/*/Session Storage
+.config/google-chrome/*/Application Cache
+.config/google-chrome/*/History Index *
+.config/google-chrome/*/Service Worker/CacheStorage
+.config/google-chrome/*/WebStorage/*/CacheStorage
+
+# VS Code
+.config/Code/logs/
+.config/Code/Cache/*
+.config/Code/CachedData/*
+
+# golang Cache
+go/pkg/mod/cache
+
+# Java
+.java

README.md

@@ -1,2 +1,44 @@
-# rsync
+# rsync-homedir-excludes
+This project maintains a list of directories and files you probably do not need to back up, which you can pass to the `rsync` command's `--exclude-from` option.
 
+## Usage:
+
+    # download to `.rsync-ignore`
+    wget https://gitaly.ru/anpleenko/rsync/raw/branch/main/.rsync-ignore -O .rsync-ignore
+    # or clone and copy to `.rsync-ignore`
+    git clone https://gitaly.ru/anpleenko/rsync
+    cd rsync-homedir-excludes
+    cp rsync-homedir-excludes.txt .rsync-ignore
+
+    # edit the file .rsync-ignore to your needs
+    nano .rsync-ignore
+
+    # define a Backup directory (with trailing slash!)
+    # some examples:
+    BACKUPDIR=/media/workspace/home/$USER
+    BACKUPDIR=/media/$USER/linuxbackup/home/$USER
+    BACKUPDIR=/media/$USER/USBSTICK/backup/home/$USER
+
+    # first specify the "-n" parameter so rsync will simulate its operation. You should use this before you start:
+    rsync -naP --exclude-from=.rsync-ignore /home/$USER/ $BACKUPDIR/
+
+    # check for permission denied errors in your homedir:
+    rsync -naP --exclude-from=.rsync-ignore /home/$USER/ $BACKUPDIR/ | grep denied
+
+    # if it is all fine, actually perform your backup:
+    rsync -aP --exclude-from=.rsync-ignore /home/$USER/ $BACKUPDIR/
+
+You can edit the exclude file before execution:
+- All lines starting with a `#` are ignored by rsync, i.e. those directories will be backed up.
+- The syntax doesn't support comments at the end of a line yet.
+- At the start there is a section with directories that are probably not worth backing up. Uncomment those lines to exclude them as well.
+
+## Making incremental backups:
+When running locally or with the `--whole-file` option (for backups over SSH), rsync doesn't modify files but replaces them entirely. This allows us to create a snapshot directory (with hardlinks) with the state of the backup directory at a certain point in time.  
+Run this after finishing the `rsync` backup and it'll create a new snapshot:
+
+    BACKUPDIR=/media/workspace/home/$USER
+    SNAPSHOT_DIR="$BACKUPDIR.snapshot_$(date +'%Y-%m-%d_%H%M%S' -u)"
+    cp -al $BACKUPDIR $SNAPSHOT_DIR
+
+Next time you run your backup, the snapshot directory will be intact despite the changes rsync made to the files in the backup directory.