Resupport .\...\ in exclusions within the sync-tool

[JOUBE]

Please resupport .\...\ in exclusions within the sync-tool, as it works over the years and is OS compatible.

Otherwise many of my customers I support have to change (and restest!) many automated sync configurations, or can not update to version 11.50.

I do not understand why this was suddenly removed: What is the reason for it?

.\...\ are the usual OS conventions and \...\ is unlogical for that relative path.

[ghisler(Author)]

Could you provide an example of what worked before and doesn't work now? I don't remember supporting ".\...\" anywhere, please give me more details.

[Dalai]

What kind of path is ".\...\" supposed to be? I'd understand ".\..\" (one dot less) which means one level up, but three dots? CMD just stays in the current directory when trying to change dir to something like this.

[white]

I assumed he meant .\<some text>\

[JOUBE]

I assumed he meant .\<some text>\

Yes: <some text> = folder(s)

[ghisler(Author)]

Yes: <some text> = folder(s)

Do you mean that a search like this:
*.txt .\subdir\
should behave like
*.txt \subdir\
does now?

[JOUBE]

There are many many saved sync configurations for the sync tool (here and at the customers), these are called via usercmd.ini:

Code: Select all

....
[em_Sync61]
cmd=%COMMANDER_EXE% /S=S:="SyncKonfigurationenName61"
[em_Sync62]
cmd=%COMMANDER_EXE% /S=S:"SyncKonfigurationenName62"
.....

Code: Select all

SyncKonfigurationenName61_L=c:\Scripts\
SyncKonfigurationenName61_R=r:\Scripts\
SyncKonfigurationenName61_Wcs=*.* | Logs\  
vs.
SyncKonfigurationenName61_Wcs=*.* | .\Logs\  
vs.
SyncKonfigurationenName61_Wcs=*.* | \Logs\  
SyncKonfigurationenName61_Flags=17|61|6

That's what it's about, it's about the - relative - exclusions:

For Logs\, all directories Logs are excluded. This is ok.

For .\Logs\, up to now (up to 11.50B3) only the directory c:\scripts\logs\ was excluded - as requested (but all other logs\ such as c:\scripts\daily\logs were not - as requested.)

.\Logs\ because it is a relative path (it refers to c:\scripts\logs)

Instead, the dot can no longer be used:

From now on (11.50B4 or B5), \Logs\ should indicate a relative path. But that is completely illogical, because for example "cd \Log\" always refers to the main directory and never to a subdirectory such as c:\scripts\logs

This is a very bad change (probably due to a side effect), because it is not operating system compliant and also illogical. My customers will have to be advised against 11.50, because we will be forced to change many, many configurations and all of them will have to be retested.

[Dalai]

An exclusion like

Code: Select all

\somedir

can be referred to as the root of the directory tree to be synched, not the drive root. I guess you've never used rsync before where this is the usual and perfectly normal way to specify an exclusion (or even an inclusion).

Anyway, I'm not sure whether or not .\somedir was ever officially supported when it comes to directory exclusions in the sync function. If it wasn't it's just luck on your part that it worked this long. In case TC stays that way, it should be no problem to change the sync profiles, e.g. via search & replace in Notepad++ for example.

[JOUBE]

Whether rsync handles this in accordance with the operating system or not is irrelevant. One can expect that the TC does it better and behaves in accordance with the operating system.

Does rsync at least support .\folder in addition to \folder, or is that totally messed up?

[Dalai]

Does rsync at least support .\folder in addition to \folder, or is that totally messed up?

I have no idea. Back then I read the rsync mangpage to find out how to specify exclusions and inclusions and used what was described there. /somedir/ specifies a directory named "somedir" in the sync root, and "somedir/" specifies a directory anywhere within the sync tree. There are some peculiarities regarding a trailing slash, but let's not get carried away here because this doesn't matter in regards to TC.

[white]

For .\Logs\, up to now (up to 11.50B3) only the directory c:\scripts\logs\ was excluded - as requested (but all other logs\ such as c:\scripts\daily\logs were not - as requested.)

.\Logs\ because it is a relative path (it refers to c:\scripts\logs)

Actually, I don't think it makes sense if it refers to c:\scripts\logs. That would mean "." is not relative, but rather a fixed folder. When it is relative the value is determined at the moment it is processed, not beforehand.

Instead, the dot can no longer be used:

I can confirm that the behavior has changed and is now inconsistent with normal search. But I think using "." in traverse filters was probably never supported and a side effect. If .\Logs\ would be supported, should logs\.\ be supported as well? And what would behavior should it do?

From now on (11.50B4 or B5), \Logs\ should indicate a relative path. But that is completely illogical, because for example "cd \Log\" always refers to the main directory and never to a subdirectory such as c:\scripts\logs

The behavior of \Logs\ in the sense you are talking about, hasn't changed and it doesn't indicate a relative path. What you call a relative path is not a relative path, but a fixed path. The expression Logs\ indicates a relative path. And logically, .\Logs\ should indicate a relative path too. But "." is not supported and can be implemented anyway Ghisler chooses. That's why I think that he will change it back to the old behavior to solve your issue.

[JOUBE]

I can confirm that the behavior has changed
....
That's why I think that he will change it back to the old behavior to solve your issue.

I ask for it.

Because I will not make the corresponding changes in Tc-inis using notepad/npp search&replace on the customer side and would of course have to test everything again in detail. That is certainly not in the spirit of a professional tool.

[ghisler(Author)]

Thanks for the explanation, I will handle .\folder the same as \folder now.

[JOUBE]

Thank you very much.

[ghisler(Author)]

This should work now in beta 7, please test it!

17.11.24 Added: Find files: Treat .\ at the start of a search term the same as \, e.g. *.txt | .\subdir1\ excludes files in directory "subdir1" (32/64)