using rdiff-backup to *not* backup all of / ....

[Alan]

Hi folks, I just discovered rdiff-backup through a /. post about it and
I think it's awsome!  I'm currently re-writing my server backup scripts
to use it instead of the old tar/scp solution I had before.

The only thing I can't figure out how to do so far though, is backup
only specific directories.  IE: My backup hd space is limited, so I am
only backing up /etc, /root, /home/alan, /var/mail, and a couple of
other directories.  

I have tried various combinations of the include/exclude flags, but
because the command requires a directory to backup, and that directory
can't be "above" any of the other included directories (ie: I can't say
to backup /home/alan and --include /etc as it gives an error that /etc
is not in /home/alan).

Playing around with something like:  
rdiff-backup --include-filelist /root/backups/includes.txt \
--exclude \*\* / root@mybackup::/backups

Almost worked (for my test the includes.txt file only contained the line
/root
but it only backed up the directory :( Removing the --exclude flag gave
me an error that since was only specifying includes, I was probably not
doing what I thought I was doing.

Can anyone help me with this please? 

Regards, 

Alan

-- 
Alan "Arcterex" <alan@ufies.org>   -=][=-   http://arcterex.net
"I used to herd dairy cows. Now I herd lusers. Apart from the isolation, I
think I preferred the cows. They were better conversation, easier to milk, and
if they annoyed me enough, I could shoot them and eat them." -Rodger Donaldson