Bugreport - Exclude-Folder does not work

[revnu]

Hello,

I wanted to report a bug. And also this is a feature-request, because it has to do something with the bug Im reporting.

I have a folder called "FREMDEDATEN". Its path is:

D:\NEUES\FREMDEDATEN

I excluded this folder bye writing \FREMDEDATEN\ in exclusionlist. But then it syncs, the folder is copied/filter is ignored.
Im working on Windows 10 x64 with Freefilesync 8.5 (If this bug is patched im sry for this report)

But also I have a really useful featurerequest:

Im my case, if I have a folder, with the same name somethere else, it is ignored too.
Isnt there a way to specify a folderpath, with driveletter, etc?

greetz revnu

[revnu]

Ok, I tried it with Freefilesync 8.8 and it has the same bug. I dont know why, but this four folder-filters here work without problems:
\System Volume Information\
\$Recycle.Bin\
\RECYCLER\
\RECYCLED\

Maybe because my folder has a deeper path?

[Plerry]

If your (left or right) location is D:\, it is correct that excluding \FREMDEDATEN\ does not work, as \FREMDEDATEN\ is not in the root of D:\.
You should then exclude e.g. \NEUES\FREMDEDATEN\ or *\FREMDEDATEN\.

If your (left or right) location is D:\NEUES\ excluding \FREMDEDATEN\ should work, as then \FREMDEDATEN\ is in the root of D:\. If that would not work, it would be a bug.

[revnu]

Ahh, ok. I did not know these commands, they are not listed in the manual the way you wrote them.

Cant I simply write the exclusion path D:\NEUES\FREMDEDATEN\ ?

So for example it would be not possible to exclude D:/temp and keep C:/temp

[Zenju]

https://freefilesync.org/manual.php?topic=exclude-items

[revnu]

I know that site from manual. But let me show you a case, and maybe Im wrong but....

For example, I have a Sync-Job that syncs my C: and my D: drive in one job. And I have two folders:

C:\temp\testfolder
and
D:\temp\testfolder

If I now want to exclude the "testfolder" only from D: but not from C: is that possible? how`?

Then I now write \temp\testfolder\ or *\testfolder\ into exclusionlist it will exclude both or am I wrong?

Cant we write the full path instead?

[Plerry]

... Cant I simply write the exclusion path D:\NEUES\FREMDEDATEN\ ? ...

All specifications for includes and excludes are relative to the specified left and right location.
So, if your left location is C:\FolderC1\FolderC11\ and your right location is D:\FolderD1\,
all includes and excludes are relative to those locations.
As neither C:\FolderC1\FolderC11\ nor D:\FolderD1\ contains a file or folder D:\NEUES\FREMDEDATEN\,
the include or exclude can never meet that filter spec.

... So for example it would be not possible to exclude D:/temp and keep C:/temp

You do not seem to grasp the concept of FFS synchronization.
Assuming a full mirror or bi-directional sync, after having run a sync, the content of the left and right location (including its folder structure) is supposed to be identical. Therefore, if you sync C:\ with D:\, "excluding D:/temp and keeping C:/temp" is not a definition that makes sense, as excluding is not related to deleting, and conversely, including is not related to keeping.
If you sync C:\FolderC1\FolderC11\ with D:\FolderD1\ and have a folder C:\FolderC1\FolderC11\temp that you would like to keep, but not synced to D:\FolderD1\temp (if that would exist), then you add \temp\ to the exclude filter (and not D:\FolderD1\temp\). This will prevent that a folder D:\FolderD1\temp will be created (if it does not pre-exist) or that any content of D:\FolderD1\temp (if it pre-exists) would be deleted or overwritten.

[revnu]

Ok, maybe it is not 100% clear what I mean.

I've a sync-job there I mirror my whole computer on my external Harddrive. Ive a partition C: and D: - mirroring this both on two folders on external HDD, with one batch file/in one job.
In exclude-list I can set global exlusions (for example: exlude the folder /temp/testfolder/). Letz say I have this two folders I told:

C:\temp\testfolder
and
D:\temp\testfolder

I want that the "testfolder" on C: is mirrored but the one on D: should be excluded. You see what I mean? You cant exclude the folder only on D:.... in that case the filter will exclude the folder, with same name/path on C: also!

The possibility to also exclude full paths with driveletters would give us more freedom.

If Im wrong plz tell me how I solve the problem I described.

greetz

[Plerry]

Ah, that is a completely different story!
In that case you can define a local exclude of \temp\testfolder for the D:\ to external HDD left-right location pair, instead of a global exclude.
You find the local include/exclude filter in between the different left-right location pairs (red funnel icon);
the global exclude filter is the bigger red funnel icon above the folder pair(s) (F7).

Local filter settings (if any) apply on top of the global filter settings and only apply to that left and right location pair.
The default local filter is Include: * and Exclude: [empty], so everything included by the global filter will be included, and nothing will be excluded on top of what is already excluded by the global exclude filter.
Only deviations (if any) from this default need to be defined.
Again, any filter definitions apply relative to the root of the (respective) left and right root location.

... The possibility to also exclude full paths with driveletters would give us more freedom ...

But would defy the basic concept/notion of synchronization ...
And, I suppose you have to agree, the use of local filters is much more elegant ...

[revnu]

And, I suppose you have to agree, the use of local filters is much more elegant ...

Yes it is...

But full path files with driveletters in addition were also be a nice feature.

Also one thing (if not yet implemented) would be a good thing:

You know the folders in Windows %appdata%, %userdata%, etc ?

They direct to some paths I want to exclude like %appdata%/local/temp

So if I want to write a batch, that makes my life easier then configurating many syncs on different useraccounts on Windows, that will be awesome if we could have this. Otherwise I have to edit the batch each time.

greet revnu

[Plerry]

FFS supports the use of Macro's. See here.
That should include the ones you mention above.
I suppose those also work in the Include and Exclude filters (but never tried).

[Plerry]

I wrote:

... I suppose those also work in the Include and Exclude filters (but never tried).

In retrospect, e.g. %AppData% or %ProgramFiles% will probably not work in Include and Exclude filters, as those refer to absolute addresses.
(In my view the first valid argument for allowing absolute addresses in Include/Exclude definitions ...)
You might however still exclude e.g. the %AppData% location for every user by excluding
\Users\*\AppData\Roaming or even \Users\%UserName%\AppData\Roaming, assuming C:\ is the root of your (left) location.