[rdiff-backup-users] Globbing hassles

[remi . delmas . 3000]

Hi,

I schedule backups of my home directory several times a day, and while I'm
working some files can appear, dissappear or be locked as I'm compiling,cleaning
projects, etc..

Would it be possible to add a command line switch to rdiff-backup to avoid it
raising an exception when when a --exclude pattern globs to an empty list of
files?

For instance, I want to exclude files with extensions *.obj, *.a, *.*~ , etc.
which can or cannot be exist at backup time. Using serveral --exludes directives
like
--exclude '**/*.obj'
--exclude '**/*.a'
--exclude '**/*.*~'

I get an error when there are no *.obj, *.a or *.*~ files in the backed up
directory.

Same question for files that are locked by the operating system at backup time.

They can be listed, but they cannot be read. For instance, the eclipse IDE
creates .lock files that can make a backup fail. I'd really enjoy a command line
switch that would make rdiff-backup get over it and log a warning saying 'file
balhblah.baz could not be backed up because it was not readable' instead of
crashing.

What's your opinion on this?

Regards,

/Rémi