Question

How can I get tar/cp to copy only files that dont end in .jar and only in root and /plugins directories?

So, I’m making a Minecraft server backup script. One of the options I wish to have is a backup of configuration files only. Here’s the scenario:

1. There are many folders with massive amounts of data in.
2. Configuration files mainly use the following extensions, but some may use a different one:
   • .yml
   • .json
   • .properties
   • .loc
   • .dat
   • .ini
   • .txt
3. Configuration files mainly appear in the /plugins folder
4. There are a few configuration files in the root directory, but none in any others except /plugins
5. The only other files in these two directories are .jar files – to an extent. These do not need to be backed up. That’s the job of the currently-working plugins flag.

The code uses a mix of tar and cp depending on which flags the user started the process with.
The process is started with a command, then paths are added via a concatenated variable, such as $paths = plugins world_nether mysql/hawk where arguments can be added one at a time.

How can I selectively backup these configuration files with tar and cp? Due to the nature of the configuration process, we needn’t have the same flags to add into both commands – it can be seperate arguments for either command.

Here are the two snippets of code in concern:
Configure paths:

# My first, unsuccessful attempt.
if $BKP_CFG; then
    # Tell user they are backing up config
    echo " +CONFIG $confType - NOT CURRENTLY WORKING"
    # Main directory, and everything in plugin directory only
    # Jars are not allowed to be backed up
    #paths="$paths --no-recursion * --recursion plugins$suffix --exclude *.jar"
fi

—More Pro Stuff—-

# Set commands
if $ARCHIVE; then
    command="tar -cpv"
    if $COMPRESSION; then
        command=$command"z"
    fi
    # Paths starts with a space </protip>
    command=$command"C $SERVER_PATH -f $BACKUP_PATH/$bkpName$paths"
    prep=""
else
    prep="mkdir $BACKUP_PATH/$bkpName"
    # Make each path an absolute path. Currently, they are all relative
    for path in $paths; do
        path=$SERVER_PATH/$path
    done
    command="cp -av$paths $BACKUP_PATH/$bkpName"
fi

I can provide more code/explaination where neccessary.

Answer 1

find /actual/path ! -iname '*jar' -maxdepth 1 -exec cp \{\} /where/to/copy/ \;
find /actual/path/plugins ! -iname '*jar' -maxdepth 1 -exec cp \{\} /where/to/copy/ \;

Might help.