Borg supports --match-archives, which allows selecting archives using various patterns, including archive name (default with exact or pattern matching), archive ID prefix (aid: pattern), archive tags (tags: pattern), archive creation time (date: pattern), etc. For an archive to be selected, it must match all given inclusion patterns.
Borg currently does not support the inversion of --match-archives, i.e., exclusion patterns for archives, similar to --exclude for paths. Having an equivalent mechanism for archives would make archive selection much more expressive while keeping the matching logic rather simple.
Suggestion
Add a new --exclude-archives option. The new option should accept the same archive matcher syntax as --match-archives, but instead exclude archives matching any of the given patterns. An archive should then be selected if it matches all patterns given with --match-archives and none of the patterns given with --exclude-archives.
For example:
borg repo-list \
--match-archives "sh:my-machine-name-*" \
--exclude-archives "tags:test"would list all archives whose name matches my-machine-name-*, except those tagged with test.
Likewise:
borg delete \
--match-archives "tags:daily" \
--exclude-archives "tags:keep"would delete all archives tagged with daily, except those additionally tagged with keep.
Benefits
This would
- make archive selection composable,
- avoid adding dedicated command-line options for every special filtering case,
- naturally complement the existing
--match-archives mechanism,
- provide a flexible foundation for future archive matchers.
For example, together with the proposed extensions to the date: matcher discussed in #8715, --older TIMESPAN could eventually be deprecated in favour of --exclude-archives "date:TIMESPAN/now"
Note
The documentation currently does not explicitly state whether multiple --match-archives options are combined using OR or AND semantics. Documenting the matching semantics and evaluation order would be useful regardless of whether this proposal is accepted.
Borg supports
--match-archives, which allows selecting archives using various patterns, including archive name (default with exact or pattern matching), archive ID prefix (aid:pattern), archive tags (tags:pattern), archive creation time (date:pattern), etc. For an archive to be selected, it must match all given inclusion patterns.Borg currently does not support the inversion of
--match-archives, i.e., exclusion patterns for archives, similar to--excludefor paths. Having an equivalent mechanism for archives would make archive selection much more expressive while keeping the matching logic rather simple.Suggestion
Add a new
--exclude-archivesoption. The new option should accept the same archive matcher syntax as--match-archives, but instead exclude archives matching any of the given patterns. An archive should then be selected if it matches all patterns given with--match-archivesand none of the patterns given with--exclude-archives.For example:
would list all archives whose name matches
my-machine-name-*, except those tagged withtest.Likewise:
would delete all archives tagged with
daily, except those additionally tagged withkeep.Benefits
This would
--match-archivesmechanism,For example, together with the proposed extensions to the
date:matcher discussed in #8715,--older TIMESPANcould eventually be deprecated in favour of--exclude-archives "date:TIMESPAN/now"Note
The documentation currently does not explicitly state whether multiple
--match-archivesoptions are combined usingORorANDsemantics. Documenting the matching semantics and evaluation order would be useful regardless of whether this proposal is accepted.