Default exclusions for uploads folder

[AndrewParticipant]

Hi Team,

Most of my clients use one of two image optimization plugins – either ShortPixel or Imagify. (These are both popular plugins, each with over 100K installs.)

Having UDP make a full snapshot of these backup folders nightly has increased my AWS bill dramatically… since now I’m backing up the newly optimized images AND all the old images. Many of my clients have backup folders of 5GB or more.

Both plugins make backups of the original images before optimizing them, storing them in these folders, respectively:

/wp-content/uploads/ShortpixelBackups/
/wp-content/uploads/backup/

These are the default exclusions in UpdraftPlus for the /uploads/ folder:
backup*,*backups,backwpup*,wp-clone,snapshots

Those defaults don’t actually exclude these two backup folders. For ShortPixel, I think it’s because of the capital “B” (*backups is excluded, but *Backups is not). For Imagify, I think it’s because it’s backup (singular), and backup* requires an extra character.

Can you please adjust the default exclusions so that “ShortpixelBackups” and “backup” will also be automatically excluded?

I’m wondering if this would be a better default exclusion list?

backu*,*ackups,backwpup*,wp-clone,snapshots

Alternately, if the regex is changed to be case-insensitive, and * means “zero or more characters” (instead of “one or more characters”), that would solve it too. :)

Thanks!

[AndrewParticipant]

Actually, I’d love that last option — changing the meaning of * in the exclusion list — because then an update would retroactively apply to all my client’s sites and I wouldn’t have to go through and change the list manually. ;)

[udadminKeymaster]

Hi,

Wouldn’t it make more sense if you configured those two plugins to not make backups? You already have a solution for backups (i.e. UpdraftPlus), so, it would seem more logical to cut out the “backups of things already backup-ed elsewhere” at the source?

David

[udadminKeymaster]

BTW, if I create a folder backups inside the uploads directory, then it is not backed up. The log says as follows (and it’s not inside the zip file):

0005.671 (0) Exclusion option setting (uploads): backup*,*backups,backwpup*,wp-clone,snapshots
0005.686 (0) Looking for candidates to backup in: /(path)/wp-content/uploads
0005.700 (0) finding files: backup: skipping: excluded by options (glob)
0005.745 (0) finding files: 2016: adding to list (1)

[AndrewParticipant]

Hi David,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. :)

The plugins make backups of the original image files, and then optimize/compress the images on the site. Once that’s done, the files in the backup folders are the originals (and aren’t exact duplicates of the live images on the site). These backup folders are needed in case a user wants to restore an image to the original state, or re-process it with a different compression level.

So the image processing backup folders are necessary for full functionality of the plugins, and it’s desirable to keep that feature active. But I don’t want to make backups of thesse backups, which is why I want to exclude them from the UDP backups.

You’re correct, a folder with the name backups will be excluded by default. But a folder with the name backup (singular), which is what Imagify creates, is not excluded by the default directives.

The reason the Imagify backup folder is not excluded by default is that it’s singular, not plural.

The reason the Shortpixel ShortpixelBackups folder is not excluded by default is that the B is capitalized, and it appears the exclusions are case-sensitive.

Hope that helped clarify?

[AndrewParticipant]

Oh, I just re-read your last message, and looked more closely at the sample logs.

Was that a typo when you said backups (plural)? Is a backup (singular) folder being successfully excluded? If so, I stand corrected on that! And then I just want to solve the ShortpixelBackups exclusion. ;)

[Dee NutbourneModerator]

Hi,

Yes, the log is correct.

I’ll make a note in our development list about altering the default exclusion list to catch capitalised Backup.

Best Wishes,
David N

[AndrewParticipant]

Great – thanks David!

[AndrewParticipant]

Oh, and just to make sure this is accurately reflected in your notes… it needs to catch *Backup not just Backup. :)

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