[Gllug] rsync-ing sub-directories only

[GLLUG at getaroundtoit.co.uk]

Dear commandLN mavens,

Is there a way to have rsync one-way mirror my laptop's Desktop and my 
'main machine', in such a way as to only target Desktop sub-directories 
whilst ignoring all simple files sitting on the Desktop itself?

Any and all advice will be appreciated,
=dn


The long-winded version:
I'm traveling around and not permanently connected to the Internet, 
often having to take my old, slow, portable to use public library and 
cyber-cafe connections, but preferring to use a more powerful desktop 
(and full-sized keyboard) at home=work. Keeping the two in-sync is a bit 
of a hassle:

It is easy enough to rsync something like "Desktop/ProjectNotes" between 
my two machines. However I may have several projects or topics on the 
go, and new projects come along, just as old projects eventually 'go 
away'. To avoid embarrassment (either of storage space or personal 
organisation) I try to keep as little as possible on the laptop.

At the library I will gather any downloads, saved web pages, notes that 
I have made, etc, etc, into a sub-directory on my Desktop. Trouble is, I 
may have other junk, eg reminder notes, general newspaper pages to read 
later, an eBook I'm working my through, ie general detritus, also 
sitting as (simple) files on the portable's Desktop. These I do not need 
to back-up - and doing so creates a periodic 'clean-up job' on the main 
PC! I also don't want it to follow a link to the WinXP partition of this 
dual-boot machine.

I would prefer not to have to specifically nominate each individual 
'project directory' (multiplied by the number of (current) projects), 
but to script rsync to back-up any and every sub-directory that it might 
find on the Desktop - ie regardless of which, how few, or how many, are 
there, each time.

I like rsync's ability to decide that I have updated my notes and to 
copy that document from the portable into the main project directory, 
over-writing the older version (--backup). Also that I might only have a 
few of the files relating to a project within my Desktop sub-directory 
and not only will it not copy them unnecessarily (if they haven't been 
changed) but it won't wipe out anything in the main PC's directory just 
because it doesn't also exist on the laptop (ie the portable might 
contain a sub-set not an exact "mirror" of the main PC's 'authoritative' 
directory contents).

I can't see how any of the rsync options will help me directly because 
they don't differentiate between files and directories. I have also 
tried using `ls` or `find` and maybe a bit of `grep` to feed an rsync 
--include or --exclude* but these are clumsy and messy, so surely 
there's a better way?

* I successfully use rsync --exclude to maintain an in-house mirror of 
the CentOS 5.3/5.4 repository but without bothering with the isos/ 
sub-directory, which is both elegant and works efficiently and effectively.

- or are you going to tell me I'm overloading rsync and to take a look 
at unison or similar? - I might be lazy but I'm thinking that would be 
"overkill"!

Regards,
=dn
-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at gllug.org.uk
http://lists.gllug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gllug