In the Unix environment, it is a convention (only) that a file or
directory whose name begins with a dot (period) is considered a
"hidden" file.  An application program may or may not observe this
convention, and may or may not reveal or process such files.  The
'ls' and 'rm' commands are known to observe this convention.

It is not the case that the operating system or the file system in
any way treats dot-lead filenames as special.  Any directory
traversal mechanism (e.g., the basic readdir() system call) will
encounter them, and can operate on them.

No TSM Unix Backup/Archive documentation mentions hidden files, or
indicates that dot-lead files will be treated specially.  In my years
of working with the product, I've always seen it treat dot-lead file
system entries the same as all other file system objects: they are
backed up, and can be restored.  And tests under AIX and Linux show
EXCLUDE.DIR as happily excluding a dot-lead directory name as it does
an ordinary name, with no special quoting necessary.  Should any
situation deviate from the norm, it would be something worth
investigating. with a client trace if necessary.

   Richard Sims

On Mar 13, 2008, at 2:58 PM, Howard Coles wrote:

True, generally speaking.  However for what he was talking about
a . at
the beginning of a filename in UNIX hides it, and in essence it can
become a special character.  So, generally in Linux when a hidden file
or directory is concerned I've had to use double or single quotes
to get
them recognized.

See Ya'
Howard

-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf
Of Richard Sims
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 1:16 PM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] exclude.dir .directory

The Exclude.dir form you specified should work (the period is not a
special character).

Make sure that a 'dsmc q inclexcl' is performed on the revised
include-exclude options before trying with any TSM operation: inspect
the output to assure that TSM recognizes and accepts the
specification within the context of all other participating Include-
Excludes.

    Richard Sims