What files and directories can be excluded from a backup of the home directory?

backup

Duplicity does already a great job of making efficient backups, but I want still to minimize the amount of files being back-upped.

What files or directories can be excluded in a home directory? Please name these explicitly, wildcards allowed, paths are relative to the home directory.

Most of these files and directories are recreated if missing. They are mostly intended for lowering the startup time of an application (Firefox extensions cache), indicating locks (.gksu.lock), or containing session-specific information (e.g. ID of dbus session). Recent documents changes frequently and is generally not that sensible to backup.

These directories may be excluded:

.gvfs                           # contains mounted file systems?
.local/share/gvfs-metadata
.Private                        # contains the actual encrypted home directory
.dbus                           # session-specific
.cache
.Trash                          # do I need to say more?
.local/share/Trash
.cddb                           # cached info about audio CDs
.aptitude                       # cached packages lists

Flash-specific:

.adobe        # Cache for flash, maybe others?
.macromedia   # except for Flash persistence, there is no reason to keep this

Files:

.xsession-errors            # contains errors from the current graphical session
.recently-used              # recently used files
.recently-used.xbel
.thumbnails
.Xauthority                 # session-specific
.ICEauthority
.gksu.lock
.pulse                      # directory
.pulse-cookie
.esd_auth

KDE specific:

.kde/share/apps/RecentDocuments # Recent documents on KDE
.kde/share/apps/klipper         # Contains a history of the Klipper clipboard (KDE)
.kde/share/apps/okular/docdata  # you will loose saved scrolling positions of PDFs
.kde/share/apps/gwenview/recentfolders
.kde/share/apps/kmess/displaypics  # cached other users' profile pics
.kde/share/apps/kmess/customemoticons  # cached emoticons of others

Firefox-specific (see also Profile folder):

.mozilla/firefox/*/Cache
.mozilla/firefox/*/minidumps    # in case Fx crashes dumps will be stored in this
.mozilla/firefox/*/.parentlock       # session-specific           
.mozilla/firefox/*/urlclassifier3.sqlite  # phishing database, recreated
.mozilla/firefox/*/blocklist.xml   # blacklisted extensions
.mozilla/firefox/*/extensions.sqlite  # extension database, recreated on startup
.mozilla/firefox/*/extensions.sqlite-journal
.mozilla/firefox/*/extensions.rdf
.mozilla/firefox/*/extensions.ini
.mozilla/firefox/*/extensions.cache
.mozilla/firefox/*/XUL.mfasl     # cached UI data, recreated
.mozilla/firefox/*/XPC.mfasl
.mozilla/firefox/*/xpti.dat
.mozilla/firefox/*/compreg.dat

Opera-specific (related question on Superuser.com: Is documentation available on files and directories in the Opera profile folder?):

.opera/temporary_downloads
.opera/cache
.opera/thumbnails
.opera/opcache
.opera/icons
.opera/application_cache
.opera/widgets/*/cache
.opera/lock

Komodo Edit:

.komodoedit/*/codeintel/db
.komodoedit/*/host-*/*/codeintel
.komodoedit/*/XRE/Cache
.komodoedit/*/XRE/.activatestate/komodo edit/Crash Reports
.komodoedit/*/XRE/.activatestate/komodo edit/*/Cache
.komodoedit/*/XRE/.activatestate/komodo edit/*/minidump
.komodoedit/*/XRE/.parentlock
.komodoedit/*/XRE/extensions.rdf
.komodoedit/*/XRE/extensions.ini
.komodoedit/*/XRE/extensions.cache
.komodoedit/*/XRE/XPC.mfasl
.komodoedit/*/XRE/XUL.mfasl
.komodoedit/*/XRE/xpti.dat
.komodoedit/*/XRE/pluginreg.dat
.komodoedit/*/XRE/compreg.dat
.komodoedit/*/XRE/*.sqlite-journal
.komodoedit/*/pystdout.log
.komodoedit/*/pystderr.log
.komodoedit/*/history.sqlite.bak
.komodoedit/*/running.lock
.komodoedit/*/mutex.lock
.komodoedit/*/*.xmlc
.komodoedit/*/startup-env.tmp
.komoeoedit/*/commandments.fifo
.komoeoedit/*/history.sqlite

GnuPG:

.gnupg/rnd
.gnupg/random_seed
.gnupg/.#*
.gnupg/*.lock
.gnupg/gpg-agent-info-*

Google Chrome:

.config/google-chrome/Default/Local Storage
.config/google-chrome/Default/Session Storage
.config/google-chrome/Default/Application Cache
.config/google-chrome/Default/History Index *

Other apps:

.pulse/icons                  # Pidgin
.java/deployment/cache        # Cached applets
.icedteaplugin
.icedtea
.gnome2/epiphany/favicon_cache
.dropbox                      # to avoid problems, let Dropbox re-create these
.dropbox-dist

Good question. I like these -- where we can gather community input/lists and cherry pick relevant stuff. Here's my .exclude file. I feed this file to rsync as an --exclude-file= parameter in multiple scripts (which you can also do with duplicity). Note that the question implies "what do you want/need to save". For example, I backup my complete .mozilla DIR as it contains multiple profiles and tweaks and it's easier to dump it back on disk as a whole. Also implied in my config: I do a lot of "build from the ground up installs" for testing. So I have a clonezilla image of a known-good-clean-base install, and I add in my personal (/home) data stored on USB after it's on disk; sometimes selectively, sometimes as a whole.

# Filename: admin/dotfiles/exclude
# Create Date: 20110307-23:36HRS
# ln -s admin/dotfiles/exclude ~/.exclude

.cache
.adobe
.aptitude
.compiz # no settings here; processes
.dbus
.dropbox # don't try to restore and reinitialize either of
.dropbox-dist # these DIRs; very messy results can happen
.elegant-gnome-backup
.fontconfig
.gnome2_private # MT; at least on my system
.pulse*
.gconfd
.gvfs
.macromedia
.local/share/Trash/
.thumbnails
Downloads/
Dropbox/ # recreated on re-initialization
Public/
Music/
Templates/ # stored on U1
Ubuntu One/ # recreated on re-initialization
wdir/iso/
wdir/backups/

I created an ignorelist at https://github.com/rubo77/rsync-homedir-excludes

You can use it with Duplicity or rsync like:

rsync -aP --exclude-from=rsync-homedir-excludes.txt /home/$USER/ /media/$USER/linuxbackup/home/$USER/

this is regularely updated, at the moment we have this so far:

################################################
# These directories may definitely be excluded #
################################################

# Contains mounted file systems:

.gvfs
.local/share/gvfs-metadata
# contains the actual encrypted home directory
/.Private

# Session-specific:
/.dbus
/.cache
/.Trash
.Trash-1*
.local/share/Trash
/Trash

# Cached info about audio CDs:
.cddb

# Cached packages lists:
.aptitude

# Node Package Manager cache
.npm

#Flash-specific:

# Cache for flash, maybe others?
.adobe
# except for Flash persistence, there is no reason to keep this
.macromedia

#Files:

# Contains errors from the current graphical session
.xsession-errors
.wayland-errors

# Recently used files
.local/share/RecentDocuments
.recently-used
.recently-used.xbel
.thumbnails
.thumb
Thumbs.db
.DS_Store
.localised
.bash_history
.CFUserTextEncoding

# Common Unix Printing System
/.cups

# run-time configuration information for Subversion
/.subversion

# Python virtual environments
/.virtualenvs

# Session-specific
.Xauthority
.ICEauthority
.gksu.lock
.pulse
.pulse-cookie
.esd_auth

#KDE specific:

# Recent documents on KDE
.kde/share/apps/RecentDocuments
.kde4/share/apps/RecentDocuments
# Contains a history of the Klipper clipboard (KDE)
.kde/share/apps/klipper
.kde4/share/apps/klipper
# You will loose saved scrolling positions of PDFs
.kde/share/apps/okular/docdata
.kde/share/apps/gwenview/recentfolders
.kde4/share/apps/okular/docdata
.kde4/share/apps/gwenview/recentfolders
# Cached other users' profile pics
.kde/share/apps/kmess/displaypics
.kde4/share/apps/kmess/displaypics
# Cached emoticons of others
.kde/share/apps/kmess/customemoticons
.kde4/share/apps/kmess/customemoticons

#Firefox-specific (see also Profile folder):

.mozilla/firefox/*/Cache
# in case Fx crashes dumps will be stored in this
.mozilla/firefox/*/minidumps
# session-specific 
.mozilla/firefox/*/.parentlock
# phishing database, recreated
.mozilla/firefox/*/urlclassifier3.sqlite
# blacklisted extensions
.mozilla/firefox/*/blocklist.xml
# extension database, recreated on startup
.mozilla/firefox/*/extensions.sqlite
.mozilla/firefox/*/extensions.sqlite-journal
.mozilla/firefox/*/extensions.rdf
.mozilla/firefox/*/extensions.ini
.mozilla/firefox/*/extensions.cache
# cached UI data, recreated
.mozilla/firefox/*/XUL.mfasl
.mozilla/firefox/*/XPC.mfasl
.mozilla/firefox/*/xpti.dat
.mozilla/firefox/*/compreg.dat
# cached plugin data, recreated
.mozilla/firefox/*/pluginreg.dat

#SeaMonkey-specific (see also Profile folder):

.mozilla/seamonkey/*/Cache
# in case Fx crashes dumps will be stored in this
.mozilla/seamonkey/*/minidumps
# session-specific 
.mozilla/seamonkey/*/.parentlock
# blacklisted extensions
.mozilla/seamonkey/*/blocklist.xml
# extension database, recreated on startup
.mozilla/seamonkey/*/extensions.sqlite
.mozilla/seamonkey/*/extensions.rdf
.mozilla/seamonkey/*/extensions.ini
# cached UI data, recreated
.mozilla/seamonkey/*/xpti.dat
.mozilla/seamonkey/*/compreg.dat
# cached plugin data, recreated
.mozilla/seamonkey/*/pluginreg.dat

# Thunderbird Cache in your profile folder
.thunderbird/*/Cache

#Opera-specific (related question on Superuser.com: Is documentation available on files and directories in the Opera profile folder?):

.opera/temporary_downloads
.opera/cache
.opera/thumbnails
.opera/opcache
.opera/icons
.opera/application_cache
.opera/widgets/*/cache
.opera/lock

# Keychain dir (manage SSH and GPG keys, front-end to ssh-agent and ssh-add)
/.keychain

#Komodo Edit:

.komodoedit/*/codeintel/db
.komodoedit/*/host-*/*/codeintel
.komodoedit/*/XRE/Cache
.komodoedit/*/XRE/.activatestate/komodo edit/Crash Reports
.komodoedit/*/XRE/.activatestate/komodo edit/*/Cache
.komodoedit/*/XRE/.activatestate/komodo edit/*/minidump
.komodoedit/*/XRE/.parentlock
.komodoedit/*/XRE/extensions.rdf
.komodoedit/*/XRE/extensions.ini
.komodoedit/*/XRE/extensions.cache
.komodoedit/*/XRE/XPC.mfasl
.komodoedit/*/XRE/XUL.mfasl
.komodoedit/*/XRE/xpti.dat
.komodoedit/*/XRE/pluginreg.dat
.komodoedit/*/XRE/compreg.dat
.komodoedit/*/XRE/*.sqlite-journal
.komodoedit/*/pystdout.log
.komodoedit/*/pystderr.log
.komodoedit/*/history.sqlite.bak
.komodoedit/*/running.lock
.komodoedit/*/mutex.lock
.komodoedit/*/*.xmlc
.komodoedit/*/startup-env.tmp
.komoeoedit/*/commandments.fifo
.komoeoedit/*/history.sqlite

#GnuPG:

.gnupg/rnd
.gnupg/random_seed
.gnupg/.#*
.gnupg/*.lock
.gnupg/gpg-agent-info-*

#Google Chrome:

.config/google-chrome/Default/Local Storage
.config/google-chrome/Default/Session Storage
.config/google-chrome/Default/Application Cache
.config/google-chrome/Default/History Index *

#Chromium:

.config/chromium/Default/Local Storage
.config/chromium/Default/Session Storage
.config/chromium/Default/Application Cache
.config/chromium/Default/History Index *

#Local repositories (added by errantlinguist on 2015-04-13):
.gradle/caches
/.m2/repository

#indexer
.local/share/baloo
.local/share/zeitgeist
.local/share/akonadi

#Other apps:

# Pidgin
.pulse/icons
# Cached applets
.guayadeque/cache.db
.java/deployment/cache
.icedteaplugin
.icedtea
.gnome2/epiphany/favicon_cache

# other temporary files 
nohup.out

###############################################
# directories, probably not worth a backup    #
# (uncomment the files you don't need)        #
###############################################

#.android
#.AndroidStudio*/
#Android/Sdk
#.gradle
#.gvm
#.grails/
#.grails_history
#.kde/share/apps/nepomuk
#.local/share/notbit
#.local/libvirt
#.vagrant
#.vagrant.d
#.wine
#.twister
#/twister
#Applications/eclipse*
#/Downloads
#*Popcorntime*
#/Scribus
#/VirtualBox*
#
## Add Game Folders here:
#
#/games
#.local/share/Steam
#.steam
#Steam
#.minecraft
#.PlayOnLinux

What files and directories can be excluded from a backup of the home directory?

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