Knowledge Base

Overview

By the end of this article you will know which files CodeGuard leaves out of your backups by default, why each type is excluded, and how to request a change to the exclusion list for your website. Exclusions exist because these files are temporary, regenerated automatically, or duplicated elsewhere — leaving them out keeps backups smaller and faster without affecting your ability to restore. The article lists the patterns in seven groups: cache files, temporary files that speed up page loading; log files, records of server activity; operating system (OS) files, metadata created by the server's operating system; other temporary files, short-lived files generated during normal operation; backup files, directories created by other backup tools; the CodeGuard test restore file, a temporary file CodeGuard writes when checking server access; and mandatory exclusions, Git files that CodeGuard must exclude for its backup process to work. A final section explains how to change your exclusion rules.

How to read the patterns

Every list in this article uses pattern matching rather than exact filenames. Three characters have special meaning:

• * — a wildcard matching any sequence of characters, including directory names. For example, * matches that path anywhere on your site.
• ? — a wildcard matching a single character. For example, docid_?*.pageCache.* matches a file whose name begins docid_ followed by at least one character.
• %% — a literal double percent sign appearing in certain template directory names, not a wildcard.

A file is excluded if its full path matches any pattern in any of the lists below.

Cache files

Cache files are temporary files generated automatically to reduce bandwidth use and server load. They make your website faster, but they take up space in backups and are recreated by your site whenever they are needed, so CodeGuard excludes them.

*/cache/Gantry*/*-cache-Gantry-*
*/cache/com_content/*
*/cache/docid_?*.pageCache.*
*/cache/jw_sig/jwsig_cache_*
*/cache/jw_sigpro/jwsigpro_cache_*
*/cache/sigplus/*
*/cache/smarty/cache/*
*/cache/smarty/compile/*
*/cache/t3_assets/*
*/cache/t3_pages/*
*/cache/timthumb_ext_*
*/cache/timthumb_int_*
*/cache/zend_cache*
*/captcha/cache/?*.php
*/fv-gravatar-cache/*
*/plugins/db-cache-reloaded-fix/cache/*
*/public_html/templates_c/%%*
*/scripts/cache/*
*/smarty_v2/compile/*.tpl.php
*/system/cache/cache.product.*
*/var/tmp/*
*/var/session/*
*/vgmod/vgcache/*
*/web/content/administrator/cache/*
*/web/content/cache/*
*/web/content/libraries/joomla/cache/*
*/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-cache/*.cache
*/wp-content/uploads/headway/cache/*
*cache/com_k2/*
*cachefs/*
*dbcache/*
*gt-cache/*
*lightspeed/*
*minifycache/minify_*
*objectcache/*
*var/cache*
*var/compiled/*
*var/full_page_cache/mage*
*w3tc/*
*wp-content/cache/*

Log files

Log files record server and application activity. They are useful for diagnosing problems, but they are not needed to restore a website, and they grow continuously. CodeGuard excludes them to keep backup sizes down.

*access-logs/*
*awstats/*
*error_log*
*webalizer/*
*/.cpanel-logs
*/access-logs/*
*/logs/access_log*
*/logs/tasklog*
*/webalizerftp/*
*/web/content/logs/*

Operating system (OS) files

Operating systems create files to track their own metadata — for example, resource information added when files are copied from macOS. These files are specific to the system that created them and are not needed to restore a website, so CodeGuard excludes them.