Common subdirectories: flexbackup-1.2.1-r3/contrib and flexbackup-1.2.1-r4/contrib
diff -ubB flexbackup-1.2.1-r3/flexbackup flexbackup-1.2.1-r4/flexbackup
--- flexbackup-1.2.1-r3/flexbackup	2007-04-14 17:03:34.000000000 -0400
+++ flexbackup-1.2.1-r4/flexbackup	2007-04-14 17:09:48.000000000 -0400
@@ -442,7 +442,7 @@
 		# Get rid of trailing /
 		$dir = &nuke_trailing_slash($dir);
 
-		# If level is icremental for the set, each dir might
+		# If level is incremental for the set, each dir might
 		# have a different numeric level
 		if (!defined($::set_incremental)) {
 		    $level = $::level;
@@ -3090,7 +3090,7 @@
 	    push(@::remoteprogs, $::path{'mbuffer'});
 
 	    my $megs = $cfg::buffer_megs . "M";
-	    my $bufcmd = "$::path{mbuffer} -q -m $megs -p $cfg::buffer_fill_pct $mbuffer_blk_flag ";
+		my $bufcmd  = "$::path{mbuffer} -q -m $megs -P $cfg::buffer_fill_pct $mbuffer_blk_flag ";
 
 	    $::buffer_cmd = " | $bufcmd";
 	    $::write_cmd = "$bufcmd -f -o ";
@@ -4884,18 +4884,24 @@
     }
 
     if (defined(%{$::prune{$prunekey}})) {
+		my $rex;
 	# FreeBSD needs -E (above) and no backslashes around the (|) chars
 	if ($::uname =~ /FreeBSD/) {
-	    $cmd .= '-regex "\./(';
-	    $cmd .= join('|', keys %{$::prune{$prunekey}});
-	    $cmd .= ')/.*" ';
-	} else {
-	    $cmd .= '-regex "\./\(';
-	    $cmd .= join('\|', keys %{$::prune{$prunekey}});
-	    $cmd .= '\)/.*" ';
-	}
+			$rex  = '-regex "\./(';
+			$rex .= join('|', keys %{$::prune{$prunekey}});
+			$rex .= ')/.*" ';
+		} else {
+			$rex  = '-regex "\./\(';
+			$rex .= join('\|', keys %{$::prune{$prunekey}});
+			$rex .= '\)/.*" ';
+		}
+		# Show what the darn thing is constructing for prune expressions.
+		&log("| \"find\" regex for pruning is: $rex");
+		$cmd .= $rex;
 	$cmd .= '-prune -o ';
     } else {
+		# Show what the darn thing is constructing for prune expressions.
+		&log("| No pruning defined for this tree.");
 	# Can't use find -depth with -prune (see single unix spec etc)
 	# (not toally required anyway, only if you are archiving dirs you
 	# don't have permissions on and are running as non-root)
diff -ubB flexbackup-1.2.1-r3/flexbackup.conf flexbackup-1.2.1-r4/flexbackup.conf
--- flexbackup-1.2.1-r3/flexbackup.conf	2007-04-14 17:03:35.000000000 -0400
+++ flexbackup-1.2.1-r4/flexbackup.conf	2007-04-14 17:09:48.000000000 -0400
@@ -30,6 +30,45 @@
 # A space-separated list of directories to prune from each backup.
 # Key is a filesystem or host:dir spec as outlined above
 # regular expressions allowed (not shell-type wildcards!)
+#
+# Note:  These directories are actually regular expressions and must
+# match "find" output relative to the path of the current backup set. This
+# means that different exclusions are needed for different backup sets.
+# This is a little tricky, so, read on.
+#
+# The regular expressions are processed by "find" but, before "find" is run,
+# FlexBackup changes into the base directory of the backup set in progress.
+# FlexBackup then runs "find" with a path of "." which means all output lines
+# start with "./".  To be helpful, FlexBackup packages each space-separated
+# prune directory as follows.  If you have a prune list like this
+#
+#     $prune{'/somedir'} = "one two three";
+#
+# then, the constructed -regex argument to "find" looks like this
+#
+#     -regex "\./\(one\|two\|three\)/.*"
+#
+# The last thing you need to know is that FlexBackup only uses the prune
+# terms that match the current base directory in the set you're backing
+# up.  For example, if your backup set definition looks like this
+#
+#     $set{'daily'} = "/home /root /var /usr";
+#
+# and you want to do some exclusions in "/home" and "/var" (but not the other
+# directories), you must set up a prune list for those two directories 
+# separately.  For example, to exclude bert's and ernie's home directories plus
+# /var/tmp, you would need the following:
+#
+#     $prune{'/home'} = "bert ernie";
+#     $prune{'/var'}  = "tmp";
+#
+# In particular, combining these *does not* work.  For example, this
+#
+#     $prune{'/'} = "home/bert home/ernie var/tmp";
+#
+# does not work, unless, of course, your backup set is backing up "/", 
+# which our example is not.
+#
 $prune{'/'} = "tmp proc";
 
 # Compression
@@ -84,7 +123,8 @@
 # True to try and preserve file access times during backup, if the selected
 # archive program can do so. Note that if this is true, -cnewer checks (file
 # permission/status changes only, not content) are turned off when deciding
-# which files to archive on the local system.
+# which files to archive on the local system.  This is because preserving the
+# access time changes the permission/status change time in the filesystem.
 $atime_preserve = 'false';
 
 # Span across filesytems? ("dump" will ignore this option)
@@ -97,8 +137,13 @@
 # leading directories (the filesystem specs above or the "-dir" flag).
 # Matches paths, not filenames, so put .* on the front/back as needed.
 # Comment these out to exclude nothing.
-$exclude_expr[0] = '.*/[Cc]ache/.*';
-$exclude_expr[1] = '.*~$';
+# 
+# Note:  The first example line breaks portage in a restored backup because
+# "/usr/lib/portage/pym/cache" is not backed up.  Way too general!  The moral
+# of this story is, be very careful with global excludes.  The second example 
+# is probably okay.
+# $exclude_expr[0] = '.*/[Cc]ache/.*';
+# $exclude_expr[1] = '.*~$';
 
 # If true (default), and using a tape device, level zero "set" backups
 # assume you want to erase and use a new tape for each set. If false, level