> May I ask why the behavior of the --exclude command has changed? Can > someone suggest a remedy for my situation?
Yes, --exclude has changed indeed (between slink and potato), see /usr/share/doc/tar/NEWS.gz: version 1.13.6 - Paul Eggert, 1999-08-11. * An --exclude pattern containing / now excludes a file only if it matches an initial prefix of the file name; a pattern without / continues to exclude a file if it matches any file name component. -Igor Mozetic
