Follow symlink directories for Jetpack backups

[epeicher]

Related issues

• Fixes STU-392
• Related PR Follow symlinks in Preview sites when archiving directories #1447

Proposed Changes

• Use archive.directory instead of archive.file for creating the Jetpack backup file so the symlinks can be followed. This works because of the following patch in archiver.

Testing Instructions

Export

• Create a site that contains symlinks to external folders for example for plugins.
• Ensure you create both symlinks pointing to directories and symlinks pointing to external files.
• Navigate to the Import/Export tab and do an export of the site
• Open the site in Finder, unzip it, and check that the symlinked folders and files contain the actual target folders and dirs and not the symlinks.
• Repeat the export but ensure you add some symlinks that are pointing to non-existent folders
• Check there are not unexpected errors.

Push

• Navigate to the Sync tab
• Connect a site to a WordPress.com or Pressable site
• Run a Push
• Check the pushed site contains the symlinked plugins

Pre-merge Checklist

• Have you checked for TypeScript, React or other console errors?

[sejas]

This almost works as expected. I confirm the export includes/follow symlinks, but it's not excluding pathsToExclude and I see the sqlite-database-integration folder in the final zip.

I think we should remove the getSiteFiles but we can tackle that in a separate issue. I created STU-536.

[sejas]

Let's also exclude the pathsToExclude.

Currently I see a regression where the sqlite-database-integration mu-plugin is being exported.

[sejas]

Maybe if mu-plugins is empty we avoid adding it too 🤔

[epeicher]

Good catch! I have excluded them as part of 51c1983.

Maybe if mu-plugins is empty we avoid adding it too 🤔

A nice side effect is that empty directories are automatically excluded, for example, now that pathsToExclude filtering is applied, I cannot see either mu-plugins or fonts because they are empty in my site

[epeicher]

I think we should remove the getSiteFiles but we can tackle that in a separate issue. I created STU-536

I also thought about that and decided to suggest it as a follow-up, but you beat me to it 😄. Thank you very much for creating the task

[sejas]

Thanks for the update. It works great! Now the pathsToExclude paths are excluded, and the symlinks are resolved and included in the zip 👍 .

Before

export-with-symlinks-before.mp4

After

export-with-symlinks-after.mp4