rsync does not support this (at least the manpage does not mention anything), but you can do it in two steps:
- run
find
to find the.rsync-exclude
files pipe this list to
--exclude-from
(or use a temporary file)--exclude-from=FILE This option is related to the --exclude option, but it specifies a FILE that contains exclude patterns (one per line). Blank lines in the file and lines starting with ';' or '#' are ignored. If FILE is -, the list will be read from standard input.
alternatively, if you do not mind to put something in the files, you can use:
-F The -F option is a shorthand for adding two --filter rules to your command. The first time it is used
is a shorthand for this rule:
--filter='dir-merge /.rsync-filter'
This tells rsync to look for per-directory .rsync-filter files that have been sprinkled through the
hierarchy and use their rules to filter the files in the transfer. If -F is repeated, it is a short-
hand for this rule:
--filter='exclude .rsync-filter'
This filters out the .rsync-filter files themselves from the transfer.
See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on how these options work.