[clue] Rake (Ruby) question posted... any experts here?

[David L. Anselmi]

Lorin Ricker wrote:
> Are there any Rake/Ruby experts here in CLUE who'd be willing to look at
> the above posting and give my question/problem a shot?

I don't know anything about rake so I have some questions about the code.  If they're worth 
answering maybe that will help.

   tarDir = File.join BUPDIR, tarDirSuffix
   directory tarDir

What's "directory tarDir" and why does it come after the assignment?

   desc "Backup #{fn} to .../#{tarDirSuffix}"

What does this do?  It (and the lines after) doesn't seem to run.  Is that a hint?

   file tar => [src] do |t|

This seems badly formed.  tar seems to be a variable containing the full path to the backup file. 
src seems to be a variable containing the path to the source file.  What's file?  Does it make sense 
to say "file => [src]"?

So I think your problem is not in the "is the file newer" logic but in your "file tar ..." loop.

HTH,
Dave