title: How to build a conda package but exclude/omit/not include a specific folder/directory?
body: <p>I'm trying to build a conda package but I just realized that it keeps adding all of my previous releases in tar ball.  I tried adding this line: <code>recursive-exclude releases/ *.tar.gz</code> to my <code>MANIFEST.in</code> but it isn't working. </p>
  
  <h3>Here is my build command:</h3>
  
  <pre><code>(µ_env) jespinozlt-osx:Packages jespinoz$ cd soothsayer/
  (µ_env) jespinozlt-osx:soothsayer jespinoz$ ls
  Icon?           dist            releases
  MANIFEST.in     docs            setup.py
  README.md       install         soothsayer
  bin         license.txt     soothsayer.egg-info
  build           logo.png        standalone
  devel.txt       meta.yaml       tutorials
  (µ_env) jespinozlt-osx:soothsayer jespinoz$ conda build .
  No numpy version specified in conda_build_config.yaml.  Falling back to default numpy value of 1.11
  WARNING:conda_build.metadata:No numpy version specified in conda_build_config.yaml.  Falling back to default numpy value of 1.11
  Adding in variants from internal_defaults
  INFO:conda_build.variants:Adding in variants from internal_defaults
  Attempting to finalize metadata for soothsayer
  INFO:conda_build.metadata:Attempting to finalize metadata for soothsayer
  BUILD START: ['soothsayer-py36_2019.12-0.tar.bz2']
  Collecting package metadata (repodata.json): ...working... done
  Solving environment: ...working... done
  Source cache directory is: /Users/jespinoz/anaconda3/conda-bld/src_cache
  INFO:conda_build.source:Source cache directory is: /Users/jespinoz/anaconda3/conda-bld/src_cache
  INFO conda_build.source:download_to_cache(43): Source cache directory is: /Users/jespinoz/anaconda3/conda-bld/src_cache
  No hash (md5, sha1, sha256) provided for soothsayer_v2019.12.tar.gz.  Source download forced.  Add hash to recipe to use source cache.
  WARNING:conda_build.source:No hash (md5, sha1, sha256) provided for soothsayer_v2019.12.tar.gz.  Source download forced.  Add hash to recipe to use source cache.
  WARNING conda_build.source:download_to_cache(59): No hash (md5, sha1, sha256) provided for soothsayer_v2019.12.tar.gz.  Source download forced.  Add hash to recipe to use source cache.
  Found source in cache: soothsayer_v2019.12.tar.gz
  INFO:conda_build.source:Found source in cache: soothsayer_v2019.12.tar.gz
  INFO conda_build.source:download_to_cache(63): Found source in cache: soothsayer_v2019.12.tar.gz
  Extracting download
  source tree in: /Users/jespinoz/anaconda3/conda-bld/soothsayer_1578343428831/work
  export PREFIX=/Users/jespinoz/anaconda3/conda-bld/soothsayer_1578343428831/_h_env_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placeho
  export SRC_DIR=/Users/jespinoz/anaconda3/conda-bld/soothsayer_1578343428831/work
  Processing $SRC_DIR
  Building wheels for collected packages: soothsayer
    Building wheel for soothsayer (setup.py): started
    Building wheel for soothsayer (setup.py): finished with status 'done'
    Stored in directory: /private/tmp/pip-ephem-wheel-cache-z5uej2un/wheels/93/2c/ae/23c5322c97f4ea4b77b566ff85638a1b92198cf0836e7fab90
  Successfully built soothsayer
  Installing collected packages: soothsayer
  Successfully installed soothsayer-2019.12
  
  Resource usage statistics from building soothsayer:
     Process count: 3
     CPU time: Sys=0:00:00.4, User=0:00:00.7
     Memory: 57.2M
     Disk usage: 4.2K
     Time elapsed: 0:00:04.1
  
  Packaging soothsayer
  INFO:conda_build.build:Packaging soothsayer
  INFO conda_build.build:build(1551): Packaging soothsayer
  Packaging soothsayer-py36_2019.12-0
  INFO:conda_build.build:Packaging soothsayer-py36_2019.12-0
  INFO conda_build.build:bundle_conda(890): Packaging soothsayer-py36_2019.12-0
  No files or script found for output soothsayer
  WARNING:conda_build.build:No files or script found for output soothsayer
  WARNING conda_build.build:bundle_conda(970): No files or script found for output soothsayer
  number of files: 0
  Fixing permissions
  Packaged license file/s.
  TEST START: /Users/jespinoz/anaconda3/conda-bld/noarch/soothsayer-py36_2019.12-0.tar.bz2
  Adding in variants from /var/folders/6z/5vbtz_gmkr76ftgc3149dvtr0003c0/T/tmp6matkfoy/info/recipe/conda_build_config.yaml
  INFO:conda_build.variants:Adding in variants from /var/folders/6z/5vbtz_gmkr76ftgc3149dvtr0003c0/T/tmp6matkfoy/info/recipe/conda_build_config.yaml
  INFO conda_build.variants:_combine_spec_dictionaries(189): Adding in variants from /var/folders/6z/5vbtz_gmkr76ftgc3149dvtr0003c0/T/tmp6matkfoy/info/recipe/conda_build_config.yaml
  Nothing to test for: /Users/jespinoz/anaconda3/conda-bld/noarch/soothsayer-py36_2019.12-0.tar.bz2
  Renaming work directory,  /Users/jespinoz/anaconda3/conda-bld/soothsayer_1578343428831/work  to  /Users/jespinoz/anaconda3/conda-bld/soothsayer_1578343428831/work_moved_soothsayer-py36_2019.12-0_osx-64_main_build_loop
  # Automatic uploading is disabled
  # If you want to upload package(s) to anaconda.org later, type:
  
  anaconda upload /Users/jespinoz/anaconda3/conda-bld/noarch/soothsayer-py36_2019.12-0.tar.bz2
  
  # To have conda build upload to anaconda.org automatically, use
  # $ conda config --set anaconda_upload yes
  
  anaconda_upload is not set.  Not uploading wheels: []
  ####################################################################################
  Resource usage summary:
  
  Total time: 0:01:52.0
  CPU usage: sys=0:00:00.4, user=0:00:00.7
  Maximum memory usage observed: 57.2M
  Total disk usage observed (not including envs): 4.2K
  
  
  ####################################################################################
  Source and build intermediates have been left in /Users/jespinoz/anaconda3/conda-bld.
  There are currently 1 accumulated.
  To remove them, you can run the ```conda build purge``` command
  </code></pre>
  
  <h3>Here is my <code>MANIFEST.in</code> file:</h3>
  
  <pre><code>(µ_env) jespinozlt-osx:soothsayer jespinoz$ cat MANIFEST.in
  recursive-include soothsayer/io/data_type/ *.py
  recursive-include soothsayer/feature_extraction/algorithms/ *.py
  recursive-include soothsayer/r_wrappers/packages/ *.py
  recursive-include soothsayer/tests/data/ *.py
  recursive-include soothsayer/db/ *.pbz2
  recursive-exclude releases/ *.tar.gz
  global-exclude *.py[cod] __pycache__
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I want to exclude the tar balls in this folder: </p>
  
  <pre><code>(µ_env) jespinozlt-osx:soothsayer jespinoz$ ls -lhS releases/
  total 189456
  -rwxrwxrwx@ 1 jespinoz  tigr    18M Jan  2 11:41 soothsayer_v2019.12.tar.gz
  -rwxrwxrwx@ 1 jespinoz  tigr    18M Dec  2 10:57 soothsayer_v2019.11.tar.gz
  -rwxrwxrwx@ 1 jespinoz  tigr    18M Nov  5 14:13 soothsayer_v2019.10.tar.gz
  -rwxrwxrwx  1 jespinoz  tigr    10M Oct  2 11:26 soothsayer_v2019.09.tar.gz
  -rwxrwxrwx@ 1 jespinoz  tigr    10M Sep  3 11:08 soothsayer_v2019.08.tar.gz
  -rwxrwxrwx@ 1 jespinoz  tigr    10M Aug  8 16:33 soothsayer_v2019.07.tar.gz
  -rwxrwxrwx@ 1 jespinoz  tigr   9.1M Jun 20  2019 soothsayer_v2019.06.tar.gz
  -rw-r--r--@ 1 jespinoz  tigr   659B Jun 20  2019 create_release.sh
  </code></pre>
  
  <h3>It's including all of my previous releases:</h3>
  
  <pre><code>(µ_env) jespinozlt-osx:noarch jespinoz$ tar -xzf soothsayer-py36_2019.12-0.tar.bz2
  (µ_env) jespinozlt-osx:noarch jespinoz$ ls -lh info/recipe/releases/
  total 192776
  -rw-r--r--  1 jespinoz  tigr   659B Jun 20  2019 create_release.sh
  -rwxr-xr-x  1 jespinoz  tigr   9.1M Jun 20  2019 soothsayer_v2019.06.tar.gz
  -rwxr-xr-x  1 jespinoz  tigr    10M Aug  8 16:33 soothsayer_v2019.07.tar.gz
  -rwxr-xr-x  1 jespinoz  tigr    10M Sep  3 11:08 soothsayer_v2019.08.tar.gz
  -rwxr-xr-x  1 jespinoz  tigr    10M Oct  2 11:26 soothsayer_v2019.09.tar.gz
  -rwxr-xr-x  1 jespinoz  tigr    18M Nov  5 14:13 soothsayer_v2019.10.tar.gz
  -rwxr-xr-x  1 jespinoz  tigr    18M Dec  2 10:57 soothsayer_v2019.11.tar.gz
  -rwxr-xr-x  1 jespinoz  tigr    18M Jan  2 11:41 soothsayer_v2019.12.tar.gz
  </code></pre>
  
  <h3>Here's my <code>meta.yml</code></h3>
  
  <pre><code>{% set name = "soothsayer" %}
  {% set version = "2019.12" %}
  
  package:
    name: {{ name|lower }}
    version: py36_{{ version }}
  
  source:
    url: https://github.com/jolespin/{{ name }}/releases/download/v{{ version }}/soothsayer_v{{ version }}.tar.gz
  
  build:
    noarch: python
    number: 0
    script: python -m pip install --no-deps --ignore-installed .
  
  requirements:
    run:
      - python &gt;=3.6,&lt;3.7
  
  about:
    home: https://github.com/jolespin/soothsayer
    license: BSD-3
    license_family: BSD
    license_file: license.txt
    summary: 'High-level package for (bio-)informatics'
    description: 'This module contains analytical tools and sophisticated plotting methods for informatics datasets.'
  </code></pre>