A Python script to be run in a Dropbox folder - so it exclude all the node_modules and __pycache__ folders - we want them locally but not in the cloud

dropbox_wise_ignore.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import argparse
import os
import shutil

from xattr import xattr

top_folder = "."

CACHE_FOLDERS = {"__pycache__", ".pytest_cache", ".cache"}
EXCLUDED_FOLDERS = {"node_modules", ".tox"} | CACHE_FOLDERS
NUKED_FOLDERS = {f"{folder} (Ignored Item Conflict)" for folder in EXCLUDED_FOLDERS}


def exclude_folder(root, dir_name):
    full_path = os.path.join(root, dir_name)
    attrs = xattr(full_path)
    if "com.dropbox.ignored" not in attrs:
        print(full_path)
        xattr(full_path).set("com.dropbox.ignored", b"1")


def empty_folder(folder_path):
    content = os.listdir(folder_path)
    if content:
        print(f"Emptying cache folder {folder_path}")
    for f in content:
        path = os.path.join(folder_path, f)
        if os.path.isdir(path):
            shutil.rmtree(path)
        else:
            os.remove(path)


def main(empty_cache=False):
    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(top_folder, topdown=True):
        recursive_folders = []
        for dir_name in dirs:
            if dir_name in NUKED_FOLDERS:
                full_path = os.path.join(root, dir_name)
                print(f"Nuking the folder {full_path}")
                shutil.rmtree(full_path)
                continue
            # exclude from dropbox all the excluded_folders - and all "build" folders sibilings of "node_modules"
            if (
                dir_name in EXCLUDED_FOLDERS
                or (
                    dir_name in ("build", "dist") and "node_modules" in dirs
                )  # builds of Node
                or (
                    dir_name in ("target",) and "Cargo.toml" in files
                )  # targets of Rust
            ):
                exclude_folder(root, dir_name)
                if dir_name in CACHE_FOLDERS and empty_cache:
                    full_path = os.path.join(root, dir_name)
                    empty_folder(full_path)
            else:
                recursive_folders.append(dir_name)

        dirs[:] = recursive_folders


if __name__ == "__main__":
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description="Mark a few fat folder as ignored so they don't sync to Dropbox"
    )
    parser.add_argument(
        "--empty-cache",
        help="Empty the cache folders",
        default=False,
        action="store_true",
    )

    args = parser.parse_args()
    main(empty_cache=args.empty_cache)

Edit: ignoring a little more folders used for caches - added the --delete-cache to delete the content of the cache folders (the empty folders are kept and marked ignored)

Edit: To make it work in mac - I'm calling attr/xattr using the xattr library rather than a shell subprocess