diff --git a/dbbackup-docker-compose b/dbbackup-docker-compose
index 9e58541..2bf97fe 100755
--- a/dbbackup-docker-compose
+++ b/dbbackup-docker-compose
@@ -104,31 +104,29 @@ verbose() {
 # delete old backups
 delete_old() {
   #
-  if test -n $BU_FROOT && test -n $BU_TO_KEEP ; then
-    # pattern to search for to build the list...
-    PATTERN="$BU_DIR/$BU_FROOT-*.*"
-    # build the list, with the suffix...
-    PRUNEABLES=`$PRUNEABLES_CMD $PATTERN`
-    if  test "$?" -eq "0" ; then
-      message "pruning older files based on $PATTERN.$BU_SUFFIX"
-      message "keeping last $BU_TO_KEEP backups"
-      #
-      # set counter
-      NUM=0
-      # go through the list of files and remove those we don't want
-      for PRUNEABLE in $PRUNEABLES
-      do
-        NUM=$(($NUM + 1))
-        if test $NUM -gt $BU_TO_KEEP ; then
-          message "deleting $PRUNEABLE"
-          rm $PRUNEABLE 2>&1 > /dev/null
-        else
-          message "keeping $PRUNEABLE"
-        fi
-      done
-    fi
-  else
-    message "keeping older backups, missing backup_root_filename..."
+  verbose "deleting old files based on $1"
+  # pattern to search for to build the list...
+  PATTERN="$BU_DIR/$1-*.*"
+  # build the list, with the suffix...
+  PRUNEABLES=`$PRUNEABLES_CMD $PATTERN`
+  if  test "$?" -eq "0" ; then
+    message "pruning older files based on $PATTERN"
+    BU_TO_KEEP=$BU_TO_KEEP_${!2}
+    message "keeping last $BU_TO_KEEP backups"
+    #
+    # set counter
+    NUM=0
+    # go through the list of files and remove those we don't want
+    for PRUNEABLE in $PRUNEABLES
+    do
+      NUM=$(($NUM + 1))
+      if test $NUM -gt $BU_TO_KEEP ; then
+        message "deleting $PRUNEABLE"
+        #rm $PRUNEABLE 2>&1 > /dev/null
+      else
+        message "keeping $PRUNEABLE"
+      fi
+    done
   fi
 }
 #
@@ -199,22 +197,22 @@ verbose "going to $DC_DIR"
 OLD_DIR=`pwd`
 cd $DC_DIR
 #
-# run the backup...
-#
 # a timestamp for logging purposes
 STAMP=`date  '+%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S'`
-# delete stale backups
-#
-# delete_old
 #
 # generate the filename
 INC="BU_FROOT_$TASK"
-FILENAME=$BU_FROOT-${!INC}-$STAMP.sql
+FILEPART=$BU_FROOT-${!INC}
+FILENAME=$FILEPART-$STAMP.sql
 FILEPATH=$BU_DIR/$FILENAME
+#
+# delete stale backups
+delete_old $FILEPART
+#
 message "backing up all the databases into $FILEPATH"
 # dump the data into the file
 #
-do_backup $FILEPATH
+do_backup $FILEPATH $TASK
 #
 message "completed backup"
 # compress the backup