[rdiff-backup-users] Target SMB or CIFS filesystem won't allow symlinks, rdiff-backup fails

[Eric Jensen]

Hi all,

I'm trying to backup from a Linux/ext3 system to a networked filesystem
that is mounted as smbfs.  I can read/write test files on the mounted
target filesystem, but when I try to run rdiff-backup, it fails.  It
appears that the problem is that I can't create symlinks on the target
system: 

[ backups]# touch foo
[ backups]# ln -s foo foo2
ln: creating symbolic link `foo2' to `foo': Operation not permitted

This causes rdiff-backup to fail:

  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/fs_abilities.py", line 
411, in set_symlink_perms
    sym_dest.symlink(sym_source.path)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/rpath.py", line 888, in 
symlink
    self.conn.os.symlink(linktext, self.path)
OSError: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted
 
I've included the full traceback below, but this is the relevant bit at
the end, which seems to test for the ability of the target filesystem to
handle symlinks.   Including the --exclude-symlinks command-line
argument doesn't help; apparently the code tests the filesystem anyway. 

I get the same error if I mount the filesystem as cifs rather than smbfs.

Is there any workaround for this?  I'm running rdiff-backup version
1.1.10, the latest unstable version.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Eric

P.S.  Here's the full output:

[ ~]# rdiff-backup --exclude-symbolic-links --exclude-other-filesystems 
/home/jensen/ /mnt/backups/home_backups/test/jensen/
Warning: hard linking not supported by filesystem at 
/mnt/backups/home_backups/test/jensen/rdiff-backup-data
Exception '[Errno 95] Operation not supported' raised of class 
'exceptions.OSError':
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 299, in 
error_check_Main
    try: Main(arglist)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 319, in 
Main
    take_action(rps)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 275, in 
take_action
    elif action == "backup": Backup(rps[0], rps[1])
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 329, in 
Backup
    rpout.conn.fs_abilities.backup_set_globals(rpin)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/fs_abilities.py", line 
671, in backup_set_globals
    dest_fsa = FSAbilities('destination').init_readwrite(Globals.rbdir)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/fs_abilities.py", line 
154, in init_readwrite
    self.set_symlink_perms(subdir)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/fs_abilities.py", line 
411, in set_symlink_perms
    sym_dest.symlink(sym_source.path)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/rpath.py", line 888, in 
symlink
    self.conn.os.symlink(linktext, self.path)
 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/rdiff-backup", line 23, in ?
    rdiff_backup.Main.error_check_Main(sys.argv[1:])
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 299, in 
error_check_Main
    try: Main(arglist)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 319, in 
Main
    take_action(rps)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 275, in 
take_action
    elif action == "backup": Backup(rps[0], rps[1])
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 329, in 
Backup
    rpout.conn.fs_abilities.backup_set_globals(rpin)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/fs_abilities.py", line 
671, in backup_set_globals
    dest_fsa = FSAbilities('destination').init_readwrite(Globals.rbdir)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/fs_abilities.py", line 
154, in init_readwrite
    self.set_symlink_perms(subdir)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/fs_abilities.py", line 
411, in set_symlink_perms
    sym_dest.symlink(sym_source.path)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/rpath.py", line 888, in 
symlink
    self.conn.os.symlink(linktext, self.path)
OSError: [Errno 95] Operation not supported
[ ~]#