Re: [rdiff-backup-users] workaround for "[Errno 91] File name too long..."?

[Andrew Ferguson]

Morgan Read wrote:
> Hello list
> 
> Is there any workaround for this error?  What I can't understand is how
> this error was avoided making the initial BU1 if it's thrown making a
> copy of it?
> 
> Also, it may be a very naive question but why, when there are only two
> possible alternatives for any (alpha) character on a case insensitive
> system is one alternative escaped to 7 characters to distinguish it from
> the other?
> 
> Regards,
> M.
> 
> address@hidden /cygdrive/c
> $ rdiff-backup -b ./BU1 ./BU2
> Exception '[Errno 91] File name too long:
> 'BU2/home/morgan/;059068ocuments/;059082eferences/;059076inksys/;059087;059082;05908454;059071;0590802/;059084oms;059078etworking;059082eview/;059082eviews-188-;059080rod;059073;059068-;059087;059082;05908454;059071;0590802-2_files/rdiff-backup.tmp.13668''

Morgan,

It looks like you are using rdiff-backup to backup another rdiff-backup
repository. Are you sure this is what you want to do? That is not
something usually done.

The complication is that it is *again* escaping the filenames in BU1
when creating BU2. Therefore ';' becomes ';059' so that when you restore
the second backup, ';059068' will become ';068' in the first repository.
 Then, when you restore from the first reposotory (BU1), ';068' will
become 'D'.

So, no, seven characters are not used to represent 1. Only 4 characters
are used. It could be brought down to 3 in the future, but no fewer.

If you have your heart set on using rdiff-backup to backup rdiff-backup
repositories, you should try adding --override-chars-to-quote "" ... but
I wouldn't be surprised if you continue to run into problems, namely the
fact that your first repository BU1 will already have an
rdiff-backup-data dir, and that will conflict with the one that BU2
wants to create.

In short, the action you are performing is not something rdiff-backup is
designed to do. And that was why you were forced to specify '-b' :-)
That switch, by forcing rdiff-backup to perform a backup, normally
indicates that you're doing something wrong...

Andrew

-- 
Andrew Ferguson - address@hidden