Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Re: Keyerror strikes again

[Kingsley G. Morse Jr.]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

You insightfully asked what kind of directory
/dev/.static is.

My understanding is that, unlike /dev, which
contains device files created dynamically at boot
time by initrd and udev, /dev/.static/dev contains
static device files that may be unused, and are
created by some kind of odd

     $ mount --bind <dir1> <dir2>

command.

According to someone using the nickname "Wyzard"
on freenode's #debian IRC channel, it gives one a
view of the root filesystem that's free of any
other filesystems that might be mounted on top of
it. You see the real disk-based /dev, the empty
/proc that procfs is normally mounted on top of,
etc.

It contains over 100 linux device files with names like

    /dev/.static/dev/cdrom
    /dev/.static/dev/hda
    /dev/.static/dev/tty0

Do you happen to know if rdiff-backup has a bug in
code related to descending into other mounted
filesystems?

You asked if I can see any harm in copying the
directory to the mirror.

I know of none, but I can imagine rdiff-backup's
incremental files depending on certain data being
in the corresponding mirrored files, and if they
don't match, mayhem might ensue.

You expressed an interest in trying version
1.1.16.

Since my bug appears to be primarily related to
the missing directory, it seems to me that I
shouldn't add another unknown into the mix at this
point. Having said that, once my system is backing
up reliably again, I'd be open to trying version
1.1.16.

What do you think of the following plan:

1.) Manually copy the directory to the mirror, run
rdiff-backup, and look for errors.

2.) If it fails, delete the whole backup tree and
start from scratch.

Thanks,
Kingsley

On 06/27/08 18:30, Andrew Ferguson wrote:
> On Jun 26, 2008, at 11:08 PM, Kingsley G. Morse Jr. wrote:
> 
> >Hi Andrew,
> >
> >Version 1.1.15-2+b1 of rdiff-backup is failing with
> >
> >    KeyError: ('mnt', 'backup', 'palace', 'rdiff-backup-data',  
> >'increments', 'dev', '.static')
> >
> >Evidently it's failing because a certain directory is
> >missing from rdiff-backup's mirror.
> >
> >I find myself wondering what to do when a
> >directory is missing.
> >
> >Should I
> >
> >   a.) manually copy the directory to
> >   rdiff-backup's mirror?
> >
> >   b.) delete all backed up data, and start over?
> 
> Hi Kingsley,
> 
> I'm really not all that familiar with this part of rdiff-backup's  
> code, so I can't give you any definitive advice.
> 
> I don't see any harm in copying the directory to the mirror, do you?  
> It seems like it would be worth a shot. What type of directory is / 
> dev/.static anyway? Maybe it's the kind of auto-mounted or auto- 
> generated directory which really doesn't matter in the long run.
> 
> If you reach the point where you plan to delete data, you probably  
> would want to delete the rdiff-backup-data dir on the destination (not  
> the current backed-up files). Rdiff-backup will then prompt you for  
> the --force option, just as with the various suggestions on this list  
> to initialize a repository with rsync, and then use rdiff-backup -- 
> force on the first run.
> 
> But, before you delete data, I would appreciate it if you could try  
> rdiff-backup 1.1.16 and see if that makes any difference.
> 
> 
> 
> good luck,
> Andrew
>