[rdiff-backup-users] Regressing Backups Warning

[Max Duessar]

I know this has been discussed before, and in the FAQ (
http://www.nongnu.org/rdiff-backup/FAQ.html#regress_failure ), but are
there any updates regarding backups that fail and henceforth always
report the "Previous backup seems to have failed, regressing
destination now" message? Is there any method of recovery (no more
warnings/errors) within rdiff-backup? Is the best solution to format
the HDD + start a fresh backup?

I believe the error may have been caused while I was creating new IMAP
mailstores during the time rdiff-backup was running. This was the
first error message:

Previous backup seems to have failed, regressing destination now.
UpdateError private/var/log/alias.log Updated mirror temp file
/Volumes/Backup320/private/var/log/rdiff-backup.tmp.1745 does not
match source
UpdateError private/var/log/apache2/error_log Updated mirror temp file
/Volumes/Backup320/private/var/log/apache2/rdiff-backup.tmp.1756 does
not match source
UpdateError private/var/log/apache2/webmail-access_log Updated mirror
temp file /Volumes/Backup320/private/var/log/apache2/rdiff-backup.tmp.1758
does not match source
Exception 'Path:
/Volumes/Backup320/rdiff-backup-data/increments/private/var/spool/imap/user/johnculver/inner
circle.2008-11-08T02:04:49-06:00.dir
Index: ('private', 'var', 'spool', 'imap', 'user', 'johnculver',
'inner circle.2008-11-08T02:04:49-06:00.dir')
Data: {'carbonfile': {'flags': 0, 'createDate': -986178027, 'type':
'\x00\x00\x00\x00', 'location': (0, 0), 'creator':
'\x00\x00\x00\x00'}, 'uid': 77, 'perms': 448, 'type': 'reg', 'gname':
'mail', 'ea': <rdiff_backup.eas_acls.ExtendedAttributes instance at
0x133e288>, 'ctime': 1226393997, 'devloc': 234881026L, 'uname':
'_cyrus', 'nlink': 1, 'gid': 6, 'mtime': 1225944469, 'resourcefork':
'', 'atime': 1226393997, 'inode': 1795431L, 'size': 0L}' raised of
class '<type 'exceptions.AssertionError'>':
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line
304, in error_check_Main
   try: Main(arglist)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line
324, in Main
   take_action(rps)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line
280, in take_action
   elif action == "backup": Backup(rps[0], rps[1])
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line
343, in Backup
   backup.Mirror_and_increment(rpin, rpout, incdir)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/backup.py", line
51, in Mirror_and_increment
   DestS.patch_and_increment(dest_rpath, source_diffiter, inc_rpath)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/backup.py", line
243, in patch_and_increment
   ITR(diff.index, diff)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/rorpiter.py",
line 284, in __call__
   branch.start_process(*args)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/backup.py", line
719, in start_process
   inc_prefix)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/increment.py",
line 41, in Increment
   elif mirror.isdir(): incrp = makedir(mirror, incpref)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/increment.py",
line 103, in makedir
   dirsign = get_inc(incpref, "dir")
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/increment.py",
line 123, in get_inc
   assert not incrp.lstat(), incrp

Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "/usr/local/bin/rdiff-backup", line 30, in <module>
   rdiff_backup.Main.error_check_Main(sys.argv[1:])
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line
304, in error_check_Main
   try: Main(arglist)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line
324, in Main
   take_action(rps)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line
280, in take_action
   elif action == "backup": Backup(rps[0], rps[1])
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line
343, in Backup
   backup.Mirror_and_increment(rpin, rpout, incdir)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/backup.py", line
51, in Mirror_and_increment
   DestS.patch_and_increment(dest_rpath, source_diffiter, inc_rpath)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/backup.py", line
243, in patch_and_increment
   ITR(diff.index, diff)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/rorpiter.py",
line 284, in __call__
   branch.start_process(*args)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/backup.py", line
719, in start_process
   inc_prefix)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/increment.py",
line 41, in Increment
   elif mirror.isdir(): incrp = makedir(mirror, incpref)
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/increment.py",
line 103, in makedir
   dirsign = get_inc(incpref, "dir")
 File "/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/rdiff_backup/increment.py",
line 123, in get_inc
   assert not incrp.lstat(), incrp
AssertionError: Path:
/Volumes/Backup320/rdiff-backup-data/increments/private/var/spool/imap/user/johnculver/inner
circle.2008-11-08T02:04:49-06:00.dir
Index: ('private', 'var', 'spool', 'imap', 'user', 'johnculver',
'inner circle.2008-11-08T02:04:49-06:00.dir')
Data: {'carbonfile': {'flags': 0, 'createDate': -986178027, 'type':
'\x00\x00\x00\x00', 'location': (0, 0), 'creator':
'\x00\x00\x00\x00'}, 'uid': 77, 'perms': 448, 'type': 'reg', 'gname':
'mail', 'ea': <rdiff_backup.eas_acls.ExtendedAttributes instance at
0x133e288>, 'ctime': 1226393997, 'devloc': 234881026L, 'uname':
'_cyrus', 'nlink': 1, 'gid': 6, 'mtime': 1225944469, 'resourcefork':
'', 'atime': 1226393997, 'inode': 1795431L, 'size': 0L}

I'm not sure what it is stuck on. The folder it is mentioning in the
AssertionError doesn't exist in that path (or anywhere). It could have
been during the IMAP transfer and been deleted. I tried following the
FAQ regarding this issue and now end up with the following warning
every time I run rdiff-backup:

Previous backup seems to have failed, regressing destination now.
Warning, could not find mirror_metadata file.
Metadata will be read from filesystem instead.
Fatal Error: No metadata for time Wed Nov 12 02:04:55 2008 (1226477095) found,
cannot regress

However, the backup seems to complete successfully now; is this new
warning something that can be remedied?

--Max