Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Error trying to forget a backed-up file

[Steve White]

Hi again,

To follow up on this:

The backup was unfortunately lost, as has always happened before when
these problems occurred.

However with Andreas' help, we got more information as to what happened.

The original problem was triggered by a monster file that was too big to
copy to the backup.  However it was also too big to fit in the temporary
directories -- it isn't clear that this was involved in the original problem
howeever.

I removed the monster file and the corresponding increments files, and
attempted another backup.  It said something about regressing, then said
it was out of space, althogh there was plenty of space on the source
and backup partitions.  By this point, the backup was trashed, I think.

However, we determined that this out-of-space problem was due to 
insufficient space in the "tempdir" partitions on both source and 
destination (by default, it uses /tmp).  When I rdiff-backup to bigger
partitions, it proceeded; but it proceeded to replace many of the
backed-up files with empty files.

This seems to be a data-losing bug.

Another strange thing is; after deleting the files as described, 
rdiff-backup was still looking for them.  

* Question: where else does rdiff-backup keep info about backed-up files,
besides the increments files?

Below is part of of the output after pointing to bigger tempdirs. 
The monster file was in 'cache-dir', which was deleted.
The "substituting empty file" errors indicate data loss.

--------------------------------------------------------
Previous backup seems to have failed, regressing destination now.
Error reading /work3/backup/mintaka/opt/jsdk-xx/apache-tomcat-5.5.12/work/Catali
na/localhost/lenya/cocoon-files/cache-dir/cocoon-ehcache-1.data, substituting em
pty file.
Error reading /work3/backup/mintaka/opt/jsdk-xx/apache-tomcat-5.5.12/work/Catali
na/localhost/lenya/cocoon-files/cache-dir/cocoon-ehcache-1.index, substituting e
mpty file.
Error reading /work3/backup/mintaka/opt/jsdk-xx/apache-tomcat-5.5.12/work/Catali
na/localhost/webdav/SESSIONS.ser, substituting empty file.
Error reading /work3/backup/mintaka/opt/jsdk-xx/vomrs-tomcat/apache-tomcat-5.5.1
2/conf/tomcat-users.xml, substituting empty file.

...

Error reading /work3/backup/mintaka/work4/mnt/logs/vomrs_astrogrid-d.log.1, subs
tituting empty file.
Error reading /work3/backup/mintaka/work4/mnt/logs/vomrs_astrogrid-d.log.2, subs
tituting empty file.
Warning: Could not restore file work4/mnt/work/Catalina/localhost/lenya/cocoon-f
iles/cache-dir/cocoon-ehcache-1.data!

A regular file was indicated by the metadata, but could not be
constructed from existing increments because last increment had type
None.  Instead of the actual file's data, an empty length file will be
created.  This error is probably caused by data loss in the
rdiff-backup destination directory, or a bug in rdiff-backup
Warning: Could not restore file work4/mnt/work/Catalina/localhost/lenya/cocoon-f
iles/cache-dir/cocoon-ehcache-1.index!

A regular file was indicated by the metadata, but could not be
constructed from existing increments because last increment had type
None.  Instead of the actual file's data, an empty length file will be
created.  This error is probably caused by data loss in the
rdiff-backup destination directory, or a bug in rdiff-backup
Warning: Could not restore file work4/mnt/work/Catalina/localhost/lenya/cocoon-f
iles/cache-dir/cocoon-ehcache-2.data!

A regular file was indicated by the metadata, but could not be
constructed from existing increments because last increment had type
None.  Instead of the actual file's data, an empty length file will be
created.  This error is probably caused by data loss in the
rdiff-backup destination directory, or a bug in rdiff-backup
Warning: Could not restore file work4/mnt/work/Catalina/localhost/lenya/cocoon-f
iles/cache-dir/cocoon-ehcache-2.index!

A regular file was indicated by the metadata, but could not be
constructed from existing increments because last increment had type
None.  Instead of the actual file's data, an empty length file will be
created.  This error is probably caused by data loss in the
rdiff-backup destination directory, or a bug in rdiff-backup
--------------------------------------------------------

Cheers!

On  1.03.10, Steve White wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm again having a problem with the old issue of having rdiff-backup
> "forget" a file that was accidentally backed up.
> 
> I double checked the FAQ and Wiki, but there really isn't a solution yet.
> It would be very good to have an official means of solving these problems.
> 
> There was a discussion last month
>       Techniques for trimming the sizes of backups
> The suggested remedy was
>       remove the undesired files
>       remove the corresponding increments files
> I tried this and it failed, as below.
> 
> What happened was: some process had run wild resulting in a relatively 
> small cache file growing to many gigs.  On the next backup, rdiff-backup
> tried to back it up and ran out of space.
> 
> So I removed the files involved as suggested, and told rdiff-backup to
> exclude the cache directory.  There is now plenty of free space on both
> target and destination server.  But rdiff-backup still fails, saying there
> is no space left...
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> Previous backup seems to have failed, regressing destination now.
> Exception '[Errno 28] No space left on device' raised of class 
> 'exceptions.IOError':
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/robust.py", line 32, 
> in check_common_error
>     try: return function(*args)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/restore.py", line 
> 468, in get_fp
>     Rdiff.write_patched_fp(current_fp, delta_fp, new_fp)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Rdiff.py", line 73, 
> in write_patched_fp
>     rpath.copyfileobj(librsync.PatchedFile(basis_fp, delta_fp), out_fp)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/rpath.py", line 64, 
> in copyfileobj
>     outputfp.write(inbuf)
> 
> Exception '[Errno 28] No space left on device' raised of class 
> 'exceptions.IOError':
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 304, 
> in error_check_Main
>     try: Main(arglist)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 324, 
> in Main
>     take_action(rps)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 280, 
> in take_action
>     elif action == "backup": Backup(rps[0], rps[1])
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 337, 
> in Backup
>     backup_final_init(rpout)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 501, 
> in backup_final_init
>     checkdest_if_necessary(rpout)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 920, 
> in checkdest_if_necessary
>     dest_rp.conn.regress.Regress(dest_rp)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/connection.py", line 
> 450, in __call__
>     return apply(self.connection.reval, (self.name,) + args)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/connection.py", line 
> 370, in reval
>     if isinstance(result, Exception): raise result
> 
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "/usr/bin/rdiff-backup", line 30, in ?
>     rdiff_backup.Main.error_check_Main(sys.argv[1:])
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 304, 
> in error_check_Main
>     try: Main(arglist)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 324, 
> in Main
>     take_action(rps)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 280, 
> in take_action
>     elif action == "backup": Backup(rps[0], rps[1])
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 337, 
> in Backup
>     backup_final_init(rpout)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 501, 
> in backup_final_init
>     checkdest_if_necessary(rpout)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 920, 
> in checkdest_if_necessary
>     dest_rp.conn.regress.Regress(dest_rp)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/connection.py", line 
> 450, in __call__
>     return apply(self.connection.reval, (self.name,) + args)
>   File "/usr/lib64/python2.3/site-packages/rdiff_backup/connection.py", line 
> 370, in reval
>     if isinstance(result, Exception): raise result
> IOError: [Errno 28] No space left on device
> --------------------------------------------------
> 

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| Steve White                                             +49(331)7499-202
| e-Science / AstroGrid-D                                   Zi. 35  Bg. 20
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