Backup Central

I have a server being backed up by rdiff-backup, and occasionally the
backup fails for network or other reasons. The problem I am experiencing
happens on the _next_ backup. The command issued is:

--------------------------------------------------------------
rdiff-backup --print-statistics --create-full-path \
/home/xxx \
backup::/backups/yyy/xxx \
--------------------------------------------------------------

Then I get, as expected:

--------------------------------------------------------------
Previous backup seems to have failed, regressing destination now.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Followed by:

--------------------------------------------------------------
Warning: Could not restore file /backups/yyy/xxx/02LaidOut/.DS_Store!

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
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Note that the source directory name is '02 Laid Out' but that the spaces
have disappeared in the error message (but the spaces do exist on the
backup:: machine). The exclamation mark at the end of the error message
is part of the message rather than part of the filename. Both source and
destination machines are running Linux with rdiff-backup 0.13.4. The
files being backed up are created by Apple Macs and saved in an
Appletalk share.

Any clues as to how to proceed?

Thanks,
Keith

Keith Edmunds <keith < at > midnighthax.com>
wrote the following on Thu, 08 Sep 2005 08:46:28 +0100
--------------------------------------------------------------
Warning: Could not restore file /backups/yyy/xxx/02LaidOut/.DS_Store!

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
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Note that the source directory name is '02 Laid Out' but that the spaces
have disappeared in the error message (but the spaces do exist on the
backup:: machine).

What does your metadata file say? (e.g. zless
mirror_metadata.<date>.snapshot.gz, then search for that file) If all
the files are still there you could either manually edit your metadata
file or move the directories around so they are in sync.

I don't know how this could have happened in the first place though.


--
Ben Escoto