I was told (some time back) to post my log to this bug. My actual post is here:
https://answers.launchpad.net/backintime/+question/91217

I tried to setup an hourly cron job with the "Smart Remove" option checked. This hourly job was setup around 6.20 pm on 20 Dec. So, the immediate next job at 7 pm ran making relevant backups. The log looks like this:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dec 20 19:00:01 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Lock
Dec 20 19:00:01 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Include folders: ['/home/apoc/.config', '/home/apoc/.emacs.d'... long list...]
Dec 20 19:00:01 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Ignore folders: []
Dec 20 19:00:01 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Last snapshots: {}
Dec 20 19:00:01 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [KDE4Plugin.Systray.run]
Dec 20 19:00:02 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Compare with old snapshot: 20091220-171809
Dec 20 19:00:02 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [KDE4Plugin.Systray.run] begin loop
Dec 20 19:00:09 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Command "rsync -aEAX  -i --dry-run  --chmod=Fa-w,D+w --whole-file --delete  --exclude="/media/wd500g1/Home" --exclude="/home/apoc/.local .... long list ....
Dec 20 19:00:09 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Create hard-links
Dec 20 19:00:13 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Command "cp -al "/media/wd500g1/Home/backintime/20091220-171809/backup/"* "/media/wd500g1/Home/backintime/new_snapshot/backup/"" returns
Dec 20 19:00:13 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Call rsync to take the snapshot
Dec 20 19:00:20 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Command "rsync -aEAX  -v --delete-excluded  --chmod=Fa-w,D+w --whole-file --delete  --exclude="/media/wd500g1/Home" --exclude="/home/apo
Dec 20 19:00:20 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Save permissions
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Remove backups older than: 19991220-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep all >= 20091219-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep first >= 20091207-000000 and < 20091214-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep first >= 20091130-000000 and < 20091207-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep first >= 20090101-000000 and < 20090201-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep first >= 20090201-000000 and < 20090301-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep first >= 20090301-000000 and < 20090401-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep first >= 20090401-000000 and < 20090501-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep first >= 20090501-000000 and < 20090601-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep first >= 20090601-000000 and < 20090701-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep first >= 20090701-000000 and < 20090801-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep first >= 20090801-000000 and < 20090901-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep first >= 20090901-000000 and < 20091001-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep first >= 20091001-000000 and < 20091101-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep first >= 20091101-000000 and < 20091201-000000
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep snapshots: ['20091220-190001', '20091220-171809', '20091130-053029']
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [smart remove] keep snapshot: 20091107-023119, it has a name
Dec 20 19:00:37 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Keep min free disk space: 1024 Mb
Dec 20 19:00:39 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [KDE4Plugin.Systray.run] end loop
Dec 20 19:00:39 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Unlock
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Then after at evey hour, the process to start up, but fails without doing any backup. The output looks like this...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dec 20 20:00:01 nebu /USR/SBIN/CRON[14400]: (apoc) CMD (nice -n 19 /usr/bin/backintime --backup-job >/dev/null 2>&1)
Dec 20 20:00:02 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Lock
Dec 20 20:00:02 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Include folders: ['/home/apoc/.config', '/home/apoc/.emacs.d'.... long list ...]
Dec 20 20:00:02 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Ignore folders: []
Dec 20 20:00:02 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Last snapshots: {}
Dec 20 20:00:02 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: Compare with old snapshot: 20091220-190001
Dec 20 20:00:02 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [KDE4Plugin.Systray.run]
Dec 20 20:00:03 nebu backintime (apoc): INFO: [KDE4Plugin.Systray.run] begin loop

... some other logs ...

Dec 20 21:00:01 nebu /USR/SBIN/CRON[15848]: (apoc) CMD (nice -n 19 /usr/bin/backintime --backup-job >/dev/null 2>&1)
Dec 20 21:00:02 nebu backintime (apoc): WARNING: A backup is already running
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And this "already running" warning log keeps repeating every hour. These process keep on running (as seen from top). Also there is an icon in the system tray.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
/bin/sh -c nice -n 19 /usr/bin/backintime --backup-job >/dev/null 2>&1
/bin/sh /usr/bin/backintime --backup-job
python /usr/share/backintime/common/backintime.py --backup-job
sh -c rsync -aEAX  -i --dry-run  --chmod=Fa-w,D+w --whole-file --delete  --exclude="/media/wd500g1/Home" --exclude="/
rsync -aEAX -i --dry-run --chmod=Fa-w,D+w --whole-file --delete --exclude=/media/wd500g1/Home --exclude=/home/apoc/.l
rsync -aEAX -i --dry-run --chmod=Fa-w,D+w --whole-file --delete --exclude=/media/wd500g1/Home --exclude=/home/apoc/.l
rsync -aEAX -i --dry-run --chmod=Fa-w,D+w --whole-file --delete --exclude=/media/wd500g1/Home --exclude=/home/apoc/.l
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If I kill these process the systray icon goes away, but at the next hour, the 'Lock' output appears in syslog again and ends with the  already running warning log. The systray icon reappears and stays like that...