rdiff-backup crashed with IOError in __init__()

[Hew]

Binary package hint: rdiff-backup

Tried to recover a folder as a user when the backup was made as root.

ProblemType: Crash
Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/rdiff-backup
InterpreterPath: /usr/bin/python2.5
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: rdiff-backup 1.2.5-1
ProcCmdline: /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/rdiff-backup -r 0D /media/terabyte/rdiff-backup/home/username/.ssh/ /home/username/.ssh.old
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
PythonArgs: ['/usr/bin/rdiff-backup', '-r', '0D', '/media/terabyte/rdiff-backup/home/username/.ssh/', '/home/username/.ssh.old']
SourcePackage: rdiff-backup
Title: rdiff-backup crashed with IOError in __init__()
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-8-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

[Andrew Ferguson (adferguson)]

Hew,

The traceback shows:

IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/media/terabyte/rdiff-backup/rdiff-backup-data/mirror_metadata.2009-02-15T03:00:24+11:00.snapshot.gz'

Were you not running rdiff-backup as the user who runs the backups? What are the permissions on that file, and the directories: /media/terabyte/rdiff-backup/rdiff-backup-data/ and /media/terabyte/rdiff-backup/

thanks,
Andrew

[Hew (hew)]

Yes, I ran rdiff-backup as a user, even though the file was owned by root. This situation should not cause a crash. This is similar to bug 292586.

[Andrew Ferguson (adferguson)]

Wait a sec ... the version you are running already has code in it to check this situation. I just ran the same scenario and got an appropriate error message (not a traceback). The permissions on your rdiff-backup-data are not what I expect.

What are the permissions?

$ ls -la terabyte/rdiff-backup/rdiff-backup-data/

[Hew (hew)]

Perhaps it's because of the mix of ownership?

[Andrew Ferguson (adferguson)]

Yup, that's why. It looks like you did your first few backups as 'hew' and then all subsequent backups as root.

The code to check for this situation examines the ownership of the 'char_to_quote' file, which is the first file that rdiff-backup attempts to access. Since that file is owned by 'hew' and read/write, then rdiff-backup assumes all is well and continues on.

Guess I'll add another round of checks...

[Andrew Ferguson (adferguson)]

Fix committed to CVS. Will be included in next releases: 1.2.8 and 1.3.3.

[Sarah Kowalik (hobbsee-deactivatedaccount)]

Andrew, when will this next version be out?

[Andrew Ferguson (adferguson)]

Hi Sarah,
I might be able to spin a new release on Monday.

[Andrew Ferguson (adferguson)]

Rdiff-backup 1.2.8 and 1.3.3 have been released.

[Hew (hew)]

Fixed upstream, but 1.2.8 is not yet in Ubuntu.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package rdiff-backup - 1.2.8-1ubuntu1

---------------
rdiff-backup (1.2.8-1ubuntu1) karmic; urgency=low

  * Merge from debian unstable (LP: #339799), remaining changes:
    - Add --install-layout=deb to place files in /usr
    - Changed --prefix=$(CURDIR)/debian/rdiff-backup/usr to
      --root=$(CURDIR)/debian/rdiff-backup due to --prefix & --install-deb
      being mutually exclusive now.
    - Adds 01_fix_restricted_test-server_option.dpatch to make --test-server
      work while --restrict is in effects.
    - Adds dpatch entries to debian/control and debian/rules.
  * Closes LP: #329722.

rdiff-backup (1.2.8-1) unstable; urgency=low

  * Merging upstream version 1.2.8 (Closes: #520089):
    - Don't crash on zlib errors (Closes: #518531).

 -- Andreas Olsson <email address hidden> Thu, 14 May 2009 20:13:06 +0200