rsync error: some files could not be transferred (code 23)

[tp42]

Hi Dan,

first of all: thanks for this awesome piece of backup software in the Ubuntu universe!

I work on Ubuntu 8.10/Gnome with Backintime 0.9.18. I start the application with gksudo in order to backup '/opt', '/var', '/home/tp42', '/usr/local', '/etc'. I backup all visible and hidden files and directories excluding: *.iso, *.backup*, *~ on an external ext3 USB disk.
Starting the backup, I receive some warnings and errors, whre these are the most prominent ones:
rsync: readlink "/home/tp42/.gvfs" failed: Permission denied (13)
rsync error: some files could not be transferred (code 23) at main.c(1058) [sender=3.0.3]
I attached the whole log to this message.
Is there a way to circumvent theses errors, do I have to adjust some more settings?
Best regards,
tp42

[Dan (danleweb)]

Can you please add "/home/tp42/.gvfs" to your exclude patterns and try again ?

[tp42 (45-spamex)]

Dan,
thanks for the tip. I put "/home/tp42/.gvfs" to the exclude list an the errors went away (see attachment). However, is .gfvs something essential for me having in my backups? Should I have it there?

[Dan (danleweb)]

"Gvfs is a userspace virtual filesystem with backends for things like sftp, ftp, dav, smb, obexftp, etc. It is the replacement/successor of gnome-vfs."

".gvfs" is more like a temporary file for internal usage. So you don't need to backup this file.

To get more information about ".gvfs":
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/Gvfs#Dependencies
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/ubuntu-63/.gvfs-file-670405/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GVFS

[tp42 (45-spamex)]

Hi Dan,
thanks a lot for this helpful explanations.
However, I would suggest to "auto-exclude" these sort of files/directories in backintime, due to the fact that some typical Linux desktop users may find it difficult to handle errors in their backup system. They may feels somehow uncomfortable on this.
Best regards,
tp42

[Dan (danleweb)]

Well, by default I exclude ".*" :)

[tp42 (45-spamex)]

Hi Dan,
indeed, ".*" prevents backing up of ".gvfs". However, it also prevents backing up of other hidden files and directories like those of Evolution mail or Cross Over Linux stuff, which is valuable to backup. So, I would find it useful if there would be a possibility for a somehow more differentiating approach, especially for the ordinary Desktop user.
Keep on the good work with Backintime!