DBus error org.gtk.Private.RemoteVolumeMonitor.Failed: An operation is already pending

[Michael Schurter]

When plugging in my external backup harddrive via USB I receive the following error:

 DBus error org.gtk.Private.RemoteVolumeMonitor.Failed: An operation is already pending

No backup occurs until I manually start Deja Dup and initiate the backup.

  Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS

  deja-dup - 14.2-0ubuntu0.1
  duplicity - 0.6.08b-0ubuntu2

Related log line from .xsession-errors:

  ** (deja-dup-monitor:1897): DEBUG: monitor.vala:282: Late by 46063 seconds. Backing up now.

/var/log/messages:

  Aug 12 12:47:38 drventure kernel: [12919.260571] usb 1-1.1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 9
  Aug 12 12:47:38 drventure kernel: [12919.375301] usb 1-1.1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
  Aug 12 12:47:38 drventure kernel: [12919.375622] scsi7 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
  Aug 12 12:47:43 drventure kernel: [12924.374641] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access Seagate Desktop 0130 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
  Aug 12 12:47:43 drventure kernel: [12924.375669] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
  Aug 12 12:47:43 drventure kernel: [12924.377472] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] 976773168 512-byte logical blocks: (500 GB/465 GiB)
  Aug 12 12:47:43 drventure kernel: [12924.388627] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
  Aug 12 12:47:43 drventure kernel: [12924.392420] sdc: sdc1
  Aug 12 12:47:43 drventure kernel: [12924.410476] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk

/var/log/daemon.log:

  Aug 12 12:47:44 drventure ntfs-3g[9970]: Version 2010.3.6 external FUSE 28
  Aug 12 12:47:44 drventure ntfs-3g[9970]: Mounted /dev/sdc1 (Read-Write, label "Expansion Drive", NTFS 3.1)
  Aug 12 12:47:44 drventure ntfs-3g[9970]: Cmdline options: rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=0077
  Aug 12 12:47:44 drventure ntfs-3g[9970]: Mount options: rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks,silent,allow_other,nonempty,relatime,fsname=/dev/sdc1,blkdev,blksize=4096,default_permissions
  Aug 12 12:47:44 drventure ntfs-3g[9970]: Global ownership and permissions enforced, configuration type 1

Configuration:

<gconfentryfile>
  <entrylist base="/apps/deja-dup">
    <entry>
      <key>backend</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/backend</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>file</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>delete-after</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/delete-after</schema_key>
      <value>
        <int>365</int>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>encrypt</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/encrypt</schema_key>
      <value>
        <bool>true</bool>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>exclude-list</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/exclude-list</schema_key>
      <value>
        <list type="string">
            <value>
              <string>$TRASH</string>
            </value>
            <value>
              <string>/home/schmichael/.mozilla/firefox/blhd4w0z.default/Cache</string>
            </value>
            <value>
              <string>/home/schmichael/.cache</string>
            </value>
            <value>
              <string>/home/schmichael/tmp</string>
            </value>
            <value>
              <string>/home/schmichael/.dropbox/cache</string>
            </value>
            <value>
              <string>/home/schmichael/.macromedia</string>
            </value>
        </list>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>include-list</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/include-list</schema_key>
      <value>
        <list type="string">
            <value>
              <string>$HOME</string>
            </value>
            <value>
              <string>/etc/cassandra</string>
            </value>
            <value>
              <string>/etc/apt</string>
            </value>
            <value>
              <string>/etc/ca-certificates</string>
            </value>
            <value>
              <string>/etc/ssl</string>
            </value>
        </list>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>last-run</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/last-run</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>2010-08-11T21:53:49.227537Z</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>periodic</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/periodic</schema_key>
      <value>
        <bool>true</bool>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>periodic-period</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/periodic-period</schema_key>
      <value>
        <int>1</int>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>root-prompt</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/root-prompt</schema_key>
      <value>
        <bool>true</bool>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>file/icon</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/file/icon</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>. GThemedIcon drive-harddisk-usb drive-harddisk drive</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>file/name</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/file/name</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>500 GB Hard Disk: Expansion Drive</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>file/path</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/file/path</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>/media/Expansion Drive/drventure</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>file/relpath</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/file/relpath</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>drventure</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>file/short_name</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/file/short_name</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>Expansion Drive</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>file/type</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/file/type</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>volume</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>file/uuid</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/file/uuid</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>AE9858ED9858B615</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>s3/bucket</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/s3/bucket</schema_key>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>s3/folder</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/s3/folder</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>/</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>s3/id</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/deja-dup/s3/id</schema_key>
    </entry>
  </entrylist>
</gconfentryfile>

[John Doe (b2109455)]

Same bug here.

Ubuntu 10.10
Déjà Dup 16.0
duplicity 0.6.10

[nescient (nextbutone)]

I'm experiencing this problem on Ubuntu 11.04. Was the fix implemented?

$ dpkg-query -W deja-dup duplicity
deja-dup 18.1.1-0ubuntu1.1
duplicity 0.6.13-0ubuntu1

lsb_release -d
Description: Ubuntu 11.04
scott@scott-desktop:~$

[Michael Terry (mterry)]

It was, and it should be fixed for you... Reopening for now.

[John Wilkes (john-wilkes)]

I seem to have the same problem in Ubuntu 10.10. Is there anything I should be doing to enable the fix?

[Michael Terry (mterry)]

For Ubuntu 10.10, you could enable the official Deja Dup PPA: https://launchpad.net/~deja-dup-team/+archive/ppa

This would give you 18.1.1, which I had until recently thought fixed this, but nescient reports he still has it. I would be interested to see if the new version fixes things for you.

[cement_head (andorjkiss)]

@mterry

That fixes it!

Thanks,
CH

[Tom Wright (twright-tdw)]

This still occurs in Quantal Quetzal (12.10).

[Tom Wright (twright-tdw)]

Please ignore my previous comment; it looks like I am experiencing a new bug.

[Michael Terry (mterry)]

I haven't heard a reliable report on this for a while. I'm going to tentatively mark this Fix Released.

[Matthias Niess (mniess)]

I'm experiencing this bug ever since I upgraded to quantal. The errormessage I get is "backup failed - an operation is already pending". Are there any more logs I can check? Looking at syslog it looks like the device is properly recognized upon connection.

After I get the error I can trigger the backup by just connecting another USB device (or do it manually of course).

[Denis Washington (dwashington)]

I have this error also, in both 12.10 and 13.04 Beta. As I have backups scheduled weekly, I see this error every 7 days, which is pretty annoying.

[timeforchange (leadcommando65)]

Bug is still there/reocurred in 13.04 for me (DejaDup 26.0).

What reports would you need for a "reliable" report?

[nescient (nextbutone)]

Still experiencing this bug in Ubuntu 13.04.

[Matthias Niess (mniess)]

I just wrote on their mailing list but it seems to be dead since January 2013.

[Michael Terry (mterry)]

Heyo, sorry. The list isn't totally dead, just poorly administered by me. :-/

I'll reopen this.

[Michael Catanzaro (mike-catanzaro)]

Thanks for the attention, Michael. Here's a 100% reproducer for a backup on an external hard drive in Deja Dup 26.0:

* Backup drive is unplugged
* In some folder in Nautilus, select "Restore missing files"
* See "Backup location not available, waiting for backup to become connected" message
* Plug in backup drive
* See "Restore Failed: An operation is already pending"

System Monitor shows duplicity is active, but using 0% CPU. (As is deja-dup-monitor, but that sounds normal?)

[Jonathan (jonathan-redhat-bugs)]

Description of problem:
An error message entitled 'Backup Failed' with the text 'An operation is already pending' is displayed when I first plug in by external backup drive and Deja Dup attempts to perform a scheduled backup, although it succeeds on subsequent attempts (either scheduled or manual).

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
deja-dup 26.0-1
kernel 3.10.7-100
gnome 3.6.3

How reproducible:
always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. setup an automatic backup schema with removable drive (usb for me)
2. wait for backup reminder to tell you it's time to mount the backup target
3. mount drive

Actual results:
'Backup Failed' message when external backup drive first inserted

Expected results:
correct backup

Additional info:

[andreas (andreas-demey)]

I can confirm the exact same case as Michael. Is there a known workaround?

[Matthias Niess (mniess)]

There seems to be no interest in this bug. The workaround is plugging in a second USB device prompting dejadup to check again. As the backup drive is already mounted there's no race condition and the backup will start.

I can reproduce this bug anytime and would gladly help solving it but none of the devs ever responded to this. Not here and not on the mailinglist.

[Joris Lammers (joris-lammers-be)]

Same issue here., running Debian Jessie, Deja Dup version 20.2-2.1.

[Jonathan (jonathan-redhat-bugs)]

still a problem in F19.
deja-dup.x86_64 26.0-1.fc19

[Rahul (rahul-redhat-bugs)]

Would you mind reporting this upstream at https://launchpad.net/deja-dup

[Jonathan (jonathan-redhat-bugs)]

It's reported
https://bugs.launchpad.net/deja-dup/+bug/1062186

[Neelson (nmahene)]

Still valid to this day, same here on Ubuntu 13.10

[Markcortbass (markcortbass)]

I confirm this bug for Ubuntu 13.10 with the latest updates.

[Rahul (rahul-redhat-bugs)]

Try

http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/taskinfo?taskID=6728739

If you are using Fedora 20,

https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/deja-dup-30.0-1.fc20

[Michal (michal-redhat-bugs)]

Updated duplicity and DejaDup but got "Could not understand duplicity version.". Perhaps it will work after restart.

[Rahul (rahul-redhat-bugs)]

Yeah. Keep me posted on which Fedora version you are using as well

[Michal (michal-redhat-bugs)]

One also needs to install python-lockfile otherwise:

~ $ deja-dup --backup
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 34, in <module>
    from lockfile import FileLock
ImportError: No module named lockfile

(Interestingly ABRT won't catch it.)

~ $ rpmquery deja-dup duplicity
deja-dup-30.0-1.fc20.x86_64
duplicity-0.6.23-1.fc20.x86_64

Thought the bug 999842 is not fixed yet, still getting: "An operation is already pending".

[Rahul (rahul-redhat-bugs)]

The lockfile issue is already fixed (1086848). I will reset the status

[Bèr Kessels (berkes) (ber)]

I can confirm this problem still exists on a fresh install (not upgraded) of 14.04 with a freshly set up backup.

[Adam Reeve (adreeve)]

I'm also seeing this on Fedora 20, which has Deja Dup 30.0. When my scheduled backup is due to run I get a notification "Scheduled backup delayed. Backup will begin when backup_drive becomes connected." Then after plugging in my usb drive, I get a window saying "Backup Failed. An operation is already pending". I then have to manually open Deja Dup and run the backup.

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

This message is a notice that Fedora 19 is now at end of life. Fedora
has stopped maintaining and issuing updates for Fedora 19. It is
Fedora's policy to close all bug reports from releases that are no
longer maintained. Approximately 4 (four) weeks from now this bug will
be closed as EOL if it remains open with a Fedora 'version' of '19'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version'
to a later Fedora version.

Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we were not
able to fix it before Fedora 19 is end of life. If you would still like
to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version
of Fedora, you are encouraged change the 'version' to a later Fedora
version prior this bug is closed as described in the policy above.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's
lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events. Often a
more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes
bugs or makes them obsolete.

[Jonathan (jonathan-redhat-bugs)]

Yes, this bug is still here unchanged.

[Olivier Febwin (febcrash)]

Still present bug on ubuntu 14.10

[Matthias Niess (mniess)]

@mterry: Please tell us what information you need to fix this bug or point us in a direction so that maybe we can look into fixing this ourselves.

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

This package has changed ownership in the Fedora Package Database. Reassigning to the new owner of this component.

[RavanH (ravanhagen)]

Bug is still there on Ubuntu 15.04 with deja-dup-32.0-0ubuntu5 and duplicity-0.7.01-1ubuntu1

This bug has been around for a long time... Why is it marked as Low importance? Seems rather critical for backup software if automated backups don't work at all!

[RavanH (ravanhagen)]

By the way, I can confirm the workaround reported by Matthias Niess in 2013 (comment #10) still works:

"The workaround is plugging in a second USB device prompting dejadup to check again. As the backup drive is already mounted there's no race condition and the backup will start."

[TomasHnyk (sup)]

In the same way, if the first USB device starts connected long enough, I think the backup starts after some time as well (presumably, deja-dup checks periodically).

[Matthias Niess (mniess)]

If it's too hard to figure out this race condition a simple programatical workaround would be to implement a retry-strategy.

[Olivier Febwin (febcrash)]

This problem still exists on 15.04

[Ville Skyttä (vskytta)]

For me the workaround in comments 10 and 28 does not work, plugging in a second USB device does not seem to make any difference at all. The only thing I found working for now is to log out, plug in the backup drive while logged out, then login again (and start the backup manually). This is on Fedora 22.

[cement_head (andorjkiss)]

Also affects 15.10 AMD64.

[Joe Mooring (jmooring)]

Another vote to fix this. Just upgraded to 15.10 -- problem still there.

[Steve Rose (stev6)]

And another - my workaround is to open System Settings / backups. This triggers the scheduled backup to start immediately. (Ubuntu 14.4 LTS)

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

Fedora 22 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2016-07-19. Fedora 22 is
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further
security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of
Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version. If you
are unable to reopen this bug, please file a new report against the
current release. If you experience problems, please add a comment to this
bug.

Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.

[Scott (scott-redhat-bugs)]

Confirm still get the error in Fedora 24.

[Gwyn (gwyn-redhat-bugs)]

Does installing python-lockfile still correct the issue?

[Ville (ville-redhat-bugs)]

I have python-lockfile installed and always had it on F-23 and it does not correct the originally reported issue for me (so the "still" doesn't apply at least here).

[Gwyn (gwyn-redhat-bugs)]

Reported upstream:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/deja-dup/+bug/1619294

[Or Schiro (orschiro)]

16.04 is affected as well.

I always need to open the backup settings menu for the backup to be performed correctly.

[Matthias Niess (mniess)]

This package is obviously dead. The developer doesn't react and/or has no
interest in fixing bugs. We need another default backup solution for
Ubuntu.

--
Use encryption!
OpenPGP key id: 0x36143315

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

This message is a reminder that Fedora 23 is nearing its end of life.
Approximately 4 (four) weeks from now Fedora will stop maintaining
and issuing updates for Fedora 23. It is Fedora's policy to close all
bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained. At that time
this bug will be closed as EOL if it remains open with a Fedora 'version'
of '23'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version'
to a later Fedora version.

Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we were not
able to fix it before Fedora 23 is end of life. If you would still like
to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version
of Fedora, you are encouraged change the 'version' to a later Fedora
version prior this bug is closed as described in the policy above.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's
lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events. Often a
more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes
bugs or makes them obsolete.

[Or Schiro (orschiro)]

This is a terrible user experience. You are relying on the built-in Ubuntu functionality to do data-sensitive backups but this default solution is broken.

I really hope we can provide the inexperienced Ubuntu user with a better user experience when doing backups.

Is there any alternative you can recommend?

Yours,

-Robert

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

Fedora 23 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2016-12-20. Fedora 23 is
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further
security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of
Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version. If you
are unable to reopen this bug, please file a new report against the
current release. If you experience problems, please add a comment to this
bug.

Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.

[Frode Nordahl (fnordahl)]

+1 still present in Ubuntu Desktop 16.04 LTS

[Michael Terry (mterry)]

Should finally be fixed in git master. Thanks Michael Catanzaro in comment 16 for the reproduction steps.

https://git.launchpad.net/deja-dup/commit/?id=6a86f8826f02132b109509e43b4e879b602baa92

[Or Schiro (orschiro)]

Thanks so much for fixing this annoying bug!