Misleading error message: "Invalid SSH password"

[quazgar]

duplicity wrongly states "Invalid SSH password" when trying to write the backup via scp/sftp to a directory that doesn't exist and cannot be created. My example:

# duplicity --include-globbing-filelist /etc/duplicity/include-globs / scp://duplici@someserver//backup
Reading globbing filelist /etc/duplicity/include-globs
Invalid SSH password
Running 'sftp -oServerAliveInterval=15 -oServerAliveCountMax=1 duplici@someserver' failed (attempt #1)

It works as soon as /backup exists (and is writeable).

While not a serious bug per se it cost me half a day to find the error source since I first guessed something with my ssh authorized keys was wrong...

This bug occurs with duplicity 0.5.17 and 0.5.18, interpreted by python-2.6 on (mostly stable) gentoo linux (amd64). The target is a stable debian 5.0.2.

Verbose output:
uplicity -v9 --include-globbing-filelist /etc/duplicity/include-globs / scp://duplici@someserver//backup1
Reading globbing filelist /etc/duplicity/include-globs
Main action: inc
Args: /usr/bin/duplicity -v9 --include-globbing-filelist /etc/duplicity/include-globs / scp://duplici@someserver//backup1
/usr/bin/python 2.6.2 (r262:71600, Jul 31 2009, 19:25:10)
[GCC 4.3.2]
duplicity 0.5.18 (May 20, 2009)
Linux whatnow 2.6.30-gentoo-r4 #1 SMP Sat Aug 8 02:14:31 CEST 2009 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) X2 Dual Core Processor BE-2300
Using temporary directory /tmp/duplicity-nWwE75-tempdir
Registering (mkstemp) temporary file /tmp/duplicity-nWwE75-tempdir/mkstemp-hleneu-1
Temp has 10012819456 available, backup will use approx 34078720.
Running 'sftp -oServerAliveInterval=15 -oServerAliveCountMax=1 duplici@someserver' (attempt #1)
State = sftp, Before = 'Connecting to someserver...'
sftp command: 'mkdir /backup1'
State = sftp, Before = 'mkdir /backup1
Couldn't create directory:'
Invalid SSH password
Running 'sftp -oServerAliveInterval=15 -oServerAliveCountMax=1 duplici@someserver' failed (attempt #1)
^CRemoving still remembered temporary file /tmp/duplicity-nWwE75-tempdir/mkstemp-hleneu-1
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 825, in <module>
    with_tempdir(main)
  File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 818, in with_tempdir
    fn()
  File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 758, in main
    globals.archive_dir).set_values()
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.6/site-packages/duplicity/collections.py", line 539, in set_values
    backend_filename_list = self.backend.list()
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.6/site-packages/duplicity/backends/sshbackend.py", line 235, in list
    l = self.run_sftp_command(commandline, commands).split('\n')[1:]
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.6/site-packages/duplicity/backends/sshbackend.py", line 159, in run_sftp_command
    time.sleep(30)
KeyboardInterrupt

[niknah (hankin0)]

Same error, except I'm getting a "Couldn't get handle:" error too. Folders on both computers exist, I can sftp to the remote computer ok normally. I can back up to local folders with duplicity.

v0.6.08b

State = sftp, Before = 'Connecting to hs...'
sftp command: 'put "/tmp/duplicity-GFzKA8-tempdir/mktemp-4j1Ojn-2" "i5linux/duplicity-full.20100704T110914Z.vol1.difftar.gpg"'
State = sftp, Before = 'put "/tmp/duplicity-GFzKA8-tempdir/mktemp-4j1Ojn-2" "i5linux/duplicity-full.20100704T110914Z.vol1.difftar.gpg"
Uploading /tmp/duplicity-GFzKA8-tempdir/mktemp-4j1Ojn-2 to /home/hankin/i5linux/duplicity-full.20100704T110914Z.vol1.difftar.gpg
Couldn't get handle:'
Invalid SSH password
Running 'sftp -oIdentityFile=xxx -oServerAliveInterval=15 -oServerAliveCountMax=1 hankin@hs' failed (attempt #1)
^CRemoving still remembered temporary file /tmp/duplicity-GFzKA8-tempdir/mktemp-4j1Ojn-2

[mmetzger (michel-metzger)]

It seems that I still have this issue with 0.6.17

If the remote directory has r/o access rights for the user, duplicity fails with a "Invalid SSH password" error message.

Log:

[...]
Running 'sftp -oServerAliveInterval=15 -oServerAliveCountMax=2 michel@magwe' (attempt #1)
State = sftp, Before = 'Connected to magwe.'
sftp command: 'put "/tmp/duplicity-he7cM_-tempdir/mktemp-LvndFu-2" "/volume1/NetBackup/test3/.duplicity-full.20111210T001749Z.vol1.difftar.gpg.part"'
State = sftp, Before = 'put "/tmp/duplicity-he7cM_-tempdir/mktemp-LvndFu-2" "/volume1/NetBackup/test3/.duplicity-full.20111210T001749Z.vol1.difftar.gpg.part"
Uploading /tmp/duplicity-he7cM_-tempdir/mktemp-LvndFu-2 to /volume1/NetBackup/test3/.duplicity-full.20111210T001749Z.vol1.difftar.gpg.part
remote open("/volume1/NetBackup/test3/.duplicity-full.20111210T001749Z.vol1.difftar.gpg.part"):'
Invalid SSH password
Running 'sftp -oServerAliveInterval=15 -oServerAliveCountMax=2 michel@magwe' failed (attempt #1)
^CRemoving still remembered temporary file /tmp/duplicity-he7cM_-tempdir/mktemp-LvndFu-2
Removing still remembered temporary file /tmp/duplicity-he7cM_-tempdir/mkstemp-1ifkRy-1
INT intercepted...exiting.

The issue is solved if I change the owner of the remote directory (/volume1/NetBackup/test) to the correct one.