[rdiff-backup-users] rdiff-backup problems (FC4 -> VFAT)

[Bob McKay]

Dear colleagues,
    I'm trying to use rdiff-backup for a backup task and failing
miserably, perhaps
because of an unusual configuration. I'd greatly appreciate your help.

Source: Logical volume on fedora core 4 system
Destination: FAT32 volume mounted locally on the same fedora core 4
system (ie no network)

I _believe_ I have installed rdiff-backup-1.0.1 correctly under python
2.4; in particular, I believe I have installed pylibacl and pxattr
correctly (see below for first 2 lines of directory listing of
/usr/lib)

-rwxr-xr-x    1 root root    66671 Oct  5 13:49 posix1e.so
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root root    13152 Oct  5 13:49 xattr.so

I'm using the following command file to try to do the backup (the
FAT32 file system is mounted at /winhome, and the sub-directory Mirror
is where I intend the mirrored parts of the file system to reside -
I'm not trying to back up the core system files, I think if
resuscitation is ever necessary, it'll be easier to rebuild fc4 from
scratch).

/usr/bin/rdiff-backup --exclude-special-files --no-hard-links -v4  /bin /winhome
/Mirror/bin > rdiff_errs 2>> rdiff_errs
/usr/bin/rdiff-backup --exclude-special-files --no-hard-links -v4  /etc /winhome
/Mirror/etc >> rdiff_errs 2>> rdiff_errs
/usr/bin/rdiff-backup --exclude-special-files --no-hard-links -v4  /home /winhom
e/Mirror/home >> rdiff_errs 2>> rdiff_errs
/usr/bin/rdiff-backup --exclude-special-files --no-hard-links -v4  /lib /winhome
/Mirror/lib >> rdiff_errs 2>> rdiff_errs
/usr/bin/rdiff-backup --exclude-special-files --no-hard-links -v4  /opt /winhome
/Mirror/opt >> rdiff_errs 2>> rdiff_errs
/usr/bin/rdiff-backup --exclude-special-files --no-hard-links -v4  /root /winhom
e/Mirror/root >> rdiff_errs 2>> rdiff_errs
/usr/bin/rdiff-backup --exclude-special-files --no-hard-links -v4  /sbin /winhom
e/Mirror/sbin >> rdiff_errs 2>> rdiff_errs
/usr/bin/rdiff-backup --exclude-special-files --no-hard-links -v4  /selinux /win
home/Mirror/selinux >> rdiff_errs 2>> rdiff_errs
/usr/bin/rdiff-backup --exclude-special-files --no-hard-links -v4  /usr /winhome
/Mirror/usr >> rdiff_errs 2>> rdiff_errs

The resulting error file is attached I'm not sure why rdiff-backup
thinks it is unable to handle access control lists, since posix1e.so
seems to be in the right place? But the more important point is the
unexplained errors subsequently, which seem to reflect problems with
the backup. When I try to re-run rdiff-backup, it complains that, eg:

> Starting increment operation /selinux to /winhome/Mirror/selinux
> Fatal Error: Bad rdiff-backup-data dir on destination side

> The rdiff-backup data directory
> /winhome/Mirror/usr/rdiff-backup-data
> exists, but we cannot find a valid current_mirror marker.  You can
> avoid this message by removing the rdiff-backup-data directory;
> however any data in it will be lost.

> Probably this error was caused because the first rdiff-backup session
> into a new directory failed.  If this is the case it is safe to delete
> the rdiff-backup-data directory because there is no important
> information in it.

Also, the filesystem sizes are small enough that I don't believe much
has been successfully backed
up (e.g. /usr : 4719348KB -> 6144KB)

I'm at my wits end about this, having spent far more time on it
already than I can afford. But the system contains important data, so
it really _needs_ to be backed up. Any assistance would be
tremendously appreciated

    Thanks and Best Wishes
    Bob McKay

rdifferrs.txt
Description: Text document