Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Error in

[David]

> The check command results in the same error as the
> check-destination-dir.

Oops, I meant '--check-destination-dir', not '--check'. There is no
'--check' rdiff-backup option, but rdiff-backup is clever enough to
see you really wanted to use '--check-destination-dir'

>
> rdiff-backup is started locally.

Not sure if we're missing each other. When I said log into the remote
machine and run rdiff-backup locally, I meant locally on the other
machine.

ie:

1) ssh $REMOTEHOST

2) rdiff-backup -v 5 --check-destination-dir $DESTINATION_DIR

rdiff-backup is now running against the same files as in your original
post, but it is now able to set extended attributes, create hardlinks
etc, because it has direct access to the ext3 filesystem, rather than
going through the limited virtual filesystem under the cifs
mountpoint.

>I cannot install nfs on that machine,
> but I can rsync all the stuff to another directory (ext3) and run the
> check command there.
>

That should work also. But it won't fix the warnings (inability to do
xattrs etc) you'll still be getting by trying to run rdiff-backup onto
a cifs mount.

I have another question: Was your rdiff-backup to a cifs mount working
before? It's possible that rdiff-backup works fine to a cifs (with
warnings about fs limitations), but the regressing doesn't. There's a
fair chance that the regressing logic isn't as well tested as the main
backup logic. In which case you will need to remember to ssh into the
remote server to fix rdiff-backup problems.

My suggestion is that you change your setup into a "pull" rather than
a "push". ie install rdiff-backup on the remote host (backup server I
presume) and run it there instead.

If you can't do that, then (since rsync is installed on the remote
host), try running rdiff-backup to a local directory (if you have
space for it. You can play tricks with rsync and hardlinks if space is
an issue), then rsync (with appropriate options) your rdiff-backup
data over to the remote server for backup purposes. Preferably bypass
the cifs mountpoint entirely, rsync will do a better job of preserving
permssions, ownerships etc. But rsyncing to the cifs share should work
also. However you do it, check that you are able to restore from the
remote backup (including earlier snapshots).