[rdiff-backup-users] Exit status if some files failed

[R. Diez]

Hi all:

I am using rdiff-backup version 1.2.8, which is what comes with Xubuntu 
14.04.

I am running rdiff-backup on Linux in order to backup some files from a 
Windows PC over the network. If a Windows application is using a file, 
it often locks it, so that rdiff-backup cannot read it. This problem has 
been reported before, see bug #25944 "Error if file is locked".

But whether rdiff-backup can backup the file or not is not actually the 
issue I am worried about here. The problem is, when such a file fails, 
the exit code is still 0. See "ListError" and "Errors 1" in the log 
output below for an example of such a failure.

I would like to know if the backup has suceeded, and if a file failed, I 
would say it has not. rdiff-backup's manpage about the exit status is 
worded in an interesting way: "If there is an unrecoverable (critical) 
error, it will be non-zero".

It would be best to mention in the manpage what rdiff-backup considers 
to be a critical error. If a backup tool fails to backup a file, I would 
certainly consider it a "critical error". Warnings are only warnings, 
and not errors. What would be a "non-critical error" then?

If my suspicion gets confirmed, but it is too late to fix this, I would 
welcome some sort of "--consider-failed-files-as-critical-error" flag.


The log mentioned above is:

--------8<--------8<--------8<--------

rdiff-backup  --force --verbosity 4 --no-acls --print-statistics 
"/home/user/some-disk-mounted-over-cifs" "/home/user/some/local/dir"

ListError some/locked/file/because/in/use/by/windows/application [Errno 
16] Device or resource busy: 
'/home/user/some-disk-mounted-over-cifs/some/locked/file/because/in/use/by/windows/application'

Using rdiff-backup version 1.2.8
POSIX ACLs test skipped. rdiff-backup run with --no-acls option.
Windows ACLs test skipped. rdiff-backup run with --no-acls option.
escape_dos_devices required by filesystem at 
/home/user/some-disk-mounted-over-cifs
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Detected abilities for source (read only) file system:
  Access control lists                         Off
  Extended attributes                          On
  Windows access control lists                 Off
  Case sensitivity                             Off
  Escape DOS devices                           On
  Escape trailing spaces                       Off
  Mac OS X style resource forks                Off
  Mac OS X Finder information                  Off
-----------------------------------------------------------------
POSIX ACLs test skipped. rdiff-backup run with --no-acls option.
Windows ACLs test skipped. rdiff-backup run with --no-acls option.
escape_dos_devices not required by filesystem at 
/home/user/some/local/dir/rdiff-backup-data/rdiff-backup.tmp.0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Detected abilities for destination (read/write) file system:
  Ownership changing                           Off
  Hard linking                                 On
  fsync() directories                          On
  Directory inc permissions                    On
  High-bit permissions                         On
  Symlink permissions                          Off
  Extended filenames                           On
  Windows reserved filenames                   Off
  Access control lists                         Off
  Extended attributes                          On
  Windows access control lists                 Off
  Case sensitivity                             On
  Escape DOS devices                           Off
  Escape trailing spaces                       Off
  Mac OS X style resource forks                Off
  Mac OS X Finder information                  Off
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Backup: must_escape_dos_devices = 1
Starting increment operation /home/user/some-disk-mounted-over-cifs to 
/home/user/some/local/dir
--------------[ Session statistics ]--------------
StartTime 1484553507.00 (Mon Jan 16 08:58:27 2017)
EndTime 1484553535.64 (Mon Jan 16 08:58:55 2017)
ElapsedTime 28.64 (28.64 seconds)
SourceFiles 17311
SourceFileSize 71909403782 (67.0 GB)
MirrorFiles 17311
MirrorFileSize 71909403802 (67.0 GB)
NewFiles 0
NewFileSize 0 (0 bytes)
DeletedFiles 0
DeletedFileSize 0 (0 bytes)
ChangedFiles 5
ChangedSourceSize 46 (46 bytes)
ChangedMirrorSize 66 (66 bytes)
IncrementFiles 6
IncrementFileSize 126 (126 bytes)
TotalDestinationSizeChange 106 (106 bytes)
Errors 1
--------------------------------------------------

--------8<--------8<--------8<--------

Thanks in advance,
  rdiez