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Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Forgetting to run as root: how to recover quick


From: Bill Harris
Subject: Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Forgetting to run as root: how to recover quickly
Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2018 09:31:07 -0700

Thanks, Dominic.  I didn't realize it could run as me; I do backup a few
files from, I think, /etc perhaps another system directory, so that's why I
got in that mode.

My repo doesn't seem that huge; my entire /home is about 60 GiB. Perhaps I
should check the speed of the drive I've got; it may be a 5400 RPM.  I
should perhaps profile rdiff-backup's operation, at least informally.

What I hear you say is that a) there's no faster way to recover quickly if
I abort or if I try to run as the wrong user.  Is it possible for
rdiff-backup to detect and respond better to selecting the wrong user?  It
asks me for a password as if it's a sudo system, but I think it fails after
I enter the password.  Perhaps I always hit Ctrl-c and cause the failure
myself, but I thought I had gotten the "regressing" message even without
pressing Ctrl-C.

I guess I'll need to find a day when I don't need or want to use this
machine. :-)

On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 10:30 AM Dominic Raferd <address@hidden>
wrote:

> On Tue, 31 Jul 2018 at 16:53, Bill Harris <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> > I've used rdiff-backup for years, and I'm mostly very happy with it.
> There
> > is one problem that crops up occasionally; and I haven't found a way
> around
> > it yet.
> >
> > AFAICT, rdiff-backup likes running as root.  On rare occasion, I forget
> and
> > start it as myself.  rdiff-backup complains, and, as I recall, offers to
> > sudo itself (I'm running Debian Stable, which is not normally set up as a
> > sudo system).
> >
> > If I enter a password (and perhaps even if I don't) and then hit Ctrl-c
> > because I realize I messed up, I get the "it appears the last backup
> > failed" message, and then I'm in for a long (about a day), full backup
> > instead of the usual 15-45 minute incremental backup.
> >
> > Is there a way to recover in such a situation so that I don't have to
> wait
> > for such a long backup to complete?  I presume rdiff-backup won't react
> > well to my changing files during the backup.
> >
> > Is there a secure way to keep this from happening?  I could learn how
> > setuid works, but I think that's an insecure approach.
> >
>
> Unless you are backing up system files, rdiff-backup doesn't have to run as
> root, but in my experience it is wise always to run it as the same user for
> a given repository. For instance I think if you run a backup as root once,
> then any subsequent run as another user to or from the same repository may
> hit problems - because the user may be denied the necessary access to
> certain rdiff-backup control files (in the rdiff-backup-data subdirectory).
>
> The delay must be because after you break a backup run, rdiff-backup has to
> regress the backup to a consistent state. For it to take a day to do so
> suggests you have a very large backup dataset and/or a very slow computer.
> If possible, can you break down the dataset into smaller components, then
> if you make the same mistake again, the regression will be much quicker? I
> realise this means starting a load of new backup repositories (which TBH is
> why I haven't done it in one case where I have an unwieldy repository).
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