[rdiff-backup-users] switches for OS X

[Kevin Horton]

I just heard about rdiff-backup, and am testing version 1.0.1 on OS X  
10.4.2.  It looks like rdiff-backup needs to be run with two switches  
set (--no-carbonfile --override-chars-to-quote '').  What does the -- 
no-carbonfile switch do?  What info is missing from my backup if I  
use this switch?

If I don't use the --no-carbonfile switch, I get errors like:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/sw/bin/rdiff-backup", line 23, in ?
    rdiff_backup.Main.Main(sys.argv[1:])
  File "/sw/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line  
283, in Main
    take_action(rps)
  File "/sw/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line  
253, in take_action
    elif action == "backup": Backup(rps[0], rps[1])
  File "/sw/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line  
306, in Backup
    backup.Mirror(rpin, rpout)
  File "/sw/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/backup.py",  
line 38, in Mirror
    DestS.patch(dest_rpath, source_diffiter)
  File "/sw/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/backup.py",  
line 218, in patch
    ITR(diff.index, diff)
  File "/sw/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/rorpiter.py",  
line 285, in __call__
    last_branch.fast_process(*args)
  File "/sw/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/backup.py",  
line 477, in fast_process
    if self.patch_to_temp(rp, diff_rorp, tf):
  File "/sw/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/backup.py",  
line 504, in patch_to_temp
    rpath.copy_attribs(diff_rorp, new)
  File "/sw/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/rpath.py", line  
160, in copy_attribs
    rpout.write_carbonfile(rpin.get_carbonfile())
  File "/sw/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/rpath.py", line  
1158, in write_carbonfile
    finderinfo.Creator = cfile['creator']
TypeError: unsubscriptable object
Exception exceptions.TypeError: "'NoneType' object is not callable"  
in <bound method GzipFile.__del__ of <gzip open file '/Volumes/Ext_BU/ 
Users/kwh/rdiffbu/rdiff-backup-data/file_statistics. 
2005-10-09T11:28:05-04:00.data.gz', mode 'wb' at 0x79a0b0 0x7a7c10>>  
ignored
Exception exceptions.TypeError: "'NoneType' object is not callable"  
in <bound method GzipFile.__del__ of <gzip open file '/Volumes/Ext_BU/ 
Users/kwh/rdiffbu/rdiff-backup-data/error_log. 
2005-10-09T11:28:05-04:00.data.gz', mode 'wb' at 0x38a380 0x7a7b48>>  
ignored
Exception exceptions.TypeError: "'NoneType' object is not callable"  
in <bound method GzipFile.__del__ of <gzip open file '/Volumes/Ext_BU/ 
Users/kwh/rdiffbu/rdiff-backup-data/mirror_metadata. 
2005-10-09T11:28:05-04:00.snapshot.gz', mode 'wb' at 0x79a0f8  
0x7a7c38>> ignored

========
If I don't use the --override-chars-to-quote '' switch, the upper  
case characters in paths are replaced by ;XXX constructs, where XXX  
is the ASCII code for the character.  This then leads to an error  
with a too long file name.  I can see why this behaviour is needed,  
if backing up from other file systems to a Mac file system, due to  
the case insensitivity of the later.  But it shouldn't be needed if  
backing up from a case insensitive file system.

It would be useful to add both the above switches to the  
documentation, with a reference that they may be needed if backing up  
from an HFS+ file system on OS X.

Kevin Horton
Ottawa, Canada