[rdiff-backup-users] Restore while backing up

[Laurent De Buyst]

I doubt I'm the first to run into this,
but google didn't help...


I tried to restore a whole directoy
to /tmp and I got this error message:

"Fatal Error: It appears that a
previous rdiff-backup session with process id 17597 is still running.  If
two different rdiff-backup processes write the same repository simultaneously,
data corruption will probably result.  To proceed with regress anyway,
rerun rdiff-backup with the --force option."

So first off, as far as I know, restoring
something does not involve a "write [to] the same repository".
So I'm confused as to why this error message says so.

I'm tempted by the --force, but just
for safety I look at the man page beforehand.

"--force
           
  Authorize a more drastic modification of a directory than usual
(for instance, when overwriting of a destination  path,  or  when
 removing
           
  multiple  sessions  with --remove-older-than).  rdiff-backup
will generally tell you if it needs this.  WARNING: You can cause
data loss if
           
  you mis-use this option.  Furthermore, do NOT use this option
when doing a restore, as it will DELETE FILES,  unless  you  absolutely
 know
           
  what you are doing."

Not only do I find a complete contradiction
of what I was told two seconds ago (ie. don't use --force), it again refers
to restores that write files...


Can someone clear up my confusion? Can
I restore files while a backup is happening and if yes, how do I do that
safely?

Laurent De Buyst
System administrator
Disclaimer | Please consider the environment before printing