[Python-apps-team] Bug#310442: rdiff-backup: no space on dest device can be irrecoverable fix

[Thomas Stewart]

Hi,

In the situation where rdiff-backup appears broken because the
destination has become full and the recommended "--check-destination-dir"
option only gives "[Errno 28] No space left on device" errors. The
option "--tempdir" can be given to recover the backup directory. The
python module tempfile will use /tmp by default, overriding that to
somewhere with more space enabled the check to complete.

For example:
rdiff-backup --tempdir /diskb/backups/pub --check-destination-dir /diskb/backups/pub
 
A quick note in the man page about this would be useful. Something
like this would have saved me quite some time. :-)

--- rdiff-backup.1.orig 2011-08-03 11:36:57.000000000 +0100
+++ rdiff-backup.1      2011-08-03 11:39:49.000000000 +0100
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@
 If an rdiff-backup session fails, running rdiff-backup with this
 option on the destination dir will undo the failed directory.  This
 happens automatically if you attempt to back up to a directory and the
-last backup failed.
+last backup failed. The option --tempdir might be needed if the default system tempdir does not have sufficient space available.
 .TP
 .B \-\-compare
 This is equivalent to

Regards
--
Tom