[Ubuntu] Permissions problem during backup

On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 6:25 PM, David Arnstein <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> New question #195460 on Duplicity:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/duplicity/+question/195460
>
> This is either a new problem in Ubuntu 12.04, or an improvement in error
> handling in U. 12.04.
>
> I launch "Backup" from the Ubuntu "Settings" panel. I perform a backup to
> an external USB drive. The backup job is mostly successful, however a
> pop-up box appears at the end of the backup job. It informs me that several
> files were not backed up. These files are all in directory /boot, and they
> look important.
>
> I can think of two work-arounds:
> 1. Launch "Backup" with higher permissions.
> 2. Manually change the permissions of the problematic files in /boot.
>
> I would prefer not to try work-around 2. The problematic files include
> files related to the latest version of Linux. I am inclined to believe that
> the Ubuntu installer "knew what it was doing" when it set the permissions
> on these files.
>
> Any suggestions? Is this a bug that I should file against Ubuntu 12.04?

No, it's not a bug. You'll need higher permissions if you plan to do a
full system backup, root permissions, or run the backup as root.

...Ken

Thank you Ken. I would like to file a bug against Ubuntu 12.04, but I would like your opinion on this. Here is mine:

Ubuntu presents Duplicity as the default backup facility for users. In particular, there is a "Backup" item in the settings panel of Ubuntu. If a user clicks on this item, he can schedule a backup job. This backup is performed by Duplicity.

Under these conditions, I claim that a user can expect that his "backup" job will yield a product that can, in the future, be used to restore his computer to its present state. If this backup job makes an incomplete copy of the user's disk, this will not be the case.

I claim that the most reasonable behavior for the Ubuntu "backup" item in its settings panel would be to run Duplicity with high privelege, so that the backups produced by Duplicity are complete.

I think you are correct and stated the problem well.

Hi,

I'm also affected by this "bug" and in my case it corresponds to the file $HOME/.rnd
As I'm trying to backup my home folder only, the answer from Kenneth Loafman does not apply to my case.

I tried to ignore this file from the backup but you can ignore folders only and I don't want to ignore the $HOME folder... any idea how to make this warning disappear?

generally you should be able to exclude single files as well as folders.

but you are right .. if i add a folder owned and readable only by root in my $HOME and it throws the warning
 "Error accessing possibly locked file /folder"

excluding it does not help for unknown reasons.

this should be investigated although it is no showstopper by any means.

ede/duply.net