Unusual error when building a file list

[James Moe]

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rsync v3.0.7 (also seen with 3.0.5)
linux 2.6.34-12-desktop x86_64
os/2 v4.50 fp3

  rsync makes an unusual error when building its file list for a
transfer: it decided to move a directory further down the directory tree
than where it was located in the source volume.
  Even more strange is that during the next run of rsync, it adjusts the
*source* volume to match the *target* volume. As you may imagine, this
is rather disturbing to users who expect their directories to stay where
they put them.
  I can definitively blame rsync for this bizarre behavior. Nothing like
it ever occurred before I started using rsync for backup. And the log
file demonstrates it.

- ----[ Incorrect file transfer ]----
2010/08/26 04:33:01 [18928] building file list
  etc...
2010/08/26 04:34:23 [18928] cd+++++++++ wpdocs/daily/ethics_b.ook/
2010/08/26 04:34:23 [18928] <f+++++++++
wpdocs/daily/ethics_b.ook/DESRCIBE.WEB
  etc...

- ----[ It should have been ]----
2010/08/26 04:34:23 [18928] cd+++++++++ wpdocs/ethics_b.ook/
2010/08/26 04:34:23 [18928] <f+++++++++ wpdocs/ethics_b.ook/DESRCIBE.WEB
etc...

  This does not happen every time, i.e., the highly annoying
intermittent problem. It occurs once every 5 - 10 backups.
  I originally saw this on an os/2 server and assumed that it was a
peculiarity of the rsync port; it would regularly misplace certain
directories (rsync has its preferences I guess). But now this has
happened on a linux system.

  Command line (wrapped for clarity):
rsync --archive --stats --compress --delete \
  --prune-empty-dirs --omit-dir-times \
  --log-file=~/logs/rsync-bkp.log \
  /t/ rsync://sma-nas-01/pub-data/

  </t> is a CIFS mounted volume. <rsync://sma-nas-01> is a RAID5 NAS
volume running an rsync daemon.
  When this problem occurred on an os/2 server, the source volume was a
native JFS drive, and the target was the CIFS-mounted NAS volume (before
I enabled the daemon on the NAS device).


- -- 
James Moe
moe dot james at sohnen-moe dot com
520.743.3936
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