rsync - Oct 2003 - files deleted on server end during transfer

Does rsync handle cases where files have been deleted off of the rsync
server side after the client starts downloading from the server? I did a
test run using two windows machines and the client puked, giving me some
kind of file protection error. What happened is the client received it's
list, starts downloading, all is well. Well, on the server side the files
were moved out (or deleted) by another process that runs on that box. When
rsync got to downloading from the directory those files were stored in I
got approximately 50 dialog boxes in windows (one for each file) with some
kind of file protection error (sorry, don't remember the exact message).
There are also some empty files on the server side that need to be
there...could these be the culprit? Are there any command line switches to
suppress these error messages? Any help would be appreciated!

  --Luke Matthews

As a follow up to my question...I tried syncing a directory with some
files of zero length and it appears that they are causing the problems.
The message says "Windows - Delayed Write Failed" "Windows was
unable to
save all the data for the file \Device\HarddiskVolume1\Test\(filename of 0
lenght file) The data has been lost. The error may be caused by a failure
of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this
file elsewhere."

Any ideas why I would get this? I have been doing some searching at
groups.google.com and have found that other people aren't having any
trouble mirroring files with leghth of zero.

  --Luke
> Does rsync handle cases where files have been deleted off of the rsync
> server side after the client starts downloading from the server? I did a
> test run using two windows machines and the client puked, giving me some
> kind of file protection error. What happened is the client received
it's
> list, starts downloading, all is well. Well, on the server side the
> files were moved out (or deleted) by another process that runs on that
> box. When rsync got to downloading from the directory those files were
> stored in I got approximately 50 dialog boxes in windows (one for each
> file) with some kind of file protection error (sorry, don't remember
the
> exact message). There are also some empty files on the server side that
> need to be there...could these be the culprit? Are there any command
> line switches to suppress these error messages? Any help would be
> appreciated!
>
>   --Luke Matthews
>
>
> --
> To unsubscribe or change options:
> http://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/rsync Before posting, read:
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Ok, this is a late response but I was browsing thru the archives and found
this question on a problem that I have been pondering myself.

Answer: There is no problem if a file gets deleted during transfer since the
file is kept open on the sending side and it will disappear only after the
transfer is done and the file is closed. Well thats the UNIX semantics on open
files. I am not sure how a rsync client on windows handles this.

Reading your question i see that the files got deleted before transfer of that
particular file was started but after rsync had determined that the file was
to be syncronised.

My bug: This is what happens to me when a file gets deleted. like that:

send_files failed to open /var/spool/zorro01/user/cyrus/3420.: No such file or
directory
rsync error: some files could not be transferred (code 23) at main.c(1045)

The above happens when a user deletes a mail on the cyrus-imapd server when I
am taking a snapshot of the mail spool area. I know I should probably stop
cyrus during backup but I do this every 15 minutes to keep a spare backup mail
server in sync. There is probably better ways of doing backup on a cyrus-imapd
server but I have't had the time to figure that out yet. Anyone, feel free
to
help me with suggestions/ideas.

Patch suggestion:

When rsync has determined which files are to be updated it should probably
open all of them. I know this means lots of open files on the sending side if
there are lots of updates but if will prevent rsync from beeing confused by
files disappering.

Ok the above might not be practical but something has to be done to close the
window where rsync gets confused by files disappering on the sending side.

Hans Eric

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <luke@littlelukey.com>
To: <rsync@lists.samba.org>
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2003 2:32 PM
Subject: files deleted on server end during transfer

> Does rsync handle cases where files have been deleted off of the rsync
> server side after the client starts downloading from the server? I did a
> test run using two windows machines and the client puked, giving me some
> kind of file protection error. What happened is the client received
it's
> list, starts downloading, all is well. Well, on the server side the files
> were moved out (or deleted) by another process that runs on that box. When
> rsync got to downloading from the directory those files were stored in I
> got approximately 50 dialog boxes in windows (one for each file) with some
> kind of file protection error (sorry, don't remember the exact
message).
> There are also some empty files on the server side that need to be
> there...could these be the culprit? Are there any command line switches to
> suppress these error messages? Any help would be appreciated!
>
>   --Luke Matthews
>
>
> -- 
> To unsubscribe or change options:
http://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/rsync
> Before posting, read: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>