rsync - Jul 2009 - DeltaCopy puts unwanted TAB character into rsync command

Imran Hussain writes Tue Dec 6 19:54:06 GMT 2005
> I have written an rsync wrapper for Windows called DeltaCopy. 
> (http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/DeltaCopy.jsp). It is 
> written in Borland C++ Builder and source is also available on the 
> net. Let me know if someone has any suggestions/comments.
Hello Imran, I have a Windows PC running Vista Family Premium 
Edition SP2.  I installed DeltaCopy and set it up to make a test 
backup to an openSUSE Linux 11.0 server running rsync 3.0.2.

The test fails because the rsync command created by DeltaCopy is 
badly formed: it has an unwanted TAB after the module name.

Executing: rsync.exe  -v -rlt -z --delete
  "/cygdrive/M/Documents de Michel/Documents/Test backup/"
  "michel at clubmicrolag.net::Michel-MD1695	/Test backup/"

@ERROR: Unknown module 'Michel-MD1695	'
rsync error: error starting client-server protocol (code 5) at 
/home/lapo/packaging/rsync-3.0.4-1/src/rsync-3.0.4/main.c(1504) 
[sender=3.0.4]

The TAB appears to come from the server as part of the server reply 
to the query for the list of modules.  Each module name is followed 
by a TAB even though there are no comment lines in rsyncd.conf on 
the server.

I have run DeltaCopy on Windows XP against the same server without 
problems, so DeltaCopy is capable of trimming the TAB at least on 
some occasions.

How can I get rid of this TAB?  Any suggestions would be much 
appreciated.

Roger

I have found a workaround for this problem - use short module 
names, <15 bytes.

I placed the following sequence of module declarations in 
/etc/rsyncd.conf

[123456789abcdef0]
    path = /dev/null
[123456789abcdef]
    path = /dev/null
[123456789abcde]
    path = /dev/null
[123456789abcd]
    path = /dev/null
[123456789abc]
    path = /dev/null
[123456789ab]
    path = /dev/null

The command rsync rsyncd://mysite.net returned the following module 
listing, shown here in emacs hexl-mode :

00000120: 3132 3334 3536 3738 3941 4243 4445 4630  123456789ABCDEF0
00000130: 090a 3132 3334 3536 3738 3941 4243 4445  ..123456789ABCDE
00000140: 4609 0a31 3233 3435 3637 3839 4142 4344  F..123456789ABCD
00000150: 4520 090a 3132 3334 3536 3738 3941 4243  E ..123456789ABC
00000160: 4420 2009 0a31 3233 3435 3637 3839 4142  D  ..123456789AB
00000170: 4320 2020 090a 3132 3334 3536 3738 3941  C   ..123456789A
00000180: 4220 2020 2009 0a                        B    ..

In the first two cases, the module name has 15 or more bytes and is 
followed directly by a TAB (09).  In the other four cases, the 
module name is 14 or fewer bytes, and is padded out with spaces 
(20).

Only when the module name is followed by a space is DeltaCopy able 
to extract the module name correctly.  When the user selects "..." 
to see a list of available modules (virtual directory), the TABs are 
visible as thick vertical lines. See 
http://rogerprice.org/DeltaCopy+TAB.png

Roger

On Sun, 26 Jul 2009, Roger Price wrote:
> The test fails because the rsync command created by DeltaCopy is badly 
> formed: it has an unwanted TAB after the module name.
>
> Executing: rsync.exe  -v -rlt -z --delete
> "/cygdrive/M/Documents de Michel/Documents/Test backup/"
> "mchel at clubmicrolag.net::Michel-MD1695	/Test backup/"
>
> @ERROR: Unknown module 'Michel-MD1695	'
> rsync error: error starting client-server protocol (code 5) at 
> /home/lapo/packaging/rsync-3.0.4-1/src/rsync-3.0.4/main.c(1504) 
> [sender=3.0.4]
>
> The TAB appears to come from the server as part of the server reply to the 
> query for the list of modules.  Each module name is followed by a TAB even 
> though there are no comment lines in rsyncd.conf on the server.