rsync - Jul 2010 - "Cannot delete non-empty directory"/"Operation not permitted" with file-creation on target-server

Hello Everybody,
 
I was searching for an answer myself for quite some time without success, so
I hope somebody can clarify...I use rsync to sync webcontent from one server
to another.

Apache-details:

* Apache runs as nobody:nogroup. 
* Source-Server-Rights htdocs: The rsync-user gains access via o+rx
* Destination-Server-Rights htdocs: The rsync-user is in the group
'nogroup', gains access via owner rsync-user and g+rwx, htdocs-group is
'nogroup'

I use the following command:

/usr/bin/rsync -topglrcze ssh --delete --force --exclude='example.zip'
/vol/www/example/htdocs/ user at destination-server:/vol/www/example/htdocs/
 
This works fine except in the following scenarios:
 
1. On the destination-server in e.g. /vol/www/example/htdocs/test there
already is an 'example.zip' --> I will receive the following error:
"cannot
delete non-empty directory". I tried to overcome this with a rsync-filter,
but without success. How can I use the exclude-pattern even if such an
excluded file exists on the destination server ?
  
2. Whenever the Apache-Process of the destination server writes in its
webfolder (e.g. /vol/www/example/htdocs/test/example.htm with
nobody:nogroup) the rsync-user, even has full rights via 'nogroup', will
give me an "Operation not permitted" wth the next synchronisation.

In both cases the problem seems not to be about file or folder rights, it's
about having files on the destination-server, which weren't synced from the
source-server.

Any help greatly appreciated, thanks.

Carsten

On Wed, 2010-07-14 at 09:35 +0200, Carsten Deibert wrote:
> I was searching for an answer myself for quite some time without success,
so
> I hope somebody can clarify...I use rsync to sync webcontent from one
server
> to another.
> 
> Apache-details:
> 
> * Apache runs as nobody:nogroup. 
> * Source-Server-Rights htdocs: The rsync-user gains access via o+rx
> * Destination-Server-Rights htdocs: The rsync-user is in the group
> 'nogroup', gains access via owner rsync-user and g+rwx,
htdocs-group is
> 'nogroup'
> 
> I use the following command:
> 
> /usr/bin/rsync -topglrcze ssh --delete --force
--exclude='example.zip'
> /vol/www/example/htdocs/ user at
destination-server:/vol/www/example/htdocs/
>  
> This works fine except in the following scenarios:
>  
> 1. On the destination-server in e.g. /vol/www/example/htdocs/test there
> already is an 'example.zip' --> I will receive the following
error: "cannot
> delete non-empty directory". I tried to overcome this with a
rsync-filter,
> but without success. How can I use the exclude-pattern even if such an
> excluded file exists on the destination server ?
That message is only a notice, not an error, and I even opposed printing
it by default (https://bugzilla.samba.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3825#c11).  If
you are happy with the behavior you get, you can ignore the message.
Or, you might want --delete-excluded. 
> 2. Whenever the Apache-Process of the destination server writes in its
> webfolder (e.g. /vol/www/example/htdocs/test/example.htm with
> nobody:nogroup) the rsync-user, even has full rights via 'nogroup',
will
> give me an "Operation not permitted" wth the next
synchronisation.
Ah, but rsync doesn't have full rights: some operations, such as setting
a file's mtime arbitrarily, require ownership of the file and permission
cannot be granted to others.  I consider this a defect in the POSIX
filesystem model.  Typically only the directories are the problem
because an mtime difference on a regular file will trigger rsync to
transfer and recreate it, so --omit-dir-times would stop the errors.

-- 
Matt