Description of problem: __TOPDIR__ is set to '/var/lib/BackupPC/' in /etc/BackupPC/config.pl. When invoking BackupPC_tarPCCopy, you're supposed to give as an argument an absolute path starting with __TOPDIR__. If you want an archive containing everything backed up by this instance of BackupPC, the most obvious things to give as an argument are: /var/lib/BackupPC/pc /var/lib/BackupPC/pc/ Both of these fail, and the error message (copied here, from the second one) is utterly unhelpful: Argument /var/lib/BackupPC/pc/ must be an absolute path starting with /var/lib/BackupPC/ The code in BackupPC_tarPCCopy which produces the error message is this: if ( $path !~ m{^\Q$TopDir/\E} ) { print STDERR "Argument $path must be an absolute path starting with $TopDir\n"; exit(1); } The problem is that the regex has an extra slash in it---so, if you gave /var/lib/BackupPC/pc// as the argument, the script wouldn't bail here, but it's not at all obvious why that should be the case until you look at the code. Something needs changing here. One possible solution is to make sure that $TopDir ends with exactly one slash: $TopDir .= '/' if ($TopDir !~ m{/$}); if ( $path !~ m{^\Q$TopDir\E} ) { ... } Another would be to not end the names of directories in config.pl with slashes, though I don't know what effect that would have on other parts of BackupPC. (Hopefully none?) That might be a better way to go. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): BackupPC-3.1.0-5.fc11.noarch How reproducible: Always. Steps to Reproduce: 1. su backuppc 2. /usr/share/BackupPC/bin/BackupPC_tarPCCopy /var/lib/BackupPC/pc/ >foo Actual results: Argument /var/lib/BackupPC/pc/ must be an absolute path starting with /var/lib/BackupPC/ Expected results: The pool should start to be copied.
This message is a reminder that Fedora 11 is nearing its end of life. Approximately 30 (thirty) days from now Fedora will stop maintaining and issuing updates for Fedora 11. It is Fedora's policy to close all bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained. At that time this bug will be closed as WONTFIX if it remains open with a Fedora 'version' of '11'. Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version' to a later Fedora version prior to Fedora 11's end of life. Bug Reporter: Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we may not be able to fix it before Fedora 11 is end of life. If you would still like to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version of Fedora please change the 'version' of this bug to the applicable version. If you are unable to change the version, please add a comment here and someone will do it for you. Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events. Often a more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes bugs or makes them obsolete. The process we are following is described here: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers/HouseKeeping
This message is a reminder that Fedora 12 is nearing its end of life. Approximately 30 (thirty) days from now Fedora will stop maintaining and issuing updates for Fedora 12. It is Fedora's policy to close all bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained. At that time this bug will be closed as WONTFIX if it remains open with a Fedora 'version' of '12'. Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version' to a later Fedora version prior to Fedora 12's end of life. Bug Reporter: Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we may not be able to fix it before Fedora 12 is end of life. If you would still like to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version of Fedora please change the 'version' of this bug to the applicable version. If you are unable to change the version, please add a comment here and someone will do it for you. Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events. Often a more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes bugs or makes them obsolete. The process we are following is described here: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers/HouseKeeping
This seems fixed in F14.
Fedora 12 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2010-12-02. Fedora 12 is no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug. If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version. Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.