Re: Constant "sequence number mismatch" errors

[jerry <jerry@tr2.com>]

*** This is related to a question I had - is there a compelling reason 
for the tarsnap
cache to be in /usr/local?  I'd like to put mine in /var.  I'm 
upgrading
my server to SSD, and would like all the write intensive transient 
stuff to be in /var,
which will still be a mechanical disk.  Hopefully, this will maximize 
the durability and
reliability of the SSD.

                   - Jerry Kaidor


On 08/14/2014 16:52, Colin Percival wrote:
> On 08/14/14 14:40, Aaron C. de Bruyn wrote:
> > I run tarsnap every day from cron on my Linux laptop using th 
> > following command:
> >
> > tarsnap -v --cachedir=/tmp/tarsnap/ --keyfile=/root/tarsnap.key -c 
> > -f
> > aaronhome-$(date +%Y%M%d) --exclude cellmedia --exclude code 
> > --exclude download
> > --exclude docs --exclude iso --exclude *cache* --exclude *Cache* 
> > --exclude
> > *Trash* --exclude *trash* /home/aaron/
> >
> > Every night it spits out the following message:
> > tarsnap: Sequence number mismatch: Run --fsck
> > tarsnap: Error creating new archive
> >
> > So I run:
> >
> > tarsnap -v --cachedir=/tmp/tarsnap/ --fsck 
> > --keyfile=/root/tarsnap.key --exclude
> > cellmedia --exclude code --exclude download --exclude docs --exclude 
> > iso
> > --exclude *cache* --exclude *Cache* --exclude *Trash* --exclude 
> > *trash* /home/aaron/
> >
> > It runs through the check without any error messages, and I am able 
> > to manually
> > run the cronjob to take a backup for the day.  The next morning it 
> > fails again
> > with the same errors.
> >
> > What am I missing?  :)
>
> The most obvious possibility is that your /tmp/tarsnap/ is, well, on 
> a
> temporary file system.  The 'sequence number mismatch' error means 
> that
> the state of the cache directory does not match the state on the 
> server
> side, and if /tmp/ is getting cleaned up (e.g., when you reboot) that
> would explain it.
>
> If it's not that, are you sure that the some keys aren't being used
> anywhere else?