[Box Backup] Boxi and boxbackup question.

[Chris Wilson]

Hi Kai,

> I was using the boxbackup that comes with boxi.. it turned out to be a
> firewall issue. (I should always look for the simple stuff first).

Sorry, I know that error message should be more helpful. I have added it 
to my TODO list.

> Still having issues with the actual backup/resotre.

Sorry to hear that. :-(

> I see boxi boxbackup start, On the server I see it login an immediately log
> out... then boxi tries to initialize a sync but backupd is logged out by
> this stage so I get a failed sync.
>
> I haven't had a chance to properly debug this yet... will look at it
> tonight.

If bbackupd is not logged in when a sync is requested, then it should log 
in automatically. You could try using the "bbackupctl sync" command from 
the command line, without Boxi running, and see if that works. If 
not, then it's probably not a Boxi bug.

Also, if you did anything with Boxi that required write access to the 
server (such as deleting or undeleting files), it will probably be logged 
in with write access. This might prevent bbackupd from getting the write 
access that it needs. You will probably find errors in the server and 
client logs to this effect.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an easy way for Boxi to back down 
gracefully from its write connection, and disconnecting and reconnecting 
twice for every write operation would be very slow - but might be the only 
option. I've also

> Having a seperate problem with restore. I run the program, can browse the
> remote store. I select a file, chose restore and the save as window pops up
> (just a side here.. the save as box comes up empty and I have to manually
> type the file name in.. is this a feature or a bug?) I chose a filename, it
> pauses and then says "restore complete". The problem is the restored file is
> the right size but it is complete garbage. It just looks like random line
> noise. Not fun. :)

I just tested restoring a file using 0.1.0 on Linux and it works (although 
it was a very small file). The restore code is actually ripped straight 
out of bbackupquery, so I'm surprised that it doesn't work. Could you try 
restoring the same file with the bbackupquery command line tool?

If the file is still corrupted, then it could be that your private key 
file is wrong. I don't think Box Backup provides any way to detect this - 
it just silently restores corrupt data - but I could be wrong. I seem to 
remember other bbackupd (not Boxi) users reporting similar issues in the 
past.

If the command line client also fails, could you try restoring the file 
using a pristine (not patched) copy of bbackupquery on a Unix box? If that 
works, then it's probably due to the patches I made to bbackupquery, 
although the reason isn't immediately obvious to me. It could also be 
something wrong with the way that the bbackupquery code (and hence mine) 
works under Cygwin.

If it works on the pristine copy, please could you send me more details 
about the file, especially its size? I haven't tested with any large 
files. Also, please could you try restoring a whole directory - the code 
is quite different for that.

> As I said tho I'll play with it some more tonight.

Please do, and let me know how it goes, although please note that I will 
be away on a training course for a week from Sunday, and not able to 
respond to email during that time.

Thanks for trying out Boxi, and I'm sorry it's not working for you yet!

Cheers, Chris.
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