Multiple backup sets results in empty folders

[PunyTRexArms]

System Details

• fwbackups version: 1.43.8-rc2
• OS name and version: Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS

Issue description

If users A, B, and C each create a backup set using fwbackups in their respective Ubuntu accounts, then empty backup folders will be left behind when a backup is performed. fwbackups will still respect the "Number of old backups to keep" option.

Bug details

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Log into a user's account in Ubuntu and use fwbackups to schedule a backup.
2. Do the same for a different user.
3. Wait for the backup jobs to run.

Observed results:

Expected results:
A number of non-empty backups equal to the "Number of old backups to keep" option is kept.

[stewartadam]

Thanks for reporting this. Can you share a few more details:

• If only a single user executes a backup, does it complete successfully or is the destination folder still empty?
• fwbackups is installed from source or from flatpak?
• Am I correct in understand all users point to the same backup destination?
  • is it an external drive, and if so, what filesystem?
• If you enable debug logging in the settings and run a backup, are there any errors or failures?

[PunyTRexArms]

Stewart,

Thanks for committing your time, energy, and talent into creating this fantastic backup program.

I have fwbackups installed on a laptop with only one user. The jobs run as expected with no empty folders from old backups. However, a desktop installation with multiple users is where I see the empty folder issue.

Both instances (laptop and desktop) are from flatpak.

All users point to same destination. Drive is internal and formatted as Ext4.

For the most recent backup, I see this:

Aug 14 16:00:02 :: INFO : Starting automatic backup operation of set Joel' Aug 14 16:00:40 :: WARNING : Error handling file /media/Backup/Backup-Joel-2024-08-13_18-00/home/joel/.cache/doc/by-app/com.diffingo.fwbackups'
Aug 14 16:00:40 :: WARNING : Error handling file /media/Backup/Backup-Joel-2024-08-13_18-00/home/joel/.cache/doc/by-app/org.gnome.SimpleScan/abc49d2f' Aug 14 16:00:40 :: WARNING : Error handling file /media/Backup/Backup-Joel-2024-08-13_18-00/home/joel/.cache/doc/by-app/org.gnome.SimpleScan'
Aug 14 16:00:40 :: WARNING : Error handling file /media/Backup/Backup-Joel-2024-08-13_18-00/home/joel/.cache/doc/by-app' Aug 14 16:00:40 :: WARNING : Error handling file /media/Backup/Backup-Joel-2024-08-13_18-00/home/joel/.cache/doc/abc49d2f'
Aug 14 16:00:40 :: WARNING : Error handling file /media/Backup/Backup-Joel-2024-08-13_18-00/home/joel/.cache/doc' Aug 14 16:00:41 :: WARNING : Error handling file /media/Backup/Backup-Joel-2024-08-13_18-00/home/joel/.cache'
Aug 14 16:00:41 :: WARNING : Error handling file /media/Backup/Backup-Joel-2024-08-13_18-00/home/joel' Aug 14 16:00:41 :: WARNING : Error handling file /media/Backup/Backup-Joel-2024-08-13_18-00/home'
Aug 14 16:00:41 :: WARNING : Error handling file `/media/Backup/Backup-Joel-2024-08-13_18-00'
Aug 14 16:06:27 :: INFO : Finished automatic backup operation of set 'Joel'

For this job, it replaces the old backup; or, only one backup is kept. Ordinarily, I would expect the 8-13 folder to be removed. Instead, it returns warnings.

Hope this helps.

[PunyTRexArms]

I have fwbackups installed on a laptop with only one user. The jobs run as expected with no empty folders from old backups.

Correction: Empty folders are being left behind for the laptop/single-user setup.

[stewartadam]

Hm then I suspect this is something to do with the flatpak-host bridge. I don't use Ubuntu (or Linux) as my desktop OS anymore unfortunately, so I'll setup some VMs soon to test this out.