[NOT REPRODUCIBLE] Creating tar archive on backup disk failed

schard · 2021-08-24 10:11:15

So, I just wanted to created the regular backup of a server that I maintain and got this error message:

-- Journal begins at Mon 2021-08-16 13:02:54 CEST, ends at Tue 2021-08-24 12:02:33 CEST. --
Aug 24 08:54:40 cshsrv systemd[1]: Started Create a tar.bz2 Backup of /home under /mnt.
Aug 24 09:25:00 cshsrv backup[102248]: /usr/bin/tar: backup/home/REDACTED/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent.ssh: Socket ignoriert
Aug 24 10:36:59 cshsrv backup[102248]: /usr/bin/tar: backup/home/REDACTED/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent.ssh: Socket ignoriert
Aug 24 10:40:08 cshsrv backup[102248]: /usr/bin/tar: backup/home/REDACTED/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent: Socket ignoriert
Aug 24 10:51:45 cshsrv backup[102248]: /usr/bin/tar: backup/home/REDACTED/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent.ssh: Socket ignoriert
Aug 24 10:51:45 cshsrv backup[102248]: /usr/bin/tar: backup/home/REDACTED/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent: Socket ignoriert
Aug 24 10:59:45 cshsrv backup[102248]: /usr/bin/tar: backup/home/REDACTED/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent.ssh: Socket ignoriert
Aug 24 11:05:51 cshsrv backup[102248]: /usr/bin/tar: backup/home/REDACTED/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent.ssh: Socket ignoriert
Aug 24 11:05:51 cshsrv backup[102248]: /usr/bin/tar: backup/home/REDACTED/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent: Socket ignoriert
Aug 24 11:12:30 cshsrv backup[102248]: /usr/bin/tar: backup/home/REDACTED/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent.ssh: Socket ignoriert
Aug 24 11:12:30 cshsrv backup[102248]: /usr/bin/tar: backup/home/REDACTED/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent: Socket ignoriert
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: bzip2/libbzip2: internal error number 1007.
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: This is a bug in bzip2/libbzip2, 1.0.8, 13-Jul-2019.
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: Please report it to: bzip2-devel@sourceware.org.  If this happened
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: when you were using some program which uses libbzip2 as a
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: component, you should also report this bug to the author(s)
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: of that program.  Please make an effort to report this bug;
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: timely and accurate bug reports eventually lead to higher
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: quality software.  Thanks.
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: *** A special note about internal error number 1007 ***
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: Experience suggests that a common cause of i.e. 1007
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: is unreliable memory or other hardware.  The 1007 assertion
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: just happens to cross-check the results of huge numbers of
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: memory reads/writes, and so acts (unintendedly) as a stress
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: test of your memory system.
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: I suggest the following: try compressing the file again,
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: possibly monitoring progress in detail with the -vv flag.
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: * If the error cannot be reproduced, and/or happens at different
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]:   points in compression, you may have a flaky memory system.
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]:   Try a memory-test program.  I have used Memtest86
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]:   (www.memtest86.com).  At the time of writing it is free (GPLd).
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]:   Memtest86 tests memory much more thorougly than your BIOSs
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]:   power-on test, and may find failures that the BIOS doesn't.
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]: * If the error can be repeatably reproduced, this is a bug in
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]:   bzip2, and I would very much like to hear about it.  Please
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]:   let me know, and, ideally, save a copy of the file causing the
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102249]:   problem -- without which I will be unable to investigate it.
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102248]: /usr/bin/tar: /mnt/backup-2021-08-24.tar.bz2: Nur 4096 von 10240 Bytes geschrieben
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102248]: /usr/bin/tar: Child returned status 3
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv backup[102248]: /usr/bin/tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv systemd[1]: backup.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=2/INVALIDARGUMENT
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv systemd[1]: backup.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Aug 24 11:18:23 cshsrv systemd[1]: backup.service: Consumed 2h 22min 57.963s CPU time.

The underlying systemd unit is

$ cat /etc/systemd/system/backup.service 
[Unit]
Description=Create a tar.bz2 Backup of /home under /mnt

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/backup

The script contains

$ cat /usr/local/bin/backup 
#! /bin/bash

cd /home || exit 2
/usr/bin/tar cjf /mnt/backup-$(date +%Y-%m-%d).tar.bz2 *

The disk seems okay. There are no hints in dmesg or smartctl for either the source or target disks:

$ lsblk
NAME       MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
sda          8:0    0 953,9G  0 disk  
├─sda1       8:1    0   200M  0 part  /boot
└─sda2       8:2    0 953,7G  0 part  
  └─root   254:0    0 953,7G  0 crypt /
sdb          8:16   1     0B  0 disk  
sdc          8:32   0   2,7T  0 disk  
└─sdc1       8:33   0   2,7T  0 part  
  └─backup 254:1    0   2,7T  0 crypt /mnt

$ pacman -Q tar bzip2
tar 1.34-1
bzip2 1.0.8-4

I am currently retrying this with gz instead of bz2.
Any hints on a possible issue?
The server does not show any other malfunctions or abnormal behaviour.

Update
With gzip the backup went fine.
Subsequent smart tests yielded yet nothing again.
The bzip issue remains a mystery.

Last edited by schard (2021-08-24 15:02:04)

Arch Linux

#1 2021-08-24 10:11:15

[NOT REPRODUCIBLE] Creating tar archive on backup disk failed

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