Warning: "Metadata was reported as not changed, but still requires being added"

Support
1

I am running Duplicati - 2.0.5.107_canary_2020-05-26 on a Linux (openSUSE Leap 15.1) laptop.

I keep getting warnings such as the following. What is their significance, and do I need to worry about corrupted backup data?

Thanks!

  • 2020-07-01 10:00:29 -04 - [Warning-Duplicati.Library.Main.Operation.Backup.FileBlockProcessor.FileEntry-UnexpectedMetadataLookup]: Metadata was reported as not changed, but still requires being added? Hash: hHSNpjrXtTnwQHvGxZuILQoWJUKf6/40lT/IM/5EK2k=, Length: 199, ID: -1, Path: /home/sylerner/VirtualBox VMs/Kubuntu/Kubuntu.vbox-prev
  • 2020-07-01 10:12:42 -04 - [Warning-Duplicati.Library.Main.Operation.Backup.FileBlockProcessor.FileEntry-UnexpectedMetadataLookup]: Metadata was reported as not changed, but still requires being added? Hash: hHSNpjrXtTnwQHvGxZuILQoWJUKf6/40lT/IM/5EK2k=, Length: 199, ID: -1, Path: /home/sylerner/.config/VirtualBox/selectorwindow.log.1
  • 2020-07-01 10:12:42 -04 - [Warning-Duplicati.Library.Main.Operation.Backup.FileBlockProcessor.FileEntry-UnexpectedMetadataLookup]: Metadata was reported as not changed, but still requires being added? Hash: +V72entTLcKs4oOVmrmGf4ZbK+310X56Sb9liRLUpJE=, Length: 199, ID: -1, Path: /home/sylerner/.config/VirtualBox/selectorwindow.log.4
2

A file has two backup parts. One is data contents. The other is metadata, such as times and owners.

I think the warning is that the metadata that the file had at an earlier process point is no longer stored.
Exactly how this can happen isn’t clear. Are files with warning getting changed while backup is going?
Are they always VirtualBox files? Does your Options screen 5 set special options regarding backup?

The code looks like it handles an unexpected failed lookup of file metadata by storing metadata again.
You can watch the results of earlier analysis of your files with –log-file and –log-file-log-level=verbose.

Example:

2020-06-24 18:42:10 -04 - [Verbose-Duplicati.Library.Main.Operation.Backup.FilePreFilterProcess.FileEntry-CheckFileForChanges]: Checking file for changes C:\PortableApps\Notepad++Portable\App\Notepad++\plugins\config\AutoSave.ini, new: False, timestamp changed: True, size changed: False, metadatachanged: True, 6/17/2020 4:17:08 PM vs 6/1/2020 11:14:06 PM

Usually you’ll see timestamp and metadata changing at the same time. Commonly size also changes:

2020-06-24 18:42:09 -04 - [Verbose-Duplicati.Library.Main.Operation.Backup.FilePreFilterProcess.FileEntry-CheckFileForChanges]: Checking file for changes C:\PortableApps\Notepad++Portable\App\Notepad++\config.xml, new: False, timestamp changed: True, size changed: True, metadatachanged: True, 6/17/2020 4:17:08 PM vs 6/1/2020 11:14:06 PM

If you can figure out a basic pattern to your warnings, above detailed view might help to further study.

EDIT:

If you search history of forum and GitHub issues, these used to happen a lot, but a change was done.
A quick attempt to search for 2.0.5.1 reports before this came up empty, which adds to its mystery…

3

This had gone away for a while, but is back with a vengeance, possibly coinciding with my upgrade to 2.0.5.108_canary_2020-07-09.

 Warnings 3

2020-07-26 16:12:23 -04 - [Warning-Duplicati.Library.Main.Operation.Backup.FileBlockProcessor.FileEntry-UnexpectedMetadataLookup]: Metadata was reported as not changed, but still requires being added? Hash: 6KrKxq1NGqRFdsPjfJJVkcfvzh9+rLeXPOPiM1N2qCs=, Length: 199, ID: -1, Path: /home/sylerner/.config/VirtualBox/selectorwindow.log.1
2020-07-26 16:12:23 -04 - [Warning-Duplicati.Library.Main.Operation.Backup.FileBlockProcessor.FileEntry-UnexpectedMetadataLookup]: Metadata was reported as not changed, but still requires being added? Hash: +gLo9RvaDVLXjY9iU1vgsm8I1qDtMMT7tMiZH+GLT3s=, Length: 199, ID: -1, Path: /home/sylerner/.config/VirtualBox/selectorwindow.log.3
2020-07-26 16:12:23 -04 - [Warning-Duplicati.Library.Main.Operation.Backup.FileBlockProcessor.FileEntry-UnexpectedMetadataLookup]: Metadata was reported as not changed, but still requires being added? Hash: +QQpd+dSgbPFU8nnnsLPouZr/afg4BC/b3FdjRDQ6t4=, Length: 199, ID: -1, Path: /home/sylerner/.config/VirtualBox/selectorwindow.log.5
4

2.0.5.108_canary_2020-07-09 doesn’t mention anything that is clearly related, and also doesn’t warn about database version change, so you could probably try 2.0.5.107 canary if you want to confirm or refute theory.

Is the backup just the VirtualBox config, or is there a lot of action with just the config complaining somehow?

5

This is part of a larger backup, and these errors, while concentrated on virtualbox, happen even when it hasn’t been run during the backup.

I forget, is there a way to get duplicati to use a file system snapshot on Linux the way it can on Windows? If so, does it matter what filesystem is being used?

Also, where can I get a very of 2.0.5.107 canary at this point?

Thanks!

6

snapshot-policy covers Windows and Linux. Linux is likely far less used, because it needs an LVM setup.

https://www.duplicati.com/ then Download then Other versions -- older or testing, but specifically

2.0.5.107_canary_2020-05-26