seadave Posted October 14, 2005 Report Share Posted October 14, 2005 After an upgrade to 6.1 I was hoping this problem had been fixed but it wasn't. Only after a restart, when backups are scheduled I get two applications, both 6.1.126, running at the same time on the same backup script. With no restart only one application launches for a scheduled backup. I had trashed the older 6.0 app, but obviously I need to do something with the preference files?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted October 14, 2005 Report Share Posted October 14, 2005 What happens if you stop the execution of one, does the other stop also? What operating system version? Do you use Fast User Switching? What type of script is it? What is your storage device? Is the backup waiting to run at the time of the restart or does the backup start XX time after restart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seadave Posted October 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2005 What happens if you stop the execution of one, does the other stop also? When I stop one the other continues. Seems they operate independently. What operating system version? 10.4.2 Do you use Fast User Switching? No - Very simple setup - only one user on a 12" PowerBook. What type of script is it? A Retrospect backup script, as in "Automate" "Scripts." My scripts are ones I have used for years to do a combination of duplications and backups. What is your storage device? External firewire drive Is the backup waiting to run at the time of the restart or does the backup start XX time after restart? Once the backup is completed I have set Retrospect to quit. A restart is totally independent of Retrospect - I would never do a restart with Retrospect open or running. The backups all start at the same time of day and are not dependent on when the system was restarted. My comment about restart was that only after a system restart would I have this problem. Thanks, SeaDave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted October 14, 2005 Report Share Posted October 14, 2005 Have you tried an uninstall using the uninstall option in the installer, and then a re-install? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeln Posted October 14, 2005 Report Share Posted October 14, 2005 Hi, That's really interesting. A couple additional questions: 1.) When both scripts are running, do you get an error of any kind? Or do the backups finish successfully? 2.) If you launch the Activity Monitor (MacHD > Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor > set to All Processes), do you see 2 Retrospect processes running? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seadave Posted October 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2005 Sorry, but I tried the uninstall option only once and lost all of the scripts I had. The only way to restore them was to painstakingly enter each one again. I'd rather keep my current annoyance rather than go through that again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seadave Posted October 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2005 1.) When both scripts are running, do you get an error of any kind? Or do the backups finish successfully? Actually when I saw that both were running I couldn't believe it so first verified they were running off the same app rather than a newer and older version. Seeing that they were the same app I force quit one of the two rather than it devouring my memory. 2.) If you launch the Activity Monitor (MacHD > Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor > set to All Processes), do you see 2 Retrospect processes running? Good suggestion which I will try the next time it does it. Assuming that I do see 2 apps running, then what? I did see two icons in the dock, and going to the individual apps saw that each was in a different part of its respective script. I have to assume that there were indeed two apps running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted October 15, 2005 Report Share Posted October 15, 2005 This situation has been reported here on the Forum for a couple of years now, since 5.1 shipped. Each time, there is tantalizingly little specific information that might lead to someone else reproducing it. Other reports have resulted in a "file locked" error. Always it's with auto-launch, and it's been confirmed before (as you have) that the dock icon is pointing to the same binary file (not a case of multiple installs of the program). The comment "only after a system restart would I have this problem" is one of those tantalizing bits of data. Drilling down on this specific fact might be helpful (although no one wants to restart their OS X machine if they don't have to!). As for un-installing, the Retrospect Installer does not delete the preference file unless the user specifically clicks OK on a secondary dialog box asking if this is desired. It's also a very simple practice to make a backup/copy of the "Retro.Config (6.0)" file, which is where the scripts are stored (in general, it's a good idea to have backups of this file as it's possible for it to become corrupted). Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seadave Posted October 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 A little bit of feedback - First the good news - no more dueling applications! Solution(s) Deleted Retrospect (but NOT the preferences, etc.) and reinstalled. Deleted a copy of Retrospect Express 5.0 that was still in my Apps folder. Restarted. Put a rabbit foot right by my PowerBook. Don't know which of these solutions worked, but now my backups are back to their flawless performance. Thanks for all the good advice!! Other Dave (SEADave) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seadave Posted October 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 OK, I spoke too soon. After a restart (what else) this morning I was greeted with TWO Retrospect apps running at once - same version, exactly the same app in the same folder (checked by using the "Show In Finder" menu on their respective icons in the dock... I also have only one app now), also in Activity Monitor showed they were gobbling up the same amount of memory and CPU. I force quit the additional app, so don't have any further forensic evidence. So now I have uninstalled, installed, trashed all copies of prior copies of Retrospect, used a rabbit foot, yet still have the same problem. Dantz, it's your turn. Other Dave (SEADave) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeln Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Hi, Have you tried pulling the configs and testing with clean prefs? My hunch is that this is an issue with the retrorun service that launches Retrospect. Can you try pulling the MacHD > Library > Prefs > Retrospect folder out and moving it to the desktop? This will prompt you for a license code again when you launch Retrospect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarVer Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 Hi, I experienced double instances of Retrospect 6.1.126 / Mac OSX Tiger 10.4.4 too. I have only one copy on my system. This only happens when logging in and one or more scheduled scripts are waiting to be executed. This is, it seems, what happens: • the first launch occurs when no user is logged in yet but the Mac is running. This launch is owned by the root user (which is enabled in my situation). This is strange because root does not own the scripts, but me as the main user (having administrator rights); • the second launch occurs when logging in as 'myself'. This will happen even while the first launch is busy, resulting in the same catalogs being used by the same scripts; resulting in all kinds of acces-errors reported in the forum. I would like Retrospect understand that it should execute my scripts when I myself am logged in. No idea how to communicate that. I will try and find a workaround (and report that here). Well, workarounds are an essential part of the Retrospect workflow... Marius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarVer Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 Addendum I disabled the root user, so I am the only user on my system. Yet the same situation occurs: some ghost user starting my scritps even when I am not logged in, resulting in 'file not found error' etc. This occurs despite of what the Readme (as supplied with version 6.1.126) suggests: "Multiple versions of RetroRun running at the same time: This build of Retrospect fixes a problem that allowed multiple versions of RetroRun to be running at the same time." It seems the problem has not been fixed sufficiently. Marius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smartin Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 Marver: Keep in mind that although you can prevent the root user from logging in, root is always on a unix system. There is a concept called setuid that allows your user to start a process that is then owned by root. This allows Retrospect to back up all the files on your system, and not just what your user can see. From what you've said, it sounds like the process is getting started from a system state, not under the startup apps under your /User/username area. It makes me wonder if some privelage somewhere isn't quite right. I've seen all sorts of odd behaviour under OSX when privs aren't just right. Not only do you have to worry about userids and permissions, but also setuids, flags, and other random stuff. I personally would try this. Delete the retrospect app, and all the prefs you can find. Be sure you write down your serial #, as well as client names. Next, boot off an OSX CD, and run disk permission check. I've found you catch a lot more bad perms if you boot from the CD. Next, re-install retrospect and see if it helps. creating a new user, and running Retrospect from that user is another thing to try. -Shon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarVer Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 Hi Shon, thanks for your reply. I will certainly try your suggestions (though I wonder how often such procedures have to be repeated, ie how often the same problem will arise again). I realize that using a Mac is not much different from any other system when you're having problems (unfortunately): it will always take time and knowledge (and help!) to keep going. I have to do some actual work first, so I'll post my findings later as a reply. I'll be working around in the meantime by manually starting and managing my backups. Cheers, Marius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 Quote: From what you've said, it sounds like the process is getting started from a system state, not under the startup apps under your /User/username area When scripts are scheduled to run, Retrospect will be launched, as root, by the retrorun daemon. So when Marius writes: > the second launch occurs when logging in as 'myself' It brings up the question, has Retrospect been added to your Login Items list in the Accounts preference pane? The way it's _supposed_ to work is if you log into the Aqua Finder while Retrospect is running, it will continue to run. Clicking on any Retrospect window will bring up the authentication dialog box, with "root" correctly shown as the user name. If Retrospect has auto-launched with no user logged in, and then a user logs in, there is no way for that user to log _out_ unless they have an admin name/password pair to use to quit Retrospect. This is a limitation of the program, since it runs as a Carbon application and not as a unix daemon (although that's a different issue then what's being discussed in this thread). Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarVer Posted January 27, 2006 Report Share Posted January 27, 2006 Hello again, first: I followed the advice of Shon (permission and reinstall). To no avail. If anyone is interested, I made some illuminating screenshots showing my Dock and bits of the coexisting Log Windows. second: I did not have Retrospect included in my Login Items, but now I have. Also, I unchecked the default preference in Retrospect to 'Automatically launch when scripts are waiting'. So, my scheduled scripts are noticed only after I have logged in and after Retrospect has started in my account. This seems to work well. Thanks very much for the discussion! Marius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharpshooter9534 Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Tiger, you're not alone. The same problem is still happening in Panther. Anyone know a good vet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moek10 Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Quote: Hello again, second: I did not have Retrospect included in my Login Items, but now I have. Also, I unchecked the default preference in Retrospect to 'Automatically launch when scripts are waiting'. So, my scheduled scripts are noticed only after I have logged in and after Retrospect has started in my account. This seems to work well. Thanks very much for the discussion! Marius This is only a workaround as retrospect has to be opened and run all the time on the system ! Could we have a final solution ! This issue is very critical when you have an automatic backup with a recycle backup coming up as you can find yourself with no backup at all for a while. I also have a solution such as this one : when I see the backup has failed, I launch it manually after closing one of the instances of retrospect ! But we can do better ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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