safendoulis Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 I am tired of waiting for a fix, but I don't see this issue being reported by anyone else. I run a series of backups nightly and without fail experience one or both of the following within a 2 week period: 1. 2 Retrospects run and compete with each other for the backupset. Usually one is sucessful but its a pain in the ____. 2. Retrospect doesn't launch at all and when I eventual discover this fact I manually launch and the pending schedules run. I usually delete the retrorunfile from /library/retrospect and wait for the next occurance. Also a pain in the ____. I am running "Retrospect version 6.1.126" on Mac OS X 10.4.9 on PPC. All updates are applied to OS and Retrospect. Disk backups are all local HD to Ext FW HD. I am not sure if issue #1 & #2 are related. Considered writing a shell script to run at the end of each schedule to delete the retrorunfile as I see Retrospect recreates it when it shutsdown. I am not sure if I can add the running of a script to a schedule: please advise. This application has saved me many time and general does everything I want but if anyone can suggest an alternate that works I'd considfer dumping it. Dantz and now EMC don't appear to do much to support it and this issue has been reported before. I can't access that as a lay user its up to me to diagnose and repair and issue like this. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Stefan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 Quote: I am running "Retrospect version 6.1.126" on Mac OS X 10.4.9 on PPC. All updates are applied to OS and Retrospect. Disk backups are all local HD to Ext FW HD. More, please. "PPC" is not a model of Macintosh. "Disk backups" is not a feature of Retrospect for Macintosh. "All updates" is in the eye of the beholder, and unknown to readers of the Fourm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safendoulis Posted June 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2007 Quote: Quote: I am running "Retrospect version 6.1.126" on Mac OS X 10.4.9 on PPC. All updates are applied to OS and Retrospect. Disk backups are all local HD to Ext FW HD. More, please. "PPC" is not a model of Macintosh. "Disk backups" is not a feature of Retrospect for Macintosh. "All updates" is in the eye of the beholder, and unknown to readers of the Fourm. PPC = PowerPC as opposed to Intel. I am backing up my local internal HD to external HDs using the Retrospect "Backup" feature. I am running the lastest version of the OS (at the time) and Retrospect (6.1.126). Retrospect auto-launched twice again last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted June 28, 2007 Report Share Posted June 28, 2007 Quote: > PPC = PowerPC as opposed to Intel Person 1: "I have a Mercedes-Benz" Person 2: "Which model of Mercedes-Benz do you have?" Person 1: "The one with the gasoline engine. As opposed to the one with the diesel engine." As this short play demonstrates, describing one single component of your computer does not reveal much at all about it. All Macintosh computers have model names and/or numbers. Which is yours? > I am backing up my local internal HD to external HDs using the Retrospect "Backup" feature While "Backup" is indeed a feature of Retrspect, it does not answer the question as to what Type of Backup Set you are using. From the available Types and with the information you have provided, you are likely using either a File Backup Set or a Removable Backup Set. Which is it? > I am running ... Retrospect (6.1.126) All versions of Retrospect should be run with a current (or almost current) RDU (Retrospect Device Update) file. These files add functionality and fixes to the program (although the current one adds some bugs, too). Knowing which RDU you are using adds to the detail requested. I don't ask just for the sake of asking; knowing your _complete_ hardware/software configuration might help reveal why this is happening to you, when it doesn't happen to others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safendoulis Posted July 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 iMac G4 17" flat screen 1Ghz. File backup sets. I don't know how to determine what the RDU level is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 What about your external storage device? My personal suspicion is that the problem happens with external FireWire hard drives; having data regarding users with this problem and the hardware they're using might help. RDU information is written to the Log every time the program starts up. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safendoulis Posted July 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 I lost all my scripts somehow (!) so decided to remove Retrospect and reinstall. If course now I am not sure if the dual launching or corrupted retrorunfile issue still exists. One strange obsevation: from the log... ∆ Retrospect version 6.0.212 launched at 7/1/2007 5:49 PM + Retrospect Driver Update, version 6.3.102 From the About Box... Retrospect 6.1.126 I'm confused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Looks as if you have two version on the hard drive. In theory, if you move (or change) the physical Retrospect application file, the retrorun process will launch the last one you launched before. This is because retrorun actually resides inside the application package. Impossible to address the root cause of the confusion without knowing exactly what you might have done. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safendoulis Posted July 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 OK... can you please help me to save my newly recreated srcipts and uninstall? I have obviously not managed to cleanly remove Retrospect this time either. Can you confirm that the About Box and the Log do show the same version number? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Scripts are part of the preference file: /Lilbrary/Preferences/Retrospect/Retro.Config (6.0) Save this file (you should have a backup copy of this file anyway, since it's possible for it to become corrupted in some situations); when you reinstall, simply put it back in place before you launch the program for the first time. This will provide your license information, too. Yes, on my installs, Operations Log matches information on the About Box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Quote: OK... can you please help me to save my newly recreated srcipts and uninstall? I have obviously not managed to cleanly remove Retrospect this time either. I suggest that you do the following command from Terminal to find all of the copies of Retrospect: Code: locate Retrospect/Retrospect That will show you where your copies of Retrospect are. Proper uninstall is left as an exercise to the reader. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safendoulis Posted July 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 iMac:~ stefan$ locate Retrospect/Retrospect /Applications/Retrospect 6.1/Retrospect/Retrospect iMac:~ stefan$ From the log now... ∆ Retrospect version 6.1.126 launched at 7/3/2007 6:33 AM The About Box .... Retrospect Backup Version 6.1.126 Device Access Version 1.0.107 Driver Update Version {blank} Note: The log no longer details the Driver Update Version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safendoulis Posted July 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 I just downloaded the latest RDU from the EMC website and ran it. It created the following entry in the Log, the same detail appeared in the About Box but disappeared on a subsequent launch of Retrospect. The RDU is not appearing in the log at each launch either, not sure if that's an issue? ∆ Retrospect version 6.1.126 launched at 7/3/2007 6:33 AM + Retrospect Driver Update, version 6.1.10.100 Quit at 7/3/2007 6:37 AM ∆ Retrospect version 6.1.126 launched at 7/3/2007 6:37 AM Quit at 7/3/2007 6:38 AM ∆ Retrospect version 6.1.126 launched at 7/3/2007 6:38 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Quote: The RDU is not appearing in the log at each launch either, not sure if that's an issue? It's some sort of issue. If the Device Update file is located in the same folder as the application, it should load on launch, and be noted in the log. What happened between 6:33 am and 6:37 am? How strong _is_ your coffee??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Quote: I just downloaded the latest RDU from the EMC website and ran it. Um, it's a bit unclear what happened here. You don't "run" the RDU - you put it in the same folder as Retrospect (in your case, because you now only have one copy of Retrospect installed, and in the correct place, I might add, the RDU should be put in the "/Applications/Retrospect 6.1/Retrospect/" folder). Retrospect looks around for the RDU and loads it when it is launched. You might want to regress to the prior RDU version (RDU 6.1.9.102) because some people have been reporting problems with 6.1.10.100. The earlier versions are here: RDU version history But this is not your immediate problem, and there is no evidence of which I am aware that RDU 6.1.10.100 causes the "two copies of Retrospect launching" problem. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safendoulis Posted July 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 I am trying to cut back on the java, maybe that's the issue! This is a case of R.T.F.M. I;m afraid.... ∆ Retrospect version 6.1.126 launched at 7/3/2007 7:17 AM + Retrospect Driver Update, version 6.1.10.100 Quit at 7/3/2007 7:17 AM ∆ Retrospect version 6.1.126 launched at 7/3/2007 7:18 AM + Retrospect Driver Update, version 6.1.10.100 I mounted the RDU and clicked on it, that generated the entry in the log originally but that is all. When I just went back and READ the readme.txt I saw I needed to copy the RDU to the application folder. Now the RDU is launched each time. I think this is solved. Let's just see if I get an duplicate launches again. I am guessing that the dual Retrospects running is what clobbered the retrorunfile in the past too. I appreciate your help man. Let's hope this is nailed now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Quote: I am guessing that the dual Retrospects running is what clobbered the retrorunfile in the past too. Perhaps, but there are other (unknown to me) causes for the retrorunfile becoming clobbered. I have seen it about once a month for over two years, and have never had two copies of Retrospect installed. Just a rather vanilla scheduled backup once a night that runs 4 backup scripts when all client computers are logged out. There is a recent thread in these forums where one user was able to come up with a reproducible test case that would cause two copies of Retrospect to be running even if only one copy was installed. We can only hope that this bug will be fixed some day, but I'm not holding my breath because I haven't seen much of an effort toward that goal in two years. Never saw it in the 13 years that we ran Retrospect on our ASIP server; only started when we migrated to an OS X server with Retrospect. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Quote: >I have seen it about once a month for over two years, and have never had two copies of Retrospect installed. Just a rather vanilla scheduled backup once a night that runs 4 backup scripts when all client computers are logged out. And on my current configuration, an old G4/OSX Server with three SATA internal drives backing up only itself, I have not seen either problem at all in two years of nightly scheduled backups. When I was running File Backup Sets to an attached FireWire drive on a Blue & White G3 (under Retrospect 5.1) I saw the corrupted retrorun fairly often. I've never seen the dual-launch bug with my own eyes. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Quote: there are other (unknown to me) causes for the retrorunfile becoming clobbered. I have seen it (retrorunfile becoming clobbered) about once a month for over two years Sorry my post was unclear. It is the "corrupted retrorunfile prevents autolaunch of scheduled scripts" that I see about once a month. I have only seen the "two copies of Retrospect running" happen once, and my occurrence was similar to the test conditions posted by another user (manually launch Retrospect when there is a scheduled backup pending that didn't happen when retrorunfile became corrupted, and when there is another scheduled backup that also became pending before the launch). The reproducible case posted by the other user was when a scheduled backup was missed because the machine was off. Our server never goes off (except when there was a fire in out building), but the similarity I saw with his reproducible test case was that I had a pending backup that was over 24 hours missed, and one pending backup that was just a few minutes missed. I did the "trash retrorunfile" dance, quit retrospect, started retrospect, and saw two copies running. But that has only happened once. Neither happened before transition to OS X. As most people who frequent these forums know, I only back up to tape in an autoloader. Don't do backup to DVD or to firewire disks. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Quote: my occurrence was similar to the test conditions posted by another user (manually launch Retrospect when there is a scheduled backup pending that didn't happen when retrorunfile became corrupted, and when there is another scheduled backup that also became pending before the launch). Russ, Are you suggesting that a pre-condition for the double-launch bug might be that the retrorun file must already be corrupted (when the scheduled script time is missed)? Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Quote: Are you suggesting that a pre-condition for the double-launch bug might be that the retrorun file must already be corrupted (when the scheduled script time is missed)? No. Instead, I believe that the pre-condition is that Retrospect miss a scheduled backup for any reason (machine off, corrupted retrorun file), not be running, and then is launched from a dock icon with the scheduled backup pending. A second Retrospect icon then appears in the dock, in addition to the one that is always there. The Retrospect log shows double launch, and both icons in the dock have "running" triangles under them. As I indicated, I have only seen it happen once, so I wasn't able to gather info such as PID, parent processes, UID, etc. This sequence occurs when Retrospect is launched after missing a scheduled backup, during the dance to trash retrorunfile, relaunch, etc. Don't know about you, but there appears to be a "double launch" of Retrospect even in normal times. A few bounces, then the triangle under Retrospect disappears, then more bounces and it launches. Understand that my view may be different from what others see because we access Retrospect on our headless Xserve G5 using Apple Remote Desktop ("ARD"), which causes its own artifacts because the server's console is over the network via ARD. But I really do believe that Retrospect launches, then quits, then re-launches itself each time. Perhaps it's something that Retrospect does to get root privileges when launched from a non-root account. It's my suspicion that there is a race that occurs during the launch, quit, relaunch, and that retrorun is launching another copy in addition to the copy that is manually launched by clicking on the dock icon. I don't have the source, so I don't know how Retrospect bootstraps itself up. Here's the thread where another user was able to create a reproducible test case without a corrupted retrorunfile, which started me thinking about the one time I saw two copies running: Two copies of Retrospect Running - reproducible test case As you can see later in that thread, EMC verified that, using the information in that thread, they now have been able to reproduce this situation in house (two months ago). Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Quote: I believe that the pre-condition is that Retrospect miss a scheduled backup for any reason (machine off, corrupted retrorun file), not be running, and then is launched from a dock icon with the scheduled backup pending. Hmmm. But if all is healthy with retrorun file, then Retrospect will (should) autolaunch shortly after the machine comes alive/awake. The only way a user could launch via the application icon (Dock or otherwise) would be if retrorunfile were corrupted, or if retrorun itself had crashed (or if auto-launch were disabled in Preferences). Anyway, I'm pretty certain many (if not most) of the Forum reports of this bug were auto-launched, not Dock launched. Remeber the ones that had funky time/date stamps in the Log? Ah, good times. > But I really do believe that Retrospect launches, then quits, then re-launches itself each time. Yep. > Perhaps it's something that Retrospect does to get root privileges when launched from a non-root account. Yep indeedy. First Retrospect runs as the current (non-root) user. Then LaunchRetro* runs briefly, then Retrospect re-launches as root. (* /Applications/Retrospect 6.1/Retrospect 6.1.126/Contents/MacOS/LaunchRetro) > As you can see later in that thread, EMC verified that, using the information in > that thread, they now have been able to reproduce this situation in house I don't read it that way; I don't think that the post by AmyJ suggests that the Forum thread is what lead them to reproduce it. The information provided by Oliverh certainly wasn't enough to reproduce it when I tried; simply missing a scheduled execution isn't enough to go on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharpshooter9534 Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 Hey, Call me Dave – exactly how patronising and condescending do you have to be to get your point across? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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