Debian 9 – rsync backup job fails on permissions, ACLs, or xattrs

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Backups complete with errors or fail entirely, risking data protection objectives.

Environment & Reproduction

Appears when source and target filesystems differ in ACL/xattr support or permissions.

# Capture baseline
rsync --version
mount
getfacl /source/path | head -n 40
ls -ld /source/path /backup/path

Root Cause Analysis

Backup command flags and filesystem capabilities are mismatched for ACL/xattr preservation.

Quick Triage

Identify exact rsync exit code and first permission or attribute error.

# Quick triage
rsync -aHAXvn /source/path/ /backup/path/ 2>&1 | tee /tmp/rsync_175.log
echo $?
awk /Permission denied|Operation not supported|xattr|acl/ /tmp/rsync_175.log

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Validate UID/GID mapping, ACL support, and xattr behavior on both sides.

# Detailed diagnosis
id
stat -f /source/path /backup/path
getfacl /source/path/file 2>/dev/null | head -n 40
getfattr -d -m - /source/path/file 2>/dev/null | head -n 40

Solution – Primary Fix

Run rsync with flags matching target capability and execute as appropriate privilege level.

# Primary fix
sudo rsync -aHAX --numeric-ids --delete /source/path/ /backup/path/
# If target lacks xattr or ACL support, remove -X or -A accordingly

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Use backup archives or filesystem-native snapshots when attribute fidelity is incompatible.

# Alternatives
sudo tar --xattrs --acls -cpf /backup/path/backup.tar /source/path
ls -lh /backup/path/backup.tar

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Backup run exits cleanly and restored sample preserves required ownership and metadata.

# Verify
rsync -aHAXvn /source/path/ /backup/path/ | tail -n 40
getfacl /backup/path/file 2>/dev/null | head -n 20

Rollback Plan

Revert to previous backup method if metadata requirements cannot be satisfied safely.

# Rollback
cp /etc/cron.d/backup.job.bak /etc/cron.d/backup.job 2>/dev/null || true
service cron restart

Prevention & Hardening

Standardize backup target capabilities and run periodic restore validation drills.

# Hardening
rsync --version
find /backup/path -maxdepth 2 -type f | head -n 20

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Related errors include rsync exit code 23, operation not supported, and permission denied.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for Debian 9.

View all Debian 9 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

rsync manual, ACL/xattr preservation notes, and Debian backup operations guidance.