16

I want to sync Server1 and Server2's logs to LogServer.

For Server1:

rsync -avz -e 'ssh -p 2188' user@server1:/usr/local/servers/logs/* /usr/local/logs/

This one works, but for Server2:

rsync -avz -e 'ssh -p 2188' user@server2:/usr/local/servers/logs/* /usr/local/logs/

It fails:

shell-init: error retrieving current directory: getcwd: cannot access parent directories: no such file or directory
job-working-directory: error retrieving current directory: getcwd: cannot access parent directories: no such file or directory
job-working-directory: error retrieving current directory: getcwd: cannot access parent directories: no such file or directory
rsync: getcwd(): No such file or directory (2)
rsync error: errors selecting input/output files, dirs (code 3) at util.c(992) [sender=3.0.6]
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [receiver]
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(600) [receiver=3.0.6]

Both Server1 and Server2 is hosted on Amazon with the same version of rsync.

I am quite sure that every directory in the command is exists. How can I solve this problem?

UPDATE: I have tried ssh -p 2188 user@server2 pwd, and it doesn't work:

shell-init: error retrieving current directory: getcwd: cannot access parent directories: no such file or directory

job-working-directory: error retrieving current directory: getcwd: cannot access parent directories: no such file or directory

Screenshot

enter image description here

Improve this question
12
  • 1
    What user are you using for rsync? I've seen that error when the current user doesn't have permissions to access the directory structure.
    – Sobrique
    Apr 28, 2014 at 11:09
  • 1
    Or when the user's home directory doesn't exist on the server.
    – Jenny D
    Apr 28, 2014 at 11:10
  • Current user have read permission to those logs and home directory is exist.
    – WoooHaaaa
    Apr 28, 2014 at 14:42
  • Manually SSH into server2 as user. Does that work without any errors? If so, does ls -R /usr/local/servers work without any errors?
    – sciurus
    Apr 28, 2014 at 17:41
  • 1
    Yes, it works without any errors !
    – WoooHaaaa
    Apr 29, 2014 at 4:16

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
51

tldr

My currently logged in UNIX user was in a non-existent folder.

detail

I had the exact same issue, and my solution was something I had never thought of. In my case rsync worked fine for all the time until it stopped during some tests after changes to one of my scripts. The culprit was that my currently logged in UNIX user was in a non-existent folder that was already deleted by a script.

The getcwd(): No such file or directory (2) error message was related to $PWD, not the source, and not the destination.

Just change the folder to an existing one (e. g. cd ~) and re-run the script. Don’t forget to alter rsync paths if they aren’t already absolute.

Improve this answer
5
  • 4
    I had a very similar issue today when setting up syncing between two folders and getting this message. The source and destination folders clearly existed. I checked if I might have been in a deleted folder but that wasn't the issue. But I was in the destination folder (which was a rclone mounted Google Drive). I changed my working directory to something else and the sync worked perfectly without giving an error.
    – inquam
    Feb 17, 2018 at 20:30
  • 1
    I had the same issue and this solved it, much gratitude.
    – progonkpa
    Feb 21, 2022 at 9:31
  • Likewise; This error is entirely unhelpful without this accompanying answer. This fact that this error doesn't more clearly point the user toward resolving the issue is... probably a bug in rsync.
    – MRule
    Sep 22, 2022 at 18:19
  • Wow, it does make some sense of course, but it also didn't occur to my my rsync from and to two locations I know to exist would fail because I happened to be in a nonexistent working directory. Thanks!
    – Charlie Gorichanaz
    May 6, 2023 at 6:10
  • Wow your answer save me! Same issue when running rsync in a nomoreexist folder
    – Nam G VU
    Sep 13, 2023 at 18:30

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .