Weird errors in a BASH script

Question

I am trying to fix this error I keep seeing, and I'm not sure why I'm seeing them. The script generates a list of files older than 7 days, then tars/gzips them into a backup directory. Finally it removes the files once the backup has completed successfully. I am encountering a weird error. The script is simple, most of it is to prevent the script from running twice or hanging, or it handles logging. The important code is between the asterisks.

#!/bin/bash
#
#
#       Title:          fwdCleanup.sh
#       Author:         Matthew Sarro
#       Date:           03/07/2012
#       Desc:           Backs up all files down the tree which are
#                       older than 7 days
#
#
#
#
DATE=`date +%F-%H%M`

LOGFILE=/root/testing/fwdcleanuplogs/$DATE.log
exec 3<>$LOGFILE
exec >&3 2>&3

#define the name of the lockfile
LOCKFILE='/root/testing/fwdcleanup.pid'

# check for existing lockfile
if [ -e "$LOCKFILE" ]; then
# lockfile exists
        #check if file is readable
   if [ ! -r "$LOCKFILE" ]; then
      echo error: lockfile is not readable
      exit 1
   fi

#define PID as the process number in lockfile
   PID=`cat "$LOCKFILE"`
# check if process is signal-able and redirect stderr to /dev/null
   kill -0 "$PID" 2>/dev/null
#if process was signal-able echo an error
   if [ $? == 0 ]; then
      echo error: existing instance of this task is already running
      exit 1
   fi

# process that created lockfile is no longer running - delete lockfile
   rm -f "$LOCKFILE"
#check if lockfile deleted properly
   if [ $? != 0 ]; then
      echo error: failed to delete lockfile
      exit 1
   fi
fi

# create lockfile containing current process ID
echo $$ >"$LOCKFILE"
if [ $? != 0 ]; then
   echo error: failed to create lockfile
   exit 1
fi

#************************
#EDIT IN HERE
#find all files older than 7 days and create a file list
find /root/testing/{MSP,CEMP} -mtime +7 -type f > /root/testing/fwdcleanuplogs/$DATE.list

#add all files from the file list into a tar.gz file
tar -czf /root/testing/backups/$DATE.tar.gz --files-from /root/testing/fwdcleanuplogs/$DATE.list

#delete all files from the file list off disk
rm -f `cat /root/testing/fwdcleanuplogs/$DATE.list`
*************************

# delete lockfile
rm -f "$LOCKFILE"
if [ $? != 0 ]; then
   echo error: failed to delete lockfile
   exit 1
fi

exec 3>&-
exit 0

When I run the script, the following shows up in the generated log:

./fwdCleanup.sh: line 67: backups: command not found

I have no idea why this is showing up - I can't seem to figure it out. The code still executes brilliantly, but the error is driving me batty. I can't see anything in line 67 that would even remotely tell the OS that backups is a command.

Any advice would really be appreciated.

Edit: Before anyone notices: this is being done on a test VM, hence the usage of the root account :)

Answer 1

Your line 67 is ************************* which should really have a # at the beginning. The first * is being expanded by your shell and is picking up the file called backups in the current directory.

Answer 2

Use the -x option to bash to get a trace of what the script is doing. That'll give you a pretty good idea of where things are going bad.