Error on syncing empty directory #3
Description
Hi,
Enabling desktop sync on an empty bewcloud directory (in my examples below a freshly created Notes directory) fails because of underlying rclone errors.
An initial sync run makes rclone complain it cannot sync to an empty directory:
rclone command: rclone bisync -v bewcloud-test3:/Notes/ /home/jovis/.tmp/bewcloud-test3/Notes/
rclone output: 2025/09/03 08:52:32 INFO : Setting --ignore-listing-checksum as neither --checksum nor --compare checksum are set.
2025/09/03 08:52:32 INFO : Bisyncing with Comparison Settings:
{
"Modtime": true,
"Size": true,
"Checksum": false,
"HashType1": 0,
"HashType2": 0,
"NoSlowHash": false,
"SlowHashSyncOnly": false,
"SlowHashDetected": true,
"DownloadHash": false
}
2025/09/03 08:52:32 INFO : Synching Path1 "bewcloud-test3:Notes/" with Path2 "/home/jovis/.tmp/bewcloud-test3/Notes/"
2025/09/03 08:52:32 INFO : Building Path1 and Path2 listings
2025/09/03 08:52:32 INFO : Path1 checking for diffs
2025/09/03 08:52:32 ERROR : Empty prior Path1 listing. Cannot sync to an empty directory: /home/jovis/.cache/rclone/bisync/bewcloud-test3_Notes..home_jovis_.tmp_bewcloud-test3_Notes.path1.lst
2025/09/03 08:52:32 ERROR : Bisync critical error: empty prior Path1 listing: /home/jovis/.cache/rclone/bisync/bewcloud-test3_Notes..home_jovis_.tmp_bewcloud-test3_Notes.path1.lst
2025/09/03 08:52:32 ERROR : Bisync aborted. Must run --resync to recover.
2025/09/03 08:52:32 INFO :
Transferred: 0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Errors: 1 (fatal error encountered)
Elapsed time: 0.0s
2025/09/03 08:52:32 NOTICE: Failed to bisync: bisync aborted
Unfortunately, even after populating this folder with some files and re-running sync from the bewcloud-desktop window, the operation fails, because rclone detects that it has failed previously and requires recovery:
rclone command: rclone bisync -v bewcloud-test3:/Notes/ /home/jovis/.tmp/bewcloud-test3/Notes/
rclone output: 2025/09/03 08:57:50 INFO : Setting --ignore-listing-checksum as neither --checksum nor --compare checksum are set.
2025/09/03 08:57:50 INFO : Bisyncing with Comparison Settings:
{
"Modtime": true,
"Size": true,
"Checksum": false,
"HashType1": 0,
"HashType2": 0,
"NoSlowHash": false,
"SlowHashSyncOnly": false,
"SlowHashDetected": true,
"DownloadHash": false
}
2025/09/03 08:57:50 INFO : Synching Path1 "bewcloud-test3:Notes/" with Path2 "/home/jovis/.tmp/bewcloud-test3/Notes/"
2025/09/03 08:57:50 ERROR : Bisync critical error: cannot find prior Path1 or Path2 listings, likely due to critical error on prior run
Tip: here are the filenames we were looking for. Do they exist?
Path1: /home/jovis/.cache/rclone/bisync/bewcloud-test3_Notes..home_jovis_.tmp_bewcloud-test3_Notes.path1.lst
Path2: /home/jovis/.cache/rclone/bisync/bewcloud-test3_Notes..home_jovis_.tmp_bewcloud-test3_Notes.path2.lst
Try running this command to inspect the work dir:
rclone lsl "/home/jovis/.cache/rclone/bisync"
2025/09/03 08:57:50 ERROR : Bisync aborted. Must run --resync to recover.
2025/09/03 08:57:50 INFO :
Transferred: 0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Errors: 1 (fatal error encountered)
Elapsed time: 0.0s
2025/09/03 08:57:50 NOTICE: Failed to bisync: bisync aborted
Finally, I can resolve the error by manually running the rclone command with the suggested --resync flag:
$ rclone bisync --resync -v bewcloud-test3:/Notes/ /home/jovis/.tmp/bewcloud-test3/Notes/
2025/09/03 09:19:22 INFO : Setting --ignore-listing-checksum as neither --checksum nor --compare checksum are set.
2025/09/03 09:19:22 INFO : Bisyncing with Comparison Settings:
{
"Modtime": true,
"Size": true,
"Checksum": false,
"HashType1": 0,
"HashType2": 0,
"NoSlowHash": false,
"SlowHashSyncOnly": false,
"SlowHashDetected": true,
"DownloadHash": false
}
2025/09/03 09:19:22 INFO : Synching Path1 "bewcloud-test3:Notes/" with Path2 "/home/jovis/.tmp/bewcloud-test3/Notes/"
2025/09/03 09:19:22 INFO : Copying Path2 files to Path1
2025/09/03 09:19:22 INFO : - Path2 Resync is copying files to - Path1
2025/09/03 09:19:22 INFO : There was nothing to transfer
2025/09/03 09:19:22 INFO : - Path1 Resync is copying files to - Path2
2025/09/03 09:19:22 INFO : Hello.md: Copied (new)
2025/09/03 09:19:22 INFO : Resync updating listings
2025/09/03 09:19:22 INFO : Validating listings for Path1 "bewcloud-test3:Notes/" vs Path2 "/home/jovis/.tmp/bewcloud-test3/Notes/"
After this, running sync from the desktop client also succeeds:
rclone command: rclone bisync -v bewcloud-test3:/Notes/ /home/jovis/.tmp/bewcloud-test3/Notes/
rclone output: 2025/09/03 09:21:56 INFO : Setting --ignore-listing-checksum as neither --checksum nor --compare checksum are set.
2025/09/03 09:21:56 INFO : Bisyncing with Comparison Settings:
{
"Modtime": true,
"Size": true,
"Checksum": false,
"HashType1": 0,
"HashType2": 0,
"NoSlowHash": false,
"SlowHashSyncOnly": false,
"SlowHashDetected": true,
"DownloadHash": false
}
2025/09/03 09:21:56 INFO : Synching Path1 "bewcloud-test3:Notes/" with Path2 "/home/jovis/.tmp/bewcloud-test3/Notes/"
2025/09/03 09:21:56 INFO : Building Path1 and Path2 listings
2025/09/03 09:21:56 INFO : Path1 checking for diffs
2025/09/03 09:21:56 INFO : Path2 checking for diffs
2025/09/03 09:21:56 INFO : No changes found
2025/09/03 09:21:56 INFO : Updating listings
2025/09/03 09:21:56 INFO : Validating listings for Path1 "bewcloud-test3:Notes/" vs Path2 "/home/jovis/.tmp/bewcloud-test3/Notes/"
2025/09/03 09:21:56 INFO : Bisync successful
2025/09/03 09:21:56 INFO :
Transferred: 0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks: 2 / 2, 100%, Listed 1
Elapsed time: 0.0s