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Classic tip · Classic

Rsnapshot - ERROR: /usr/bin/rsync returned 127 while processing

· · Linux Software , Linux Tech Support

Just a quick note for what is really a simple fix. I have been using rsnapshot to back up several machines lately. If you haven't taken a look at rsnapshot on linux for managing snapshot backups (whe…

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Avery J. Parker

IT veteran, maker educator, and author of Network Ninja, 3D Printing Mastery, and AI Workflow Mastery. Business IT: Diversified Tech Solutions.

Updated for 2026 relevance: This is a classic tech tip from the original averyjparker.com blog. Tools and UIs may have changed. Prefer modern built-in security (Windows Security / current Linux distro tools), tested backups, and least privilege. For deeper admin tooling see Network Ninja and the classic archive index. New maker content lives under Projects.

Just a quick note for what is really a simple fix. I have been using rsnapshot to back up several machines lately. If you haven't taken a look at rsnapshot on linux for managing snapshot backups (where only the changes get backed up after the initial run....) it's definitely worth a look.

Anyway, I had recently added a new system to be backed up and was seeing the following error from my Rsnapshot log.... ERROR: /usr/bin/rsync returned 127 while processing hostname....

The first week it happened I postponed looking into it, but this week when it happened a light bulb went on. Maybe I don't have rsync installed on the remote system. Logged in and... guess what $rsync command not found....

The moral of the story is that rsnapshot uses rsync and needs it to be installed both on the system that is serving as the host for backups and any systems that are being backed up.

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