[Tutor] Writing to a file problem....

[Marty Pitts]

Hi,

I am currently working my way through the .pdf Byte of Python tutorial by Swaroop, C H

After about 1/2 way I ran into a problem that my own trouble shooting has failed :-(.

The script created is for backing up files into a .zip format.  It is written by the 
author in a *nix environment. However, I am currently on a *doz box. I have made certain
changes in order for it to play nice with Windows, but I am still stumped.

Here is the script:

#!c:\python26\python.exe
# Filename : backup_ver1.py

import os
import time

#1. The files and directories to be backed up are specified in a list
source = ['c:\Users\Marty\Downloads', 'c:\Users\Marty\Contacts']

#2. The backup must be stored in a main backup directory
target_dir = 'J:\\backup\\'

#3. The files are backed up into a zip file.
#4. The name of the zip archive is the current date and time
target = target_dir + time.strftime('%Y%m%d%H%M%S') + '.zip'

#5. We use the zip command to put files in a zip archive
zip_command = "c:\Users\Marty\Zip\Zip -!rv '%s' %s" % (target, ' '.join(source))

# Run the backup
if os.system(zip_command) == 0:
    print 'Sucessful backup to', target
else:
    print 'Backup FAILED'

The error I get running the script from a command prompt is: 
C:\Python26>backup_ver1.py
zip I/O error: Invalid argument

zip error: Could not create output file ('J:/backup/20081205002535.zip')
Backup FAILED

>From what I can tell, it might be a problem writing the file in Windows.
Maybe a rights issue.  I don't know.  I have tried granting the folder
all the write rights I could think of.

If I change the target_dir to just 'j:' I then get the zip program appearing
to run through all the files compressing them, but I end up with this msg:

total bytes=104598424, compressed=102594319 ->2% savings
   zip warning: new zip file left as 'J:zia03824
zip I/O error: Invalid argument

zip error: Could not create output file (was replacing the original zip file)
Backup FAILED


Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Marty.

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