Shell script, executing command with variables

[jaredhanks]

Hello,

I've got an annoying problem with a shell script that sets some variables, then executes rsync with_my_options_defined_in_variables. Here's what my script looks like:

#!/bin/sh

DEST="r002"
USER="root"
BACKDIR="/"
DESTDIR="/"
FILTER=/etc/rsyncd.filter

if [ ! -f $FILTER ]
then
        # Doesn't exist
        FILTER=" "
else
        # Exists
        echo "FILTER is: " $FILTER
fi
OPTS="-n -vv -u -a --rsh=ssh --filter='merge "$FILTER"' --stats --progress"

# May be needed if run by cron?
export PATH=$PATH:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin

# Only run rsync if $DEST responds.
VAR=`ping -s 1 -c 1 $DEST > /dev/null; echo $?`
if [ $VAR -eq 0 ]; then
        echo "Command to execute: rsync $OPTS $BACKDIR $USER@$DEST:$DESTDIR"
	#this returns an error
        rsync $OPTS $BACKDIR $USER@$DEST:$DESTDIR
        
        EXEC_CMD="rsync $OPTS $BACKDIR $USER@$DEST:$DESTDIR"
	#this returns same error as above
        $EXEC_CMD
        
	#this works just fine
        rsync -n -vv -u -a --rsh=ssh --filter='merge /etc/rsyncd.filter' --stats --progress / root@r002:/
else
    echo "Cannot connect to $DEST."
fi

Inside the "if" statement I've tried running the command 3 different ways:
1. rsync with the options.
2. declare new variable with the entire command, then execute it.
3. run the command with all the options not using variables.

This is what I get when I run the command:

zRH5> ./rsync_opt.sh  
FILTER is:  /etc/rsyncd.filter
OPTS:  -n -vv -u -a --rsh=ssh --filter='merge /etc/rsyncd.filter' --stats --progress
Command to execute: rsync -n -vv -u -a --rsh=ssh --filter='merge /etc/rsyncd.filter' --stats --progress / root@r002:/
Unknown filter rule: `'merge'
rsync error: syntax or usage error (code 1) at exclude.c(769) [client=2.6.8]
Unknown filter rule: `'merge'
rsync error: syntax or usage error (code 1) at exclude.c(769) [client=2.6.8]
opening connection using ssh -l root r002 rsync --server -vvunlogDtpr . / 
building file list ... 
[sender] hiding directory srv because of pattern /*
[sender] hiding file webmin-setup.out because of pattern /*]
...snip...

I'm sure it's just a simple syntax problem with the quotes or with how I'm defining the variables, but I can't figure it out for the life of me. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jared

[lomcevak]

Try this:

echo $EXEC_CMD
eval $EXEC_CMD

The 'echo' is to see what the command looks like.

Run the script like this to see the commands as they execute:

sh -vx ./rsync_opt.sh

[jaredhanks]

When executing the script using sh -vx I got:

FILTER=/etc/rsyncd.filter
+ FILTER=/etc/rsyncd.filter

...snip...

OPTS="-avz --rsh=ssh --filter='merge $FILTER' --stats"
+ OPTS='-avz --rsh=ssh --filter='\''merge /etc/rsyncd.filter'\'' --stats'

...snip...

+ echo 'OPTS: ' -avz --rsh=ssh '--filter='\''merge' '/etc/rsyncd.filter'\''' --stats
OPTS:  -avz --rsh=ssh --filter='merge /etc/rsyncd.filter' --stats

...snip...

+ rsync -avz --rsh=ssh '--filter='\''merge' '/etc/rsyncd.filter'\''' --stats / root@r002:/
Unknown filter rule: `'merge'

Using eval worked just fine though.

Why would there be extra slashes and apostrophes?