Linux – rsync: chdir /test failed : Permission denied (13)

I was trying to get a more complicated module rsyncing, but it seems that I cannot get the most basic example working…

I have a very simple rsyncd.conf file with a single module running under xinetd;

use chroot  = false
strict modes = false
hosts allow = *

[thumbnails]
path = /test
read only = false

The path has been created and has liberal permissions

    # ls -la /test/
    total 16
    drwxrwxrwx  2 root root 4096 Jul 12 21:50 .
    drwxr-xr-x 26 root root 4096 Jul 12 21:50 ..

xinetd has been configured to run rsyncd as the root user (which was the default);

# cat /etc/xinetd.d/rsync   
# default: off
# description: The rsync server is a good addition to an ftp server, as it \
#       allows crc checksumming etc.
service rsync
{
        disable         = no
        socket_type     = stream
        wait            = no
        user            = root
        server          = /usr/bin/rsync
        server_args     = --daemon
        log_on_failure  += USERID
}

xinetd has been restarted;

# service xinetd restart
Stopping xinetd:                                           [  OK  ]
Starting xinetd:                                           [  OK  ]

However a simple rsync command to that module fails;

# rsync -va /root/testfolder/ localhost::thumbnails
@ERROR: chdir failed
rsync error: error starting client-server protocol (code 5) at main.c(1296) [sender=2.6.8]


Jul 12 21:55:23 opencirrus-i1106 xinetd[10142]: xinetd Version 2.3.14 started with libwrap
 loadavg labeled-networking options compiled in.
Jul 12 21:55:23 opencirrus-i1106 xinetd[10142]: Started working: 1 available service
Jul 12 21:55:27 opencirrus-i1106 xinetd[10142]: START: rsync pid=10147 from=127.0.0.1
Jul 12 21:55:27 opencirrus-i1106 rsyncd[10147]: connect from localhost.localdomain (127.0.
0.1)
Jul 12 21:55:27 opencirrus-i1106 rsyncd[10147]: rsync: chdir /test failed : Permission den
ied (13)
Jul 12 21:55:27 opencirrus-i1106 xinetd[10142]: EXIT: rsync status=255 pid=10147 duration=
0(sec)

I am suspecting that rsync might be dropping permission from root to whatever process actually makes the rsync copy, but whatever it is I can't immediatly see what as the daemon, nobody and sync users can all cd and write in /test.

If I run rsync from the command line eg;

# rsync --daemon 
# rsync -va /root/testfolder/ localhost::thumbnails

this works fine.

I tried the following modifications to the rsyncd.conf;

# cat /etc/rsyncd.conf 
use chroot  = false
strict modes = false
hosts allow = *

[thumbnails]
path = /test
read only = false 
uid = 501
gid = 501

where 501/501 is the uid/gid of a new user I created and chowned the /test folder to it, but I get the same problem.

Other information

Centos 5.4 x86_64
# rsync -v
rsync  version 2.6.8  protocol version 29

additional info…

# ls -alZ /test                 
drwxr-xr-x  rsync-www rsync-www root:object_r:default_t          .
drwxr-xr-x  root      root      system_u:object_r:root_t         ..
-rw-r--r--  rsync-www rsync-www root:object_r:default_t          frontCover40X60.jpg
-rw-r--r--  rsync-www rsync-www root:object_r:default_t          test
-rw-r--r--  rsync-www rsync-www root:object_r:default_t          test2
drwxr-xr-x  rsync-www rsync-www root:object_r:default_t          testdir
-rw-r--r--  rsync-www rsync-www root:object_r:default_t          test.jpg
drwxr-xr-x  rsync-www rsync-www root:object_r:default_t          tetxdir2
drwxr-xr-x  rsync-www rsync-www root:object_r:default_t          tetxdir3