-a is telling rsync to copy the metadata. --size-only is telling rsync
to skip the contents of files that are the same time. Without
--link-dest rsync would just update the metadata on the target.
However, with --link-dest rsync is being told to make the same file with
2 different metadatas. It can only do so by duplicating the file
(effectively the same as --copy-dest).
On 9/25/22 14:26, Hardy via rsync wrote:> Hi,
>
> SHORT:
> rsync shall ignore differences in meta (inode) data, but does not even
> with --size-only. -- If in combination with --link-dest.
> Is there any flag I missed?
>
> EXPLANATION:
> I use
> rsync -avbuH --size-only --stats --delete-excluded
> --link-dest=/path/to/last "user at system:Shared/Data"
/path/to/now
>
> to sync backup-style and use the --link-dest option to minimize traffic
> (and space) and still have a full backup each time. So far nothing special.
> Now it happens that at the source side data changes are moderate, but
> meta information (like atime, mtime) do change a lot. I didn't find a
> solution to make rsync ignore these differences to use a link.
> --size-only and -t (implied by -a) work ok with a simple syncs, but
> obviously (for me) it does not in combination with --link-dest. I can
> understand the motivation behind this: rsync is not allowed to change
> meta data of the existing inode, nor can it neglect the change - or can it?
>
> Hardy
>
--
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Kevin Korb Phone: (407) 252-6853
Systems Administrator Internet:
FutureQuest, Inc. Kevin at FutureQuest.net (work)
Orlando, Florida kmk at sanitarium.net (personal)
Web page: https://sanitarium.net/
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