rsync - Jan 2004 - Cons of using --size-only

I'm doing some tests on rsyncing some Sendmail spool files every 15
minutes to another Sendmail server as a backup. It seems to work well
and efficiently, but I did notice that when users connect via POP the
spool file updates it's time. Using log-format option, I could see that
even though the file was 0 bytes, it was considered changed and
transferring 40 bytes, which I assume should be normal.

By adding the --size-only option, this behavior has changed and only
changes in file size are being transferred. Is there any negative effect
to using this option?

Thanks,
Max

On Fri, Jan 02, 2004 at 10:52:01AM -0600, Max Kipness
wrote:
> By adding the --size-only option, this behavior has changed and only
> changes in file size are being transferred. Is there any negative
> effect to using this option?
If there can be a change in a file but the file stays the same size, it
will not get transferred.  So, it depends on the type of updating that
you are doing if the --size-only option is viable, or if the risk of
unsent changes is too big.  For mail spools, there can be updates done
that would result in the file size remaining unchanged, but that would
be fairly rare and would often resolve itself the next time that email
arrives.  Whether you consider this risk worth the slight optimization
is up to you.

..wayne..