rsync - Jul 2009 - --delete-before doesn't seem to actually be deleting before transfer

I have a script transferring some backup files onto a USB stick, which
has limited space. I use rsync 3.0.5 with the following command:
rsync -av --delete-before /local/backups/dir/backup1_todaysdate
/local/backups/dir/backup2_todaysdate
/local/backups/dir/backup3_todaysdate /USBstick/backups/dir

The USB stick runs out of space if more than 1 backup set is put on it,
so I'd assumed that by using the --delete-before option would first
scrub /USBstick/backups/dir of any files that I hadn't listed to be
transfered - is this how it works? Because it doesn't seem to work that
way - I have to manually delete the old backups from the USB stick
before transferring the new.

Thanks for any help

Tim Edwards

You need to use --delete instead of just the --delete-before. You do  
not actually need the "before" bit as this is the default for
--delete.

-david

On 14 Jul 2009, at 12:01, Tim Edwards wrote:
> I have a script transferring some backup files onto a USB stick, which
> has limited space. I use rsync 3.0.5 with the following command:
> rsync -av --delete-before /local/backups/dir/backup1_todaysdate
> /local/backups/dir/backup2_todaysdate
> /local/backups/dir/backup3_todaysdate /USBstick/backups/dir
>
> The USB stick runs out of space if more than 1 backup set is put on  
> it,
> so I'd assumed that by using the --delete-before option would first
> scrub /USBstick/backups/dir of any files that I hadn't listed to be
> transfered - is this how it works? Because it doesn't seem to work  
> that
> way - I have to manually delete the old backups from the USB stick
> before transferring the new.
>
> Thanks for any help
>
> Tim Edwards
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On 14.07.2009 13:01, Tim Edwards wrote:
> I have a script transferring some backup files onto a USB stick, which
> has limited space. I use rsync 3.0.5 with the following command:
> rsync -av --delete-before /local/backups/dir/backup1_todaysdate
> /local/backups/dir/backup2_todaysdate
> /local/backups/dir/backup3_todaysdate /USBstick/backups/dir
> 
> The USB stick runs out of space if more than 1 backup set is put on it,
> so I'd assumed that by using the --delete-before option would first
> scrub /USBstick/backups/dir of any files that I hadn't listed to be
> transfered - is this how it works? Because it doesn't seem to work that
> way - I have to manually delete the old backups from the USB stick
> before transferring the new.
I think you have more of a problem with how rsync updates a changed file 
than with --delete-before.

See --inplace in the man-page.

Without --inplace, you temporarily need as much additional free space as 
the biggest (changed) file.




Bis denn

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On Tue, 2009-07-14 at 13:01 +0200, Tim Edwards wrote: 
> I have a script transferring some backup files onto a USB stick, which
> has limited space. I use rsync 3.0.5 with the following command:
> rsync -av --delete-before /local/backups/dir/backup1_todaysdate
> /local/backups/dir/backup2_todaysdate
> /local/backups/dir/backup3_todaysdate /USBstick/backups/dir
> 
> The USB stick runs out of space if more than 1 backup set is put on it,
> so I'd assumed that by using the --delete-before option would first
> scrub /USBstick/backups/dir of any files that I hadn't listed to be
> transfered - is this how it works?
No, rsync will only do that if if you have it
"synchronize" /USBstick/backups/dir , i.e., specify a source directory
that maps to it.  Just copying several dirs _into_ /USBstick/backups/dir
does not do the trick.  See the description of --delete in the man page.

Something like the following, copying the entire /local/backups/dir but
excluding all the backups except those you want, would work:

rsync -av --delete-before --include=/backup1_todaysdate
--include=/backup2_todaysdate --include=/backup3_todaysdate
--exclude='/*' /local/backups/dir/ /USBstick/backups/dir

-- 
Matt