rsync hangs or exists without copying anything

[Daniel J. Conlon]

I am trying to mirror a file system using rsync. The command I am using
is of the form:

rsync -a /fs/home/6/ /usr/fs/home/6

/fs/home/6/ is an NFS file system, /usr/fs/home/6 is a local disk.

With versions 2.4.6 and 2.4.7pre1, rsync hangs at random places during
the building file list phase. I tried with and without -v option(s) and
tried breaking the file system down into smaller chunks with no
improvement. 

I have read of many similar problems with later versions of rsync so I
tried with version 2.3.2. This time rsync did not produce any errors,
but did not copy anything. /usr/fs/home/6 is at this point empty so it
should have copied the entire file system. By using the v options(s) and
by breaking the file system down into smaller and smaller sections I
found that rsync was existing at the same point during the building file
list phase, specifically, when it hit's this directory:

make_file(4,a/d/adrenalinuk/public_html/cgi-bin/misc/ib3/Database/Databa
se/Database/active_sessions/Database/Database/address_books/Database/Dat
abase/Database/authorisation/Database/Database/board_statistics/Database
/Database/categories/Database/Database/config/Database/config/Database/c
onfig/Database/config/Database/config/Database/config/Database/config/Da
tabase/config/Database/config/Database/config/Database/config/Database/c
onfig/Database/config/Database/config/Database/config/Database/config/Da
tabase/config/Database/config/Database/config/Database/config/Database/c
onfig/Database/config/Database/config/Database/config/Database/config/Da
tabase/config/Database/config/Database/Database/email_templates/Database
/Database/forum_info/Database/Database/forum_moderators/Database/Databas
e/forum_polls/Database/Database/forum_posts/Database/Database/forum_rule
s/Database/Database/forum_subscriptions/Database/Database/forum_topics/D
atabase/Database/help/Database/Database/Database/mem_groups/Database/mem
_groups) 

Is there some kind limit on the depth of file system rsync can cope
with? Or the length of the filename? If so, how can I increase it or
simply have rsync ignore paths or depths greater than the maximum,
rather than just exiting?

If there is no limit, how can I overcome this problem?

Many thanks for your help in advance.


Kind Regards,

Daniel Conlon