Should no-tweak mode become the default?

[Matt McCutchen]

On Sat, 2008-05-10 at 21:04 +0200, Paul Slootman wrote:
> A backup system should at the least ensure that the last version is
> correct. If it has to tweak the attributes to do that, it should.

No one is considering leaving the last version incorrect.  The
"no-tweak" mode replaces the destination file with a new file that has
the correct attributes.

> If another behaviour is required, then that's the responsibility of the
> software used; rsync should not have to be changed to do that, and hence
> the default should not be changed.

I agree that the default should not be changed, but I still would like
to see the --no-tweak option added because it is a good way to safely
resume an interrupted --link-dest backup and get the latest source data.
The alternatives are: (1) use --ignore-existing, which misses recent
changes to already-copied source files, or (2) move the destination
aside and start a new destination with --link-dest to both the old
destination and the previous snapshot, which requires more scripting,
spends extra time relinking and deleting, and gets messy if multiple
interrupts/resumes occur.  I intend to maintain a version of rsync
supporting the --*tweak options in my repository whether or not Wayne
adds the options to the offical rsync.

Matt
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