-r required when -a already specified in --files-from?

[Carlos Carvalho]

Kulkarni Shantanu (ml at lists.shantanukulkarni.org) wrote on 30 September 2010 22:05:
 >I am using rsync v.3.0.7 (protocol v30) on ubuntu 10.04.
 >My rsync line looks like this,
 >
 >cd /home/shantanu/
 >rsync -av --files-from=bin/include-to-rsync.dat /home/shantanu/ \
 >        /media/transcend/backup_laptop/shantanu/ 
 >
 >include-to-rsync had directories in this format,
 >bank/
 >dwhelper/
 >clients/
 >
 >When I ran the script I noticed that a files in bank/10-11 were not
 >getting synced. Upon adding "-r" with "-av" the files got synced
 >properly.  I think when one supplies "-a", "-r" is implied. I
 >reconfirmed this from man-page where it says "-a" is equal to
 >"-rlptgoD". 
 >
 >Am I missing anything from the man-page for this?

The man page entry for -a is pretty clear: "The only exception to the
above equivalence is when --files-from is specified, in which case -r
is not implied".