preserving symlinks

[John Van Essen]

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004, C.Zimmermann <C.Zimmermann at prz.tu-berlin.de> wrote:
> 
> I only want to preserv symlinks when copying but rsync deletes the
> leading "/" on the target system or does nothing regarding to the
> options I use.
> 
> My Symlink on the Source Filesystem : serviceWeb ->
> /users/service/.public_html
> 
> results to: serviceWeb -> users/service/.public_html on the destination
> Filesystem

It helps to show the rsync command that you are using, and what version
of rsync is being used.

If you are using rsync in daemon mode (:: vs. :), this is a security
feature described in the "use chroot" option in the rsyncd.conf manpage.

  When "use chroot" is false,  for  security
  reasons, symlinks may only be relative paths point­
  ing to other files within the root path,

rsync "sanitizes" absolute symlinks to make them relative.

Suggestion to Wayne - this security functionality could be described
in its own "Security Issues" or "Daemon vs. non-daemon operation"
section on the manpage rather than buried within an option description.
-- 
        John Van Essen  Univ of MN Alumnus  <vanes002 at umn.edu>