Confusion regarding rsync vs. rsyncx

[Andrew Gideon]

We currently do backup using rsync amongst Linux and Solaris machines. 
Modulo an ACL issue that we had to patch, this is working extremely well.

But I want to add our OSX machines to the mix.  This is, unfortunately,
leaving me confused about rsyncx.

I can do the normal thing from OSX using rsync.  But the page for rsyncx
says - cryptically, in my ignorant opinion - that rsyncx adds support for
HFS+.

Is this important?  More, does it make a difference if the target of the
backup is not OSX but Linux (and is therefore not running either rsyncx or
HFS+)?

If I'm backing up an OSX machine running rsync to a Linux machine, am I
missing something that will prevent successful/complete restores?  Is this
solved by backing up from OSX running rsyncx to a Linux machine running
rsync?  Or can this only be solved by using OSX as the backup target (which
isn't terribly likely in my current environment)?

Thanks for any insight into this...

 Andrew