Current status of --inplace?

[Steve Bergman]

In the 3.0.4 version of the man pagem dated June 29, 2008, it still
states:

"""
(5) the efficiency of rsync’s delta-transfer algorithm may be reduced if
some data in the destination file is overwritten before it can be copied
to a position later in the file
"""

Also, I know I have read somewhere in the past that the limitation stems
from the fact that "rsync does not yet sort the blocks to be updated". I
presume that the current manual is accurate, but would be interested in
confirmation.  Also, how how significant is this effect?  I have some
possible uses for --inplace which could benefit from not having to copy
all that data locally every time, but which also require good network
efficiency.

Thanks for any insights.

-Steve Bergman