Option to create ancestors of destination, like "mkdir -p

[Tony Abernethy]

henri wrote:
> >> > I agree with everyone else that it would be incredibly useful for
> rsync to
> >> > either adopt such behaviour by default (assuming always doing
> 'mkdir -p' isn't
> >> > harmful in any way), or have a tunable to enable it.
> >>
> >> I also agree the suggested behavior makes a lot of sense and I think
> it is a good idea.
> >>
> >> However, some deployments may rely upon the current behavior.  As an
> example, a setup may rely on rsync failing if a file system is not
> mounted.  In such a situation, it is worth contemplating whether you
> would you want rsync to generate the mount point and any
> subdirectories, specified for this rsync.
> >>
> >> I personally think that such checks should be external from rsync.
> However, changing the current default behavior has the potential to
> create problems on setups which may rely on the current default
> behavior.
> >>
> >> I recommend the consideration of potential problems which could
> occur if the deployed setups are dependent on the current rsync
> behavior and that default behavior changes. Then based upon the
> severity of these potential problems move ahead or delay the change to
> a major revision change?
> >
> 
> > #!/bin/sh
> > #backup friday
> > #"Spinning up backup drive and mounting it .."
> > cd /
> > mount /mnt/hd2
> > #"Starting backup procedures"
> > rsync -avx --exclude="/home/gary/.thumbnails/"
> > --exclude="/home/gary/tmp/" --delete --ignore-errors /home/gary
> > /mnt/hd2/2010
> > umount /mnt/hd2
> > #END
> 
> The quoted script above is from another thread which was just posted to
> the rsync mailing list : <http://www.mail-
> archive.com/rsync at lists.samba.org/msg25132.html>
> 
> This script above is a good example of the potential problems with
> making 'mkdir -p' the default. I agree that this feature is the way to
> move forward. However, changing the default behavior may cause
> potential issues for various scripts.
> 
> I have no idea how many scripts are there like this, which could
> potentially start start backing up to the wrong file system if the
> drive is not successfully mounted.
> 
> I suggest considering these potential issues and suggest that leaving
> such a change to the next major release is seriously considered.
> 
> my 4ç
> 
> 
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> 
Allow me to chime in with my own not-so-expert experience.
With large masses of data to keep updated, with bad internet connection
at time between locations, with the masses of data sometimes being moved
around, I experience the following:
If I mistype something in the path to the destination, the rsync errors
out and does so very quickly. Making new subdirectories to conform to my
mistyping looks friendlier ... at least until I suffer the consequences.
The existing default has saved my bacon several times.