rsync with --link-dest=DIR

[Matt McCutchen]

On Sun, 2010-04-18 at 16:57 +0200, Martin wrote:
> When using --link-dest=DIR with DIR on the startup volume everything
> works fine.
> If DIR is a volume on an external drive many files are copied instead
> of creating hard links.
> hardlinks are create e.g. fom .jpg files and from .rtf files but not
> from .doc files and many other files.

The way to troubleshoot this is to pass -i to see why rsync decided not
to hard-link the files.

> My questions:
> 1. How can I apply all patchfiles from the patches directory?

Don't do that.  The patches vary widely in quality, and no one tests
combinations of more than a few of them.  Apply only the patches you
anticipate using.  The top of each patch file tells you which patches,
if any, must be applied before it.

> 2. Can I expect that the creation of hardlinks on external drives then
> will work?

No, the patches are unlikely to fix a problem with a core behavior such
as --link-dest.

> 3. What else could I do to make it work?

See above.

-- 
Matt