cut-off time for rsync ?

[Andrew Gideon]

On Thu, 02 Jul 2015 20:57:06 +1200, Mark wrote:

> You could use find to build a filter to use with rsync, then update the
> filter every few days if it takes too long to create.

If you're going to do something of that sort, you might want instead to 
consider truly tracking changes.  This catches operations that find will 
miss, such as deletes, renames, copies preserving timestamp ("cp -
p ..."), and probably other operations not coming to mind at the moment.

Look at tools like inotifywait, auditd, or kfsmd to see what's easily 
available to you and what best fits your needs.

[Though I'd also be surprised if nobody has fed audit information into 
rsync before; your need doesn't seem all that unusual given ever-growing 
disk storage.]

In addition to catching operations that a find would miss, this also 
avoids the cost of scanning file systems which is the immediate need 
being discussed.  On the other hand, this isn't free either.  I imagine 
that there's some crossover point on one side of which scanning is better 
and on the other auditing is better.

	- Andrew