[Bug 11651] Can we allow --inplace and --sparse to coexist when --whole-file is in play?

[samba-bugs at samba.org]

https://bugzilla.samba.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11651

--- Comment #1 from Peter Wu <peter at lekensteyn.nl> ---
What is the technical limitation exactly? Different transfer algorithms? This
comes from OLDNEWS:

 - Reject the combination of --inplace and --sparse since the sparse-output
   algorithm doesn't work when overwriting existing data.

The --inplace --sparse combination was rejected since
https://git.samba.org/rsync.git/?p=rsync.git;a=commitdiff;h=cfce9f6dc353a013ab8d07c20a392aeaf6cab5ea

For a local full system backup, I would prefer a best-effort transfer where 99%
of all files are copied with --inplace (such that btrfs COW still works) while
that single sparse Docker file of 100G (in reality 0 bytes) does not eat all
space (apply --sparse).

Would that be a possibility? Maybe a --sparse=try option besides
--sparse[=always]?

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