How should I be using rsync with FAT32/VFAT

[John Long]

Hi,

I have been using rsync for over ten years. Thank you! It is a great
tool.

Recently I had the misfortune to have to use it to sync files to a USB
stick that is for a platform that only supports FAT32.

After missing the point a few times and having it copy some of the same
directories and files needlessly I saw the timestamps on the source
files (in reasonable filesystems like JFS, XFS, etc.) were a few
seconds different from those on the VFAT filesystem on the USB check.
Looking around the net this is a popular issue with FAT32 and people
get around it by ignoring timestamps or by using -rt instead of the
usual -a

Do you have recommendations on the best way to keep file trees in sync
when one of them is FAT32 and the other is a real filesystem?

Thanks,

John Long