Output of --list-only not as I expected for symlinks

Kevin Korb kmk at sanitarium.net
Thu Sep 13 01:54:05 UTC 2018


How would it know what needs to be transferred without looking at both
source and target?  You are correct that it doesn't pay any attention to
the target because it doesn't need a target.  If the source is remote
then it will connect to the remote to do a remote listing and if the
source is local then no connection is needed but then neither is rsync.
As far as obeying the recursive flag, so does ls.

I didn't know it cared about exclude rules but you are right that it
does.  Guess I never tried.  I only ever used it when I was trying to
see what was on an rsync server.

Anyway, if you want to list all the files and dirs but not symlinks and
others in a local tree:
find /path -type f -or -type d -print  (or -ls)

On 09/12/2018 07:53 PM, Michael Hipp via rsync wrote:
> Thank you. But I'm afraid I don't understand. The man entry reads:
> 
> "--list-only
>     This option will cause the source files to be listed instead of
> transferred. This option is inferred if there is a single source arg and
> no destination specified..."
> 
> It doesn't say anything about "list remote files". In fact I am not sure
> why it would even contact the remote end. And the behavior does not
> change even if no destination is specified.
> 
> As far as it ignoring the rest of the command line, note that it does
> obey exclusion rules. Symlinks seem to be the only anomaly in its output.
> 
> I use --dry-run and --itemize-changes frequently. But I was trying to
> find something that would give me a correct list of the candidate source
> files but without having to make an expensive connect to the remote
> server. Any suggestions?
> 
> Thanks,
> Michael Hipp
> 
> 
> 
> On 2018-09-12 11:17, Kevin Korb via rsync wrote:
>> --list-only is simply a way to list remote files when you only have
>> access via rsync.  It ignores the rest of the command line.  You want
>> --dry-run (--itemize-changes would be a good idea too).
>>
>> On 09/12/2018 11:06 AM, Michael Hipp via rsync wrote:
>>> The output of --list-only isn't as I expected as regards symlinks. Here
>>> are my test files:
>>>
>>> $ ls ./src
>>> -rw-------  1 michael michael    0 2018-09-05 09:18:15 file
>>> lrwxrwxrwx  1 michael michael    4 2018-09-05 09:18:28 near_symlink
>>> -> file
>>> lrwxrwxrwx  1 michael michael   23 2018-09-05 09:19:05 far_symlink ->
>>> /home/michael/Documents
>>>
>>> The "destination" dir is empty:
>>>
>>> $ ls ./dest
>>> drwxr-xr-x 31 michael michael 4.0K 2018-09-12 09:46:06 ..
>>> drwx------  2 michael michael 4.0K 2018-09-12 09:50:20 .
>>>
>>> I want to know which files are candidates to transfer. I don't want
>>> symlinks to transfer. So I run it with --list-only :
>>>
>>> $ rsync -r --no-links --list-only ./src/ ./dest
>>> drwx------          4,096 2018/09/06 09:39:16 .
>>> lrwxrwxrwx             23 2018/09/05 09:19:05 far_symlink
>>> -rw-------              0 2018/09/05 09:18:15 file
>>> lrwxrwxrwx              4 2018/09/05 09:18:28 near_symlink
>>>
>>> This seems to indicate the symlinks are expected to transfer. But if I
>>> actually run the transfer by removing --list-only ...
>>>
>>> $ rsync -r --no-links ./src/ ./dest
>>> skipping non-regular file "far_symlink"
>>> skipping non-regular file "near_symlink"
>>>
>>> It does not transfer the symlinks and this is confirmed by the contents
>>> of dest:
>>>
>>> $ ls ./dest
>>> drwxr-xr-x 31 michael michael 4.0K 2018-09-12 09:46:06 ..
>>> -rw-------  1 michael michael    0 2018-09-12 09:57:50 file
>>> drwx------  2 michael michael 4.0K 2018-09-12 09:57:50 .
>>>
>>> So it seems like --list-only isn't being truthful as it surely knows
>>> beforehand the symlinks will not be transferred regardless of the
>>> condition of dest.
>>>
>>> What am I missing?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Michael Hipp
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
> 
> 

-- 
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	Kevin Korb			Phone:    (407) 252-6853
	Systems Administrator		Internet:
	FutureQuest, Inc.		Kevin at FutureQuest.net  (work)
	Orlando, Florida		kmk at sanitarium.net (personal)
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	PGP public key available on web site.
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