Preserve Windows Symlinks
Edwin Bradford
edwinbradford at gmail.com
Tue Dec 29 18:02:17 UTC 2020
I didn't know that thanks. I was using Unison for years but there's a
recent conflict with the latest version of OpenSSH built in Windows
and although there's a workaround as I use Windows Subsytem for Linux
I decided to just switch to rsync instead.
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Email: edwinbradford at gmail.com
Tel.: +44 (0)7981 873 771
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On Tue, 29 Dec 2020 at 17:52, Kevin Korb <kmk at sanitarium.net> wrote:
>
> Unison doesn't use rsync it only uses librsync (rsync's file diffing
> algorithm). Also, unison has a native Windows version so no *nix
> translation is needed.
>
> On 12/29/20 12:48 PM, Edwin Bradford wrote:
> > Sorry, I should have realized, that makes complete sense in hindsight.
> > I deleted the original source volume symlink and restored from the
> > external volume symlink and the same problem exists... Windows doesn't
> > recognise it as a symlink or appear to know what kind of file it is.
> >
> > Previously I was using Unison File Sync which itself uses rsync and
> > doesn't support preserving symlinks between Windows and Unix so I'm
> > wondering if it's just not possible in which case maybe I'll just have
> > to live with following symlinks --copy-links.
> >
> >
> >
> > + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
> >
> > Email: edwinbradford at gmail.com
> >
> > Tel.: +44 (0)7981 873 771
> >
> > + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 29 Dec 2020 at 16:39, Kevin Korb <kmk at sanitarium.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> Not quite. I meant rsync a symlink then delete the source symlink and
> >> use rsync to restore it from what rsync made. If the target of the
> >> symlink doesn't exist on the other system (in the same place) then the
> >> symlink shouldn't work on the remote but rsync can still backup it up
> >> and restore it. At least that is how it works in *nix.
> >>
> >> On 12/29/20 11:34 AM, Edwin Bradford wrote:
> >>> Yes I found --checksum is much slower so following your feedback I'll do
> >>> some more reading to see if I really need it thanks. Assuming I
> >>> understand correctly I did the following test and also replaced absolute
> >>> symlink paths with relative symlink paths which worked this time:
> >>>
> >>> 1. I deleted and recreated the Windows symlinks on the source volume
> >>> using relative paths.
> >>> 2. I deleted and recreated the same symlinks directly on the destination
> >>> volume.
> >>> 3. I ran the same rsync command with the --archive flag (preserve symlinks).
> >>>
> >>> The result was the symlinks on the destination volume were preserved or
> >>> at least not destroyed by the subsequent sync. If this test is what you
> >>> intended then it shows rsync can preserve the symlink between NTFS
> >>> volumes but I would have to manually recreate the symlinks on the
> >>> destination NTFS volume once.
> >>>
> >>> Have I understood correctly?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Tue, 29 Dec 2020 at 13:53, Kevin Korb via rsync
> >>> <rsync at lists.samba.org <mailto:rsync at lists.samba.org>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> If you delete the link then restore it does it start working again when
> >>> in the correct place?
> >>>
> >>> Also, don't use --checksum unless you are really certain you understand
> >>> how terribly slow it is and how it doesn't actually accomplish much of
> >>> anything (certainly not any kind of data verification).
> >>>
> >>> On 12/29/20 7:29 AM, Edwin Bradford via rsync wrote:
> >>> > Is it possible to preserve Windows symlinks when backing up from
> >>> NTFS to
> >>> > NTFS volumes or any other for that matter?
> >>> >
> >>> > I am running rsync in Ubuntu in Windows Subsytem for Linux on
> >>> Windows 10
> >>> > backing up a local NTFS volume to an external NTFS volume (and
> >>> also to a
> >>> > remote Unix server).
> >>> >
> >>> > The source NTFS volume has symlinks created in Windows using:
> >>> >
> >>> > mklink the\link the\file
> >>> > mklink /d the\link the\directory
> >>> >
> >>> > I am running rsync within a long shell script with the command:
> >>> >
> >>> > rsync
> >>> > --verbose --archive --checksum --itemize-changes --human-readable
> >>> > --delete --delete-excluded --partial --progress --stats
> >>> > --exclude-from='ignore.txt'
> >>> > source/ destination
> >>> >
> >>> > The symlinks are copied to the external NTFS partition and have
> >>> the same
> >>> > name but no functionality. Windows doesn't recognise them as symlinks,
> >>> > doesn't know what to do with them and there is no apparent difference
> >>> > between symlinked directories and files.
> >>> >
> >>> > I tried creating the symlinks with relative paths on the source volume
> >>> > but rsync generated an error and refused to complete. Using
> >>> --copy-links
> >>> > instead of --links (implicit in --archive) gives the expected
> >>> behaviour
> >>> > but I would prefer to preserve symlinks rather than replace them with
> >>> > their linked contents.
> >>> >
> >>> > At this point I'm not sure if it's a limitation of rsync and NTFS
> >>> > compatibility or whether I'm missing something.
> >>> >
> >>> > + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
> >>> >
> >>> > Email: edwinbradford at gmail.com <mailto:edwinbradford at gmail.com>
> >>> <mailto:edwinbradford at gmail.com <mailto:edwinbradford at gmail.com>>
> >>> >
> >>> > Tel.: +44 (0)7981 873 771
> >>> >
> >>> > + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
> >>> >
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> ~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,
> >>> Kevin Korb Phone: (407) 252-6853
> >>> Systems Administrator Internet:
> >>> FutureQuest, Inc. Kevin at FutureQuest.net (work)
> >>> Orlando, Florida kmk at sanitarium.net
> >>> <mailto:kmk at sanitarium.net> (personal)
> >>> Web page: https://sanitarium.net/
> >>> <https://sanitarium.net/>
> >>> PGP public key available on web site.
> >>> ~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,
> >>>
> >>> --
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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)
> >> Web page: https://sanitarium.net/
> >> PGP public key available on web site.
> >> ~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,
>
> --
> ~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,
> Kevin Korb Phone: (407) 252-6853
> Systems Administrator Internet:
> FutureQuest, Inc. Kevin at FutureQuest.net (work)
> Orlando, Florida kmk at sanitarium.net (personal)
> Web page: https://sanitarium.net/
> PGP public key available on web site.
> ~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,
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