Question/comment about -n (dry run) flag of rsync
raf
rsync at raf.org
Tue Mar 10 23:04:41 UTC 2020
raf via rsync wrote:
> T. Shandelman via rsync wrote:
>
> > Rsync is a remarkably handy tool that I use virtually every day.
> >
> > But there is one thing about rsync that drives me totally crazy.
> >
> > Under the -n (dry run) flag, rsync seems to produce exactly the same output
> > as without that flag.
> >
> > I cannot tell you how many times I sit and scratch my head long and
> > hard,after I discover that my intended rsync operations did not actually
> > happen. Until I finally remember that I ran rsync in dry-run mode. That's
> > why! This is especially a problem for very long-running rsync jobs run in
> > dry-run mode.
> >
> > It seems to me that when run in dry-run mode, rsync should display a
> > warning at the very, very end, something like:
> >
> > *WARNING: None of the above operations have been actually performed, *
> > *because you ran rsync in dry-run mode.*
> >
> > Or does rsync already have such a feature, and I am not aware of it?
> >
> > But if not, that is my vote for the next feature to be added. It should be
> > a very, very easy fix.
> >
> > Todd S.
> > Austin, Texas, USA
>
> Bear in mind that it shouldn't happen by default as
> that could break scripts that parse rsync's output. You
> should need to request this behaviour in the config
> file somehow.
Oops. Please ignore that.
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