Create "thincopy": with fileystem metadata only?

[Peter B.]

Hello everyone :)

I'd like to follow up on this thread of mine, if that's okay?

Is there anything I could do to get the feature functionality of "using 
rsync to create a thin (attributes-only) copy" upstream on the long term?

Could I talk to a developer, for hire?
I'm really professionally interested in such a feature, as it would 
greatly make our lives in the galleries-libraries-archives-museums 
(GLAM) world :D


Thank you very much in advance!
Peter B.


On 11.12.24 17:17, Peter B. via rsync wrote:
> On 12/10/24 21:15, Roland Kletzing wrote:
>> hello,
>> that sounds interesting - just one question:  what about file size? is
>> it always zero or is it set to the original size and the file contents
>> are empty ?
>
> The filesize (IMO) should stay 0 bytes, since the file actually /is/ 
> empty.
> I believe forging the filesize number in the filesystem to its source 
> (original) size would be more misleading than helpful...
>
> When working with xattrs, one gets used to 0-Byte files pretty quickly 
> though :)
>
> However, I like to store the original filesize as "yet-another" 
> metadata key/value xattr information with the 0-Byte files. Works like 
> a charm and so it's clear that "there is no payload" - but it's a 
> stub, referring to another file.
>
>
> Regards,
> Peter
>
>
>