Create "thincopy": with fileystem metadata only?

[Peter B.]

Dear Stein,

Thanks for the suggestions and link to your patch.

Indeed it's quite related to scenarios I'm having with large scale 
audiovisual collection synchronizations in memory institutions.

My request here on this list however goes beyond "something I can get to 
work in my setup":
Even though I may write workaround-code to rsync to do what I want - 
someone else may not.
Therefore, if certain basic functionalities are not available upstream, 
I doubt they will be picked up "as an option" by others.

At least that's the case in my domain (GLAM).

For example, that's why I had "streamhash" added upstream to FFmpeg, as 
it was the only way to get rid of "everyone writing the same bash code 
again and again" ;)
https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-all.html#streamhash-1



On 16.02.25 14:46, Stein Vidar Hagfors Haugan wrote:
> I hope you're not looking for a solution that compares the xattrs (which I know nothing about) in order to determine whether or not to transfer files, I'd want two months for that ;-). Would be fixed if the source time stamp changes when xattrs are changed, though.

For the time being, no.
However, my work and research on finally using xattrs /seriously/ for 
what they were designed for: I'd actually consider reliable 
attribute-sync-and-handling a very useful thing.

My work pulls me further into what is known as "big data" tech stacks 
and Object Storages: And handling "meta with data" on the filesystem is 
very much a requirement for modern day data-collection handling IMO.


Anyways,
If there's anything we can do to get rsync to handle our "modern" 
large-data needs, I'd be very happy.


Thanks for anyone engaging in this discussion! :D
Peter