On Tue, 15 Jun 2004, John <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > It may be that there will be files from different systems that are > identical - think system binaries, fonts etc. > > If these are in /var/local/backups/{host1,host2} etc, and I've run a > script to identify these dupes and eliminate them using hard links, can > rsync preserve these hard links even though it can't see them all?
Yes and no. Here are some examples. Assume file A, B and Z are hardlinked on the source and on the target and the source paths being synced includes files A and B, but not Z. 1. If there was no change to A and B, then there is no issue - rsync leaves them alone and all 3 files remain hardlinked on the target. 2. If A changes and becomes independent of an unchanged B, then the new A content is transferred as an individual file and B is left hardlinked to Z. 3. If A (and B and Z) change and remain hardlinked, the new content will be transferred, A and B will be hardlinked, and the hardlink with Z is now lost because rsync doesn't know anything about it. Z on the target now contains old content and becomes independent. -- John Van Essen Univ of MN Alumnus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- To unsubscribe or change options: http://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/rsync Before posting, read: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html