RSync copies only folder directory structure not files

Question

I am using RSync to copy tar balls to an external hard drive on a Windows XP machine.

My files are tar.gz files (perms 600) in a directory (perms 711).

However, when I do a dry-run, only the folders are returned, the files are ignored.

• I use RSync a lot, so I presume there is no issue with my installation.
• I have tried changing permissions of the files but this makes no difference
• The owner of the files is root, which is also the user which the script logs in as
• I am not using Rsync's CVS option

The command I am using is:

rsync^
 -azvr^
 --stats^
 --progress^
 -e 'ssh -p 222' root@servername:/home/directory/ ./

Is there something I am missing to get my files copied over?

Answer 1

I can think of only a single possibility: My experience with rsync is that it creates the directory structure before copying files in. Rsync may be terminating prematurely, but after this directory step has been completed.

Update0

You mentioned that you were running dry run. Rsync by default only shows the directory names when the directory and all its contents are not present on the receiver.

After a lot of experimentation, I'm only able to reproduce the behaviour you describe if the directories on the source have later modification dates than on the receiver. In this instance, the modification times are adjusted on the receiver.