XPost: uk.comp.os.linux   
   From: java@evij.com.invalid   
      
   On 2025-10-21 16:37, Dan Purgert wrote:   
   > On 2025-10-21, Java Jive wrote:   
   >> On 2025-10-21 14:49, Dan Purgert wrote:   
   >>> On 2025-10-21, Java Jive wrote:   
   >>>> Having made a slight cock-up, I want to use rsync to move all the files   
   >>>> that exist on one server but not the other into a separate heirarchy.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> More fully:   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I have two identical servers, the second of which rsyncs itself from the   
   >>>> other overnight.  This morning, due to an oversight, I put a load of   
   >>>> files into a directory structure that were intended to go into a   
   >>>> subfolder of it.  What I want to do is rsync from the second server to   
   >>>> the first and move files that only exist on the first into a directory   
   >>>> tree elsewhere on the server, so that then I can move that extraneous   
   >>>> tree back into the originally intended subfolder.  Something like this:   
   >>>   
   >>> rsync doesn't 'move'.   
   >>>   
   >>> *IF* you've already moved the relevant files from /src/wrongdir to   
   >>> /src/correctdir ; then you can rsync with "--delete" to delete those   
   >>> files on /dest/ that are no longer in /src/ (i.e. 'got moved from   
   >>> /src/wrong/ to /src/correct/').   
   >>>   
   >>> I would definitely do the --dry-run, and read it *very* closely, to make   
   >>> sure the rsync isn't removing more than I expect.   
   >>   
   >> Yes, after posting I did a test along the following lines which proved   
   >> the files would be deleted, not moved ...   
   >>   
   >> mkdir 1temp 2temp elsewhere   
   >> touch 1temp/test   
   >> touch 2temp/extratest   
   >>   
   >> rsync -a --backup-dir=elsewhere 1temp/ 2temp/   
   >>   
   >> ls -al 1temp   
   >> 	.   
   >> 	..   
   >> 	test   
   >> ls -al 2temp   
   >> 	.   
   >> 	..   
   >> 	test   
   >> ls -al elsewhere   
   >> 	.   
   >> 	..   
   >>   
   >> :-(   
   >   
   > rsync cannot "backup" something it doesn't know about or isn't   
   > changing... likewise your command shouldn't have deleted "extratest"   
   >   
   > dan@framework:~/rsync$ mkdir 1temp 2temp elsewhere   
   > dan@framework:~/rsync$ touch 1temp/test   
   > dan@framework:~/rsync$ touch 2temp/extratest   
   > dan@framework:~/rsync$ rsync -av --backup-dir=elsewhere 1temp/ 2temp/   
   > sending incremental file list   
   > ./   
   > test   
   >   
   > sent 116 bytes  received 38 bytes  308.00 bytes/sec   
   > total size is 0  speedup is 0.00   
   >   
   > dan@framework:~/rsync$ ls -la 1temp   
   > total 8   
   > drwxr-xr-x 2 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:31 .   
   > drwxr-xr-x 5 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:31 ..   
   > -rw-r--r-- 1 dan dan    0 Oct 21 11:31 test   
   > dan@framework:~/rsync$ ls -la 2temp   
   > total 8   
   > drwxr-xr-x 2 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:31 .   
   > drwxr-xr-x 5 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:31 ..   
   > -rw-r--r-- 1 dan dan    0 Oct 21 11:31 extratest   
   > -rw-r--r-- 1 dan dan    0 Oct 21 11:31 test   
   > dan@framework:~/rsync$ ls -la elsewhere   
   > total 8   
   > drwxr-xr-x 2 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:31 .   
   > drwxr-xr-x 5 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:31 ..   
      
   My mistake, in my post above I didn't transcribe the process directly   
   because for other reasons I'd already logged out of the server.  Below I   
   do so, but get the same result ...   
      
   > Now, if we add in '--delete' ...   
   >   
   > dan@framework:~/rsync$ rsync -av --delete --backup-dir=elsewhere 1temp/   
   > 2temp/  sending incremental file list   
   > deleting extratest   
   >   
   > sent 70 bytes  received 25 bytes  190.00 bytes/sec   
   > total size is 0  speedup is 0.00   
   > dan@framework:~/rsync$ ls -la 1temp   
   > total 8   
   > drwxr-xr-x 2 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:31 .   
   > drwxr-xr-x 5 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:31 ..   
   > -rw-r--r-- 1 dan dan    0 Oct 21 11:31 test   
   > dan@framework:~/rsync$ ls -la 2temp   
   > total 12   
   > drwxr-xr-x 3 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:31 .   
   > drwxr-xr-x 5 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:31 ..   
   > drwxr-xr-x 2 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:33 elsewhere   
   > -rw-r--r-- 1 dan dan    0 Oct 21 11:31 test   
   > dan@framework:~/rsync$ ls -la elsewhere   
   > total 8   
   > drwxr-xr-x 2 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:31 .   
   > drwxr-xr-x 5 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:31 ..   
   > dan@framework:~/rsync$ ls -la 2temp/elsewhere/   
   > total 8   
   > drwxr-xr-x 2 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:33 .   
   > drwxr-xr-x 3 dan dan 4096 Oct 21 11:31 ..   
   > -rw-r--r-- 1 dan dan    0 Oct 21 11:31 extratest   
   >   
   > NOTE -- the deleted file went into "2temp/elsewhere", because of the   
   > behavior of --backup-dir:   
   >   
   >      Note that if you specify a relative path, the  backup  directory   
   >      will  be  relative to the destination directory,   
      
   Unfortunately, this doesn't happen with this rsync on these QNAP servers   
   whether or not I specify an absolute path to elsewhere:   
      
   [user@server Test]# mkdir 1temp 2temp elsewhere   
   [user@server Test]# touch 1temp/test   
   [user@server Test]# touch 2temp/extratest   
   [user@server Test]# rsync -av --backup-dir=elsewhere --delete 1temp/ 2temp/   
   sending incremental file list   
   2./   
   deleting extratest   
   test   
      
   sent 81 bytes  received 34 bytes  230.00 bytes/sec   
   total size is 0  speedup is 0.00   
   [user@server Test]# ls -al 1temp   
   total 8   
   drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 2025-10-21 17:28 ./   
   drwxrwx--- 8 user user 4096 2025-10-21 17:27 ../   
   -rw-r--r-- 1 user user    0 2025-10-21 17:28 test   
   [user@server Test]# ls -al 2temp   
   total 8   
   drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 2025-10-21 17:28 ./   
   drwxrwx--- 8 user user 4096 2025-10-21 17:27 ../   
   -rw-r--r-- 1 user user    0 2025-10-21 17:28 test   
   [user@server Test]# ls -al elsewhere   
   total 8   
   drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 2025-10-21 17:27 ./   
   drwxrwx--- 8 user user 4096 2025-10-21 17:27 ../   
   [user@server Test]# mkdir 2temp/elsewhere   
   [user@server Test]# touch 2temp/extratest   
   [user@server Test]# rsync -av --backup-dir=elsewhere --delete 1temp/ 2temp/   
   sending incremental file list   
   ./   
   deleting elsewhere/   
   deleting extratest   
      
   sent 42 bytes  received 15 bytes  114.00 bytes/sec   
   total size is 0  speedup is 0.00   
   [user@server Test]# ls -al elsewhere   
   total 8   
   drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 2025-10-21 17:27 ./   
   drwxrwx--- 8 user user 4096 2025-10-21 17:27 ../   
   [user@server Test]# touch 2temp/extratest   
   [user@server Test]# rsync -av --backup-dir=/LocalPath/elsewhere --delete   
   1temp/ 2temp/   
   sending incremental file list   
   ./   
   deleting extratest   
      
   sent 46 bytes  received 15 bytes  122.00 bytes/sec   
   total size is 0  speedup is 0.00   
   [user@server Test]# ls -al /LocalPath/elsewhere   
   total 8   
   drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 2025-10-21 17:27 ./   
   drwxrwx--- 8 user user 4096 2025-10-21 17:27 ../   
      
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