--delete does not work with --files-from

[eharris]

When using --delete with --files-from, files that already exist in the destination that are not included in the transfer are not deleted as expected.

To reproduce:

> mkdir test
> touch test/test
> mkdir test2
> touch test2/test2
> echo test > list
> rsync -av --delete --files-from=list test/ test2/
building file list ... done
test

sent 114 bytes  received 35 bytes  298.00 bytes/sec
total size is 0  speedup is 0.00
> ls test2
test  test2
>

As can be seen in this example, the test2 file still remains in the destination directory even though it was not given in --files-from and was not part of the transfer.

Also tried adding both --delete-excluded and -r, and even with these --delete still seems to have no effect.

rsync 3.2.7 on Debian 11 amd64

[opty77]

++

[steadytao]

This is intended behaviour. Deletion only applies inside directories whose complete contents are being synchronised. A --files-from list containing individual paths does not define the complete contents of their parent directory so treating every unlisted destination entry as deletable would be unsafe. I think this can be closed as working as designed.

[opty77]

@eharris: Try rsync -av --include-from=list --exclude='**' --delete-excluded test/ test2/.

@steadytao: Although --delete more or less mentions it, --files-from could at least refer to that.

[opty77]

@eharris: Or rsync -av --ignore-non-existing --delete test/ test2/ first and then yours without --delete.

[steadytao]

@steadytao: Although --delete more or less mentions it, --files-from could at least refer to that.

Could be worth some clarification 🤔 Happy to have any recommendations submitted!

[opty77]

Adding o --delete does nothing. to --files-from description in the manual page could do.

[steadytao]

PR incoming.