How to make rsync copy actual data instead of symlinks?

Question

In the source directory I have some symbolic links. These links point to some paths and data is present in those paths also; but using rsync it is copying only the link files, not the data that is present in the path.

lrwxrwxrwx 1 lafter lafter   58 Sep 26 16:57 8770 -> ../../../../.sites_repository/brest/8770/3.2.08.05.b-b0001
lrwxrwxrwx 1 lafter lafter   59 Sep 26 16:57 bootdvd -> ../../../../.sites_repository/colombes/bootdvd/12.1.013.000

Any solutions?

Try it with the explicit paths rather than the dotted back path or whatever and see what result you get for a simple test. — Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style, Oct 15 '17 at 23:09
Does this answer your question? [rsync and symbolic links](https://superuser.com/questions/799354/rsync-and-symbolic-links) — Ryan, Dec 21 '19 at 19:58

score 52 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 13 '17 at 07:10

52

man rsync says:

-L, --copy-links    transform symlink into referent file/dir

answered Oct 13 '17 at 07:10

xenoid

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Thanks. This copied the symbolic links target's content. – Rakesh Gupta May 01 '19 at 02:57
macOS As soon -r is involved, it seems not to work. – Atalantia Jun 16 '23 at 05:53
Works for me. What exacly doesn't work (expected/actual result)? – xenoid Jun 16 '23 at 06:51
In a rsync -rL command the alias of a .mkv file transfers only 3K of the original 2.1MB – Atalantia Jun 16 '23 at 09:41
Looks like a very different problem. I would expect either a full copy or nothing at all. Could be a totally unrelated cause... Otherwise it's a bug. – xenoid Jun 16 '23 at 09:46

How to make rsync copy actual data instead of symlinks?

1 Answers1