add --copy-devices option to rsync

[thulle]

Binary package hint: rsync

1) The release of Ubuntu you are using, via 'lsb_release -rd' or System -> About Ubuntu
$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 10.10
Release: 10.10

2)
$ apt-cache policy rsync
rsync:
  Installed: 3.0.7-2ubuntu1
  Candidate: 3.0.7-2ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 3.0.7-2ubuntu1 0
        500 http://se.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

3) What you expected to happen
I want to be able to copy whole device content as part of backing up kvm virtual machines, this can be enabled by adding patches/copy-devices.diff from rsync-patches-3.0.7.tar.gz

4)
$ rsync --copy-devices
rsync: --copy-devices: unknown option

Apparently some one using fedora had the same idea; https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=494313

[Jan (jan-redhat-bugs)]

Description of problem:
Can you please add this patch:
  patches/copy-devices.diff
as a part of binary rpm? This patch is already in src.rpm (in patches tar).
This patch allows rsyncing device content, instead of default device special device.
I need this option in my project, which backup systems over network and can rsync device content with only minimal changes.
This change can significatly increase speed of my script, which currently need to copy everything (dd) over network.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
rsync-3.0.5-1.fc10.i386

How reproducible:
always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. rsync --copy-devices

Actual results:
rsync: --copy-devices: unknown option
rsync error: syntax or usage error (code 1) at main.c(1423) [client=3.0.5]
:-)

Expected results:
Working device rsync copy.

Additional info:
Please, if possible, do this change for F9 and F10 too, not only for rawhide.

To apply this patch, it's enough to add this line after your patches:
  patch -p1 -i patches/copy-devices.diff

[Jan (jan-redhat-bugs)]

Simo, is there something wrong with this patch?

If not and you are too busy, I can apply it in fedora CVS.

[Simo (simo-redhat-bugs)]

please feel free to do it, I am a bit busy these days.

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

rsync-3.0.5-2.fc10 has been submitted as an update for Fedora 10.
http://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/rsync-3.0.5-2.fc10

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

rsync-3.0.5-2.fc11 has been submitted as an update for Fedora 11.
http://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/rsync-3.0.5-2.fc11

[Jan (jan-redhat-bugs)]

Packages built for F-10, F-11 and devel.
Updates submitted.

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

rsync-3.0.5-2.fc11 has been pushed to the Fedora 11 testing repository. If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.
 If you want to test the update, you can install it with
 su -c 'yum --enablerepo=updates-testing update rsync'. You can provide feedback for this update here: http://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/F11/FEDORA-2009-5309

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

rsync-3.0.5-2.fc10 has been pushed to the Fedora 10 testing repository. If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.
 If you want to test the update, you can install it with
 su -c 'yum --enablerepo=updates-testing update rsync'. You can provide feedback for this update here: http://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/F10/FEDORA-2009-5322

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

rsync-3.0.5-2.fc10 has been pushed to the Fedora 10 stable repository. If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

rsync-3.0.5-2.fc11 has been pushed to the Fedora 11 stable repository. If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.

[Dan VerWeire (dverweire)]

FYI: The patches for copy-devices and write-devices are located at git://git.samba.org/rsync-patches.git

The copy-devices patch applies cleanly to git://git.samba.org/rsync.git but the write-devices patch does not.

I tried the copy-devices patch and it still skips my LVM volume even though the option is available and enabled. Hopefully this information is helpful to someone as I think this is a worthwhile feature, if it works.

[Dan VerWeire (dverweire)]

I stand corrected, the copy-devices patch does work as is. There was an additional symlink in the path to the device I was trying to copy that I was unaware of.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Simon Déziel (sdeziel)]

Looks like rsync got that option in the end as this is what I get from 18.04's version:

# rsync --help | grep copy-devices
     --copy-devices copy device contents as regular file

# dpkg -l| grep rsync
ii rsync 3.1.2-2.1ubuntu1.4 amd64 fast, versatile, remote (and local) file-copying tool