[aklug] Rsync file updating

Question about rsync: say you are syncing local directory "localdir" to remotedir "remotedir". If a file in localdir is changed, but not deleted or moved, does rsync /delete/ the corresponding file in remotedir and /recreate/ it? (And, hence, create a new file with a new inode...) Or does it just /truncate/ the corresponding remote file and give it new data?

Reason I ask: I created my own "poor man's" incremental-snapshot backup solution, using rsync, hard-links, and shifting directories, similiar to what is described here:

http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/

So far, it seems to be working. But for it to work, it would seem as though rsync must always create new files (rather than edit old ones), or the hard links in the older "snapshots" would get updated as well. Am I making sense?

-- 
Christopher Howard
frigidcode.com
theologia.indicium.us
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