Tar: A slop-free alternative to rsync

(drewdevault.com)

10 points | by shscs911 10 hours ago ago

9 comments

  • t312227 10 hours ago ago

    hello,

    as always: imho (!)

    tar is great, and well kown - but not particularly for "incremental backups over the net" ...

    this is what rsync is/was for.

    idk ... whatever the problem is with rsync, but apparently thats none of my business ;))

    you could use, and which usage is very similar to rsync:

    rclone

    * https://rclone.org/

    intro

    * https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2025/4x-faster-network-fil...

    and additionally its also faster than rsync ...

    just my 0.02€

    • opan 6 hours ago ago

      >I had somehow pigeonholed it as "for cloud to local or vice-versa", and never considered it for local transfer, like over my own LAN.

      Huh. Exact same thoughts here. I never used rclone because I don't use AWS or similar, just lots of bare metal on and off my LAN that I can ssh to. I am quite comfortable with rsync's quirks and args, so not sure I'll quit using it, but maybe I'll try rclone next time I do a massive transfer. Similarly I've been shown that ddrescue can act as a full dd replacement, but I'm so used to dd I still tend to use it.

  • oompydoompy74 7 hours ago ago

    What a ridiculous position to take.

    • replooda 6 hours ago ago

      The repo it links to presents their reasons for tracking and potentially avoiding LLM-supported projects; are all of those ridiculous? Is the technology's track record so amazing as to make the conclusion ridiculous? Or did you mean tar as a replacement to rsync, specifically?

      [0] https://codeberg.org/small-hack/open-slopware

      • oompydoompy74 3 hours ago ago

        Yes and Yes and Yes. I’m not an AI maximalist, but this is an extreme position that I believe is, in fact, ridiculous.

        • replooda 3 hours ago ago

          You find it ridiculous, you find it ridiculous. But saying it's "extreme" to avoid software and seek alternatives is just absurd.

  • u1hcw9nx 10 hours ago ago

    Don't forget new GNU-format incremental backups.

        -g, --listed-incremental=FILE
  • rurban 5 hours ago ago

    Drew is getting unbearable.

  • g8oz 9 hours ago ago

    I would recommend rclone as an alternative to rsync over tar.