rsync prints "skipping non-regular file" for what appears to be a regular directory

Question

I back up my files using rsync. Right after a sync, I ran it expecting to see nothing, but instead it looked like it was skipping directories. I've (obviously) changed names, but I believe I've still captured all the information I could. What's happening here?

$ ls -l /source/backup/myfiles
drwxr-xr-x 2 me me  4096 2010-10-03 14:00 foo
drwxr-xr-x 2 me me  4096 2011-08-03 23:49 bar
drwxr-xr-x 2 me me  4096 2011-08-18 18:58 baz

$ ls -l /destination/backup/myfiles
drwxr-xr-x 2 me me  4096 2010-10-03 14:00 foo
drwxr-xr-x 2 me me  4096 2011-08-03 23:49 bar
drwxr-xr-x 2 me me  4096 2011-08-18 18:58 baz

$ file /source/backup/myfiles/foo
/source/backup/myfiles/foo/: directory

Then I sync (expecting no changes):

$ rsync -rtvp /source/backup /destination
sending incremental file list
backup/myfiles
skipping non-regular file "backup/myfiles/foo"
skipping non-regular file "backup/myfiles/bar"

And here's the weird part:

$ echo 'hi' > /source/backup/myfiles/foo/test
$ rsync -rtvp /source/backup /destination
sending incremental file list
backup/myfiles
backup/myfiles/foo
backup/myfiles/foo/test
skipping non-regular file "backup/myfiles/foo"
skipping non-regular file "backup/myfiles/bar"

So it worked:

$ ls -l /source/backup/myfiles/foo
-rw-r--r-- 1 me me  3126091 2010-06-15 22:22 IMGP1856.JPG
-rw-r--r-- 1 me me  3473038 2010-06-15 22:30 P1010615.JPG
-rw-r--r-- 1 me me        3 2011-08-24 13:53 test

$ ls -l /destination/backup/myfiles/foo
-rw-r--r-- 1 me me  3126091 2010-06-15 22:22 IMGP1856.JPG
-rw-r--r-- 1 me me  3473038 2010-06-15 22:30 P1010615.JPG
-rw-r--r-- 1 me me        3 2011-08-24 13:53 test

but still:

$ rsync -rtvp /source/backup /destination
sending incremental file list
backup/myfiles
skipping non-regular file "backup/myfiles/foo"
skipping non-regular file "backup/myfiles/bar"

Other notes:

My actual directories "foo" and "bar" do have spaces, but no other strange characters. Other directories have spaces and have no problem. I 'stat'-ed and saw no differences between the directories that don't rsync and the ones that do.

If you need more information, just ask.

Answer 1

Are you absolutely sure those individual files are not symbolic links?

Rsync has a few useful flags such as -l which will "copy symlinks as symlinks". Adding -l to your command:

rsync -rtvpl /source/backup /destination

---

I believe symlinks are skipped by default because they can be a security risk. Check the man page or --help for more info on this:

rsync --help | grep link

---

To verify these are symbolic links or pro-actively to find symbolic links you can use file or find:

$ file /path/to/file
/path/to/file: symbolic link to `/path/file`
$ find /path -type l
/path/to/file