Improved the documentation on the "quick check" algorithm and the

--size-only option.

diff --git a/rsync.yo b/rsync.yo
index dad93e8..aa9ccc8 100644 (file)
--- a/rsync.yo
+++ b/rsync.yo
@@ -31,6 +31,12 @@ differences between two sets of files across the network connection, using
 an efficient checksum-search algorithm described in the technical
 report that accompanies this package.
 
 an efficient checksum-search algorithm described in the technical
 report that accompanies this package.
 

+It finds files that need to be transferred using a "quick check" algorithm
+that looks for files that have changed in size or in last-modified time (by
+default).  Any changes in the other preserved attributes (as requested by
+options) are made on the destination file directly when the quick check
+indicates that the file's data does not need to be updated.
+

 Some of the additional features of rsync are:
 
 itemization(
 Some of the additional features of rsync are:
 
 itemization(


@@ -471,16 +477,16 @@ a limitation in the rsync protocol), so omit this option if you want to
 request the list of modules from the daemon.
 
 dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
 request the list of modules from the daemon.
 
 dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are

-already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp.
+already the same size and have the same modification timestamp.

 This option turns off this "quick check" behavior, causing all files to
 be updated.
 
 This option turns off this "quick check" behavior, causing all files to
 be updated.
 

-dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will not transfer any files that are
-already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp. With the
-bf(--size-only) option, files will not be transferred if they have the same size,
-regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync
-after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
-exactly.
+dit(bf(--size-only)) This modifies rsync's "quick check" algorithm for
+finding files that need to be transferred, changing it from the default of
+transferring files with either a changed size or a changed last-modified
+time to just transferring files that have a changed size.  This is useful
+when starting to use rsync after using another mirroring system which may
+not preserve timestamps exactly.

 
 dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps, rsync treats the
 timestamps as being equal if they differ by no more than the modify-window
 
 dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps, rsync treats the
 timestamps as being equal if they differ by no more than the modify-window