How to selectively silence rsync

You want the --exclude flag. For example, a local rsync:

rsync -a --exclude cache/ src_folder/ target_folder/

It really is that simple -- that exclude rule will match a directory named "cache" anywhere in your tree.

For more information, look for "--exclude" and the "FILTER RULES" section on the rsync man page:

http://www.samba.org/ftp/rsync/rsync.html

--compare-dest is your friend here:

rsync -rvn --compare-dest /target/ /source/ /extra_target/

(Remove -v and -n after confirming it works for you)

Here's a shell session showing it:

dennis@lightning:~$ cd /tmp
dennis@lightning:/tmp$ mkdir rs1
dennis@lightning:/tmp$ touch rs1/f1
dennis@lightning:/tmp$ rsync -av rs1/ rs2/
sending incremental file list
created directory rs2
./
f1

sent 96 bytes  received 34 bytes  260.00 bytes/sec
total size is 0  speedup is 0.00
dennis@lightning:/tmp$ touch rs1/f2
dennis@lightning:/tmp$ rsync -avn rs1/ rs2/
sending incremental file list
./
f2

sent 71 bytes  received 18 bytes  178.00 bytes/sec
total size is 0  speedup is 0.00 (DRY RUN)
dennis@lightning:/tmp$ rsync -avn rs1/ rs3/
sending incremental file list
created directory rs3
./
f1
f2

sent 49 bytes  received 15 bytes  128.00 bytes/sec
total size is 0  speedup is 0.00 (DRY RUN)
dennis@lightning:/tmp$ rsync -rnv --compare-dest /tmp/rs2/ rs1/ rs3/
sending incremental file list
created directory rs3
f2

sent 49 bytes  received 15 bytes  128.00 bytes/sec
total size is 0  speedup is 0.00 (DRY RUN)