For
rsync users, the newest version of
rsync (3.0.6 as of this moment) seems to be able to handle Mac extended attributes and resource forks correctly. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to ship with Snow Leopard, but it can be downloaded and installed fairly easily.
After downloading from the above-linked site, just follow the instructions in the
INSTALL text file, and remember that the
make install command needs to be run with administrator privileges (
sudo). Further, you may need to adjust your
PATH and
MANPATH settings, so that
/usr/local/bin and
/usr/local/share/man (the default install locations) appear earlier in the list than do
/usr/bin, the home of the stock
rsync.
Your current
rsync scripts may need some tweaking, too. For example, the
-E flag no longer refers to extended attributes (it now tells rsync to preserve executability);
-X is used for extended attributes. Also,
-X is not included in the standard
-a (archive) flag, and should be added explicitly.
[
robg adds: The version of
rsync in both Leopard and Snow Leopard is quite old -- 2.6.9, which shipped in November of 2006. You can also install the newest
rsync via either
MacPorts or
Fink.]