Error when link is broken

Feature
#1

Backuping a Linux folder using

rclone sync -L

When a logical link is broken, on the source, I get an error.
Since there are errors, files are not deleted on the target when they have been deleted on the source earlier.
IMHO, there is no reason to raise an error when a link is broken. It should be copied "as is". The purpose of the backup is not to check that.
A warning could be issued.
And it should not prevent the deletion of other files.

Rsync don't issue errors on broken links.

Currently, I have to remove all broken links, before having a full backup without errors.

#2

If you want rclone to copy links instead of the things they point to, then you need -l not -L.

-L means follow symlinks so rclone errors if one is broken.

#3

Thanks for the hint !
It looks doing the job better but I didn't understand that from the help

-l, --links Translate symlinks to/from regular files with a '.rclonelink' extension

I don't want to "translate" symlinks and it will be tricky to restore them when needed, if the extension has changed !
Isn't it possible to simply copy the links as they are ?
Regards

#4

You can't copy as they are as a link isn't a real concept on majority of cloud environments as it's more OS dependent as that same link doesn't exist in Windows.

The best way to backup Linux is definitely not rclone (imo) as it isn't a backup tool. There are many other option out there and many of those options do place nice with rclone/cloud storage.