In dry-run-mode, the log file does not contain changed/ updated regular files, and no deletions at all. It only contains changed and created directories. Yet, when executed without dry-run, the log file does contain all kinds of changes.A small example: When running the command rsync -a --delete-delay --progress --itemize-changes --stats --dry-run --log-file=/tmp/rsync-dry.txt /tmp/mySource/ /tmp/myDest/the log-file looks like this (3 items, all of them related to directories):2015/08/26 17:18:04 [5812] building file list2015/08/26 17:18:04 [5812] .d..t...... ./2015/08/26 17:18:04 [5812] .d..t...... sub1/2015/08/26 17:18:04 [5812] cd+++++++++ sub2/2015/08/26 17:18:04 [5812] Number of files: 11 (reg: 8, dir: 3)2015/08/26 17:18:04 [5812] Number of created files: 5 (reg: 4, dir: 1)2015/08/26 17:18:04 [5812] Number of deleted files: 4 (reg: 3, dir: 1)2015/08/26 17:18:04 [5812] Number of regular files transferred: 6...Without dry-run, i.e.rsync -a --delete-delay --progress --itemize-changes --stats --log-file=/tmp/rsync-wet.txt /tmp/mySource/ /tmp/myDest/the log-file looks like this (13 items):2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] building file list2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] .d..t...... ./2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] >f.st...... Bbb.txt2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] >f+++++++++ Ccc.txt2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] .d..t...... sub1/2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] >f.st...... sub1/Fff.txt2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] >f+++++++++ sub1/Ggg.txt2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] cd+++++++++ sub2/2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] >f+++++++++ sub2/Iii.txt2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] >f+++++++++ sub2/Jjj.txt2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] *deleting   sub3/Kkk.txt2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] *deleting   sub3/2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] *deleting   Ddd.txt2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] *deleting   sub1/Hhh.txt2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] Number of files: 11 (reg: 8, dir: 3)2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] Number of created files: 5 (reg: 4, dir: 1)2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] Number of deleted files: 4 (reg: 3, dir: 1)2015/08/26 17:19:44 [5837] Number of regular files transferred: 6...which accurately reflects what rsync is doing. I am puzzled because I believed that the output of rsync with and without --dry-run should be the same. (Otherwise, what would dry-run be good for?)  The problem refers to the log-file only. The terminal output is always complete, with or without --dry-run.I tried different options, e.g. --rtgopl or -rtgo instead of -a, -v instead of -i.  I tried rearrangig the flags.  I tried adding options like -c or --inplace.  Didn't help. It also does not matter whether the destination is another local path (as in the example), a USB-drive or a remote destination via ssh. What did I do wrong?  Or is rsync supposed to work like this? (I am using Ubuntu 14.04,  rsync version  3.1.0.)
why does rsync log-file not contain updates to regular files when dry-run?
ubuntu;rsync