Return to Answer

An old question, but here's the answer:

Even when used on a single system, rsync considers the source directory to be "local" and the destination directory to be "remote".

The deletions are handled on the remote side, not the local side. But the log is referenced to "local".

The local log doesn't show the deleted file:

$ rsync -a --delete-during --log-file=~/rsynclog.log src/ dest $ cat ~/rsynclog.log 2021/05/05 23:51:09 [4244] building file list 2021/05/05 23:51:09 [4244] .d..t...... {directory} 

But, you can cause the "remote" side to create the log. Then the deletion shows up!

$ rsync -a --delete-during --remote-option=--log-file=~/rsynclog.log src/ dest $ cat ~/rsynclog.log 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] receiving file list 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] *deleting {directory}/{filename} 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] .d..t...... {directory} 

An old question, but here's the answer:

When used on a single system, rsync spins up two processes: once which is considered "local" (and sends data from the source directory) and once which is "remote" (which receives the data).

The deletions are handled on the remote side, not the local side.

The default log is created by the "local" process and doesn't show the deleted file:

$ rsync -a --delete-during --log-file=~/rsynclog.log src/ dest $ cat ~/rsynclog.log 2021/05/05 23:51:09 [4244] building file list 2021/05/05 23:51:09 [4244] .d..t...... {directory} 

But, you can cause the "remote" side to create the log. Then the deletion shows up!

$ rsync -a --delete-during --remote-option=--log-file=~/rsynclog.log src/ dest $ cat ~/rsynclog.log 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] receiving file list 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] *deleting {directory}/{filename} 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] .d..t...... {directory} 

An old question, but here's the answer:

Even when used on a single system, rsync considers the source directory to be "local" and the destination directory to be "remote".

The deletions are handled on the remote side, not the local side. But the log is referenced to "local".

The local log doesn't show the deleted file:

$ rsync -a --delete-during --log-file=~/rsynclog.log src/ dest $ cat ~/rsynclog.log 2021/05/05 23:51:09 [4244] building file list 2021/05/05 23:51:09 [4244] .d..t...... {directory} 

But, you can cause the "remote" side to create the log. Then the deletion shows up!

$ rsync -a --delete-during --remote-options=--log-file=~/rsynclog.log src/ dest $ cat ~/rsynclog.log 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] receiving file list 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] *deleting {directory}/{filename} 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] .d..t...... {directory} 

An old question, but here's the answer:

Even when used on a single system, rsync considers the source directory to be "local" and the destination directory to be "remote".

The deletions are handled on the remote side, not the local side. But the log is referenced to "local".

The local log doesn't show the deleted file:

$ rsync -a --delete-during --log-file=~/rsynclog.log src/ dest $ cat ~/rsynclog.log 2021/05/05 23:51:09 [4244] building file list 2021/05/05 23:51:09 [4244] .d..t...... {directory} 

But, you can cause the "remote" side to create the log. Then the deletion shows up!

$ rsync -a --delete-during --remote-option=--log-file=~/rsynclog.log src/ dest $ cat ~/rsynclog.log 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] receiving file list 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] *deleting {directory}/{filename} 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] .d..t...... {directory} 

An old question, but here's the answer:

Even when used on a single system, rsync considers the source directory to be "local" and the destination directory to be "remote". The deletions are handled on the remote side, not the local side. The logging mechanism reflects this.

The log defaults to "local". The log doesn't show the deleted file:

$ rsync -a --delete-during --log-file=~/rsynclog.log src/ dest $ cat ~/rsynclog.log 2021/05/05 23:51:09 [4244] building file list 2021/05/05 23:51:09 [4244] .d..t...... {directory} 

But, you can cause the "remote" side to create the log. Then the deletion shows up!

$ rsync -a --delete-during --remote-options=--log-file=~/rsynclog.log src/ dest $ cat ~/rsynclog.log 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] receiving file list 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] *deleting {directory}/{filename} 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] .d..t...... {directory} 

An old question, but here's the answer:

Even when used on a single system, rsync considers the source directory to be "local" and the destination directory to be "remote". 

The deletions are handled on the remote side, not the local side. But the log is referenced to "local". 

The local log doesn't show the deleted file:

$ rsync -a --delete-during --log-file=~/rsynclog.log src/ dest $ cat ~/rsynclog.log 2021/05/05 23:51:09 [4244] building file list 2021/05/05 23:51:09 [4244] .d..t...... {directory} 

But, you can cause the "remote" side to create the log. Then the deletion shows up!

$ rsync -a --delete-during --remote-options=--log-file=~/rsynclog.log src/ dest $ cat ~/rsynclog.log 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] receiving file list 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] *deleting {directory}/{filename} 2021/05/05 23:39:18 [31138] .d..t...... {directory}