diff -urN rsync-2.6.8-orig/flist.c rsync-2.6.8/flist.c
--- rsync-2.6.8-orig/flist.c	2006-04-21 18:36:30.000000000 +0200
+++ rsync-2.6.8/flist.c	2006-08-17 21:41:31.302338500 +0200
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@
 extern int copy_unsafe_links;
 extern int protocol_version;
 extern int sanitize_paths;
+extern int filelimit;
 extern struct stats stats;
 extern struct file_list *the_file_list;
 
@@ -306,6 +307,50 @@
 		out_of_memory("flist_expand");
 }
 
+/**
+ * Sleep to not overload the disk subsytem while creating the file tree
+ **/
+
+static void sleep_for_filelimit(void)
+{
+	static struct timeval prior_tv;
+	static long total_written = 0; 
+	struct timeval tv, start_tv;
+	long elapsed_usec, sleep_usec;
+
+#define ONE_SEC	1000000L /* # of microseconds in a second */
+
+	if (filelimit == 0) {
+		return;
+	}
+
+	total_written += 1;
+
+	gettimeofday(&start_tv, NULL);
+	if (prior_tv.tv_sec) {
+		elapsed_usec = (start_tv.tv_sec - prior_tv.tv_sec) * ONE_SEC
+			     + (start_tv.tv_usec - prior_tv.tv_usec);
+		total_written -= elapsed_usec * filelimit / (ONE_SEC);
+		if (total_written < 0)
+			total_written = 0;
+	}
+
+	sleep_usec = total_written * (ONE_SEC) / filelimit;
+	if (sleep_usec < ONE_SEC / 10) {
+		prior_tv = start_tv;
+		return;
+	}
+
+	tv.tv_sec  = sleep_usec / ONE_SEC;
+	tv.tv_usec = sleep_usec % ONE_SEC;
+	select(0, NULL, NULL, NULL, &tv);
+
+	gettimeofday(&prior_tv, NULL);
+	elapsed_usec = (prior_tv.tv_sec - start_tv.tv_sec) * ONE_SEC
+		     + (prior_tv.tv_usec - start_tv.tv_usec);
+	total_written = (sleep_usec - elapsed_usec) * filelimit / (ONE_SEC);
+}
+
 static void send_file_entry(struct file_struct *file, int f)
 {
 	unsigned short flags;
@@ -320,6 +365,8 @@
 	char fname[MAXPATHLEN];
 	int l1, l2;
 
+	sleep_for_filelimit();
+
 	if (f < 0)
 		return;
 
diff -urN rsync-2.6.8-orig/lib/dummy rsync-2.6.8/lib/dummy
--- rsync-2.6.8-orig/lib/dummy	1970-01-01 01:00:00.000000000 +0100
+++ rsync-2.6.8/lib/dummy	2006-08-17 21:04:03.685871250 +0200
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+This is a dummy file to ensure that the lib directory gets created
+by configure when a VPATH is used.
diff -urN rsync-2.6.8-orig/options.c rsync-2.6.8/options.c
--- rsync-2.6.8-orig/options.c	2006-03-29 01:09:36.000000000 +0200
+++ rsync-2.6.8/options.c	2006-08-17 21:37:03.305589750 +0200
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@
 int size_only = 0;
 int daemon_bwlimit = 0;
 int bwlimit = 0;
+int filelimit = 0;
 int fuzzy_basis = 0;
 size_t bwlimit_writemax = 0;
 int ignore_existing = 0;
@@ -363,6 +364,7 @@
   rprintf(F,"     --password-file=FILE    read password from FILE\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --list-only             list the files instead of copying them\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --bwlimit=KBPS          limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second\n");
+  rprintf(F,"     --filelimit=n           limit list creation to n files per second\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --write-batch=FILE      write a batched update to FILE\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --only-write-batch=FILE like --write-batch but w/o updating destination\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --read-batch=FILE       read a batched update from FILE\n");
@@ -495,6 +497,7 @@
   {"log-format",       0,  POPT_ARG_STRING, &log_format, 0, 0, 0 },
   {"itemize-changes", 'i', POPT_ARG_NONE,   0, 'i', 0, 0 },
   {"bwlimit",          0,  POPT_ARG_INT,    &bwlimit, 0, 0, 0 },
+  {"filelimit",        0,  POPT_ARG_INT,    &filelimit, 0, 0, 0 },
   {"backup",          'b', POPT_ARG_NONE,   &make_backups, 0, 0, 0 },
   {"backup-dir",       0,  POPT_ARG_STRING, &backup_dir, 0, 0, 0 },
   {"suffix",           0,  POPT_ARG_STRING, &backup_suffix, 0, 0, 0 },
@@ -1619,6 +1622,12 @@
 		args[ac++] = arg;
 	}
 
+	if (filelimit) {
+		if (asprintf(&arg, "--filelimit=%d", filelimit) < 0)
+			goto oom;
+		args[ac++] = arg;
+	}
+
 	if (backup_dir) {
 		args[ac++] = "--backup-dir";
 		args[ac++] = backup_dir;
diff -urN rsync-2.6.8-orig/rsync.1 rsync-2.6.8/rsync.1
--- rsync-2.6.8-orig/rsync.1	2006-04-22 17:38:37.000000000 +0200
+++ rsync-2.6.8/rsync.1	2006-08-17 21:54:38.607542000 +0200
@@ -447,6 +447,7 @@
      --password-file=FILE    read password from FILE
      --list-only             list the files instead of copying them
      --bwlimit=KBPS          limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second
+     --filelimit=n           limit list creation to n files per second
      --write-batch=FILE      write a batched update to FILE
      --only-write-batch=FILE like --write-batch but w/o updating dest
      --read-batch=FILE       read a batched update from FILE
@@ -1930,6 +1931,12 @@
 result is an average transfer rate equaling the specified limit\&. A value
 of zero specifies no limit\&.
 .IP 
+.IP "\fB--filelimit=n\fP" 
+This option allows you to limit the creation of the file list to n per
+second\&. This might be useful for busy servers that have limited disk I/O 
+bandwidth where a full-speed directory traversal would saturate the number
+of disk transactions per second\&. A value of zero specifies no limit\&.
+.IP 
 .IP "\fB--write-batch=FILE\fP" 
 Record a file that can later be applied to
 another identical destination with \fB--read-batch\fP\&. See the "BATCH MODE"