From xftroxgpx on mailing list, see

https://lists.samba.org/archive/rsync/2018-March/031507.html

script to reproduce:

#!/bin/bash

#tested to fail as below: ArchLinux's rsync-3.1.3-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
#tested to fail as below: ArchLinux's rsync-3.1.3pre1-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
#tested to work ok      : ArchLinux's rsync-3.1.2-8-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz

if test "$1" == "clean"; then
  rm -vrf destdir sourcedir sourcedir2 sourcedir3
  exit 0
fi

echo '!! test 1:'

mkdir -p destdir
mkdir -p sourcedir/a
#one \0 followed by a non-\0 (so, using a space) required:
echo -ne '\0 ' > sourcedir/a/b
#non zero size file required:
echo -ne 'c' > sourcedir/c
echo 'sourcedir' >/tmp/filesfrom.lst.tmp
rsync --recursive --perms --checksum --delay-updates --numeric-ids --preallocate --sparse --files-from=/tmp/filesfrom.lst.tmp -- ./ ./destdir/
#rsync: write failed on "/home/xftroxgpx/sandbox/rsync/nsfod_issues/try2/destdir/sourcedir/a/b": No such file or directory (2)
#rsync error: error in file IO (code 11) at receiver.c(374) [receiver=3.1.3]

# ^ this happens first and any subsequent times!

echo '!! test 2:'

mkdir -p sourcedir2/a
#one \0 followed by a non-\0 (so, using an M) required:
echo -ne '\0M' > sourcedir2/a/b
#one \0 followed by a non-\0 (so, using an M) required:
echo -ne '\0M' > sourcedir2/c

#in order to see this error: (for file 'c')

#non-zero file size required and it must be prefixed by '.' aka dot
#echo -ne '1' > sourcedir2/.d
#XXX: ^ (un)comment, don't forget to ./go clean afterwards, then ./go

#otherwise, the error is for file "a/b"

echo 'sourcedir2' >/tmp/filesfrom.lst.tmp
rsync --recursive --perms --checksum --delay-updates --numeric-ids --preallocate --sparse --files-from=/tmp/filesfrom.lst.tmp -- ./ ./destdir/
#rsync: write failed on "/home/xftroxgpx/sandbox/rsync/nsfod_issues/try2/destdir/sourcedir2/a/b": No such file or directory (2)
#rsync error: error in file IO (code 11) at receiver.c(374) [receiver=3.1.3pre1]

echo '!! test 3:' #same as 2 but an extra file '.d' exists!

mkdir -p sourcedir3/a
#one \0 followed by a non-\0 (so, using an M) required:
echo -ne '\0M' > sourcedir3/a/b
#one \0 followed by a non-\0 (so, using an M) required:
echo -ne '\0M' > sourcedir3/c

#non-zero file size required and it must be prefixed by '.' aka dot
echo -ne '1' > sourcedir3/.d
echo 'sourcedir3' >/tmp/filesfrom.lst.tmp
rsync --recursive --perms --checksum --delay-updates --numeric-ids --preallocate --sparse --files-from=/tmp/filesfrom.lst.tmp -- ./ ./destdir/
#rsync: write failed on "/home/xftroxgpx/sandbox/rsync/nsfod_issues/try2/destdir/sourcedir2/c": No such file or directory (2)
#rsync error: error in file IO (code 11) at receiver.c(374) [receiver=3.1.3]

A pristine copy of this script can be found here: https://github.com/xftroxgpx/a3/blob/37ebff3e0fe9d294aeec899a082dc2c51c486eb4/system/Z575/OSes/3archlinux/on_baremetal/filesystem_now/archlinux/home/xftroxgpx/sandbox/rsync/nsfod_issues/try2/go

Just run ./go to start all 3 tests.

All 3 tests should fail with:
ArchLinux's rsync-3.1.3-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
ArchLinux's rsync-3.1.3pre1-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz

All 3 tests will succeed with ArchLinux's rsync-3.1.2-8-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
(aka rsync  version 3.1.2  protocol version 31)