--files-from= does not seem to be implemented but is in man rsync [root@raq2 tmp]# rsync -av -e ssh --files-from=/tmp/file 85.8.129.30: . rsync: on remote machine: --files-from=-: unknown option rsync error: syntax or usage error (code 1) at main.c(1087) rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes read so far) rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(342) [root@raq2 tmp]# However strangely it cares if the file exists # rm /tmp/file [root@raq2 tmp]# rsync -av -e ssh --files-from=/tmp/file 85.8.129.30: . failed to open files-from file /tmp/file: No such file or directory rsync error: error in file IO (code 11) at options.c(753) [root@raq2 tmp]# As an alternative I tried using --include-from=/tmp/file but then if I put /root in the file even with the -R option it does not preserve the directory structure but put alls the subdirectories in root just into the local destination directory I had success instead with multiple --exclude= statements Hope this helps and I haven't wasted anyones time :(
You'll note that the error said that the remote system is the one that complained about the --files-from option being invalid. Thus, you need to upgrade the rsync on the remote system. (Only if you were pushing files to the old system would it work without upgrading because a remote receiver doesn't need to know about the --files-from option.)