When a symlink has contents in the file list (which happens for implied symlinks from --relative), rsync's dry-run output can be inaccurate because it naively tries to follow the symlink when processing the contents, even though it has not actually created the symlink.

I reproduced this as follows in an empty directory:

$ mkdir -p src/a dest/a
$ ln -s a src/b
$ echo data >src/a/foo
$ rsync -a src/a/ dest/a/
$ find . -ls
1880052  0 drwx------  4 matt  matt  96 Feb 25 12:07 .
1879989  0 drwx------  3 matt  matt  96 Feb 25 12:07 ./src
1880376  0 drwx------  2 matt  matt  72 Feb 25 12:08 ./src/a
1880793  4 -rw-------  1 matt  matt   5 Feb 25 12:08 ./src/a/foo
1880792  0 lrwxrwxrwx  1 matt  matt   1 Feb 25 12:07 ./src/b -> a
1880779  0 drwx------  3 matt  matt  72 Feb 25 12:07 ./dest
1880784  0 drwx------  2 matt  matt  72 Feb 25 12:08 ./dest/a
1880794  4 -rw-------  1 matt  matt   5 Feb 25 12:08 ./dest/a/foo
$ rsync -ni -a --relative src/./b/foo dest/
cL+++++++++ b -> a
>f+++++++++ b/foo
$ rsync -i -a --relative src/./b/foo dest/
cL+++++++++ b -> a

Notice that rsync itemized creation of b/foo on the dry run but not on the real run.

I tried to test this with the current CVS rsync, but it hung on the dry run, which probably indicates a separate bug.