Setup: "server" is running rsyncd 2.6.9, "client" is running rsync 3.0.3.

The client runs 'rsync server::module/file.txt /some/dir/' to retrieve a single file from a module, but the connection aborts using the following message:

---cut
You are connected to rsync20

rsync: push_dir#3 "/-" (in surbl) failed: No such file or directory (2)
rsync error: errors selecting input/output files, dirs (code 3) at
main.c(656) [sender=2.6.9]
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (4 bytes received so far)
[receiver]
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(635)
[receiver=3.0.3]
---cut

It doesn't matter wether the client uses a target directory or a target file, the rsync fails when the rsync is running either 

'rsync server::module/file.txt /some/dir/'
'rsync server::module/file.txt /some/dir/file.txt'

or
'rsync -q server::module/file.txt /some/dir/'
'rsync -q server::module/file.txt /some/dir/file.txt'

However, the rsync succeeds when rsync is started like any of those command lines:

'rsync -v server::module/file.txt /some/dir/'
'rsync -a server::module/file.txt /some/dir/'
'rsync -x server::module/file.txt /some/dir/'
'rsync -t server::module/file.txt /some/dir/'
'rsync -l server::module/file.txt /some/dir/'
'rsync -r server::module/file.txt /some/dir/'

The problem occured after updating the client from rsync 2.6.9 (Debian Etch) to 3.0.3 (Debian Lenny), so this looks like a compatibility issue.

The man page for rsync 3.0.3 also states an incompatibility between rsync 2.6.3 and older using the --list-only-option which somehow looks a little bit like this issue, so it might be something to look at.