I'm getting a confusing error from rsync and the initial things I'm finding from web searches (as well as all the usual chmod'ing) are not solving it:
rsync: failed to set times on "/foo/bar": Operation not permitted (1)
rsync error: some files could not be transferred (code 23)
at /SourceCache/rsync/rsync-35.2/rsync/main.c(992) [sender=2.6.9]
It seems to be working despite that error, but it would be nice to get rid of that.
If /foo/bar is on NFS (or possibly some FUSE filesystem), that might be the problem.
Either way, adding -O / --omit-dir-times to your command line will avoid it trying to set modification times on directories.
As @racl101 has commented on an answer, this problem might be related to the folder owner. The rsync command should be done by the same user as the folder owner's one. If it's not the same, you can change it.
chown -R userCorrect /remote/path/to/foo/bar
I had the same problem. For me the solution is to delete the remote file and let rsync create again.
I've seen that problem when I'm writing to a filesystem which doesn't (properly) handle times -- I think SMB shares or FAT or something.
What is your target filesystem?
I came across this problem as well and the issue I was having was a permissions issue with the root folder that contained the files I was trying to send over. I don't care about that root folder being included with rsync I just care what's in it. The error was coming from my command where I need to specify an additional / at the end. If you do not have that trailing slash rsync will attempt to set times the folder.
Example:
This will attempt to set times on html
rsync /var/www/html/ ubuntu@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:html
This will not
rsync /var/www/html/ ubuntu@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:html/
I ran into this error trying to fix timestamps on a new MacOS Monterey, after the Migration Assistant decided to set all of them to the time the copy operation occurred, instead of the original file's.
anddam's answer did not help me, as the remote user used in the rsync command did match the directories and files owner.
After further research, I realised that I had no access to the Mac's Documents directory over SSH (error ls: Documents: Operation not permitted).
I managed to fix the problem by opening System Preferences on the Mac, then selecting Security & Privacy, go to Privacy tab select Full Disk Access and check the box next to sshd-keygen-wrapper.
It could be that you don't have privileges to some of the files. From an administrator account, try "sudo rsync -av " Alternately, enable the root account and sign in as root. That should allow you to completely hose your system and brute force your rsync! ;-) I'm not sure if the above mentioned --extended-attributes will help, but I threw it in too, just for good measure.