> ..there is an rsync way, how?
I use this method:
[ -e $tmp_file ] && rm $tmp_file
rsync --timeout=3600 --times \
rsync://$RSYNC_HOST/$RSYNC_DIR/$RSYNC_DIR_TRACE/$RSYNC_HOST_TRACE \
$tmp_file >/dev/null 2>/dev/null
[ -e $tmp_file ] || { exit 0; }
[ $tmp_file -nt $TO/$RSYNC_DIR_TRACE/$RSYNC_HOST_TRACE ] || { exit 0; }