> you can rename the target directory before and after the rsync.
The problem is that the ergonomics of renaming a directory on a remote machine is vastly inferior to doing so on a local machine. Locally, you can use mv. There is no "rmv".
Even worse, rsync is from a different generation of unix utilities than cp/mv or rcp/rsh or scp/ssh. It is more "Swiss army knife" style, able to stand on its own. It shouldn't need to depend on a mythical rmv command.
Finally, I very frequently use the "copy a directory to a new name" feature, both locally and remotely. Locally, I use it to make a quick backup of a directory for emergency recovery. Remotely, syncing a local log directory to a remote "log.machine-name" is pretty common I think. Without renaming, you would do "log -> remote:machine-name", but machine-name would have to exist on the remote machine, necessitating a separate "rmkdir" command.
The problem is that the ergonomics of renaming a directory on a remote machine is vastly inferior to doing so on a local machine. Locally, you can use mv. There is no "rmv".
Even worse, rsync is from a different generation of unix utilities than cp/mv or rcp/rsh or scp/ssh. It is more "Swiss army knife" style, able to stand on its own. It shouldn't need to depend on a mythical rmv command.
Finally, I very frequently use the "copy a directory to a new name" feature, both locally and remotely. Locally, I use it to make a quick backup of a directory for emergency recovery. Remotely, syncing a local log directory to a remote "log.machine-name" is pretty common I think. Without renaming, you would do "log -> remote:machine-name", but machine-name would have to exist on the remote machine, necessitating a separate "rmkdir" command.