diff -pur rsync-3.0.7/generator.c rsync-3.0.7.new/generator.c
--- rsync-3.0.7/generator.c	2009-12-23 19:36:27.000000000 +0000
+++ rsync-3.0.7.new/generator.c	2010-06-15 11:08:41.919557425 +0100
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ extern int preserve_acls;
 extern int preserve_xattrs;
 extern int preserve_links;
 extern int preserve_devices;
+extern int copy_devices;
 extern int preserve_specials;
 extern int preserve_hard_links;
 extern int preserve_executability;
@@ -980,7 +981,7 @@ static int try_dests_reg(struct file_str
 
 	do {
 		pathjoin(cmpbuf, MAXPATHLEN, basis_dir[j], fname);
-		if (link_stat(cmpbuf, &sxp->st, 0) < 0 || !S_ISREG(sxp->st.st_mode))
+		if (link_stat(cmpbuf, &sxp->st, 0) < 0 || !(S_ISREG(sxp->st.st_mode) || (copy_devices && IS_DEVICE(sxp->st.st_mode))))
 			continue;
 		switch (match_level) {
 		case 0:
@@ -1695,7 +1696,7 @@ static void recv_generator(char *fname, 
 		goto cleanup;
 	}
 
-	if (!S_ISREG(file->mode)) {
+	if (!(S_ISREG(file->mode) || (copy_devices && IS_DEVICE(file->mode)))) {
 		if (solo_file)
 			fname = f_name(file, NULL);
 		rprintf(FINFO, "skipping non-regular file \"%s\"\n", fname);
@@ -1733,7 +1734,7 @@ static void recv_generator(char *fname, 
 	fnamecmp = fname;
 	fnamecmp_type = FNAMECMP_FNAME;
 
-	if (statret == 0 && !S_ISREG(sx.st.st_mode)) {
+	if (statret == 0 && !(S_ISREG(sx.st.st_mode) || (copy_devices && IS_DEVICE(sx.st.st_mode)))) {
 		if (delete_item(fname, sx.st.st_mode, del_opts | DEL_FOR_FILE) != 0)
 			goto cleanup;
 		statret = -1;
@@ -1820,6 +1821,26 @@ static void recv_generator(char *fname, 
 		goto cleanup;
 	}
 
+	/* On Linux systems (at least), st_size is typically 0 for devices.
+	 * If so, try to determine the actual device size. */
+	if (IS_DEVICE(sx.st.st_mode) && sx.st.st_size == 0) {
+	        int fd;
+
+		fd = open(fname, O_RDONLY);
+
+		if (fd < 0)
+			rsyserr(FERROR, errno, "failed to open %s to determine size", fname);
+		else {
+			OFF_T off = lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_END);
+			if (off == (OFF_T) -1)
+				rsyserr(FERROR, errno, "failed to seek to end of %s to determine size", fname);
+			else {
+				sx.st.st_size = off;
+			}
+			close(fd);
+		}
+	}
+
 	if (append_mode > 0 && sx.st.st_size >= F_LENGTH(file)) {
 #ifdef SUPPORT_HARD_LINKS
 		if (F_IS_HLINKED(file))
diff -pur rsync-3.0.7/options.c rsync-3.0.7.new/options.c
--- rsync-3.0.7/options.c	2009-12-21 22:40:41.000000000 +0000
+++ rsync-3.0.7.new/options.c	2010-06-14 10:24:49.329958121 +0100
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ int append_mode = 0;
 int keep_dirlinks = 0;
 int copy_dirlinks = 0;
 int copy_links = 0;
+int copy_devices = 0;
 int preserve_links = 0;
 int preserve_hard_links = 0;
 int preserve_acls = 0;
@@ -349,6 +350,7 @@ void usage(enum logcode F)
   rprintf(F," -o, --owner                 preserve owner (super-user only)\n");
   rprintf(F," -g, --group                 preserve group\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --devices               preserve device files (super-user only)\n");
+  rprintf(F,"     --copy-devices          copy device contents as regular file\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --specials              preserve special files\n");
   rprintf(F," -D                          same as --devices --specials\n");
   rprintf(F," -t, --times                 preserve modification times\n");
@@ -507,6 +509,7 @@ static struct poptOption long_options[] 
   {"no-D",             0,  POPT_ARG_NONE,   0, OPT_NO_D, 0, 0 },
   {"devices",          0,  POPT_ARG_VAL,    &preserve_devices, 1, 0, 0 },
   {"no-devices",       0,  POPT_ARG_VAL,    &preserve_devices, 0, 0, 0 },
+  {"copy-devices",     0,  POPT_ARG_NONE,   &copy_devices, 0, 0, 0 },
   {"specials",         0,  POPT_ARG_VAL,    &preserve_specials, 1, 0, 0 },
   {"no-specials",      0,  POPT_ARG_VAL,    &preserve_specials, 0, 0, 0 },
   {"links",           'l', POPT_ARG_VAL,    &preserve_links, 1, 0, 0 },
@@ -2069,6 +2072,9 @@ void server_options(char **args, int *ar
 	else if (remove_source_files)
 		args[ac++] = "--remove-sent-files";
 
+	if (copy_devices)
+		args[ac++] = "--copy-devices";
+
 	if (ac > MAX_SERVER_ARGS) { /* Not possible... */
 		rprintf(FERROR, "argc overflow in server_options().\n");
 		exit_cleanup(RERR_MALLOC);
diff -pur rsync-3.0.7/receiver.c rsync-3.0.7.new/receiver.c
--- rsync-3.0.7/receiver.c	2009-04-12 20:48:59.000000000 +0100
+++ rsync-3.0.7.new/receiver.c	2010-06-15 15:13:13.577550534 +0100
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ extern int keep_partial;
 extern int checksum_seed;
 extern int inplace;
 extern int delay_updates;
+extern int copy_devices;
 extern mode_t orig_umask;
 extern struct stats stats;
 extern char *tmpdir;
@@ -286,7 +287,7 @@ static int receive_data(int f_in, char *
 
 #ifdef HAVE_FTRUNCATE
 	if (inplace && fd != -1
-	 && ftruncate(fd, offset) < 0) {
+	 && offset < size_r && ftruncate(fd, offset) < 0) {
 		rsyserr(FERROR_XFER, errno, "ftruncate failed on %s",
 			full_fname(fname));
 	}
@@ -668,11 +669,25 @@ int recv_files(int f_in, char *local_nam
 			continue;
 		}
 
-		if (fd1 != -1 && !S_ISREG(st.st_mode)) {
+		if (fd1 != -1 && !(S_ISREG(st.st_mode) || (copy_devices && IS_DEVICE(st.st_mode)))) {
 			close(fd1);
 			fd1 = -1;
 		}
 
+		/* On Linux systems (at least), st_size is typically 0 for devices.
+		 * If so, try to determine the actual device size. */
+		if (fd1 != -1 && IS_DEVICE(st.st_mode) && st.st_size == 0) {
+			OFF_T off = lseek(fd1, 0, SEEK_END);
+			if (off == (OFF_T) -1)
+				rsyserr(FERROR, errno, "failed to seek to end of %s to determine size", fname);
+			else {
+				st.st_size = off;
+				off = lseek(fd1, 0, SEEK_SET);
+				if (off != 0)
+					rsyserr(FERROR, errno, "failed to seek back to beginning of %s to read it", fname);
+			}
+		}
+
 		/* If we're not preserving permissions, change the file-list's
 		 * mode based on the local permissions and some heuristics. */
 		if (!preserve_perms) {
diff -pur rsync-3.0.7/rsync.c rsync-3.0.7.new/rsync.c
--- rsync-3.0.7/rsync.c	2009-12-19 21:39:49.000000000 +0000
+++ rsync-3.0.7.new/rsync.c	2010-06-14 10:24:49.339960221 +0100
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ extern int preserve_xattrs;
 extern int preserve_perms;
 extern int preserve_executability;
 extern int preserve_times;
+extern int copy_devices;
 extern int am_root;
 extern int am_server;
 extern int am_sender;
@@ -328,7 +329,8 @@ int read_ndx_and_attrs(int f_in, int *if
 
 	if (iflags & ITEM_TRANSFER) {
 		int i = ndx - cur_flist->ndx_start;
-		if (i < 0 || !S_ISREG(cur_flist->files[i]->mode)) {
+		struct file_struct *file = cur_flist->files[i];
+		if (i < 0 || !(S_ISREG(file->mode) || (copy_devices && IS_DEVICE(file->mode)))) {
 			rprintf(FERROR,
 				"received request to transfer non-regular file: %d [%s]\n",
 				ndx, who_am_i());
diff -pur rsync-3.0.7/sender.c rsync-3.0.7.new/sender.c
--- rsync-3.0.7/sender.c	2009-12-13 01:23:03.000000000 +0000
+++ rsync-3.0.7.new/sender.c	2010-06-15 15:09:50.657553229 +0100
@@ -309,6 +309,20 @@ void send_files(int f_in, int f_out)
 			exit_cleanup(RERR_PROTOCOL);
 		}
 
+		/* On Linux systems (at least), st_size is typically 0 for devices.
+		 * If so, try to determine the actual device size. */
+		if (IS_DEVICE(st.st_mode) && st.st_size == 0) {
+			OFF_T off = lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_END);
+			if (off == (OFF_T) -1)
+				rsyserr(FERROR, errno, "failed to seek to end of %s to determine size", fname);
+			else {
+				st.st_size = off;
+				off = lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_SET);
+				if (off != 0)
+					rsyserr(FERROR, errno, "failed to seek back to beginning of %s to read it", fname);
+			}
+		}
+
 		if (st.st_size) {
 			int32 read_size = MAX(s->blength * 3, MAX_MAP_SIZE);
 			mbuf = map_file(fd, st.st_size, read_size, s->blength);