Restic does not rely on rclone, you can use restic without rclone. You use restic with rclone when you want to store your repository on one of the services that rclone supports but that is not in the list of supported backends out of the box. However, most common storage services out there these days support S3, so the S3 backend applies to a lot of them. But there are indeed some use cases where rclone is needed as well
Yes, plain copies of the files will of course always be the most straight forward way of accessing the files at a later date. Storing them in restic or other backup software formats adds an additional layer. In restic’s case this format is very clearly documented, and the idea behind that is that backups will not be locked into some closed format that is hard to work with - instead at any time in the future, even if restic were to not be around, it will be clear how the information is stored, and access to it can be implemented. Then again it’s very unlikely that one cannot get a hold of a copy of restic for the foreseeable future
I sincerely have no idea why you think I was being passive aggressive. If you read what I wrote I only pointed out that rsync is not a backup software (as it’s a file synchronization software). I did this so that any less knowledgable readers won’t accidentally read this thread and think that they can substitute a backup software like restic with rsync and expect the same features. They are similar, but there are differences that are relevant enough to avoid mixing them up, I think. Either way, I was not looking to disagree with you.
I did not attack you in any way and I would be happy if you don’t suggest I’m on some spree to spread aggression on the Internet, when I was just making a remark. Let’s be friends!