Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
9e3c856a | 1 | mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org) |
460f6b99 | 2 | manpage(rsync)(1)(1 Mar 1999)()() |
41059f75 AT |
3 | manpagename(rsync)(faster, flexible replacement for rcp) |
4 | manpagesynopsis() | |
5 | ||
9ef53907 | 6 | rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST:DEST |
41059f75 | 7 | |
9ef53907 | 8 | rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC DEST |
41059f75 | 9 | |
9ef53907 | 10 | rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... DEST |
41059f75 | 11 | |
9ef53907 | 12 | rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST] |
41059f75 | 13 | |
9ef53907 | 14 | rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST::DEST |
41059f75 | 15 | |
9ef53907 | 16 | rsync [OPTION]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC [DEST] |
039faa86 | 17 | |
41059f75 AT |
18 | manpagedescription() |
19 | ||
20 | rsync is a program that behaves in much the same way that rcp does, | |
21 | but has many more options and uses the rsync remote-update protocol to | |
22 | greatly speedup file transfers when the destination file already | |
23 | exists. | |
24 | ||
25 | The rsync remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the | |
26 | differences between two sets of files across the network link, using | |
27 | an efficient checksum-search algorithm described in the technical | |
28 | report that accompanies this package. | |
29 | ||
30 | Some of the additional features of rsync are: | |
31 | ||
32 | itemize( | |
33 | it() support for copying links, devices, owners, groups and permissions | |
34 | it() exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar | |
35 | it() a CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore | |
36 | it() can use any transparent remote shell, including rsh or ssh | |
37 | it() does not require root privileges | |
38 | it() pipelining of file transfers to minimize latency costs | |
39 | it() support for anonymous or authenticated rsync servers (ideal for | |
40 | mirroring) | |
41 | ) | |
42 | ||
43 | manpagesection(GENERAL) | |
44 | ||
039faa86 | 45 | There are six different ways of using rsync. They are: |
41059f75 AT |
46 | |
47 | itemize( | |
48 | it() for copying local files. This is invoked when neither | |
49 | source nor destination path contains a : separator | |
50 | ||
51 | it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine using | |
52 | a remote shell program as the transport (such as rsh or | |
53 | ssh). This is invoked when the destination path contains a | |
54 | single : separator. | |
55 | ||
56 | it() for copying from a remote machine to the local machine | |
6c7c2ef3 | 57 | using a remote shell program. This is invoked when the source |
41059f75 AT |
58 | contains a : separator. |
59 | ||
60 | it() for copying from a remote rsync server to the local | |
61 | machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a :: | |
946347b8 | 62 | separator or a rsync:// URL. |
41059f75 AT |
63 | |
64 | it() for copying from the local machine to a remote rsync | |
65 | server. This is invoked when the destination path contains a :: | |
66 | separator. | |
039faa86 AT |
67 | |
68 | it() for listing files on a remote machine. This is done the | |
69 | same way as rsync transfers except that you leave off the | |
70 | local destination. | |
41059f75 AT |
71 | ) |
72 | ||
14d43f1f DD |
73 | Note that in all cases (other than listing) at least one of the source |
74 | and destination paths must be local. | |
41059f75 AT |
75 | |
76 | manpagesection(SETUP) | |
77 | ||
78 | See the file README for installation instructions. | |
79 | ||
80 | Once installed you can use rsync to any machine that you can use rsh | |
81 | to. rsync uses rsh for its communications, unless both the source and | |
82 | destination are local. | |
83 | ||
14d43f1f | 84 | You can also specify an alternative to rsh, by either using the -e |
41059f75 AT |
85 | command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable. |
86 | ||
87 | One common substitute is to use ssh, which offers a high degree of | |
88 | security. | |
89 | ||
8e987130 AT |
90 | Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination |
91 | machines. | |
92 | ||
41059f75 AT |
93 | manpagesection(USAGE) |
94 | ||
95 | You use rsync in the same way you use rcp. You must specify a source | |
96 | and a destination, one of which may be remote. | |
97 | ||
98 | Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is some examples: | |
99 | ||
100 | quote(rsync *.c foo:src/) | |
101 | ||
102 | this would transfer all files matching the pattern *.c from the | |
103 | current directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of | |
104 | the files already exist on the remote system then the rsync | |
105 | remote-update protocol is used to update the file by sending only the | |
106 | differences. See the tech report for details. | |
107 | ||
108 | quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp) | |
109 | ||
14d43f1f | 110 | this would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the |
41059f75 AT |
111 | machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The |
112 | files are transferred in "archive" mode, which ensures that symbolic | |
113 | links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownerships etc are preserved | |
14d43f1f | 114 | in the transfer. Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the |
41059f75 AT |
115 | size of data portions of the transfer. |
116 | ||
117 | quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp) | |
118 | ||
14d43f1f | 119 | a trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to transfer |
41059f75 | 120 | all files from the directory src/bar on the machine foo into the |
14d43f1f | 121 | /data/tmp/. A trailing / on a source name means "copy the |
41059f75 AT |
122 | contents of this directory". Without a trailing slash it means "copy |
123 | the directory". This difference becomes particularly important when | |
124 | using the --delete option. | |
125 | ||
126 | You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and | |
127 | destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like | |
128 | an improved copy command. | |
129 | ||
14d43f1f DD |
130 | quote(rsync somehost.mydomain.com::) |
131 | ||
132 | this would list all the anonymous rsync modules available on the host | |
133 | somehost.mydomain.com. (See the following section for more details.) | |
134 | ||
41059f75 AT |
135 | |
136 | manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER) | |
137 | ||
138 | It is also possible to use rsync without using rsh or ssh as the | |
139 | transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server | |
140 | running on TCP port 873. | |
141 | ||
14d43f1f | 142 | Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with rsh or ssh except |
41059f75 AT |
143 | that: |
144 | ||
145 | itemize( | |
146 | it() you use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to | |
147 | separate the hostname from the path. | |
148 | ||
149 | it() the remote server may print a message of the day when you | |
14d43f1f | 150 | connect. |
41059f75 AT |
151 | |
152 | it() if you specify no path name on the remote server then the | |
153 | list of accessible paths on the server will be shown. | |
14d43f1f | 154 | |
f7632fc6 | 155 | it() if you specify no local destination then a listing of the |
14d43f1f | 156 | specified files on the remote server is provided. |
41059f75 AT |
157 | ) |
158 | ||
4c3d16be AT |
159 | Some paths on the remote server may require authentication. If so then |
160 | you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the | |
161 | password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to | |
65575e96 AT |
162 | the password you want to use or using the --password-file option. This |
163 | may be useful when scripting rsync. | |
4c3d16be | 164 | |
3bc67f0c | 165 | WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all |
65575e96 | 166 | users. On those systems using --password-file is recommended. |
3bc67f0c | 167 | |
41059f75 AT |
168 | manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER) |
169 | ||
170 | An rsync server is configured using a config file which by default is | |
171 | called /etc/rsyncd.conf. Please see the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more | |
172 | information. | |
173 | ||
174 | manpagesection(EXAMPLES) | |
175 | ||
176 | Here are some examples of how I use rsync. | |
177 | ||
14d43f1f DD |
178 | To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS Word |
179 | files and mail folders, I use a cron job that runs | |
41059f75 AT |
180 | |
181 | quote(rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup) | |
182 | ||
183 | each night over a PPP link to a duplicate directory on my machine | |
184 | "arvidsjaur". | |
185 | ||
186 | To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile | |
187 | targets: | |
188 | ||
189 | quote( get:nl() | |
190 | rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ . | |
191 | ||
192 | put:nl() | |
193 | rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/ | |
194 | ||
195 | sync: get put) | |
196 | ||
197 | this allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the | |
198 | link. I then do cvs operations on the remote machine, which saves a | |
199 | lot of time as the remote cvs protocol isn't very efficient. | |
200 | ||
201 | I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the | |
202 | command | |
203 | ||
204 | quote(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba/ nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge/samba") | |
205 | ||
206 | this is launched from cron every few hours. | |
207 | ||
c95da96a AT |
208 | manpagesection(OPTIONS SUMMARY) |
209 | ||
14d43f1f | 210 | Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer |
c95da96a AT |
211 | to the detailed description below for a complete description. |
212 | ||
213 | verb( | |
9ef53907 | 214 | Usage: rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST:DEST |
d853783f | 215 | or rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC DEST |
9ef53907 | 216 | or rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... DEST |
14d43f1f | 217 | or rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST] |
9ef53907 | 218 | or rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST::DEST |
14d43f1f | 219 | or rsync [OPTION]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC [DEST] |
9ef53907 DD |
220 | SRC on single-colon remote HOST will be expanded by remote shell |
221 | SRC on server remote HOST may contain shell wildcards or multiple | |
222 | sources separated by space as long as they have same top-level | |
d853783f AT |
223 | |
224 | Options | |
c95da96a | 225 | -v, --verbose increase verbosity |
b86f0cef | 226 | -q, --quiet decrease verbosity |
c95da96a AT |
227 | -c, --checksum always checksum |
228 | -a, --archive archive mode | |
229 | -r, --recursive recurse into directories | |
230 | -R, --relative use relative path names | |
9ef53907 DD |
231 | -b, --backup make backups (default ~ suffix) |
232 | --suffix=SUFFIX override backup suffix | |
c95da96a AT |
233 | -u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files) |
234 | -l, --links preserve soft links | |
235 | -L, --copy-links treat soft links like regular files | |
b5313607 | 236 | --copy-unsafe-links copy links outside the source tree |
d853783f | 237 | --safe-links ignore links outside the destination tree |
c95da96a AT |
238 | -H, --hard-links preserve hard links |
239 | -p, --perms preserve permissions | |
240 | -o, --owner preserve owner (root only) | |
241 | -g, --group preserve group | |
242 | -D, --devices preserve devices (root only) | |
243 | -t, --times preserve times | |
244 | -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently | |
245 | -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred | |
246 | -W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks | |
247 | -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries | |
9ef53907 | 248 | -B, --block-size=SIZE checksum blocking size (default 700) |
c95da96a AT |
249 | -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify rsh replacement |
250 | --rsync-path=PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine | |
251 | -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does | |
252 | --delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side | |
b33b791e | 253 | --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on the receiving side |
c95da96a AT |
254 | --partial keep partially transferred files |
255 | --force force deletion of directories even if not empty | |
256 | --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name | |
257 | --timeout=TIME set IO timeout in seconds | |
258 | -I, --ignore-times don't exclude files that match length and time | |
f83f0548 | 259 | --size-only only use file size when determining if a file should be transferred |
c95da96a | 260 | -T --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR |
375a4556 | 261 | --compare-dest=DIR also compare destination files relative to DIR |
c95da96a | 262 | -z, --compress compress file data |
2acf81eb | 263 | --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN |
9ef53907 | 264 | --exclude-from=FILE exclude patterns listed in FILE |
2acf81eb | 265 | --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN |
9ef53907 | 266 | --include-from=FILE don't exclude patterns listed in FILE |
c95da96a AT |
267 | --version print version number |
268 | --daemon run as a rsync daemon | |
269 | --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file | |
270 | --port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number | |
271 | --stats give some file transfer stats | |
eb86d661 | 272 | --progress show progress during transfer |
b6062654 | 273 | --log-format=FORMAT log file transfers using specified format |
9ef53907 | 274 | --password-file=FILE get password from FILE |
c95da96a AT |
275 | -h, --help show this help screen |
276 | ) | |
277 | ||
41059f75 AT |
278 | manpageoptions() |
279 | ||
280 | rsync uses the GNU long options package. Many of the command line | |
281 | options have two variants, one short and one long. These are shown | |
14d43f1f | 282 | below, separated by commas. Some options only have a long variant. |
b5679335 DD |
283 | The '=' for options that take a parameter is optional; whitespace |
284 | can be used instead. | |
41059f75 AT |
285 | |
286 | startdit() | |
287 | dit(bf(-h, --help)) Print a short help page describing the options | |
288 | available in rsync | |
289 | ||
290 | dit(bf(--version)) print the rsync version number and exit | |
291 | ||
292 | dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you | |
14d43f1f | 293 | are given during the transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A |
41059f75 AT |
294 | single -v will give you information about what files are being |
295 | transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two -v flags will give you | |
296 | information on what files are being skipped and slightly more | |
297 | information at the end. More than two -v flags should only be used if | |
14d43f1f | 298 | you are debugging rsync. |
41059f75 | 299 | |
b86f0cef DD |
300 | dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) This option decreases the amount of information you |
301 | are given during the transfer, notably suppressing information messages | |
302 | from the remote server. This flag is useful when invoking rsync from | |
303 | cron. | |
304 | ||
41059f75 AT |
305 | dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are |
306 | already the same length and have the same time-stamp. This option turns | |
307 | off this behavior. | |
308 | ||
f83f0548 AT |
309 | dit(bf(-I, --size-only)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are |
310 | already the same length and have the same time-stamp. With the | |
311 | --size-only option files will be skipped if they have the same size, | |
312 | regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync | |
313 | after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps | |
314 | exactly. | |
315 | ||
41059f75 AT |
316 | dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using |
317 | a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then | |
318 | explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name | |
319 | which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the | |
320 | receiver are skipped. This option can be quite slow. | |
321 | ||
460f6b99 | 322 | dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptg. It is a quick way |
14d43f1f | 323 | of saying you want recursion and want to preserve everything. |
41059f75 | 324 | |
460f6b99 DD |
325 | Note: if the user launching rsync is root then the -o (preserve |
326 | uid) and -D (preserve devices) options are also implied. | |
5243c216 | 327 | |
14d43f1f | 328 | dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories recursively. |
41059f75 AT |
329 | |
330 | dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path | |
331 | names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than | |
332 | just the last parts of the filenames. This is particularly useful when | |
14d43f1f DD |
333 | you want to send several different directories at the same time. For |
334 | example, if you used the command | |
41059f75 AT |
335 | |
336 | verb(rsync foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/) | |
337 | ||
338 | then this would create a file called foo.c in /tmp/ on the remote | |
339 | machine. If instead you used | |
340 | ||
341 | verb(rsync -R foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/) | |
342 | ||
343 | then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/foo.c would be created on the remote | |
344 | machine. The full path name is preserved. | |
345 | ||
346 | dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option preexisting destination files are | |
347 | renamed with a ~ extension as each file is transferred. You can | |
348 | control the backup suffix using the --suffix option. | |
349 | ||
b5679335 | 350 | dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default |
9ef53907 DD |
351 | backup suffix used with the -b option. The default is a ~. |
352 | ||
41059f75 AT |
353 | dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files for which the |
354 | destination file already exists and has a date later than the source | |
355 | file. | |
356 | ||
357 | dit(bf(-l, --links)) This tells rsync to recreate symbolic links on the | |
358 | remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this | |
14d43f1f | 359 | option, all symbolic links are skipped. |
41059f75 AT |
360 | |
361 | dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) This tells rsync to treat symbolic links just | |
b5313607 DD |
362 | like ordinary files. |
363 | ||
364 | dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to treat symbolic links that | |
365 | point outside the source tree like ordinary files. Absolute symlinks are | |
366 | also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the source | |
367 | path itself when --relative is used. | |
41059f75 | 368 | |
d310a212 AT |
369 | dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links |
370 | which point outside the destination tree. All absolute symlinks are | |
371 | also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with --relative may | |
14d43f1f | 372 | give unexpected results. |
d310a212 | 373 | |
41059f75 AT |
374 | dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on |
375 | the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this | |
376 | option hard links are treated like regular files. | |
377 | ||
378 | Note that rsync can only detect hard links if both parts of the link | |
379 | are in the list of files being sent. | |
380 | ||
381 | This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it. | |
382 | ||
383 | dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm | |
384 | is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. This may be | |
385 | useful when using rsync with a local machine. | |
386 | ||
14d43f1f | 387 | dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially |
c95da96a AT |
388 | transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances |
389 | it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the | |
390 | --partial option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should | |
391 | make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster. | |
392 | ||
41059f75 AT |
393 | dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to update the remote |
394 | permissions to be the same as the local permissions. | |
395 | ||
396 | dit(bf(-o, --owner)) This option causes rsync to update the remote owner | |
397 | of the file to be the same as the local owner. This is only available | |
8bb5aa8f DD |
398 | to the super-user. Note that if the source system is a daemon using chroot, |
399 | the --numeric-ids option is implied because the source system cannot get | |
14d43f1f | 400 | access to the usernames. |
41059f75 AT |
401 | |
402 | dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to update the remote group | |
460f6b99 DD |
403 | of the file to be the same as the local group. If the receving system is |
404 | not running as the super-user, only groups that the receiver is a member of | |
405 | will be preserved (by group name, not group id number). | |
41059f75 AT |
406 | |
407 | dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and | |
408 | block device information to the remote system to recreate these | |
409 | devices. This option is only available to the super-user. | |
410 | ||
411 | dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along | |
baf3e504 DD |
412 | with the files and update them on the remote system. Note that if this |
413 | option is not used, the optimization that excludes files that have not been | |
414 | modified cannot be effective; in other words, a missing -t or -a will | |
415 | cause the next transfer to behave as if it used -I, and all files will have | |
416 | their checksums compared and show up in log messages even if they haven't | |
417 | changed. | |
41059f75 AT |
418 | |
419 | dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers, | |
420 | instead it will just report the actions it would have taken. | |
421 | ||
422 | dit(bf(-S, --sparse)) Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take | |
423 | up less space on the destination. | |
424 | ||
d310a212 AT |
425 | NOTE: Don't use this option when the destination is a Solaris "tmpfs" |
426 | filesystem. It doesn't seem to handle seeks over null regions | |
427 | correctly and ends up corrupting the files. | |
428 | ||
41059f75 AT |
429 | dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync not to cross filesystem |
430 | boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the | |
431 | contents of only one filesystem. | |
432 | ||
433 | dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving | |
b33b791e DD |
434 | side that aren't on the sending side. Files that are excluded from |
435 | transfer are excluded from being deleted unless you use --delete-excluded. | |
41059f75 | 436 | |
b33b791e DD |
437 | This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea |
438 | to run first using the dry run option (-n) to see what files would be | |
439 | deleted to make sure important files aren't listed. | |
41059f75 AT |
440 | |
441 | rsync 1.6.4 changed the behavior of --delete to make it less | |
442 | dangerous. rsync now only scans directories on the receiving side | |
443 | that are explicitly transferred from the sending side. Only files in | |
444 | these directories are deleted. | |
445 | ||
446 | Still, it is probably easy to get burnt with this option. The moral | |
447 | of the story is to use the -n option until you get used to the | |
448 | behavior of --delete. | |
449 | ||
3e578a19 AT |
450 | If the sending side detects any IO errors then the deletion of any |
451 | files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to | |
452 | prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the | |
453 | sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the | |
454 | destination. | |
41059f75 | 455 | |
b33b791e DD |
456 | dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the |
457 | receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also | |
458 | delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see --exclude). | |
459 | ||
41059f75 AT |
460 | dit(bf(--force)) This options tells rsync to delete directories even if |
461 | they are not empty. This applies to both the --delete option and to | |
462 | cases where rsync tries to copy a normal file but the destination | |
15800c7e | 463 | contains a directory of the same name. |
41059f75 | 464 | |
15800c7e DD |
465 | Since this option was added, deletions were reordered to be done depth-first |
466 | so it is hardly ever needed anymore except in very obscure cases. | |
41059f75 | 467 | |
b5679335 | 468 | dit(bf(-B , --block_size=BLOCKSIZE)) This controls the block size used in |
41059f75 AT |
469 | the rsync algorithm. See the technical report for details. |
470 | ||
b5679335 | 471 | dit(bf(-e, --rsh=COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative |
41059f75 | 472 | remote shell program to use for communication between the local and |
14d43f1f | 473 | remote copies of rsync. By default, rsync will use rsh, but you may |
41059f75 AT |
474 | like to instead use ssh because of its high security. |
475 | ||
476 | You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH | |
477 | environment variable. | |
478 | ||
b5679335 | 479 | dit(bf(--rsync-path=PATH)) Use this to specify the path to the copy of |
14d43f1f | 480 | rsync on the remote machine. Useful when it's not in your path. |
41059f75 | 481 | |
b5679335 | 482 | dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option allows you to selectively exclude |
41059f75 AT |
483 | certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is most |
484 | useful in combination with a recursive transfer. | |
485 | ||
41059f75 AT |
486 | You may use as many --exclude options on the command line as you like |
487 | to build up the list of files to exclude. | |
488 | ||
14d43f1f | 489 | See the section on exclude patterns for information on the syntax of |
43bd68e5 | 490 | this option. |
41059f75 | 491 | |
b5679335 | 492 | dit(bf(--exclude-from=FILE)) This option is similar to the --exclude |
41059f75 | 493 | option, but instead it adds all filenames listed in the file FILE to |
122f19a6 DD |
494 | the exclude list. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with ';' or '#' |
495 | are ignored. | |
41059f75 | 496 | |
b5679335 | 497 | dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option tells rsync to not exclude the |
43bd68e5 AT |
498 | specified pattern of filenames. This is useful as it allows you to |
499 | build up quite complex exclude/include rules. | |
500 | ||
501 | See the section of exclude patterns for information on the syntax of | |
502 | this option. | |
503 | ||
b5679335 | 504 | dit(bf(--include-from=FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns |
43bd68e5 AT |
505 | from a file. |
506 | ||
41059f75 AT |
507 | dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a |
508 | broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between | |
509 | systems. It uses the same algorithm that CVS uses to determine if | |
510 | a file should be ignored. | |
511 | ||
512 | The exclude list is initialized to: | |
513 | ||
514 | quote(RCS SCCS CVS CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state | |
515 | .nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej .del-* | |
516 | *.a *.o *.obj *.so *.Z *.elc *.ln core) | |
517 | ||
518 | then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any | |
519 | files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (space delimited). | |
520 | ||
521 | Finally in each directory any files listed in the .cvsignore file in | |
522 | that directory are added to the list. | |
523 | ||
b5679335 | 524 | dit(bf(--csum-length=LENGTH)) By default the primary checksum used in |
41059f75 AT |
525 | rsync is a very strong 16 byte MD4 checksum. In most cases you will |
526 | find that a truncated version of this checksum is quite efficient, and | |
527 | this will decrease the size of the checksum data sent over the link, | |
de2fd20e | 528 | making things faster. |
41059f75 AT |
529 | |
530 | You can choose the number of bytes in the truncated checksum using the | |
531 | --csum-length option. Any value less than or equal to 16 is valid. | |
532 | ||
533 | Note that if you use this option then you run the risk of ending up | |
534 | with an incorrect target file. The risk with a value of 16 is | |
535 | microscopic and can be safely ignored (the universe will probably end | |
536 | before it fails) but with smaller values the risk is higher. | |
537 | ||
de2fd20e AT |
538 | Current versions of rsync actually use an adaptive algorithm for the |
539 | checksum length by default, using a 16 byte file checksum to determine | |
540 | if a 2nd pass is required with a longer block checksum. Only use this | |
541 | option if you have read the source code and know what you are doing. | |
542 | ||
b5679335 | 543 | dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a |
375a4556 | 544 | scratch directory when creating temporary copies of the files |
41059f75 AT |
545 | transferred on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create |
546 | the temporary files in the receiving directory. | |
547 | ||
b5679335 | 548 | dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as an |
375a4556 DD |
549 | additional directory to compare destination files against when doing |
550 | transfers. This is useful for doing transfers to a new destination while | |
551 | leaving existing files intact, and then doing a flash-cutover when all | |
14d43f1f | 552 | files have been successfully transferred (for example by moving directories |
baf3e504 DD |
553 | around and removing the old directory, although this requires also doing |
554 | the transfer with -I to avoid skipping files that haven't changed). This | |
555 | option increases the usefulness of --partial because partially transferred | |
556 | files will remain in the new temporary destination until they have a chance | |
557 | to be completed. If DIR is a relative path, it is relative to the | |
558 | destination directory. | |
375a4556 | 559 | |
41059f75 AT |
560 | dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses any data from |
561 | the source file(s) which it sends to the destination machine. This | |
562 | option is useful on slow links. The compression method used is the | |
563 | same method that gzip uses. | |
564 | ||
565 | Note this this option typically achieves better compression ratios | |
566 | that can be achieved by using a compressing remote shell, or a | |
567 | compressing transport, as it takes advantage of the implicit | |
568 | information sent for matching data blocks. | |
569 | ||
570 | dit(bf(--numeric-ids)) With this option rsync will transfer numeric group | |
571 | and user ids rather than using user and group names and mapping them | |
572 | at both ends. | |
573 | ||
574 | By default rsync will use the user name and group name to determine | |
575 | what ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group | |
14d43f1f | 576 | 0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the --numeric-ids |
41059f75 AT |
577 | option is not specified. |
578 | ||
8bb5aa8f DD |
579 | If the source system is a daemon using chroot, or if a user or group name |
580 | does not exist on the destination system, then the numeric id from the | |
581 | source system is used instead. | |
41059f75 | 582 | |
de2fd20e AT |
583 | dit(bf(--timeout=TIMEOUT)) This option allows you to set a maximum IO |
584 | timeout in seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time | |
585 | then rsync will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout. | |
41059f75 AT |
586 | |
587 | dit(bf(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a rsync | |
588 | daemon. If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it | |
589 | is being run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current | |
5315b793 | 590 | terminal and become a background daemon. The daemon will read the |
41059f75 AT |
591 | config file (/etc/rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and |
592 | respond to requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more | |
593 | details. | |
594 | ||
b5679335 | 595 | dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than |
5315b793 | 596 | the default /etc/rsyncd.conf. This is only relevant when --daemon is |
41059f75 AT |
597 | specified. |
598 | ||
b5679335 | 599 | dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use |
14d43f1f | 600 | rather than the default port 873. |
41059f75 | 601 | |
3a64ad1f | 602 | dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the |
14d43f1f | 603 | rsync client logs to stdout on a per-file basis. The log format is |
3a64ad1f DD |
604 | specified using the same format conventions as the log format option in |
605 | rsyncd.conf. | |
b6062654 | 606 | |
b72f24c7 AT |
607 | dit(bf(--stats)) This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics |
608 | on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync | |
e19452a9 | 609 | algorithm is for your data. |
b72f24c7 | 610 | |
eb86d661 AT |
611 | dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information |
612 | showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user | |
613 | something to watch. | |
614 | ||
65575e96 AT |
615 | dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password |
616 | in a file for accessing a remote rsync server. Note that this option | |
617 | is only useful when accessing a rsync server using the built in | |
618 | transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file | |
619 | must not be world readable. | |
620 | ||
41059f75 AT |
621 | enddit() |
622 | ||
43bd68e5 AT |
623 | manpagesection(EXCLUDE PATTERNS) |
624 | ||
625 | The exclude and include patterns specified to rsync allow for flexible | |
14d43f1f | 626 | selection of which files to transfer and which files to skip. |
43bd68e5 | 627 | |
14d43f1f DD |
628 | rsync builds a ordered list of include/exclude options as specified on |
629 | the command line. When a filename is encountered, rsync checks the | |
43bd68e5 AT |
630 | name against each exclude/include pattern in turn. The first matching |
631 | pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern than that file is | |
632 | skipped. If it is an include pattern then that filename is not | |
633 | skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the | |
634 | filename is not skipped. | |
635 | ||
14d43f1f | 636 | The patterns can take several forms. The rules are: |
43bd68e5 AT |
637 | |
638 | itemize( | |
639 | it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is matched against the | |
640 | start of the filename, otherwise it is matched against the end of | |
641 | the filename. Thus /foo would match a file called foo | |
642 | at the base of the tree whereas foo would match any file | |
643 | called foo anywhere in the tree. | |
644 | ||
645 | it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a | |
646 | directory, not a file, link or device. | |
647 | ||
648 | it() if the pattern contains a wildcard character from the set | |
a8b9d4ed DD |
649 | *?[ then expression matching is applied using the shell filename |
650 | matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used. | |
43bd68e5 AT |
651 | |
652 | it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) then it | |
653 | is matched against the full filename, including any leading | |
654 | directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a / then it is matched | |
a8b9d4ed DD |
655 | only against the final component of the filename. Furthermore, if |
656 | the pattern includes a double asterisk "**" then all wildcards in | |
657 | the pattern will match slashes, otherwise they will stop at slashes. | |
43bd68e5 AT |
658 | |
659 | it() if the pattern starts with "+ " (a plus followed by a space) | |
5a554d5b | 660 | then it is always considered an include pattern, even if specified as |
43bd68e5 AT |
661 | part of an exclude option. The "+ " part is discarded before matching. |
662 | ||
663 | it() if the pattern starts with "- " (a minus followed by a space) | |
5a554d5b | 664 | then it is always considered an exclude pattern, even if specified as |
43bd68e5 | 665 | part of an include option. The "- " part is discarded before matching. |
de2fd20e AT |
666 | |
667 | it() if the pattern is a single exclamation mark ! then the current | |
668 | exclude list is reset, removing all previous exclude patterns. | |
43bd68e5 AT |
669 | ) |
670 | ||
671 | The +/- rules are most useful in exclude lists, allowing you to have a | |
672 | single exclude list that contains both include and exclude options. | |
673 | ||
674 | Here are some examples: | |
675 | ||
676 | itemize( | |
677 | it() --exclude "*.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o | |
678 | it() --exclude "/foo" would exclude a file in the base directory called foo | |
679 | it() --exclude "foo/" would exclude any directory called foo | |
a8b9d4ed DD |
680 | it() --exclude "/foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two |
681 | levels below a base directory called foo | |
682 | it() --exclude "/foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two | |
683 | or more levels below a base directory called foo | |
43bd68e5 | 684 | it() --include "*/" --include "*.c" --exclude "*" would include all |
5d5811f7 DD |
685 | directories and C source files |
686 | it() --include "foo/" --include "foo/bar.c" --exclude "*" would include | |
687 | only foo/bar.c (the foo/ directory must be explicitly included or | |
688 | it would be excluded by the "*") | |
43bd68e5 AT |
689 | ) |
690 | ||
d310a212 AT |
691 | manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS) |
692 | ||
14d43f1f | 693 | rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little |
d310a212 AT |
694 | cryptic. The one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol |
695 | version mismatch - is your shell clean?". | |
696 | ||
697 | This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell | |
698 | facility producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using | |
14d43f1f | 699 | for its transport. The way to diagnose this problem is to run your |
d310a212 AT |
700 | remote shell like this: |
701 | ||
702 | verb( | |
703 | rsh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat | |
704 | ) | |
705 | ||
706 | then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat | |
2cfeab21 | 707 | should be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from |
d310a212 AT |
708 | rsync then you will probably find that out.dat contains some text or |
709 | data. Look at the contents and try to work out what is producing | |
14d43f1f | 710 | it. The most common cause is incorrectly configured shell startup |
d310a212 AT |
711 | scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that contain output statements |
712 | for non-interactive logins. | |
713 | ||
de2fd20e AT |
714 | manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES) |
715 | ||
716 | startdit() | |
717 | ||
718 | dit(bf(CVSIGNORE)) The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any | |
719 | ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the --cvs-exclude option for | |
720 | more details. | |
721 | ||
722 | dit(bf(RSYNC_RSH)) The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to | |
723 | override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. This can | |
724 | be used instead of the -e option. | |
725 | ||
726 | dit(bf(RSYNC_PASSWORD)) Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required | |
727 | password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to a rsync | |
728 | daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a | |
729 | password to a shell transport such as ssh. | |
730 | ||
731 | dit(bf(USER) or bf(LOGNAME)) The USER or LOGNAME environment variables | |
732 | are used to determine the default username sent to a rsync server. | |
733 | ||
14d43f1f | 734 | dit(bf(HOME)) The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's |
de2fd20e AT |
735 | default .cvsignore file. |
736 | ||
737 | enddit() | |
738 | ||
41059f75 AT |
739 | manpagefiles() |
740 | ||
741 | /etc/rsyncd.conf | |
742 | ||
743 | manpageseealso() | |
744 | ||
745 | rsyncd.conf(5) | |
746 | ||
747 | manpagediagnostics() | |
748 | ||
749 | manpagebugs() | |
750 | ||
751 | times are transferred as unix time_t values | |
752 | ||
753 | file permissions, devices etc are transferred as native numerical | |
754 | values | |
755 | ||
a87b3b2a | 756 | see also the comments on the --delete option |
41059f75 AT |
757 | |
758 | Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at | |
9e3c856a | 759 | url(http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/)(http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/) |
41059f75 AT |
760 | |
761 | manpagesection(VERSION) | |
762 | This man page is current for version 2.0 of rsync | |
763 | ||
764 | manpagesection(CREDITS) | |
765 | ||
766 | rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file | |
767 | COPYING for details. | |
768 | ||
41059f75 | 769 | A WEB site is available at |
9e3c856a AT |
770 | url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/) |
771 | ||
772 | The primary ftp site for rsync is | |
773 | url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync). | |
41059f75 AT |
774 | |
775 | We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program. | |
776 | ||
9e3c856a AT |
777 | This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by |
778 | Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler. | |
41059f75 AT |
779 | |
780 | manpagesection(THANKS) | |
781 | ||
782 | Thanks to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell | |
783 | and David Bell for helpful suggestions and testing of rsync. I've | |
784 | probably missed some people, my apologies if I have. | |
785 | ||
786 | ||
787 | manpageauthor() | |
788 | ||
789 | rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras. They may be | |
9e3c856a | 790 | contacted via email at tridge@samba.org and |
41059f75 AT |
791 | Paul.Mackerras@cs.anu.edu.au |
792 |