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[rsync/rsync.git] / README
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1WHAT IS RSYNC?
2--------------
3
4rsync is a replacement for rcp that has many more features.
5
10ce5fbf 6rsync uses the "rsync algorithm" which provides a very fast method for
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7bringing remote files into sync. It does this by sending just the
8differences in the files across the link, without requiring that both
9sets of files are present at one of the ends of the link beforehand.
10At first glance this may seem impossible because the calculation of
11diffs between two files normally requires local access to both
12files.
13
14A technical report describing the rsync algorithm is included with
c6e7fcb4 15this package.
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16
17
18USAGE
19-----
20
21Basically you use rsync just like rcp, but rsync has many additional options.
22
dcc3a131 23Here is a brief description of rsync usage:
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9ef53907 25Usage: rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST:DEST
dcc3a131 26 or rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC DEST
9ef53907 27 or rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... DEST
dcc3a131 28 or rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST]
9ef53907 29 or rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST::DEST
dcc3a131 30 or rsync [OPTION]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC [DEST]
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31SRC on single-colon remote HOST will be expanded by remote shell
32SRC on server remote HOST may contain shell wildcards or multiple
33 sources separated by space as long as they have same top-level
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34
35Options
36 -v, --verbose increase verbosity
9ef53907 37 -q, --quiet decrease verbosity
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38 -c, --checksum always checksum
39 -a, --archive archive mode
40 -r, --recursive recurse into directories
41 -R, --relative use relative path names
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42 -b, --backup make backups (default ~ suffix)
43 --suffix=SUFFIX override backup suffix
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44 -u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files)
45 -l, --links preserve soft links
46 -L, --copy-links treat soft links like regular files
b5313607 47 --copy-unsafe-links copy links outside the source tree
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48 --safe-links ignore links outside the destination tree
49 -H, --hard-links preserve hard links
50 -p, --perms preserve permissions
51 -o, --owner preserve owner (root only)
52 -g, --group preserve group
53 -D, --devices preserve devices (root only)
54 -t, --times preserve times
55 -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently
56 -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
57 -W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks
58 -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
9ef53907 59 -B, --block-size=SIZE checksum blocking size (default 700)
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60 -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify rsh replacement
61 --rsync-path=PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine
62 -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does
63 --delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side
b33b791e 64 --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on the receiving side
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65 --partial keep partially transferred files
66 --force force deletion of directories even if not empty
67 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
68 --timeout=TIME set IO timeout in seconds
69 -I, --ignore-times don't exclude files that match length and time
a8b9d4ed 70 --size-only only use file size when determining if a file should be transferred
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71 -T --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
72 --compare-dest=DIR also compare destination files relative to DIR
73 -z, --compress compress file data
74 --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
75 --exclude-from=FILE exclude patterns listed in FILE
76 --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN
77 --include-from=FILE don't exclude patterns listed in FILE
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78 --version print version number
79 --daemon run as a rsync daemon
80 --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
81 --port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number
82 --stats give some file transfer stats
83 --progress show progress during transfer
84 --log-format=FORMAT log file transfers using specified format
9ef53907 85 --password-file=FILE get password from FILE
dcc3a131 86 -h, --help show this help screen
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87
88
9ef53907 89
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90SETUP
91-----
92
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93Rsync normally uses rsh or ssh for communication. It does not need to
94be setuid and requires no special privileges for installation. You
95must, however, have a working rsh or ssh system. Using ssh is
96recommended for its security features.
97
98Alternatively, rsync can run in `daemon' mode, listening on a socket.
99This is generally used for public file distribution, although
100authentication and access control are available.
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101
102To install rsync, first run the "configure" script. This will create a
103Makefile and config.h appropriate for your system. Then type
104"make".
105
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106Note that on some systems you will have to force configure not to use
107gcc because gcc may not support some features (such as 64 bit file
108offsets) that your system may support. Set the environment variable CC
109to the name of your native compiler before running configure in this
110case.
111
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112Once built put a copy of rsync in your search path on the local and
113remote systems (or use "make install"). That's it!
114
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115RSYNC SERVERS
116-------------
117
118rsync can also talk to "rsync servers" which can provide anonymous or
ed06894a 119authenticated rsync. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for details on how
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120to setup a rsync server. See the rsync(1) man page for info on how to
121connect to a rsync server.
122
c627d613 123
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124MAILING LIST
125------------
126
127There is a mailing list for the discussion of rsync and its
128applications. It is open to anyone to join. I will announce new
129versions on this list.
130
d153974e 131To join the mailing list see the web page at http://lists.samba.org/
432b0fbd 132
9e3c856a 133To send mail to everyone on the list send it to rsync@samba.org
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134
135
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136BUG REPORTS
137-----------
138
139If you have web access then please look at
9e3c856a 140http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/
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141
142This will give you access to the bug tracking system used by the
143developers of rsync and will allow you to look at other bug reports or
144submit a new bug report.
145
146If you don't have web access then mail bug reports to
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147rsync-bugs@samba.org or (if you think it will be of interest to lots
148of people) send it to rsync@samba.org
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149
150
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151CVS TREE
152--------
153
154If you want to get the very latest version of rsync direct from the
155source code repository then you can use anonymous cvs. You will need a
156recent version of cvs then use the following commands:
157
eeb1568f 158 cvs -d :pserver:cvs@pserver.samba.org:/cvsroot login
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159 Password: cvs
160
eeb1568f 161 cvs -d :pserver:cvs@pserver.samba.org:/cvsroot co rsync
527cea66 162
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163Look at the cvs documentation, or http://samba.org/cvs.html, for more
164details.
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165
166
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167COPYRIGHT
168---------
169
170Rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras, and is
eeb1568f 171available under the GNU General Public License.
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9e3c856a 173tridge@samba.org
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174paulus@cs.anu.edu.au
175
176
177AVAILABILITY
178------------
179
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180The main web site for rsync is http://rsync.samba.org/
181The main ftp site is ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync/
182This is also available as rsync://rsync.samba.org/rsyncftp/