Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
9e3c856a | 1 | mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org) |
c1456d83 | 2 | manpage(rsync)(1)(1 Jan 2004)()() |
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 | |
8d69d571 WD |
18 | rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/DEST |
19 | ||
41059f75 AT |
20 | manpagedescription() |
21 | ||
22 | rsync is a program that behaves in much the same way that rcp does, | |
23 | but has many more options and uses the rsync remote-update protocol to | |
eb06fa95 | 24 | greatly speed up file transfers when the destination file already |
41059f75 AT |
25 | exists. |
26 | ||
27 | The rsync remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the | |
f39281ae | 28 | differences between two sets of files across the network connection, using |
41059f75 AT |
29 | an efficient checksum-search algorithm described in the technical |
30 | report that accompanies this package. | |
31 | ||
32 | Some of the additional features of rsync are: | |
33 | ||
34 | itemize( | |
35 | it() support for copying links, devices, owners, groups and permissions | |
36 | it() exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar | |
37 | it() a CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore | |
43cd760f | 38 | it() can use any transparent remote shell, including ssh or rsh |
41059f75 AT |
39 | it() does not require root privileges |
40 | it() pipelining of file transfers to minimize latency costs | |
41 | it() support for anonymous or authenticated rsync servers (ideal for | |
42 | mirroring) | |
43 | ) | |
44 | ||
45 | manpagesection(GENERAL) | |
46 | ||
bef49340 | 47 | There are eight different ways of using rsync. They are: |
41059f75 AT |
48 | |
49 | itemize( | |
50 | it() for copying local files. This is invoked when neither | |
51 | source nor destination path contains a : separator | |
52 | ||
53 | it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine using | |
43cd760f WD |
54 | a remote shell program as the transport (such as ssh or |
55 | rsh). This is invoked when the destination path contains a | |
41059f75 AT |
56 | single : separator. |
57 | ||
58 | it() for copying from a remote machine to the local machine | |
6c7c2ef3 | 59 | using a remote shell program. This is invoked when the source |
41059f75 AT |
60 | contains a : separator. |
61 | ||
62 | it() for copying from a remote rsync server to the local | |
63 | machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a :: | |
946347b8 | 64 | separator or a rsync:// URL. |
41059f75 AT |
65 | |
66 | it() for copying from the local machine to a remote rsync | |
67 | server. This is invoked when the destination path contains a :: | |
8d69d571 | 68 | separator or a rsync:// URL. |
039faa86 | 69 | |
bef49340 WD |
70 | it() for copying from a remote machine using a remote shell |
71 | program as the transport, using rsync server on the remote | |
72 | machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a :: | |
73 | separator and the --rsh=COMMAND (aka "-e COMMAND") option is | |
74 | also provided. | |
75 | ||
76 | it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine | |
77 | using a remote shell program as the transport, using rsync | |
78 | server on the remote machine. This is invoked when the | |
79 | destination path contains a :: separator and the | |
80 | --rsh=COMMMAND option is also provided. | |
81 | ||
039faa86 AT |
82 | it() for listing files on a remote machine. This is done the |
83 | same way as rsync transfers except that you leave off the | |
84 | local destination. | |
41059f75 AT |
85 | ) |
86 | ||
14d43f1f DD |
87 | Note that in all cases (other than listing) at least one of the source |
88 | and destination paths must be local. | |
41059f75 AT |
89 | |
90 | manpagesection(SETUP) | |
91 | ||
92 | See the file README for installation instructions. | |
93 | ||
1bbf83c0 WD |
94 | Once installed, you can use rsync to any machine that you can access via |
95 | a remote shell (as well as some that you can access using the rsync | |
43cd760f | 96 | daemon-mode protocol). For remote transfers, a modern rsync uses ssh |
1bbf83c0 | 97 | for its communications, but it may have been configured to use a |
43cd760f | 98 | different remote shell by default, such as rsh or remsh. |
41059f75 | 99 | |
1bbf83c0 | 100 | You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the -e |
41059f75 AT |
101 | command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable. |
102 | ||
103 | One common substitute is to use ssh, which offers a high degree of | |
104 | security. | |
105 | ||
8e987130 AT |
106 | Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination |
107 | machines. | |
108 | ||
41059f75 AT |
109 | manpagesection(USAGE) |
110 | ||
111 | You use rsync in the same way you use rcp. You must specify a source | |
112 | and a destination, one of which may be remote. | |
113 | ||
114 | Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is some examples: | |
115 | ||
116 | quote(rsync *.c foo:src/) | |
117 | ||
8a97fc2e | 118 | This would transfer all files matching the pattern *.c from the |
41059f75 AT |
119 | current directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of |
120 | the files already exist on the remote system then the rsync | |
121 | remote-update protocol is used to update the file by sending only the | |
122 | differences. See the tech report for details. | |
123 | ||
124 | quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp) | |
125 | ||
8a97fc2e | 126 | This would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the |
41059f75 AT |
127 | machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The |
128 | files are transferred in "archive" mode, which ensures that symbolic | |
129 | links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownerships etc are preserved | |
14d43f1f | 130 | in the transfer. Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the |
41059f75 AT |
131 | size of data portions of the transfer. |
132 | ||
133 | quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp) | |
134 | ||
8a97fc2e WD |
135 | A trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to avoid creating an |
136 | additional directory level at the destination. You can think of a trailing | |
137 | / on a source as meaning "copy the contents of this directory" as opposed | |
138 | to "copy the directory by name", but in both cases the attributes of the | |
139 | containing directory are transferred to the containing directory on the | |
140 | destination. In other words, each of the following commands copies the | |
141 | files in the same way, including their setting of the attributes of | |
142 | /dest/foo: | |
143 | ||
144 | quote(rsync -avz /src/foo /dest) | |
145 | quote(rsync -avz /src/foo/ /dest/foo) | |
41059f75 AT |
146 | |
147 | You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and | |
148 | destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like | |
149 | an improved copy command. | |
150 | ||
14d43f1f DD |
151 | quote(rsync somehost.mydomain.com::) |
152 | ||
8a97fc2e | 153 | This would list all the anonymous rsync modules available on the host |
14d43f1f DD |
154 | somehost.mydomain.com. (See the following section for more details.) |
155 | ||
41059f75 AT |
156 | |
157 | manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER) | |
158 | ||
1bbf83c0 | 159 | It is also possible to use rsync without a remote shell as the |
41059f75 AT |
160 | transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server |
161 | running on TCP port 873. | |
162 | ||
eb06fa95 | 163 | You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the |
4c3b4b25 | 164 | environment variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to |
eb06fa95 MP |
165 | your web proxy. Note that your web proxy's configuration must allow |
166 | proxying to port 873. | |
4c3b4b25 | 167 | |
1bbf83c0 | 168 | Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except |
41059f75 AT |
169 | that: |
170 | ||
171 | itemize( | |
172 | it() you use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to | |
8d69d571 | 173 | separate the hostname from the path or a rsync:// URL. |
41059f75 AT |
174 | |
175 | it() the remote server may print a message of the day when you | |
14d43f1f | 176 | connect. |
41059f75 AT |
177 | |
178 | it() if you specify no path name on the remote server then the | |
179 | list of accessible paths on the server will be shown. | |
14d43f1f | 180 | |
f7632fc6 | 181 | it() if you specify no local destination then a listing of the |
14d43f1f | 182 | specified files on the remote server is provided. |
41059f75 AT |
183 | ) |
184 | ||
4c3d16be AT |
185 | Some paths on the remote server may require authentication. If so then |
186 | you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the | |
187 | password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to | |
65575e96 AT |
188 | the password you want to use or using the --password-file option. This |
189 | may be useful when scripting rsync. | |
4c3d16be | 190 | |
3bc67f0c | 191 | WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all |
65575e96 | 192 | users. On those systems using --password-file is recommended. |
3bc67f0c | 193 | |
bef49340 WD |
194 | manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM) |
195 | ||
196 | It is sometimes useful to be able to set up file transfers using rsync | |
43cd760f WD |
197 | server capabilities on the remote machine, while still using ssh or |
198 | rsh for transport. This is especially useful when you want to connect | |
bef49340 WD |
199 | to a remote machine via ssh (for encryption or to get through a |
200 | firewall), but you still want to have access to the rsync server | |
201 | features (see RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM, | |
202 | below). | |
203 | ||
204 | From the user's perspective, using rsync in this way is the same as | |
205 | using it to connect to an rsync server, except that you must | |
206 | explicitly set the remote shell program on the command line with | |
207 | --rsh=COMMAND. (Setting RSYNC_RSH in the environment will not turn on | |
208 | this functionality.) | |
209 | ||
210 | In order to distinguish between the remote-shell user and the rsync | |
211 | server user, you can use '-l user' on your remote-shell command: | |
212 | ||
213 | quote(rsync -av --rsh="ssh -l ssh-user" rsync-user@host::module[/path] local-path) | |
214 | ||
215 | The "ssh-user" will be used at the ssh level; the "rsync-user" will be | |
216 | used to check against the rsyncd.conf on the remote host. | |
217 | ||
41059f75 AT |
218 | manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER) |
219 | ||
30e8c8e1 DD |
220 | An rsync server is configured using a config file. Please see the |
221 | rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more information. By default the configuration | |
222 | file is called /etc/rsyncd.conf, unless rsync is running over a remote | |
223 | shell program and is not running as root; in that case, the default name | |
224 | is rsyncd.conf in the current directory on the remote computer | |
225 | (typically $HOME). | |
41059f75 | 226 | |
bef49340 WD |
227 | manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM) |
228 | ||
229 | See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for full information on the rsync | |
230 | server configuration file. | |
231 | ||
232 | Several configuration options will not be available unless the remote | |
233 | user is root (e.g. chroot, setuid/setgid, etc.). There is no need to | |
234 | configure inetd or the services map to include the rsync server port | |
235 | if you run an rsync server only via a remote shell program. | |
236 | ||
e6f9e388 WD |
237 | To run an rsync server out of a single-use ssh key, see this section |
238 | in the rsyncd.conf(5) man page. | |
bef49340 | 239 | |
41059f75 AT |
240 | manpagesection(EXAMPLES) |
241 | ||
242 | Here are some examples of how I use rsync. | |
243 | ||
14d43f1f DD |
244 | To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS Word |
245 | files and mail folders, I use a cron job that runs | |
41059f75 AT |
246 | |
247 | quote(rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup) | |
248 | ||
f39281ae | 249 | each night over a PPP connection to a duplicate directory on my machine |
41059f75 AT |
250 | "arvidsjaur". |
251 | ||
252 | To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile | |
253 | targets: | |
254 | ||
255 | quote( get:nl() | |
256 | rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ . | |
257 | ||
258 | put:nl() | |
259 | rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/ | |
260 | ||
261 | sync: get put) | |
262 | ||
263 | this allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the | |
f39281ae | 264 | connection. I then do cvs operations on the remote machine, which saves a |
41059f75 AT |
265 | lot of time as the remote cvs protocol isn't very efficient. |
266 | ||
267 | I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the | |
268 | command | |
269 | ||
270 | quote(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba/ nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge/samba") | |
271 | ||
272 | this is launched from cron every few hours. | |
273 | ||
c95da96a AT |
274 | manpagesection(OPTIONS SUMMARY) |
275 | ||
14d43f1f | 276 | Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer |
c95da96a AT |
277 | to the detailed description below for a complete description. |
278 | ||
279 | verb( | |
280 | -v, --verbose increase verbosity | |
b86f0cef | 281 | -q, --quiet decrease verbosity |
c95da96a | 282 | -c, --checksum always checksum |
06891710 | 283 | -a, --archive archive mode, equivalent to -rlptgoD |
c95da96a AT |
284 | -r, --recursive recurse into directories |
285 | -R, --relative use relative path names | |
f177b7cc WD |
286 | --no-relative turn off --relative |
287 | --no-implied-dirs don't send implied dirs with -R | |
915dd207 | 288 | -b, --backup make backups (see --suffix & --backup-dir) |
5b56cc19 | 289 | --backup-dir make backups into this directory |
915dd207 | 290 | --suffix=SUFFIX backup suffix (default ~ w/o --backup-dir) |
c95da96a | 291 | -u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files) |
eb06fa95 MP |
292 | -l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks |
293 | -L, --copy-links copy the referent of symlinks | |
b5313607 | 294 | --copy-unsafe-links copy links outside the source tree |
d853783f | 295 | --safe-links ignore links outside the destination tree |
c95da96a AT |
296 | -H, --hard-links preserve hard links |
297 | -p, --perms preserve permissions | |
298 | -o, --owner preserve owner (root only) | |
299 | -g, --group preserve group | |
300 | -D, --devices preserve devices (root only) | |
301 | -t, --times preserve times | |
302 | -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently | |
303 | -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred | |
304 | -W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks | |
93689aa5 | 305 | --no-whole-file turn off --whole-file |
c95da96a | 306 | -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries |
9ef53907 | 307 | -B, --block-size=SIZE checksum blocking size (default 700) |
915dd207 | 308 | -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify the remote shell |
d9fcc198 | 309 | --rsync-path=PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine |
1347d512 | 310 | --existing only update files that already exist |
915dd207 WD |
311 | --ignore-existing ignore files that already exist on receiver |
312 | --delete delete files that don't exist on sender | |
313 | --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on receiver | |
d48c8065 | 314 | --delete-after receiver deletes after transfer, not before |
ef55c686 | 315 | --ignore-errors delete even if there are IO errors |
0b73ca12 | 316 | --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files |
c95da96a | 317 | --partial keep partially transferred files |
915dd207 | 318 | --force force deletion of dirs even if not empty |
c95da96a AT |
319 | --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name |
320 | --timeout=TIME set IO timeout in seconds | |
915dd207 WD |
321 | -I, --ignore-times turn off mod time & file size quick check |
322 | --size-only ignore mod time for quick check (use size) | |
f6aeaa74 | 323 | --modify-window=NUM compare mod times with reduced accuracy |
c95da96a | 324 | -T --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR |
915dd207 | 325 | --compare-dest=DIR also compare received files relative to DIR |
59c95e42 | 326 | --link-dest=DIR create hardlinks to DIR for unchanged files |
d9fcc198 | 327 | -P equivalent to --partial --progress |
c95da96a | 328 | -z, --compress compress file data |
f177b7cc | 329 | -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does |
2acf81eb | 330 | --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN |
9ef53907 | 331 | --exclude-from=FILE exclude patterns listed in FILE |
2acf81eb | 332 | --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN |
9ef53907 | 333 | --include-from=FILE don't exclude patterns listed in FILE |
f177b7cc | 334 | --files-from=FILE read FILE for list of source-file names |
915dd207 | 335 | -0 --from0 all file lists are delimited by nulls |
c95da96a AT |
336 | --version print version number |
337 | --daemon run as a rsync daemon | |
bbd6f4ba | 338 | --no-detach do not detach from the parent |
2a951cd2 | 339 | --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address |
c95da96a AT |
340 | --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file |
341 | --port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number | |
64c704f0 | 342 | --blocking-io use blocking IO for the remote shell |
93689aa5 | 343 | --no-blocking-io turn off --blocking-io |
c95da96a | 344 | --stats give some file transfer stats |
eb86d661 | 345 | --progress show progress during transfer |
b6062654 | 346 | --log-format=FORMAT log file transfers using specified format |
9ef53907 | 347 | --password-file=FILE get password from FILE |
ef5d23eb | 348 | --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth, KBytes per second |
088aac85 | 349 | --write-batch=PREFIX write batch fileset starting with PREFIX |
915dd207 | 350 | --read-batch=PREFIX read batch fileset starting with PREFIX |
c95da96a | 351 | -h, --help show this help screen |
6902ed17 MP |
352 | |
353 | ||
c95da96a AT |
354 | ) |
355 | ||
41059f75 AT |
356 | manpageoptions() |
357 | ||
358 | rsync uses the GNU long options package. Many of the command line | |
359 | options have two variants, one short and one long. These are shown | |
14d43f1f | 360 | below, separated by commas. Some options only have a long variant. |
b5679335 DD |
361 | The '=' for options that take a parameter is optional; whitespace |
362 | can be used instead. | |
41059f75 AT |
363 | |
364 | startdit() | |
365 | dit(bf(-h, --help)) Print a short help page describing the options | |
366 | available in rsync | |
367 | ||
368 | dit(bf(--version)) print the rsync version number and exit | |
369 | ||
370 | dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you | |
14d43f1f | 371 | are given during the transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A |
41059f75 AT |
372 | single -v will give you information about what files are being |
373 | transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two -v flags will give you | |
374 | information on what files are being skipped and slightly more | |
375 | information at the end. More than two -v flags should only be used if | |
14d43f1f | 376 | you are debugging rsync. |
41059f75 | 377 | |
b86f0cef DD |
378 | dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) This option decreases the amount of information you |
379 | are given during the transfer, notably suppressing information messages | |
380 | from the remote server. This flag is useful when invoking rsync from | |
381 | cron. | |
382 | ||
41059f75 | 383 | dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are |
915dd207 WD |
384 | already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp. |
385 | This option turns off this "quick check" behavior. | |
41059f75 | 386 | |
a7d068ab | 387 | dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are |
915dd207 | 388 | already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp. With the |
f83f0548 AT |
389 | --size-only option files will be skipped if they have the same size, |
390 | regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync | |
391 | after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps | |
392 | exactly. | |
393 | ||
5b56cc19 AT |
394 | dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps rsync treats |
395 | the timestamps as being equal if they are within the value of | |
396 | modify_window. This is normally zero, but you may find it useful to | |
397 | set this to a larger value in some situations. In particular, when | |
38843171 DD |
398 | transferring to Windows FAT filesystems which cannot represent times |
399 | with a 1 second resolution --modify-window=1 is useful. | |
5b56cc19 | 400 | |
41059f75 AT |
401 | dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using |
402 | a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then | |
403 | explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name | |
404 | which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the | |
405 | receiver are skipped. This option can be quite slow. | |
406 | ||
e7bf3e5e MP |
407 | dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptgoD. It is a quick |
408 | way of saying you want recursion and want to preserve almost | |
409 | everything. | |
410 | ||
411 | Note however that bf(-a) bf(does not preserve hardlinks), because | |
412 | finding multiply-linked files is expensive. You must separately | |
413 | specify bf(-H). | |
41059f75 | 414 | |
24986abd AT |
415 | dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories |
416 | recursively. If you don't specify this then rsync won't copy | |
417 | directories at all. | |
41059f75 AT |
418 | |
419 | dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path | |
420 | names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than | |
421 | just the last parts of the filenames. This is particularly useful when | |
14d43f1f DD |
422 | you want to send several different directories at the same time. For |
423 | example, if you used the command | |
41059f75 AT |
424 | |
425 | verb(rsync foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/) | |
426 | ||
427 | then this would create a file called foo.c in /tmp/ on the remote | |
428 | machine. If instead you used | |
429 | ||
430 | verb(rsync -R foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/) | |
431 | ||
432 | then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/foo.c would be created on the remote | |
f177b7cc WD |
433 | machine -- the full path name is preserved. |
434 | ||
435 | dit(bf(--no-relative)) Turn off the --relative option. This is only | |
436 | needed if you want to use --files-from without its implied --relative | |
437 | file processing. | |
438 | ||
439 | dit(bf(--no-implied-dirs)) When combined with the --relative option, the | |
440 | implied directories in each path are not explicitly duplicated as part | |
441 | of the transfer. This makes the transfer more optimal and also allows | |
442 | the two sides to have non-matching symlinks in the implied part of the | |
443 | path. For instance, if you transfer the file "/path/foo/file" with -R, | |
444 | the default is for rsync to ensure that "/path" and "/path/foo" on the | |
445 | destination exactly match the directories/symlinks of the source. Using | |
446 | the --no-implied-dirs option would omit both of these implied dirs, | |
447 | which means that if "/path" was a real directory on one machine and a | |
448 | symlink of the other machine, rsync would not try to change this. | |
41059f75 | 449 | |
b19fd07c WD |
450 | dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option, preexisting destination files are |
451 | renamed as each file is transferred or deleted. You can control where the | |
452 | backup file goes and what (if any) suffix gets appended using the | |
453 | --backup-dir and --suffix options. | |
41059f75 | 454 | |
66203a98 AT |
455 | dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the --backup option, this |
456 | tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is | |
759ac870 DD |
457 | very useful for incremental backups. You can additionally |
458 | specify a backup suffix using the --suffix option | |
459 | (otherwise the files backed up in the specified directory | |
460 | will keep their original filenames). | |
66203a98 | 461 | |
b5679335 | 462 | dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default |
b19fd07c WD |
463 | backup suffix used with the --backup (-b) option. The default suffix is a ~ |
464 | if no --backup-dir was specified, otherwise it is an empty string. | |
9ef53907 | 465 | |
41059f75 AT |
466 | dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files for which the |
467 | destination file already exists and has a date later than the source | |
468 | file. | |
469 | ||
eb06fa95 MP |
470 | dit(bf(-l, --links)) When symlinks are encountered, recreate the |
471 | symlink on the destination. | |
41059f75 | 472 | |
eb06fa95 MP |
473 | dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) When symlinks are encountered, the file that |
474 | they point to is copied, rather than the symlink. | |
b5313607 | 475 | |
eb06fa95 MP |
476 | dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to copy the referent of |
477 | symbolic links that point outside the source tree. Absolute symlinks | |
478 | are also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the | |
479 | source path itself when --relative is used. | |
41059f75 | 480 | |
d310a212 AT |
481 | dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links |
482 | which point outside the destination tree. All absolute symlinks are | |
483 | also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with --relative may | |
14d43f1f | 484 | give unexpected results. |
d310a212 | 485 | |
41059f75 AT |
486 | dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on |
487 | the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this | |
488 | option hard links are treated like regular files. | |
489 | ||
490 | Note that rsync can only detect hard links if both parts of the link | |
491 | are in the list of files being sent. | |
492 | ||
493 | This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it. | |
494 | ||
495 | dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm | |
a1a440c2 DD |
496 | is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. The transfer may be |
497 | faster if this option is used when the bandwidth between the source and | |
498 | target machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the | |
499 | "disk" is actually a networked file system). This is the default when both | |
500 | the source and target are on the local machine. | |
41059f75 | 501 | |
93689aa5 DD |
502 | dit(bf(--no-whole-file)) Turn off --whole-file, for use when it is the |
503 | default. | |
504 | ||
8dc74608 WD |
505 | dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to set the destination |
506 | permissions to be the same as the source permissions. | |
507 | ||
508 | Without this option, each new file gets its permissions set based on the | |
509 | source file's permissions and the umask at the receiving end, while all | |
510 | other files (including updated files) retain their existing permissions | |
511 | (which is the same behavior as other file-copy utilities, such as cp). | |
41059f75 | 512 | |
eb06fa95 MP |
513 | dit(bf(-o, --owner)) This option causes rsync to set the owner of the |
514 | destination file to be the same as the source file. On most systems, | |
fca9a9b0 DD |
515 | only the super-user can set file ownership. Note that if the remote system |
516 | is a daemon using chroot, the --numeric-ids option is implied because the | |
517 | remote system cannot get access to the usernames from /etc/passwd. | |
41059f75 | 518 | |
eb06fa95 MP |
519 | dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to set the group of the |
520 | destination file to be the same as the source file. If the receiving | |
521 | program is not running as the super-user, only groups that the | |
522 | receiver is a member of will be preserved (by group name, not group id | |
523 | number). | |
41059f75 AT |
524 | |
525 | dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and | |
526 | block device information to the remote system to recreate these | |
527 | devices. This option is only available to the super-user. | |
528 | ||
529 | dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along | |
baf3e504 DD |
530 | with the files and update them on the remote system. Note that if this |
531 | option is not used, the optimization that excludes files that have not been | |
532 | modified cannot be effective; in other words, a missing -t or -a will | |
533 | cause the next transfer to behave as if it used -I, and all files will have | |
534 | their checksums compared and show up in log messages even if they haven't | |
535 | changed. | |
41059f75 AT |
536 | |
537 | dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers, | |
538 | instead it will just report the actions it would have taken. | |
539 | ||
540 | dit(bf(-S, --sparse)) Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take | |
541 | up less space on the destination. | |
542 | ||
d310a212 AT |
543 | NOTE: Don't use this option when the destination is a Solaris "tmpfs" |
544 | filesystem. It doesn't seem to handle seeks over null regions | |
545 | correctly and ends up corrupting the files. | |
546 | ||
41059f75 AT |
547 | dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync not to cross filesystem |
548 | boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the | |
549 | contents of only one filesystem. | |
550 | ||
1347d512 AT |
551 | dit(bf(--existing)) This tells rsync not to create any new files - |
552 | only update files that already exist on the destination. | |
553 | ||
3d6feada MP |
554 | dit(bf(--ignore-existing)) |
555 | This tells rsync not to update files that already exist on | |
556 | the destination. | |
557 | ||
0b73ca12 AT |
558 | dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM |
559 | files or directories. This is useful when mirroring very large trees | |
560 | to prevent disasters. | |
561 | ||
41059f75 | 562 | dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving |
b33b791e DD |
563 | side that aren't on the sending side. Files that are excluded from |
564 | transfer are excluded from being deleted unless you use --delete-excluded. | |
41059f75 | 565 | |
24986abd AT |
566 | This option has no effect if directory recursion is not selected. |
567 | ||
b33b791e DD |
568 | This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea |
569 | to run first using the dry run option (-n) to see what files would be | |
570 | deleted to make sure important files aren't listed. | |
41059f75 | 571 | |
3e578a19 AT |
572 | If the sending side detects any IO errors then the deletion of any |
573 | files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to | |
574 | prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the | |
575 | sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the | |
2c5548d2 | 576 | destination. You can override this with the --ignore-errors option. |
41059f75 | 577 | |
b33b791e DD |
578 | dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the |
579 | receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also | |
580 | delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see --exclude). | |
786c3687 | 581 | Implies --delete. |
b33b791e | 582 | |
d48c8065 WD |
583 | dit(bf(--delete-after)) By default rsync does file deletions on the |
584 | receiving side before transferring files to try to ensure that there is | |
585 | sufficient space on the receiving filesystem. If you want to delete | |
586 | after transferring, use the --delete-after switch. Implies --delete. | |
57df171b | 587 | |
2c5548d2 DD |
588 | dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files |
589 | even when there are IO errors. | |
590 | ||
b695d088 DD |
591 | dit(bf(--force)) This options tells rsync to delete directories even if |
592 | they are not empty when they are to be replaced by non-directories. This | |
593 | is only relevant without --delete because deletions are now done depth-first. | |
594 | Requires the --recursive option (which is implied by -a) to have any effect. | |
41059f75 | 595 | |
ad911a7a | 596 | dit(bf(-B , --block-size=BLOCKSIZE)) This controls the block size used in |
41059f75 AT |
597 | the rsync algorithm. See the technical report for details. |
598 | ||
b5679335 | 599 | dit(bf(-e, --rsh=COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative |
41059f75 | 600 | remote shell program to use for communication between the local and |
43cd760f WD |
601 | remote copies of rsync. Typically, rsync is configured to use ssh by |
602 | default, but you may prefer to use rsh on a local network. | |
41059f75 | 603 | |
bef49340 WD |
604 | If this option is used with bf([user@]host::module/path), then the |
605 | remote shell em(COMMMAND) will be used to run an rsync server on the | |
606 | remote host, and all data will be transmitted through that remote | |
607 | shell connection, rather than through a direct socket connection to a | |
2d4ca358 DD |
608 | running rsync server on the remote host. See the section "CONNECTING |
609 | TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM" above. | |
bef49340 | 610 | |
ea7f8108 WD |
611 | Command-line arguments are permitted in COMMAND provided that COMMAND is |
612 | presented to rsync as a single argument. For example: | |
98393ae2 | 613 | |
ea7f8108 | 614 | quote(-e "ssh -p 2234") |
98393ae2 WD |
615 | |
616 | (Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect | |
617 | options in their .ssh/config file.) | |
618 | ||
41059f75 | 619 | You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH |
ea7f8108 | 620 | environment variable, which accepts the same range of values as -e. |
41059f75 | 621 | |
735a816e DD |
622 | See also the --blocking-io option which is affected by this option. |
623 | ||
b5679335 | 624 | dit(bf(--rsync-path=PATH)) Use this to specify the path to the copy of |
d73ee7b7 AT |
625 | rsync on the remote machine. Useful when it's not in your path. Note |
626 | that this is the full path to the binary, not just the directory that | |
627 | the binary is in. | |
41059f75 | 628 | |
f177b7cc WD |
629 | dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a |
630 | broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between | |
631 | systems. It uses the same algorithm that CVS uses to determine if | |
632 | a file should be ignored. | |
633 | ||
634 | The exclude list is initialized to: | |
635 | ||
636 | quote(RCS/ SCCS/ CVS/ .svn/ CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state | |
637 | .nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej .del-* | |
638 | *.a *.o *.obj *.so *.Z *.elc *.ln core) | |
639 | ||
640 | then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any | |
641 | files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (space delimited). | |
642 | ||
643 | Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a | |
644 | .cvsignore file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. See | |
645 | the bf(cvs(1)) manual for more information. | |
646 | ||
b5679335 | 647 | dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option allows you to selectively exclude |
41059f75 AT |
648 | certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is most |
649 | useful in combination with a recursive transfer. | |
650 | ||
41059f75 AT |
651 | You may use as many --exclude options on the command line as you like |
652 | to build up the list of files to exclude. | |
653 | ||
d1cce1dd | 654 | See the EXCLUDE PATTERNS section for information on the syntax of |
43bd68e5 | 655 | this option. |
41059f75 | 656 | |
b5679335 | 657 | dit(bf(--exclude-from=FILE)) This option is similar to the --exclude |
c48b22c8 AT |
658 | option, but instead it adds all exclude patterns listed in the file |
659 | FILE to the exclude list. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with | |
660 | ';' or '#' are ignored. | |
f8a94f0d DD |
661 | If em(FILE) is bf(-) the list will be read from standard input. |
662 | ||
b5679335 | 663 | dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option tells rsync to not exclude the |
43bd68e5 AT |
664 | specified pattern of filenames. This is useful as it allows you to |
665 | build up quite complex exclude/include rules. | |
666 | ||
d1cce1dd | 667 | See the EXCLUDE PATTERNS section for information on the syntax of |
43bd68e5 AT |
668 | this option. |
669 | ||
b5679335 | 670 | dit(bf(--include-from=FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns |
43bd68e5 | 671 | from a file. |
f8a94f0d DD |
672 | If em(FILE) is bf(-) the list will be read from standard input. |
673 | ||
f177b7cc WD |
674 | dit(bf(--files-from=FILE)) Using this option allows you to specify the |
675 | exact list of files to transfer (as read from the specified FILE or "-" | |
676 | for stdin). It also tweaks the default behavior of rsync to make | |
677 | transferring just the specified files and directories easier. For | |
678 | instance, the --relative option is enabled by default when this option | |
679 | is used (use --no-relative if you want to turn that off), all | |
680 | directories specified in the list are created on the destination (rather | |
681 | than being noisily skipped without -r), and the -a (--archive) option's | |
682 | behavior does not imply -r (--recursive) -- specify it explicitly, if | |
683 | you want it. | |
684 | ||
685 | The file names that are read from the FILE are all relative to the | |
686 | source dir -- any leading slashes are removed and no ".." references are | |
687 | allowed to go higher than the source dir. For example, take this | |
688 | command: | |
689 | ||
690 | quote(rsync -a --files-from=/tmp/foo /usr remote:/backup) | |
691 | ||
692 | If /tmp/foo contains the string "bin" (or even "/bin"), the /usr/bin | |
693 | directory will be created as /backup/bin on the remote host (but the | |
694 | contents of the /usr/bin dir would not be sent unless you specified -r | |
695 | or the names were explicitly listed in /tmp/foo). Also keep in mind | |
696 | that the effect of the (enabled by default) --relative option is to | |
697 | duplicate only the path info that is read from the file -- it does not | |
698 | force the duplication of the source-spec path (/usr in this case). | |
699 | ||
700 | In addition, the --files-from file can be read from the remote host | |
701 | instead of the local host if you specify a "host:" in front of the file | |
702 | (the host must match one end of the transfer). As a short-cut, you can | |
703 | specify just a prefix of ":" to mean "use the remote end of the | |
704 | transfer". For example: | |
705 | ||
706 | quote(rsync -a --files-from=:/path/file-list src:/ /tmp/copy) | |
707 | ||
708 | This would copy all the files specified in the /path/file-list file that | |
709 | was located on the remote "src" host. | |
710 | ||
711 | dit(bf(-0, --from0)) This tells rsync that the filenames it reads from a | |
712 | file are terminated by a null ('\0') character, not a NL, CR, or CR+LF. | |
713 | This affects --exclude-from, --include-from, and --files-from. | |
41059f75 | 714 | |
b5679335 | 715 | dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a |
375a4556 | 716 | scratch directory when creating temporary copies of the files |
41059f75 AT |
717 | transferred on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create |
718 | the temporary files in the receiving directory. | |
719 | ||
3473b5b4 DD |
720 | dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR on |
721 | the destination machine as an additional directory to compare destination | |
d53d7795 DD |
722 | files against when doing transfers if the files are missing in the |
723 | destination directory. This is useful for doing transfers to a new | |
724 | destination while leaving existing files intact, and then doing a | |
3473b5b4 DD |
725 | flash-cutover when all files have been successfully transferred (for |
726 | example by moving directories around and removing the old directory, | |
d53d7795 DD |
727 | although this skips files that haven't changed; see also --link-dest). |
728 | This option increases the usefulness of --partial because partially | |
729 | transferred files will remain in the new temporary destination until they | |
730 | have a chance to be completed. If DIR is a relative path, it is relative | |
731 | to the destination directory. | |
375a4556 | 732 | |
59c95e42 DD |
733 | dit(bf(--link-dest=DIR)) This option behaves like bf(--compare-dest) but |
734 | also will create hard links from em(DIR) to the destination directory for | |
735 | unchanged files. Files with changed ownership or permissions will not be | |
736 | linked. | |
d31c09c8 S |
737 | Like bf(--compare-dest) if DIR is a relative path, it is relative |
738 | to the destination directory. | |
59c95e42 | 739 | |
41059f75 | 740 | dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses any data from |
089e73f8 | 741 | the files that it sends to the destination machine. This |
f39281ae | 742 | option is useful on slow connections. The compression method used is the |
41059f75 AT |
743 | same method that gzip uses. |
744 | ||
745 | Note this this option typically achieves better compression ratios | |
746 | that can be achieved by using a compressing remote shell, or a | |
747 | compressing transport, as it takes advantage of the implicit | |
748 | information sent for matching data blocks. | |
749 | ||
750 | dit(bf(--numeric-ids)) With this option rsync will transfer numeric group | |
751 | and user ids rather than using user and group names and mapping them | |
752 | at both ends. | |
753 | ||
754 | By default rsync will use the user name and group name to determine | |
755 | what ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group | |
14d43f1f | 756 | 0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the --numeric-ids |
41059f75 AT |
757 | option is not specified. |
758 | ||
eb06fa95 MP |
759 | If the source system is a daemon using chroot, or if a user or group |
760 | name does not exist on the destination system, then the numeric id | |
761 | from the source system is used instead. | |
41059f75 | 762 | |
de2fd20e AT |
763 | dit(bf(--timeout=TIMEOUT)) This option allows you to set a maximum IO |
764 | timeout in seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time | |
765 | then rsync will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout. | |
41059f75 | 766 | |
eb06fa95 MP |
767 | dit(bf(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The |
768 | daemon may be accessed using the bf(host::module) or | |
769 | bf(rsync://host/module/) syntax. | |
770 | ||
771 | If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being | |
772 | run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and | |
773 | become a background daemon. The daemon will read the config file | |
30e8c8e1 | 774 | (rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and respond to |
eb06fa95 MP |
775 | requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more |
776 | details. | |
41059f75 | 777 | |
bbd6f4ba MP |
778 | dit(bf(--no-detach)) When running as a daemon, this option instructs |
779 | rsync to not detach itself and become a background process. This | |
780 | option is required when running as a service on Cygwin, and may also | |
781 | be useful when rsync is supervised by a program such as | |
782 | bf(daemontools) or AIX's bf(System Resource Controller). | |
783 | bf(--no-detach) is also recommended when rsync is run under a | |
784 | debugger. This option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or | |
785 | sshd. | |
786 | ||
5c9730a4 | 787 | dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address |
e30f0657 AT |
788 | when run as a daemon with the --daemon option or when connecting to a |
789 | rsync server. The --address option allows you to specify a specific IP | |
790 | address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting possible | |
791 | in conjunction with the --config option. | |
5c9730a4 | 792 | |
b5679335 | 793 | dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than |
30e8c8e1 DD |
794 | the default. This is only relevant when --daemon is specified. |
795 | The default is /etc/rsyncd.conf unless the daemon is running over | |
796 | a remote shell program and the remote user is not root; in that case | |
797 | the default is rsyncd.conf in the current directory (typically $HOME). | |
41059f75 | 798 | |
b5679335 | 799 | dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use |
14d43f1f | 800 | rather than the default port 873. |
41059f75 | 801 | |
735a816e | 802 | dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This tells rsync to use blocking IO when launching |
314a74d7 WD |
803 | a remote shell transport. If the remote shell is either rsh or remsh, |
804 | rsync defaults to using | |
43cd760f WD |
805 | blocking IO, otherwise it defaults to using non-blocking IO. (Note that |
806 | ssh prefers non-blocking IO.) | |
64c704f0 | 807 | |
93689aa5 DD |
808 | dit(bf(--no-blocking-io)) Turn off --blocking-io, for use when it is the |
809 | default. | |
810 | ||
3a64ad1f | 811 | dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the |
14d43f1f | 812 | rsync client logs to stdout on a per-file basis. The log format is |
3a64ad1f DD |
813 | specified using the same format conventions as the log format option in |
814 | rsyncd.conf. | |
b6062654 | 815 | |
b72f24c7 AT |
816 | dit(bf(--stats)) This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics |
817 | on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync | |
e19452a9 | 818 | algorithm is for your data. |
b72f24c7 | 819 | |
d9fcc198 AT |
820 | dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially |
821 | transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances | |
822 | it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the | |
823 | --partial option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should | |
824 | make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster. | |
825 | ||
eb86d661 AT |
826 | dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information |
827 | showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user | |
828 | something to watch. | |
e2559dbe | 829 | Implies --verbose without incrementing verbosity. |
7b10f91d | 830 | |
68f9910d WD |
831 | When the file is transferring, the data looks like this: |
832 | ||
833 | verb( | |
834 | 782448 63% 110.64kB/s 0:00:04 | |
835 | ) | |
836 | ||
837 | This tells you the current file size, the percentage of the transfer that | |
838 | is complete, the current calculated file-completion rate (including both | |
839 | data over the wire and data being matched locally), and the estimated time | |
840 | remaining in this transfer. | |
841 | ||
842 | After the a file is complete, it the data looks like this: | |
843 | ||
844 | verb( | |
845 | 1238099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (5, 57.1% of 396) | |
846 | ) | |
847 | ||
848 | This tells you the final file size, that it's 100% complete, the final | |
849 | transfer rate for the file, the amount of elapsed time it took to transfer | |
850 | the file, and the addition of a total-transfer summary in parentheses. | |
851 | These additional numbers tell you how many files have been updated, and | |
852 | what percent of the total number of files has been scanned. | |
853 | ||
d9fcc198 AT |
854 | dit(bf(-P)) The -P option is equivalent to --partial --progress. I |
855 | found myself typing that combination quite often so I created an | |
856 | option to make it easier. | |
857 | ||
65575e96 AT |
858 | dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password |
859 | in a file for accessing a remote rsync server. Note that this option | |
860 | is only useful when accessing a rsync server using the built in | |
861 | transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file | |
fc7952e7 AT |
862 | must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a |
863 | single line. | |
65575e96 | 864 | |
ef5d23eb DD |
865 | dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum |
866 | transfer rate in kilobytes per second. This option is most effective when | |
867 | using rsync with large files (several megabytes and up). Due to the nature | |
868 | of rsync transfers, blocks of data are sent, then if rsync determines the | |
869 | transfer was too fast, it will wait before sending the next data block. The | |
870 | result is an average transfer rate equalling the specified limit. A value | |
871 | of zero specifies no limit. | |
872 | ||
088aac85 DD |
873 | dit(bf(--write-batch=PREFIX)) Generate a set of files that can be |
874 | transferred as a batch update. Each filename in the set starts with | |
875 | PREFIX. See the "BATCH MODE" section for details. | |
6902ed17 | 876 | |
088aac85 DD |
877 | dit(bf(--read-batch=PREFIX)) Apply a previously generated change batch, |
878 | using the fileset whose filenames start with PREFIX. See the "BATCH | |
879 | MODE" section for details. | |
6902ed17 | 880 | |
41059f75 AT |
881 | enddit() |
882 | ||
43bd68e5 AT |
883 | manpagesection(EXCLUDE PATTERNS) |
884 | ||
885 | The exclude and include patterns specified to rsync allow for flexible | |
14d43f1f | 886 | selection of which files to transfer and which files to skip. |
43bd68e5 | 887 | |
eb06fa95 | 888 | rsync builds an ordered list of include/exclude options as specified on |
98606687 | 889 | the command line. Rsync checks each file and directory |
43bd68e5 | 890 | name against each exclude/include pattern in turn. The first matching |
23489269 | 891 | pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern, then that file is |
43bd68e5 AT |
892 | skipped. If it is an include pattern then that filename is not |
893 | skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the | |
894 | filename is not skipped. | |
895 | ||
98606687 S |
896 | The filenames matched against the exclude/include patterns |
897 | are relative to the destination directory, or "top | |
898 | directory", so patterns should not include the path elements | |
899 | of the source or destination directories. The only way in | |
900 | which a pattern will match the absolute path of a file or | |
901 | directory is if the source path is the root directory. | |
d1cce1dd | 902 | |
27b9a19b DD |
903 | Note that when used with -r (which is implied by -a), every subcomponent of |
904 | every path is visited from top down, so include/exclude patterns get | |
905 | applied recursively to each subcomponent. | |
906 | ||
907 | Note also that the --include and --exclude options take one pattern | |
2fb139c1 AT |
908 | each. To add multiple patterns use the --include-from and |
909 | --exclude-from options or multiple --include and --exclude options. | |
910 | ||
14d43f1f | 911 | The patterns can take several forms. The rules are: |
43bd68e5 AT |
912 | |
913 | itemize( | |
d1cce1dd | 914 | |
43bd68e5 AT |
915 | it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is matched against the |
916 | start of the filename, otherwise it is matched against the end of | |
d1cce1dd S |
917 | the filename. |
918 | This is the equivalent of a leading ^ in regular expressions. | |
98606687 | 919 | Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at the top of the |
b7dc46c0 | 920 | transferred tree. |
d1cce1dd | 921 | On the other hand, "foo" would match any file called "foo" |
27b9a19b DD |
922 | anywhere in the tree because the algorithm is applied recursively from |
923 | top down; it behaves as if each path component gets a turn at being the | |
924 | end of the file name. | |
d1cce1dd | 925 | The leading / does not make the pattern an absolute pathname. |
43bd68e5 AT |
926 | |
927 | it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a | |
928 | directory, not a file, link or device. | |
929 | ||
930 | it() if the pattern contains a wildcard character from the set | |
a8b9d4ed DD |
931 | *?[ then expression matching is applied using the shell filename |
932 | matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used. | |
43bd68e5 | 933 | |
8a7846f9 WD |
934 | it() the double asterisk pattern "**" will match slashes while a |
935 | single asterisk pattern "*" will stop at slashes. | |
27b9a19b | 936 | |
38499c1a WD |
937 | it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) or a "**" |
938 | then it is matched against the full filename, including any leading | |
939 | directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a / or a "**", then it is | |
940 | matched only against the final component of the filename. Again, | |
941 | remember that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename" can | |
8a7846f9 | 942 | actually be any portion of a path below the starting directory. |
43bd68e5 AT |
943 | |
944 | it() if the pattern starts with "+ " (a plus followed by a space) | |
5a554d5b | 945 | then it is always considered an include pattern, even if specified as |
43bd68e5 AT |
946 | part of an exclude option. The "+ " part is discarded before matching. |
947 | ||
948 | it() if the pattern starts with "- " (a minus followed by a space) | |
5a554d5b | 949 | then it is always considered an exclude pattern, even if specified as |
43bd68e5 | 950 | part of an include option. The "- " part is discarded before matching. |
de2fd20e AT |
951 | |
952 | it() if the pattern is a single exclamation mark ! then the current | |
eb06fa95 | 953 | include/exclude list is reset, removing all previously defined patterns. |
43bd68e5 AT |
954 | ) |
955 | ||
b7dc46c0 WD |
956 | The +/- rules are most useful in a list that was read from a file, allowing |
957 | you to have a single exclude list that contains both include and exclude | |
958 | options. | |
27b9a19b DD |
959 | |
960 | If you end an exclude list with --exclude '*', note that since the | |
961 | algorithm is applied recursively that unless you explicitly include | |
962 | parent directories of files you want to include then the algorithm | |
963 | will stop at the parent directories and never see the files below | |
964 | them. To include all directories, use --include '*/' before the | |
965 | --exclude '*'. | |
43bd68e5 | 966 | |
328fcf11 | 967 | Here are some exclude/include examples: |
43bd68e5 AT |
968 | |
969 | itemize( | |
970 | it() --exclude "*.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o | |
98606687 | 971 | it() --exclude "/foo" would exclude a file called foo in the top directory |
43bd68e5 | 972 | it() --exclude "foo/" would exclude any directory called foo |
a8b9d4ed | 973 | it() --exclude "/foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two |
98606687 | 974 | levels below a directory called foo in the top directory |
a8b9d4ed | 975 | it() --exclude "/foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two |
98606687 | 976 | or more levels below a directory called foo in the top directory |
43bd68e5 | 977 | it() --include "*/" --include "*.c" --exclude "*" would include all |
5d5811f7 DD |
978 | directories and C source files |
979 | it() --include "foo/" --include "foo/bar.c" --exclude "*" would include | |
980 | only foo/bar.c (the foo/ directory must be explicitly included or | |
981 | it would be excluded by the "*") | |
43bd68e5 AT |
982 | ) |
983 | ||
6902ed17 MP |
984 | manpagesection(BATCH MODE) |
985 | ||
2e3c1417 | 986 | bf(Note:) Batch mode should be considered experimental in this version |
088aac85 DD |
987 | of rsync. The interface or behaviour may change before it stabilizes. |
988 | ||
989 | Batch mode can be used to apply the same set of updates to many | |
990 | identical systems. Suppose one has a tree which is replicated on a | |
991 | number of hosts. Now suppose some changes have been made to this | |
992 | source tree and those changes need to be propagated to the other | |
993 | hosts. In order to do this using batch mode, rsync is run with the | |
994 | write-batch option to apply the changes made to the source tree to one | |
995 | of the destination trees. The write-batch option causes the rsync | |
996 | client to store the information needed to repeat this operation against | |
997 | other destination trees in a batch update fileset (see below). The | |
998 | filename of each file in the fileset starts with a prefix specified by | |
999 | the user as an argument to the write-batch option. This fileset is | |
1000 | then copied to each remote host, where rsync is run with the read-batch | |
1001 | option, again specifying the same prefix, and the destination tree. | |
1002 | Rsync updates the destination tree using the information stored in the | |
1003 | batch update fileset. | |
1004 | ||
1005 | The fileset consists of 4 files: | |
2e3c1417 | 1006 | |
088aac85 DD |
1007 | itemize( |
1008 | it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_argvs) command-line arguments | |
1009 | it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_flist) rsync internal file metadata | |
1010 | it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_csums) rsync checksums | |
1011 | it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_delta) data blocks for file update & change | |
6902ed17 MP |
1012 | ) |
1013 | ||
088aac85 DD |
1014 | The .rsync_argvs file contains a command-line suitable for updating a |
1015 | destination tree using that batch update fileset. It can be executed | |
1016 | using a Bourne(-like) shell, optionally passing in an alternate | |
1017 | destination tree pathname which is then used instead of the original | |
1018 | path. This is useful when the destination tree path differs from the | |
1019 | original destination tree path. | |
6902ed17 | 1020 | |
088aac85 DD |
1021 | Generating the batch update fileset once saves having to perform the |
1022 | file status, checksum and data block generation more than once when | |
1023 | updating multiple destination trees. Multicast transport protocols can | |
1024 | be used to transfer the batch update files in parallel to many hosts at | |
1025 | once, instead of sending the same data to every host individually. | |
1026 | ||
1027 | Example: | |
1028 | ||
1029 | verb( | |
8a78bb96 | 1030 | $ rsync --write-batch=pfx -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/ |
088aac85 | 1031 | $ rcp pfx.rsync_* remote: |
43cd760f | 1032 | $ ssh remote rsync --read-batch=pfx -a /bdest/dir/ |
088aac85 | 1033 | # or alternatively |
43cd760f | 1034 | $ ssh remote ./pfx.rsync_argvs /bdest/dir/ |
6902ed17 MP |
1035 | ) |
1036 | ||
088aac85 DD |
1037 | In this example, rsync is used to update /adest/dir/ with /source/dir/ |
1038 | and the information to repeat this operation is stored in the files | |
1039 | pfx.rsync_*. These files are then copied to the machine named "remote". | |
1040 | Rsync is then invoked on "remote" to update /bdest/dir/ the same way as | |
1041 | /adest/dir/. The last line shows the rsync_argvs file being used to | |
1042 | invoke rsync. | |
1043 | ||
1044 | Caveats: | |
1045 | ||
1046 | The read-batch option expects the destination tree it is meant to update | |
1047 | to be identical to the destination tree that was used to create the | |
1048 | batch update fileset. When a difference between the destination trees | |
1049 | is encountered the update will fail at that point, leaving the | |
1050 | destination tree in a partially updated state. In that case, rsync can | |
1051 | be used in its regular (non-batch) mode of operation to fix up the | |
1052 | destination tree. | |
1053 | ||
1054 | The rsync version used on all destinations should be identical to the | |
1055 | one used on the original destination. | |
1056 | ||
1057 | The -z/--compress option does not work in batch mode and yields a usage | |
1058 | error. A separate compression tool can be used instead to reduce the | |
1059 | size of the batch update files for transport to the destination. | |
1060 | ||
1061 | The -n/--dryrun option does not work in batch mode and yields a runtime | |
1062 | error. | |
1063 | ||
6902ed17 MP |
1064 | See bf(http://www.ils.unc.edu/i2dsi/unc_rsync+.html) for papers and technical |
1065 | reports. | |
1066 | ||
eb06fa95 MP |
1067 | manpagesection(SYMBOLIC LINKS) |
1068 | ||
1069 | Three basic behaviours are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic | |
1070 | link in the source directory. | |
1071 | ||
1072 | By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message | |
1073 | "skipping non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist. | |
1074 | ||
1075 | If bf(--links) is specified, then symlinks are recreated with the same | |
1076 | target on the destination. Note that bf(--archive) implies | |
1077 | bf(--links). | |
1078 | ||
1079 | If bf(--copy-links) is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by | |
1080 | copying their referent, rather than the symlink. | |
1081 | ||
1082 | rsync also distinguishes "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An | |
1083 | example where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes | |
1084 | ensure the rsync module they copy does not include symbolic links to | |
1085 | bf(/etc/passwd) in the public section of the site. Using | |
1086 | bf(--copy-unsafe-links) will cause any links to be copied as the file | |
1087 | they point to on the destination. Using bf(--safe-links) will cause | |
1088 | unsafe links to be ommitted altogether. | |
1089 | ||
7bd0cf5b MP |
1090 | Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks |
1091 | (start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough bf("..") | |
1092 | components to ascend from the directory being copied. | |
1093 | ||
d310a212 AT |
1094 | manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS) |
1095 | ||
14d43f1f | 1096 | rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little |
d310a212 AT |
1097 | cryptic. The one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol |
1098 | version mismatch - is your shell clean?". | |
1099 | ||
1100 | This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell | |
1101 | facility producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using | |
14d43f1f | 1102 | for its transport. The way to diagnose this problem is to run your |
d310a212 AT |
1103 | remote shell like this: |
1104 | ||
1105 | verb( | |
43cd760f | 1106 | ssh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat |
d310a212 AT |
1107 | ) |
1108 | ||
1109 | then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat | |
2cfeab21 | 1110 | should be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from |
d310a212 AT |
1111 | rsync then you will probably find that out.dat contains some text or |
1112 | data. Look at the contents and try to work out what is producing | |
14d43f1f | 1113 | it. The most common cause is incorrectly configured shell startup |
d310a212 AT |
1114 | scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that contain output statements |
1115 | for non-interactive logins. | |
1116 | ||
e6c64e79 MP |
1117 | If you are having trouble debugging include and exclude patterns, then |
1118 | try specifying the -vv option. At this level of verbosity rsync will | |
1119 | show why each individual file is included or excluded. | |
1120 | ||
55b64e4b MP |
1121 | manpagesection(EXIT VALUES) |
1122 | ||
1123 | startdit() | |
a73de5f3 WD |
1124 | dit(bf(0)) Success |
1125 | dit(bf(1)) Syntax or usage error | |
1126 | dit(bf(2)) Protocol incompatibility | |
1127 | dit(bf(3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs | |
1128 | dit(bf(4)) Requested action not supported: an attempt | |
8212336a MP |
1129 | was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support |
1130 | them; or an option was speciifed that is supported by the client and | |
1131 | not by the server. | |
a73de5f3 WD |
1132 | dit(bf(5)) Error starting client-server protocol |
1133 | dit(bf(10)) Error in socket IO | |
1134 | dit(bf(11)) Error in file IO | |
1135 | dit(bf(12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream | |
1136 | dit(bf(13)) Errors with program diagnostics | |
1137 | dit(bf(14)) Error in IPC code | |
1138 | dit(bf(20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT | |
1139 | dit(bf(21)) Some error returned by waitpid() | |
1140 | dit(bf(22)) Error allocating core memory buffers | |
3c1e2ad9 WD |
1141 | dit(bf(23)) Partial transfer due to error |
1142 | dit(bf(24)) Partial transfer due to vanished source files | |
a73de5f3 | 1143 | dit(bf(30)) Timeout in data send/receive |
55b64e4b MP |
1144 | enddit() |
1145 | ||
de2fd20e AT |
1146 | manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES) |
1147 | ||
1148 | startdit() | |
1149 | ||
1150 | dit(bf(CVSIGNORE)) The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any | |
1151 | ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the --cvs-exclude option for | |
1152 | more details. | |
1153 | ||
1154 | dit(bf(RSYNC_RSH)) The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to | |
ea7f8108 WD |
1155 | override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. Command line |
1156 | options are permitted after the command name, just as in the -e option. | |
de2fd20e | 1157 | |
4c3b4b25 AT |
1158 | dit(bf(RSYNC_PROXY)) The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to |
1159 | redirect your rsync client to use a web proxy when connecting to a | |
1160 | rsync daemon. You should set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair. | |
1161 | ||
de2fd20e AT |
1162 | dit(bf(RSYNC_PASSWORD)) Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required |
1163 | password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to a rsync | |
1164 | daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a | |
1165 | password to a shell transport such as ssh. | |
1166 | ||
1167 | dit(bf(USER) or bf(LOGNAME)) The USER or LOGNAME environment variables | |
1168 | are used to determine the default username sent to a rsync server. | |
1169 | ||
14d43f1f | 1170 | dit(bf(HOME)) The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's |
de2fd20e AT |
1171 | default .cvsignore file. |
1172 | ||
1173 | enddit() | |
1174 | ||
41059f75 AT |
1175 | manpagefiles() |
1176 | ||
30e8c8e1 | 1177 | /etc/rsyncd.conf or rsyncd.conf |
41059f75 AT |
1178 | |
1179 | manpageseealso() | |
1180 | ||
1181 | rsyncd.conf(5) | |
1182 | ||
1183 | manpagediagnostics() | |
1184 | ||
1185 | manpagebugs() | |
1186 | ||
1187 | times are transferred as unix time_t values | |
1188 | ||
38843171 DD |
1189 | When transferring to FAT filesystmes rsync may resync |
1190 | unmodified files. | |
1191 | See the comments on the --modify-window option. | |
1192 | ||
41059f75 AT |
1193 | file permissions, devices etc are transferred as native numerical |
1194 | values | |
1195 | ||
a87b3b2a | 1196 | see also the comments on the --delete option |
41059f75 | 1197 | |
38843171 DD |
1198 | Please report bugs! See the website at |
1199 | url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/) | |
41059f75 AT |
1200 | |
1201 | manpagesection(CREDITS) | |
1202 | ||
1203 | rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file | |
1204 | COPYING for details. | |
1205 | ||
41059f75 | 1206 | A WEB site is available at |
3cd5eb3b MP |
1207 | url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/). The site |
1208 | includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this | |
1209 | manual page. | |
9e3c856a AT |
1210 | |
1211 | The primary ftp site for rsync is | |
1212 | url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync). | |
41059f75 AT |
1213 | |
1214 | We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program. | |
1215 | ||
9e3c856a AT |
1216 | This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by |
1217 | Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler. | |
41059f75 AT |
1218 | |
1219 | manpagesection(THANKS) | |
1220 | ||
1221 | Thanks to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell | |
7ff701e8 MP |
1222 | and David Bell for helpful suggestions, patches and testing of rsync. |
1223 | I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have. | |
1224 | ||
1225 | Especial thanks also to: David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer. | |
41059f75 AT |
1226 | |
1227 | ||
1228 | manpageauthor() | |
1229 | ||
7ff701e8 MP |
1230 | rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell <tridge@samba.org> and Paul |
1231 | Mackerras. | |
3cd5eb3b | 1232 | |
7ff701e8 | 1233 | rsync is now maintained by Martin Pool <mbp@samba.org>. |
3cd5eb3b | 1234 | |
a5d74a18 | 1235 | Mailing lists for support and development are available at |
7ff701e8 MP |
1236 | url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org) |
1237 | ||
1238 | If you suspect you have found a security vulnerability in rsync, | |
1239 | please send it directly to Martin Pool and Andrew Tridgell. For other | |
1240 | enquiries, please use the mailing list. |