use floating point for printout of stats - this wrks on machines
[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
6rsync uses the "rsync algorithm" which provides a very fast method for
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
15this package.
16
17
18USAGE
19-----
20
21Basically you use rsync just like rcp, but rsync has many additional options.
22
23Here is a brief description of available options:
24
25Options:
26-v, --verbose increase verbosity
27-c, --checksum always checksum
28-a, --archive archive mode (same as -rlptDog)
29-r, --recursive recurse into directories
30-R, --relative use relative path names
31-b, --backup make backups (default ~ extension)
32-u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files)
33-l, --links preserve soft links
34-L, --copy-links treat soft links like regular files
35-H, --hard-links preserve hard links
36-p, --perms preserve permissions
37-o, --owner preserve owner (root only)
38-g, --group preserve group
39-D, --devices preserve devices (root only)
40-t, --times preserve times
41-S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently
42-n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
43-W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks
44-x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
45-B, --block-size SIZE checksum blocking size
46-e, --rsh COMMAND specify rsh replacement
47 --rsync-path PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine
48-C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does
49 --delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side
50 --force force deletion of directories even if not empty
51 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
52 --timeout TIME set IO timeout in seconds
53-I, --ignore-times don't exclude files that match length and time
54-T --temp-dir DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
55-z, --compress compress file data
56 --exclude FILE exclude file FILE
57 --exclude-from FILE exclude files listed in FILE
58 --suffix SUFFIX override backup suffix
59 --version print version number
60
61
62SETUP
63-----
64
65Rsync uses rsh or ssh for communication. It does not need to be setuid
66and requires no special privilages for installation. It does not
67require a inetd entry or a daemon. You must, however, have a working
68rsh or ssh system. Using ssh is recommended for its security
69features.
70
71To install rsync, first run the "configure" script. This will create a
72Makefile and config.h appropriate for your system. Then type
73"make".
74
75Once built put a copy of rsync in your search path on the local and
76remote systems (or use "make install"). That's it!
77
78
79MAILING LIST
80------------
81
82There is a mailing list for the discussion of rsync and its
83applications. It is open to anyone to join. I will announce new
84versions on this list.
85
86To join the mailing list send mail to listproc@samba.anu.edu.au with
87no subject and a body of "subscribe rsync Your Name".
88
89To send mail to everyone on the list send it to rsync@samba.anu.edu.au
90
91
92BUG REPORTS
93-----------
94
95If you have web access then please look at
96http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/
97
98This will give you access to the bug tracking system used by the
99developers of rsync and will allow you to look at other bug reports or
100submit a new bug report.
101
102If you don't have web access then mail bug reports to
103rsync-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au or (if you think it will be of interest to
104lots of people) send it to rsync@samba.anu.edu.au
105
106
107CVS TREE
108--------
109
110If you want to get the very latest version of rsync direct from the
111source code repository then you can use anonymous cvs. You will need a
112recent version of cvs then use the following commands:
113
114 cvs -d :pserver:cvs@samba.anu.edu.au:/cvsroot login
115 Password: cvs
116
117 cvs -d :pserver:cvs@samba.anu.edu.au:/cvsroot co rsync
118
119Look at the cvs documentation for more details.
120
121
122COPYRIGHT
123---------
124
125Rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras, and is
126available under the Gnu Public License.
127
128tridge@samba.anu.edu.au
129paulus@cs.anu.edu.au
130
131
132AVAILABILITY
133------------
134
135The main ftp site for rsync is ftp://samba.anu.edu.au/pub/rsync
136
137Mirrors are available at:
138
139ftp://sunsite.auc.dk/pub/unix/rsync
140ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/unix/admin/rsync
141ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pub/unix/network/rsync/