1 mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
2 manpage(rsyncd.conf)(5)(28 Jul 2005)()()
3 manpagename(rsyncd.conf)(configuration file for rsync in daemon mode)
10 The rsyncd.conf file is the runtime configuration file for rsync when
11 run as an rsync daemon.
13 The rsyncd.conf file controls authentication, access, logging and
16 manpagesection(FILE FORMAT)
18 The file consists of modules and parameters. A module begins with the
19 name of the module in square brackets and continues until the next
20 module begins. Modules contain parameters of the form 'name = value'.
22 The file is line-based -- that is, each newline-terminated line represents
23 either a comment, a module name or a parameter.
25 Only the first equals sign in a parameter is significant. Whitespace before
26 or after the first equals sign is discarded. Leading, trailing and internal
27 whitespace in module and parameter names is irrelevant. Leading and
28 trailing whitespace in a parameter value is discarded. Internal whitespace
29 within a parameter value is retained verbatim.
31 Any line beginning with a hash (#) is ignored, as are lines containing
34 Any line ending in a \ is "continued" on the next line in the
35 customary UNIX fashion.
37 The values following the equals sign in parameters are all either a string
38 (no quotes needed) or a boolean, which may be given as yes/no, 0/1 or
39 true/false. Case is not significant in boolean values, but is preserved
42 manpagesection(LAUNCHING THE RSYNC DAEMON)
44 The rsync daemon is launched by specifying the bf(--daemon) option to
47 The daemon must run with root privileges if you wish to use chroot, to
48 bind to a port numbered under 1024 (as is the default 873), or to set
49 file ownership. Otherwise, it must just have permission to read and
50 write the appropriate data, log, and lock files.
52 You can launch it either via inetd, as a stand-alone daemon, or from
53 an rsync client via a remote shell. If run as a stand-alone daemon then
54 just run the command "bf(rsync --daemon)" from a suitable startup script.
56 When run via inetd you should add a line like this to /etc/services:
60 and a single line something like this to /etc/inetd.conf:
62 verb( rsync stream tcp nowait root /usr/bin/rsync rsyncd --daemon)
64 Replace "/usr/bin/rsync" with the path to where you have rsync installed on
65 your system. You will then need to send inetd a HUP signal to tell it to
66 reread its config file.
68 Note that you should bf(not) send the rsync daemon a HUP signal to force
69 it to reread the tt(rsyncd.conf) file. The file is re-read on each client
72 manpagesection(GLOBAL OPTIONS)
74 The first parameters in the file (before a [module] header) are the
77 You may also include any module parameters in the global part of the
78 config file in which case the supplied value will override the
79 default for that parameter.
82 dit(bf(motd file)) The "motd file" option allows you to specify a
83 "message of the day" to display to clients on each connect. This
84 usually contains site information and any legal notices. The default
87 dit(bf(log file)) The "log file" option tells the rsync daemon to log
88 messages to that file rather than using syslog. This is particularly
89 useful on systems (such as AIX) where syslog() doesn't work for
90 chrooted programs. If the daemon fails to open to specified file, it
91 will fall back to using syslog and output an error about the failure.
92 (Note that a failure to open the specified log file used to be a fatal
95 dit(bf(pid file)) The "pid file" option tells the rsync daemon to write
96 its process ID to that file.
98 dit(bf(syslog facility)) The "syslog facility" option allows you to
99 specify the syslog facility name to use when logging messages from the
100 rsync daemon. You may use any standard syslog facility name which is
101 defined on your system. Common names are auth, authpriv, cron, daemon,
102 ftp, kern, lpr, mail, news, security, syslog, user, uucp, local0,
103 local1, local2, local3, local4, local5, local6 and local7. The default
106 dit(bf(port)) You can override the default port the daemon will listen on
107 by specifying this value (defaults to 873). This is ignored if the daemon
108 is being run by inetd, and is superseded by the bf(--port) command-line option.
110 dit(bf(address)) You can override the default IP address the daemon
111 will listen on by specifying this value. This is ignored if the daemon is
112 being run by inetd, and is superseded by the bf(--address) command-line option.
114 dit(bf(socket options)) This option can provide endless fun for people
115 who like to tune their systems to the utmost degree. You can set all
116 sorts of socket options which may make transfers faster (or
117 slower!). Read the man page for the setsockopt() system call for
118 details on some of the options you may be able to set. By default no
119 special socket options are set. These settings are superseded by the
120 bf(--sockopts) command-line option.
125 manpagesection(MODULE OPTIONS)
127 After the global options you should define a number of modules, each
128 module exports a directory tree as a symbolic name. Modules are
129 exported by specifying a module name in square brackets [module]
130 followed by the options for that module.
134 dit(bf(comment)) The "comment" option specifies a description string
135 that is displayed next to the module name when clients obtain a list
136 of available modules. The default is no comment.
138 dit(bf(path)) The "path" option specifies the directory in the daemon's
139 filesystem to make available in this module. You must specify this option
140 for each module in tt(rsyncd.conf).
142 dit(bf(use chroot)) If "use chroot" is true, the rsync daemon will chroot
143 to the "path" before starting the file transfer with the client. This has
144 the advantage of extra protection against possible implementation security
145 holes, but it has the disadvantages of requiring super-user privileges,
146 of not being able to follow symbolic links that are either absolute or outside
147 of the new root path, and of complicating the preservation of usernames and groups
148 (see below). When "use chroot" is false, for security reasons,
149 symlinks may only be relative paths pointing to other files within the root
150 path, and leading slashes are removed from most absolute paths (options
151 such as bf(--backup-dir), bf(--compare-dest), etc. interpret an absolute path as
152 rooted in the module's "path" dir, just as if chroot was specified).
153 The default for "use chroot" is true.
155 In order to preserve usernames and groupnames, rsync needs to be able to
156 use the standard library functions for looking up names and IDs (i.e.
157 getpwuid(), getgrgid(), getpwname(), and getgrnam()). This means a
158 process in the chroot namespace will need to have access to the resources
159 used by these library functions (traditionally /etc/passwd and
160 /etc/group). If these resources are not available, rsync will only be
161 able to copy the IDs, just as if the bf(--numeric-ids) option had been
164 Note that you are free to setup user/group information in the chroot area
165 differently from your normal system. For example, you could abbreviate
166 the list of users and groups. Also, you can protect this information from
167 being downloaded/uploaded by adding an exclude rule to the rsyncd.conf file
168 (e.g. "exclude = /etc/**"). Note that having the exclusion affect uploads
169 is a relatively new feature in rsync, so make sure your daemon is
170 at least 2.6.3 to effect this. Also note that it is safest to exclude a
171 directory and all its contents combining the rule "/some/dir/" with the
172 rule "/some/dir/**" just to be sure that rsync will not allow deeper
173 access to some of the excluded files inside the directory (rsync tries to
174 do this automatically, but you might as well specify both to be extra
177 dit(bf(max connections)) The "max connections" option allows you to
178 specify the maximum number of simultaneous connections you will allow.
179 Any clients connecting when the maximum has been reached will receive a
180 message telling them to try later. The default is 0 which means no limit.
181 See also the "lock file" option.
183 dit(bf(max verbosity)) The "max verbosity" option allows you to control
184 the maximum amount of verbose information that you'll allow the daemon to
185 generate (since the information goes into the log file). The default is 1,
186 which allows the client to request one level of verbosity.
188 dit(bf(lock file)) The "lock file" option specifies the file to use to
189 support the "max connections" option. The rsync daemon uses record
190 locking on this file to ensure that the max connections limit is not
191 exceeded for the modules sharing the lock file.
192 The default is tt(/var/run/rsyncd.lock).
194 dit(bf(read only)) The "read only" option determines whether clients
195 will be able to upload files or not. If "read only" is true then any
196 attempted uploads will fail. If "read only" is false then uploads will
197 be possible if file permissions on the daemon side allow them. The default
198 is for all modules to be read only.
200 dit(bf(write only)) The "write only" option determines whether clients
201 will be able to download files or not. If "write only" is true then any
202 attempted downloads will fail. If "write only" is false then downloads
203 will be possible if file permissions on the daemon side allow them. The
204 default is for this option to be disabled.
206 dit(bf(list)) The "list" option determines if this module should be
207 listed when the client asks for a listing of available modules. By
208 setting this to false you can create hidden modules. The default is
209 for modules to be listable.
211 dit(bf(uid)) The "uid" option specifies the user name or user ID that
212 file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon
213 was run as root. In combination with the "gid" option this determines what
214 file permissions are available. The default is uid -2, which is normally
217 dit(bf(gid)) The "gid" option specifies the group name or group ID that
218 file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon
219 was run as root. This complements the "uid" option. The default is gid -2,
220 which is normally the group "nobody".
222 dit(bf(filter)) The "filter" option allows you to specify a space-separated
223 list of filter rules that the daemon will not allow to be read or written.
224 This is only superficially equivalent to the client specifying these
225 patterns with the bf(--filter) option. Only one "filter" option may be
226 specified, but it may contain as many rules as you like, including
227 merge-file rules. Note that per-directory merge-file rules do not provide
228 as much protection as global rules, but they can be used to make bf(--delete)
229 work better when a client downloads the daemon's files (if the per-dir
230 merge files are included in the transfer).
232 dit(bf(exclude)) The "exclude" option allows you to specify a
233 space-separated list of patterns that the daemon will not allow to be read
234 or written. This is only superficially equivalent to the client
235 specifying these patterns with the bf(--exclude) option. Only one "exclude"
236 option may be specified, but you can use "-" and "+" before patterns to
237 specify exclude/include.
239 Because this exclude list is not passed to the client it only applies on
240 the daemon: that is, it excludes files received by a client when receiving
241 from a daemon and files deleted on a daemon when sending to a daemon, but
242 it doesn't exclude files from being deleted on a client when receiving
245 dit(bf(exclude from)) The "exclude from" option specifies a filename
246 on the daemon that contains exclude patterns, one per line.
247 This is only superficially equivalent
248 to the client specifying the bf(--exclude-from) option with an equivalent file.
249 See the "exclude" option above.
251 dit(bf(include)) The "include" option allows you to specify a
252 space-separated list of patterns which rsync should not exclude. This is
253 only superficially equivalent to the client specifying these patterns with
254 the bf(--include) option because it applies only on the daemon. This is
255 useful as it allows you to build up quite complex exclude/include rules.
256 Only one "include" option may be specified, but you can use "+" and "-"
257 before patterns to switch include/exclude. See the "exclude" option
260 dit(bf(include from)) The "include from" option specifies a filename
261 on the daemon that contains include patterns, one per line. This is
262 only superficially equivalent to the client specifying the
263 bf(--include-from) option with a equivalent file.
264 See the "exclude" option above.
266 dit(bf(incoming chmod)) This option allows you to specify a set of
267 comma-separated chmod strings that will affect the permissions of all
268 incoming files (files that are being received by the daemon). These
269 changes happen last, giving this setting the final word on what the
270 permissions should look like in the repository.
271 See the description of the bf(--chmod) rsync option and the bf(chmod)(1)
272 manpage for information on the format of this string.
274 dit(bf(outgoing chmod)) This option allows you to specify a set of
275 comma-separated chmod strings that will affect the permissions of all
276 outgoing files (files that are being sent out from the daemon). These
277 changes happen first, making the sent permissions appear to be different
278 than those stored in the filesystem itself (which, for instance, you
279 could disable group write permissions on the server).
280 See the description of the bf(--chmod) rsync option and the bf(chmod)(1)
281 manpage for information on the format of this string.
283 dit(bf(auth users)) The "auth users" option specifies a comma and
284 space-separated list of usernames that will be allowed to connect to
285 this module. The usernames do not need to exist on the local
286 system. The usernames may also contain shell wildcard characters. If
287 "auth users" is set then the client will be challenged to supply a
288 username and password to connect to the module. A challenge response
289 authentication protocol is used for this exchange. The plain text
290 usernames and passwords are stored in the file specified by the
291 "secrets file" option. The default is for all users to be able to
292 connect without a password (this is called "anonymous rsync").
294 See also the "CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC DAEMON OVER A REMOTE SHELL
295 PROGRAM" section in rsync(1) for information on how handle an
296 rsyncd.conf-level username that differs from the remote-shell-level
297 username when using a remote shell to connect to an rsync daemon.
299 dit(bf(secrets file)) The "secrets file" option specifies the name of
300 a file that contains the username:password pairs used for
301 authenticating this module. This file is only consulted if the "auth
302 users" option is specified. The file is line based and contains
303 username:password pairs separated by a single colon. Any line starting
304 with a hash (#) is considered a comment and is skipped. The passwords
305 can contain any characters but be warned that many operating systems
306 limit the length of passwords that can be typed at the client end, so
307 you may find that passwords longer than 8 characters don't work.
309 There is no default for the "secrets file" option, you must choose a name
310 (such as tt(/etc/rsyncd.secrets)). The file must normally not be readable
311 by "other"; see "strict modes".
313 dit(bf(strict modes)) The "strict modes" option determines whether or not
314 the permissions on the secrets file will be checked. If "strict modes" is
315 true, then the secrets file must not be readable by any user ID other
316 than the one that the rsync daemon is running under. If "strict modes" is
317 false, the check is not performed. The default is true. This option
318 was added to accommodate rsync running on the Windows operating system.
320 dit(bf(hosts allow)) The "hosts allow" option allows you to specify a
321 list of patterns that are matched against a connecting clients
322 hostname and IP address. If none of the patterns match then the
323 connection is rejected.
325 Each pattern can be in one of five forms:
328 it() a dotted decimal IPv4 address of the form a.b.c.d, or an IPv6 address
329 of the form a:b:c::d:e:f. In this case the incoming machine's IP address
331 it() an address/mask in the form ipaddr/n where ipaddr is the IP address
332 and n is the number of one bits in the netmask. All IP addresses which
333 match the masked IP address will be allowed in.
334 it() an address/mask in the form ipaddr/maskaddr where ipaddr is the
335 IP address and maskaddr is the netmask in dotted decimal notation for IPv4,
336 or similar for IPv6, e.g. ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:: instead of /64. All IP
337 addresses which match the masked IP address will be allowed in.
338 it() a hostname. The hostname as determined by a reverse lookup will
339 be matched (case insensitive) against the pattern. Only an exact
341 it() a hostname pattern using wildcards. These are matched using the
342 same rules as normal unix filename matching. If the pattern matches
343 then the client is allowed in.
346 Note IPv6 link-local addresses can have a scope in the address specification:
349 tt( fe80::1%link1)nl()
350 tt( fe80::%link1/64)nl()
351 tt( fe80::%link1/ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff::)nl()
354 You can also combine "hosts allow" with a separate "hosts deny"
355 option. If both options are specified then the "hosts allow" option s
356 checked first and a match results in the client being able to
357 connect. The "hosts deny" option is then checked and a match means
358 that the host is rejected. If the host does not match either the
359 "hosts allow" or the "hosts deny" patterns then it is allowed to
362 The default is no "hosts allow" option, which means all hosts can connect.
364 dit(bf(hosts deny)) The "hosts deny" option allows you to specify a
365 list of patterns that are matched against a connecting clients
366 hostname and IP address. If the pattern matches then the connection is
367 rejected. See the "hosts allow" option for more information.
369 The default is no "hosts deny" option, which means all hosts can connect.
371 dit(bf(ignore errors)) The "ignore errors" option tells rsyncd to
372 ignore I/O errors on the daemon when deciding whether to run the delete
373 phase of the transfer. Normally rsync skips the bf(--delete) step if any
374 I/O errors have occurred in order to prevent disastrous deletion due
375 to a temporary resource shortage or other I/O error. In some cases this
376 test is counter productive so you can use this option to turn off this
379 dit(bf(ignore nonreadable)) This tells the rsync daemon to completely
380 ignore files that are not readable by the user. This is useful for
381 public archives that may have some non-readable files among the
382 directories, and the sysadmin doesn't want those files to be seen at all.
384 dit(bf(transfer logging)) The "transfer logging" option enables per-file
385 logging of downloads and uploads in a format somewhat similar to that
386 used by ftp daemons. The daemon always logs the transfer at the end, so
387 if a transfer is aborted, no mention will be made in the log file.
389 If you want to customize the log lines, see the "log format" option.
391 dit(bf(log format)) The "log format" option allows you to specify the
392 format used for logging file transfers when transfer logging is enabled.
393 The format is a text string containing embedded single-character escape
394 sequences prefixed with a percent (%) character. An optional numeric
395 field width may also be specified between the percent and the escape
396 letter (e.g. "%-50n %8l %07p").
398 The default log format is "%o %h [%a] %m (%u) %f %l", and a "%t [%p] "
399 is always prefixed when using the "log file" option.
400 (A perl script that will summarize this default log format is included
401 in the rsync source code distribution in the "support" subdirectory:
404 The single-character escapes that are understood are as follows:
407 it() %h for the remote host name
408 it() %a for the remote IP address
409 it() %l for the length of the file in bytes
410 it() %p for the process ID of this rsync session
411 it() %o for the operation, which is "send", "recv", or "del."
412 (the latter includes the trailing period)
413 it() %f for the filename (long form on sender; no trailing "/")
414 it() %n for the filename (short form; trailing "/" on dir)
415 it() %L either the string " -> SYMLINK", or " => HARDLINK" or an
416 empty string (where bf(SYMLINK) or bf(HARDLINK) is a filename)
417 it() %P for the module path
418 it() %m for the module name
419 it() %t for the current date time
420 it() %u for the authenticated username (or the null string)
421 it() %b for the number of bytes actually transferred
422 it() %c when sending files this gives the number of checksum bytes
423 received for this file
424 it() %i an itemized list of what is being updated
427 For a list of what the characters mean that are output by "%i", see the
428 bf(--itemize-changes) option in the rsync manpage.
430 Note that some of the logged output changes when talking with older
431 rsync versions. For instance, deleted files were only output as verbose
432 messages prior to rsync 2.6.4.
434 dit(bf(timeout)) The "timeout" option allows you to override the
435 clients choice for I/O timeout for this module. Using this option you
436 can ensure that rsync won't wait on a dead client forever. The timeout
437 is specified in seconds. A value of zero means no timeout and is the
438 default. A good choice for anonymous rsync daemons may be 600 (giving
439 a 10 minute timeout).
441 dit(bf(refuse options)) The "refuse options" option allows you to
442 specify a space-separated list of rsync command line options that will
443 be refused by your rsync daemon.
444 You may specify the full option name, its one-letter abbreviation, or a
445 wild-card string that matches multiple options.
446 For example, this would refuse bf(--checksum) (bf(-c)) and all the various
449 quote(tt( refuse options = c delete))
451 The reason the above refuses all delete options is that the options imply
452 bf(--delete), and implied options are refused just like explicit options.
453 As an additional safety feature, the refusal of "delete" also refuses
454 bf(remove-sent-files) when the daemon is the sender; if you want the latter
455 without the former, instead refuse "delete-*" -- that refuses all the
456 delete modes without affecting bf(--remove-sent-files).
458 When an option is refused, the daemon prints an error message and exits.
459 To prevent all compression, you can use "dont compress = *" (see below)
460 instead of "refuse options = compress" to avoid returning an error to a
461 client that requests compression.
463 dit(bf(dont compress)) The "dont compress" option allows you to select
464 filenames based on wildcard patterns that should not be compressed
465 during transfer. Compression is expensive in terms of CPU usage so it
466 is usually good to not try to compress files that won't compress well,
467 such as already compressed files.
469 The "dont compress" option takes a space-separated list of
470 case-insensitive wildcard patterns. Any source filename matching one
471 of the patterns will not be compressed during transfer.
473 The default setting is tt(*.gz *.tgz *.zip *.z *.rpm *.deb *.iso *.bz2 *.tbz)
475 dit(bf(pre-xfer exec), bf(post-xfer exec)) You may specify a command to be run
476 before and/or after the transfer. If the bf(pre-xfer exec) command fails, the
477 transfer is aborted before it begins.
479 The following environment variables will be set, though some are
480 specific to the pre-xfer or the post-xfer environment:
483 it() bf(RSYNC_MODULE_NAME): The name of the module being accessed.
484 it() bf(RSYNC_MODULE_PATH): The path configured for the module.
485 it() bf(RSYNC_HOST_ADDR): The accessing host's IP address.
486 it() bf(RSYNC_HOST_NAME): The accessing host's name.
487 it() bf(RSYNC_USER_NAME): The accessing user's name (empty if no user).
488 it() bf(RSYNC_REQUEST): (pre-xfer only) The module/path info specified
489 by the user (note that the user can specify multiple source files,
490 so the request can be something like "mod/path1 mod/path2", etc.).
491 it() bf(RSYNC_ARG#): (pre-xfer only) The pre-request arguments are set
492 in these numbered values. RSYNC_ARG0 is always "rsyncd", and the last
493 value contains a single period.
494 it() bf(RSYNC_EXIT_STATUS): (post-xfer only) rsync's exit value. This will be 0 for a
495 successful run, a positive value for an error that rsync returned
496 (e.g. 23=partial xfer), or a -1 if rsync failed to exit properly.
497 it() bf(RSYNC_RAW_STATUS): (post-xfer only) the raw exit value from waitpid().
500 Even though the commands can be associated with a particular module, they
501 are run using the permissions of the user that started the daemon (not the
502 module's uid/gid setting) without any chroot restrictions.
506 manpagesection(AUTHENTICATION STRENGTH)
508 The authentication protocol used in rsync is a 128 bit MD4 based
509 challenge response system. This is fairly weak protection, though (with
510 at least one brute-force hash-finding algorithm publicly available), so
511 if you want really top-quality security, then I recommend that you run
512 rsync over ssh. (Yes, a future version of rsync will switch over to a
513 stronger hashing method.)
515 Also note that the rsync daemon protocol does not currently provide any
516 encryption of the data that is transferred over the connection. Only
517 authentication is provided. Use ssh as the transport if you want
520 Future versions of rsync may support SSL for better authentication and
521 encryption, but that is still being investigated.
523 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
525 A simple rsyncd.conf file that allow anonymous rsync to a ftp area at
526 tt(/home/ftp) would be:
531 comment = ftp export area
534 A more sophisticated example would be:
541 syslog facility = local5
542 pid file = /var/run/rsyncd.pid
546 comment = whole ftp area (approx 6.1 GB)
549 path = /var/ftp/pub/samba
550 comment = Samba ftp area (approx 300 MB)
553 path = /var/ftp/pub/rsync
554 comment = rsync ftp area (approx 6 MB)
557 path = /public_html/samba
558 comment = Samba WWW pages (approx 240 MB)
562 comment = CVS repository (requires authentication)
563 auth users = tridge, susan
564 secrets file = /etc/rsyncd.secrets
567 The /etc/rsyncd.secrets file would look something like this:
570 tt(tridge:mypass)nl()
571 tt(susan:herpass)nl()
576 /etc/rsyncd.conf or rsyncd.conf
586 Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at
587 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
589 manpagesection(VERSION)
591 This man page is current for version 2.6.6 of rsync.
593 manpagesection(CREDITS)
595 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
598 The primary ftp site for rsync is
599 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
601 A WEB site is available at
602 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
604 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
606 This program uses the zlib compression library written by Jean-loup
607 Gailly and Mark Adler.
609 manpagesection(THANKS)
611 Thanks to Warren Stanley for his original idea and patch for the rsync
612 daemon. Thanks to Karsten Thygesen for his many suggestions and
617 rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras.
618 Many people have later contributed to it.
620 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
621 url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)