1 mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
2 manpage(rsync)(1)(28 Feb 2005)()()
3 manpagename(rsync)(faster, flexible replacement for rcp)
6 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST:DEST
8 rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC DEST
10 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... DEST
12 rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST]
14 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST::DEST
16 rsync [OPTION]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC [DEST]
18 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/DEST
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
24 greatly speed up file transfers when the destination file is being
27 The rsync remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the
28 differences between two sets of files across the network connection, using
29 an efficient checksum-search algorithm described in the technical
30 report that accompanies this package.
32 Some of the additional features of rsync are:
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
38 it() can use any transparent remote shell, including ssh or rsh
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
45 manpagesection(GENERAL)
47 There are eight different ways of using rsync. They are:
50 it() for copying local files. This is invoked when neither
51 source nor destination path contains a : separator
52 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine using
53 a remote shell program as the transport (such as ssh or
54 rsh). This is invoked when the destination path contains a
56 it() for copying from a remote machine to the local machine
57 using a remote shell program. This is invoked when the source
58 contains a : separator.
59 it() for copying from a remote rsync server to the local
60 machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
61 separator or an rsync:// URL.
62 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote rsync
63 server. This is invoked when the destination path contains a ::
64 separator or an rsync:// URL.
65 it() for copying from a remote machine using a remote shell
66 program as the transport, using rsync server on the remote
67 machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
68 separator and the bf(--rsh=COMMAND) (aka "bf(-e COMMAND)") option is
70 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine
71 using a remote shell program as the transport, using rsync
72 server on the remote machine. This is invoked when the
73 destination path contains a :: separator and the
74 bf(--rsh=COMMAND) option is also provided.
75 it() for listing files on a remote machine. This is done the
76 same way as rsync transfers except that you leave off the
80 Note that in all cases (other than listing) at least one of the source
81 and destination paths must be local.
85 See the file README for installation instructions.
87 Once installed, you can use rsync to any machine that you can access via
88 a remote shell (as well as some that you can access using the rsync
89 daemon-mode protocol). For remote transfers, a modern rsync uses ssh
90 for its communications, but it may have been configured to use a
91 different remote shell by default, such as rsh or remsh.
93 You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the bf(-e)
94 command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable.
96 One common substitute is to use ssh, which offers a high degree of
99 Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination
102 manpagesection(USAGE)
104 You use rsync in the same way you use rcp. You must specify a source
105 and a destination, one of which may be remote.
107 Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is with some examples:
109 quote(tt(rsync -t *.c foo:src/))
111 This would transfer all files matching the pattern *.c from the
112 current directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of
113 the files already exist on the remote system then the rsync
114 remote-update protocol is used to update the file by sending only the
115 differences. See the tech report for details.
117 quote(tt(rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp))
119 This would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the
120 machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The
121 files are transferred in "archive" mode, which ensures that symbolic
122 links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownerships, etc. are preserved
123 in the transfer. Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the
124 size of data portions of the transfer.
126 quote(tt(rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp))
128 A trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to avoid creating an
129 additional directory level at the destination. You can think of a trailing
130 / on a source as meaning "copy the contents of this directory" as opposed
131 to "copy the directory by name", but in both cases the attributes of the
132 containing directory are transferred to the containing directory on the
133 destination. In other words, each of the following commands copies the
134 files in the same way, including their setting of the attributes of
138 tt(rsync -av /src/foo /dest)nl()
139 tt(rsync -av /src/foo/ /dest/foo)nl()
142 You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
143 destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like
144 an improved copy command.
146 quote(tt(rsync somehost.mydomain.com::))
148 This would list all the anonymous rsync modules available on the host
149 somehost.mydomain.com. (See the following section for more details.)
151 manpagesection(ADVANCED USAGE)
153 The syntax for requesting multiple files from a remote host involves using
154 quoted spaces in the SRC. Some examples:
156 quote(tt(rsync host::'modname/dir1/file1 modname/dir2/file2' /dest))
158 This would copy file1 and file2 into /dest from an rsync daemon. Each
159 additional arg must include the same "modname/" prefix as the first one,
160 and must be preceded by a single space. All other spaces are assumed
161 to be a part of the filenames.
163 quote(tt(rsync -av host:'dir1/file1 dir2/file2' /dest))
165 This would copy file1 and file2 into /dest using a remote shell. This
166 word-splitting is done by the remote shell, so if it doesn't work it means
167 that the remote shell isn't configured to split its args based on
168 whitespace (a very rare setting, but not unknown). If you need to transfer
169 a filename that contains whitespace, you'll need to either escape the
170 whitespace in a way that the remote shell will understand, or use wildcards
171 in place of the spaces. Two examples of this are:
174 tt(rsync -av host:'file\ name\ with\ spaces' /dest)nl()
175 tt(rsync -av host:file?name?with?spaces /dest)nl()
178 This latter example assumes that your shell passes through unmatched
179 wildcards. If it complains about "no match", put the name in quotes.
181 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER)
183 It is also possible to use rsync without a remote shell as the
184 transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server
185 running on TCP port 873.
187 You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the
188 environment variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to
189 your web proxy. Note that your web proxy's configuration must support
190 proxy connections to port 873.
192 Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except
196 it() you either use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to
197 separate the hostname from the path, or you use an rsync:// URL.
198 it() the remote server may print a message of the day when you
200 it() if you specify no path name on the remote server then the
201 list of accessible paths on the server will be shown.
202 it() if you specify no local destination then a listing of the
203 specified files on the remote server is provided.
206 Some paths on the remote server may require authentication. If so then
207 you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the
208 password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to
209 the password you want to use or using the bf(--password-file) option. This
210 may be useful when scripting rsync.
212 WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all
213 users. On those systems using bf(--password-file) is recommended.
215 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
217 It is sometimes useful to be able to set up file transfers using rsync
218 server capabilities on the remote machine, while still using ssh or
219 rsh for transport. This is especially useful when you want to connect
220 to a remote machine via ssh (for encryption or to get through a
221 firewall), but you still want to have access to the rsync server
222 features (see RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM,
225 From the user's perspective, using rsync in this way is the same as
226 using it to connect to an rsync server, except that you must
227 explicitly set the remote shell program on the command line with
228 bf(--rsh=COMMAND). (Setting RSYNC_RSH in the environment will not turn on
231 In order to distinguish between the remote-shell user and the rsync
232 server user, you can use '-l user' on your remote-shell command:
234 verb( rsync -av --rsh="ssh -l ssh-user" \
235 rsync-user@host::module[/path] local-path)
237 The "ssh-user" will be used at the ssh level; the "rsync-user" will be
238 used to check against the rsyncd.conf on the remote host.
240 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER)
242 An rsync server is configured using a configuration file. Please see the
243 rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more information. By default the configuration
244 file is called /etc/rsyncd.conf, unless rsync is running over a remote
245 shell program and is not running as root; in that case, the default name
246 is rsyncd.conf in the current directory on the remote computer
249 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
251 See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for full information on the rsync
252 server configuration file.
254 Several configuration options will not be available unless the remote
255 user is root (e.g. chroot, setuid/setgid, etc.). There is no need to
256 configure inetd or the services map to include the rsync server port
257 if you run an rsync server only via a remote shell program.
259 To run an rsync server out of a single-use ssh key, see this section
260 in the rsyncd.conf(5) man page.
262 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
264 Here are some examples of how I use rsync.
266 To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS Word
267 files and mail folders, I use a cron job that runs
269 quote(tt(rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup))
271 each night over a PPP connection to a duplicate directory on my machine
274 To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile
278 rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ .
280 rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/
283 this allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the
284 connection. I then do CVS operations on the remote machine, which saves a
285 lot of time as the remote CVS protocol isn't very efficient.
287 I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the
290 tt(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge")
292 This is launched from cron every few hours.
294 manpagesection(OPTIONS SUMMARY)
296 Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer
297 to the detailed description below for a complete description. verb(
298 -v, --verbose increase verbosity
299 -q, --quiet suppress non-error messages
300 -c, --checksum skip based on checksum, not mod-time & size
301 -a, --archive archive mode; same as -rlptgoD (no -H)
302 -r, --recursive recurse into directories
303 -R, --relative use relative path names
304 --no-relative turn off --relative
305 --no-implied-dirs don't send implied dirs with -R
306 -b, --backup make backups (see --suffix & --backup-dir)
307 --backup-dir=DIR make backups into hierarchy based in DIR
308 --suffix=SUFFIX backup suffix (default ~ w/o --backup-dir)
309 -u, --update skip files that are newer on the receiver
310 --inplace update destination files in-place
311 -d, --dirs transfer directories without recursing
312 -l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks
313 -L, --copy-links transform symlink into referent file/dir
314 --copy-unsafe-links only "unsafe" symlinks are transformed
315 --safe-links ignore symlinks that point outside the tree
316 -H, --hard-links preserve hard links
317 -K, --keep-dirlinks treat symlinked dir on receiver as dir
318 -p, --perms preserve permissions
319 -o, --owner preserve owner (root only)
320 -g, --group preserve group
321 -D, --devices preserve devices (root only)
322 -t, --times preserve times
323 -O, --omit-dir-times omit directories when preserving times
324 -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently
325 -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
326 -W, --whole-file copy files whole (without rsync algorithm)
327 --no-whole-file always use incremental rsync algorithm
328 -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
329 -B, --block-size=SIZE force a fixed checksum block-size
330 -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify the remote shell to use
331 --rsync-path=PROGRAM specify the rsync to run on remote machine
332 --existing only update files that already exist
333 --ignore-existing ignore files that already exist on receiver
334 --remove-sent-files sent files/symlinks are removed from sender
335 --del an alias for --delete-during
336 --delete delete files that don't exist on sender
337 --delete-before receiver deletes before transfer (default)
338 --delete-during receiver deletes during xfer, not before
339 --delete-after receiver deletes after transfer, not before
340 --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on receiver
341 --ignore-errors delete even if there are I/O errors
342 --force force deletion of dirs even if not empty
343 --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
344 --max-size=SIZE don't transfer any file larger than SIZE
345 --partial keep partially transferred files
346 --partial-dir=DIR put a partially transferred file into DIR
347 --delay-updates put all updated files into place at end
348 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
349 --timeout=TIME set I/O timeout in seconds
350 -I, --ignore-times don't skip files that match size and time
351 --size-only skip files that match in size
352 --modify-window=NUM compare mod-times with reduced accuracy
353 -T, --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
354 -y, --fuzzy find similar file for basis if no dest file
355 --compare-dest=DIR also compare received files relative to DIR
356 --link-dest=DIR hardlink to files in DIR when unchanged
357 -z, --compress compress file data during the transfer
358 -C, --cvs-exclude auto-ignore files in the same way CVS does
359 -f, --filter=RULE add a file-filtering RULE
360 -F same as --filter='dir-merge /.rsync-filter'
361 repeated: --filter='- .rsync-filter'
362 --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
363 --exclude-from=FILE read exclude patterns from FILE
364 --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN
365 --include-from=FILE read include patterns from FILE
366 --files-from=FILE read list of source-file names from FILE
367 -0, --from0 all *from file lists are delimited by nulls
368 --version print version number
369 --port=PORT specify double-colon alternate port number
370 --blocking-io use blocking I/O for the remote shell
371 --no-blocking-io turn off blocking I/O when it is default
372 --stats give some file-transfer stats
373 --progress show progress during transfer
374 -P same as --partial --progress
375 -i, --itemize-changes output a change-summary for all updates
376 --log-format=FORMAT log file-transfers using specified format
377 --password-file=FILE read password from FILE
378 --list-only list the files instead of copying them
379 --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second
380 --write-batch=FILE write a batched update to FILE
381 --read-batch=FILE read a batched update from FILE
382 --checksum-seed=NUM set block/file checksum seed (advanced)
383 -4, --ipv4 prefer IPv4
384 -6, --ipv6 prefer IPv6
385 -h, --help show this help screen)
387 Rsync can also be run as a daemon, in which case the following options are
389 --daemon run as an rsync daemon
390 --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address
391 --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second
392 --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
393 --no-detach do not detach from the parent
394 --port=PORT listen on alternate port number
395 -v, --verbose increase verbosity
396 -4, --ipv4 prefer IPv4
397 -6, --ipv6 prefer IPv6
398 -h, --help show this help screen)
402 rsync uses the GNU long options package. Many of the command line
403 options have two variants, one short and one long. These are shown
404 below, separated by commas. Some options only have a long variant.
405 The '=' for options that take a parameter is optional; whitespace
409 dit(bf(-h, --help)) Print a short help page describing the options
412 dit(bf(--version)) print the rsync version number and exit.
414 dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you
415 are given during the transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A
416 single bf(-v) will give you information about what files are being
417 transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two bf(-v) flags will give you
418 information on what files are being skipped and slightly more
419 information at the end. More than two bf(-v) flags should only be used if
420 you are debugging rsync.
422 Note that the names of the transferred files that are output are done using
423 a default bf(--log-format) of "%n%L", which tells you just the name of the
424 file and, if the item is a symlink, where it points. At the single bf(-v)
425 level of verbosity, this does not mention when a file gets its attributes
426 changed. If you ask for an itemized list of changed attributes (either
427 bf(--itemize-changes) or adding "%i" to the bf(--log-format) setting), the
428 output (on the client) increases to mention all items that are changed in
429 any way. See the bf(--log-format) option for more details.
431 dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) This option decreases the amount of information you
432 are given during the transfer, notably suppressing information messages
433 from the remote server. This flag is useful when invoking rsync from
436 dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
437 already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp.
438 This option turns off this "quick check" behavior.
440 dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will not transfer any files that are
441 already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp. With the
442 bf(--size-only) option, files will not be transferred if they have the same size,
443 regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync
444 after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
447 dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps, rsync treats the
448 timestamps as being equal if they differ by no more than the modify-window
449 value. This is normally 0 (for an exact match), but you may find it useful
450 to set this to a larger value in some situations. In particular, when
451 transferring to or from an MS Windows FAT filesystem (which represents
452 times with a 2-second resolution), bf(--modify-window=1) is useful
453 (allowing times to differ by up to 1 second).
455 dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using
456 a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then
457 explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name
458 which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
459 receiver are not transferred. This option can be quite slow.
461 dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to bf(-rlptgoD). It is a quick
462 way of saying you want recursion and want to preserve almost
463 everything. The only exception to this is if bf(--files-from) was
464 specified, in which case bf(-r) is not implied.
466 Note that bf(-a) bf(does not preserve hardlinks), because
467 finding multiply-linked files is expensive. You must separately
470 dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories
471 recursively. See also bf(--dirs) (bf(-d)).
473 dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path
474 names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than
475 just the last parts of the filenames. This is particularly useful when
476 you want to send several different directories at the same time. For
477 example, if you used the command
479 quote(tt( rsync /foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/))
481 then this would create a file called foo.c in /tmp/ on the remote
482 machine. If instead you used
484 quote(tt( rsync -R /foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/))
486 then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/foo.c would be created on the remote
487 machine -- the full path name is preserved. To limit the amount of
488 path information that is sent, do something like this:
492 tt( rsync -R bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)nl()
495 That would create /tmp/bar/foo.c on the remote machine.
497 dit(bf(--no-relative)) Turn off the bf(--relative) option. This is only
498 needed if you want to use bf(--files-from) without its implied bf(--relative)
501 dit(bf(--no-implied-dirs)) When combined with the bf(--relative) option, the
502 implied directories in each path are not explicitly duplicated as part
503 of the transfer. This makes the transfer more optimal and also allows
504 the two sides to have non-matching symlinks in the implied part of the
505 path. For instance, if you transfer the file "/path/foo/file" with bf(-R),
506 the default is for rsync to ensure that "/path" and "/path/foo" on the
507 destination exactly match the directories/symlinks of the source. Using
508 the bf(--no-implied-dirs) option would omit both of these implied dirs,
509 which means that if "/path" was a real directory on one machine and a
510 symlink of the other machine, rsync would not try to change this.
512 dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option, preexisting destination files are
513 renamed as each file is transferred or deleted. You can control where the
514 backup file goes and what (if any) suffix gets appended using the
515 bf(--backup-dir) and bf(--suffix) options.
516 Note that if you don't specify bf(--backup-dir), the bf(--omit-dir-times)
517 option will be enabled.
519 dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the bf(--backup) option, this
520 tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
521 very useful for incremental backups. You can additionally
522 specify a backup suffix using the bf(--suffix) option
523 (otherwise the files backed up in the specified directory
524 will keep their original filenames).
526 dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
527 backup suffix used with the bf(--backup) (bf(-b)) option. The default suffix is a ~
528 if no -bf(-backup-dir) was specified, otherwise it is an empty string.
530 dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files which exist on
531 the destination and have a modified time that is newer than the source
532 file. (If an existing destination file has a modify time equal to the
533 source file's, it will be updated if the sizes are different.)
535 In the current implementation of bf(--update), a difference of file format
536 between the sender and receiver is always
537 considered to be important enough for an update, no matter what date
538 is on the objects. In other words, if the source has a directory or a
539 symlink where the destination has a file, the transfer would occur
540 regardless of the timestamps. This might change in the future (feel
541 free to comment on this on the mailing list if you have an opinion).
543 dit(bf(--inplace)) This causes rsync not to create a new copy of the file
544 and then move it into place. Instead rsync will overwrite the existing
545 file, meaning that the rsync algorithm can't accomplish the full amount of
546 network reduction it might be able to otherwise (since it does not yet try
547 to sort data matches). One exception to this is if you combine the option
548 with bf(--backup), since rsync is smart enough to use the backup file as the
549 basis file for the transfer.
551 This option is useful for transfer of large files with block-based changes
552 or appended data, and also on systems that are disk bound, not network
555 The option implies bf(--partial) (since an interrupted transfer does not delete
556 the file), but conflicts with bf(--partial-dir) and bf(--delay-updates).
557 Prior to rsync 2.6.4 bf(--inplace) was also incompatible with bf(--compare-dest)
560 WARNING: The file's data will be in an inconsistent state during the
561 transfer (and possibly afterward if the transfer gets interrupted), so you
562 should not use this option to update files that are in use. Also note that
563 rsync will be unable to update a file in-place that is not writable by the
566 dit(bf(-d, --dirs)) Tell the sending side to include any directories that
567 are encountered. Unlike bf(--recursive), a directory's contents are not copied
568 unless the directory was specified on the command-line as either "." or a
569 name with a trailing slash (e.g. "foo/"). Without this option or the
570 bf(--recursive) option, rsync will skip all directories it encounters (and
571 output a message to that effect for each one).
573 dit(bf(-l, --links)) When symlinks are encountered, recreate the
574 symlink on the destination.
576 dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) When symlinks are encountered, the file that
577 they point to (the referent) is copied, rather than the symlink. In older
578 versions of rsync, this option also had the side-effect of telling the
579 receiving side to follow symlinks, such as symlinks to directories. In a
580 modern rsync such as this one, you'll need to specify bf(--keep-dirlinks) (bf(-K))
581 to get this extra behavior. The only exception is when sending files to
582 an rsync that is too old to understand bf(-K) -- in that case, the bf(-L) option
583 will still have the side-effect of bf(-K) on that older receiving rsync.
585 dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to copy the referent of
586 symbolic links that point outside the copied tree. Absolute symlinks
587 are also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the
588 source path itself when bf(--relative) is used.
590 dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links
591 which point outside the copied tree. All absolute symlinks are
592 also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with bf(--relative) may
593 give unexpected results.
595 dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on
596 the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
597 option hard links are treated like regular files.
599 Note that rsync can only detect hard links if both parts of the link
600 are in the list of files being sent.
602 This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it.
604 dit(bf(-K, --keep-dirlinks)) On the receiving side, if a symlink is
605 pointing to a directory, it will be treated as matching a directory
608 dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm
609 is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. The transfer may be
610 faster if this option is used when the bandwidth between the source and
611 destination machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the
612 "disk" is actually a networked filesystem). This is the default when both
613 the source and destination are specified as local paths.
615 dit(bf(--no-whole-file)) Turn off bf(--whole-file), for use when it is the
618 dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to set the destination
619 permissions to be the same as the source permissions.
621 Without this option, each new file gets its permissions set based on the
622 source file's permissions and the umask at the receiving end, while all
623 other files (including updated files) retain their existing permissions
624 (which is the same behavior as other file-copy utilities, such as cp).
626 dit(bf(-o, --owner)) This option causes rsync to set the owner of the
627 destination file to be the same as the source file. On most systems,
628 only the super-user can set file ownership. By default, the preservation
629 is done by name, but may fall back to using the ID number in some
630 circumstances. See the bf(--numeric-ids) option for a full discussion.
632 dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to set the group of the
633 destination file to be the same as the source file. If the receiving
634 program is not running as the super-user, only groups that the
635 receiver is a member of will be preserved. By default, the preservation
636 is done by name, but may fall back to using the ID number in some
637 circumstances. See the bf(--numeric-ids) option for a full discussion.
639 dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
640 block device information to the remote system to recreate these
641 devices. This option is only available to the super-user.
643 dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along
644 with the files and update them on the remote system. Note that if this
645 option is not used, the optimization that excludes files that have not been
646 modified cannot be effective; in other words, a missing bf(-t) or bf(-a) will
647 cause the next transfer to behave as if it used bf(-I), causing all files to be
648 updated (though the rsync algorithm will make the update fairly efficient
649 if the files haven't actually changed, you're much better off using bf(-t)).
651 dit(bf(-O, --omit-dir-times)) This tells rsync to omit directories when
652 it is preserving modification times (see bf(--times)). If NFS is sharing
653 the directories on the receiving side, it is a good idea to use bf(-O).
654 This option is inferred if you use bf(--backup) without bf(--backup-dir).
656 dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers,
657 instead it will just report the actions it would have taken.
659 dit(bf(-S, --sparse)) Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take
660 up less space on the destination.
662 NOTE: Don't use this option when the destination is a Solaris "tmpfs"
663 filesystem. It doesn't seem to handle seeks over null regions
664 correctly and ends up corrupting the files.
666 dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync not to cross filesystem
667 boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the
668 contents of only one filesystem.
670 dit(bf(--existing)) This tells rsync not to create any new files --
671 only update files that already exist on the destination.
673 dit(bf(--ignore-existing))
674 This tells rsync not to update files that already exist on
677 dit(bf(--remove-sent-files)) This tells rsync to remove from the sending
678 side the files and/or symlinks that are newly created or whose content is
679 updated on the receiving side. Directories and devices are not removed,
680 nor are files/symlinks whose attributes are merely changed.
682 dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete extraneous files from the
683 receiving side (ones that aren't on the sending side), but only for the
684 directories that are being synchronized. You must have asked rsync to
685 send the whole directory (e.g. "dir" or "dir/") without using a wildcard
686 for the directory's contents (e.g. "dir/*") since the wildcard is expanded
687 by the shell and rsync thus gets a request to transfer individual files, not
688 the files' parent directory. Files that are excluded from transfer are
689 also excluded from being deleted unless you use the bf(--delete-excluded)
690 option or mark the rules as only matching on the sending side (see the
691 include/exclude modifiers in the FILTER RULES section).
693 This option has no effect unless directory recursion is enabled.
695 This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea
696 to run first using the bf(--dry-run) option (bf(-n)) to see what files would be
697 deleted to make sure important files aren't listed.
699 If the sending side detects any I/O errors, then the deletion of any
700 files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to
701 prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the
702 sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the
703 destination. You can override this with the bf(--ignore-errors) option.
705 The bf(--delete) option may be combined with one of the --delete-WHEN options
706 without conflict, as well as bf(--delete-excluded). However, if none of the
707 --delete-WHEN options are specified, rsync will currently choose the
708 bf(--delete-before) algorithm. A future version may change this to choose the
709 bf(--delete-during) algorithm. See also bf(--delete-after).
711 dit(bf(--delete-before)) Request that the file-deletions on the receiving
712 side be done before the transfer starts. This is the default if bf(--delete)
713 or bf(--delete-excluded) is specified without one of the --delete-WHEN options.
714 See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
716 Deleting before the transfer is helpful if the filesystem is tight for space
717 and removing extraneous files would help to make the transfer possible.
718 However, it does introduce a delay before the start of the transfer,
719 and this delay might cause the transfer to timeout (if bf(--timeout) was
722 dit(bf(--delete-during, --del)) Request that the file-deletions on the
723 receiving side be done incrementally as the transfer happens. This is
724 a faster method than choosing the before- or after-transfer algorithm,
725 but it is only supported beginning with rsync version 2.6.4.
726 See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
728 dit(bf(--delete-after)) Request that the file-deletions on the receiving
729 side be done after the transfer has completed. This is useful if you
730 are sending new per-directory merge files as a part of the transfer and
731 you want their exclusions to take effect for the delete phase of the
733 See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
735 dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the
736 receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also
737 delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see bf(--exclude)).
738 See the FILTER RULES section for a way to make individual exclusions behave
739 this way on the receiver, and for a way to protect files from
740 bf(--delete-excluded).
741 See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
743 dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells bf(--delete) to go ahead and delete files
744 even when there are I/O errors.
746 dit(bf(--force)) This options tells rsync to delete directories even if
747 they are not empty when they are to be replaced by non-directories. This
748 is only relevant without bf(--delete) because deletions are now done depth-first.
749 Requires the bf(--recursive) option (which is implied by bf(-a)) to have any effect.
751 dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM
752 files or directories (NUM must be non-zero).
753 This is useful when mirroring very large trees to prevent disasters.
755 dit(bf(--max-size=SIZE)) This tells rsync to avoid transferring any
756 file that is larger than the specified SIZE. The SIZE value can be
757 suffixed with a letter to indicate a size multiplier (K, M, or G) and
758 may be a fractional value (e.g. "bf(--max-size=1.5m)").
760 dit(bf(-B, --block-size=BLOCKSIZE)) This forces the block size used in
761 the rsync algorithm to a fixed value. It is normally selected based on
762 the size of each file being updated. See the technical report for details.
764 dit(bf(-e, --rsh=COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative
765 remote shell program to use for communication between the local and
766 remote copies of rsync. Typically, rsync is configured to use ssh by
767 default, but you may prefer to use rsh on a local network.
769 If this option is used with bf([user@]host::module/path), then the
770 remote shell em(COMMAND) will be used to run an rsync server on the
771 remote host, and all data will be transmitted through that remote
772 shell connection, rather than through a direct socket connection to a
773 running rsync server on the remote host. See the section "CONNECTING
774 TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM" above.
776 Command-line arguments are permitted in COMMAND provided that COMMAND is
777 presented to rsync as a single argument. For example:
779 quote(tt( -e "ssh -p 2234"))
781 (Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect
782 options in their .ssh/config file.)
784 You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
785 environment variable, which accepts the same range of values as bf(-e).
787 See also the bf(--blocking-io) option which is affected by this option.
789 dit(bf(--rsync-path=PROGRAM)) Use this to specify what program is to be run
790 on the remote machine to start-up rsync. Often used when rsync is not in
791 the default remote-shell's path (e.g. --rsync-path=/usr/local/bin/rsync).
792 Note that PROGRAM is run with the help of a shell, so it can be any
793 program, script, or command sequence you'd care to run, so long as it does
794 not corrupt the standard-in & standard-out that rsync is using to
797 One tricky example is to set a different default directory on the remote
798 machine for use with the bf(--relative) option. For instance:
800 quote(tt( rsync -avR --rsync-path="cd /a/b && rsync" hst:c/d /e/))
802 dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a
803 broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between
804 systems. It uses the same algorithm that CVS uses to determine if
805 a file should be ignored.
807 The exclude list is initialized to:
809 quote(quote(tt(RCS SCCS CVS CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state
810 .nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* _$* *$ *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej
811 .del-* *.a *.olb *.o *.obj *.so *.exe *.Z *.elc *.ln core .svn/)))
813 then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
814 files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (all cvsignore names
815 are delimited by whitespace).
817 Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a
818 .cvsignore file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. Unlike
819 rsync's filter/exclude files, these patterns are split on whitespace.
820 See the bf(cvs(1)) manual for more information.
822 If you're combining bf(-C) with your own bf(--filter) rules, you should
823 note that these CVS excludes are appended at the end of your own rules,
824 regardless of where the bf(-C) was placed on the command-line. This makes them
825 a lower priority than any rules you specified explicitly. If you want to
826 control where these CVS excludes get inserted into your filter rules, you
827 should omit the bf(-C) as a command-line option and use a combination of
828 bf(--filter=:C) and bf(--filter=-C) (either on your command-line or by
829 putting the ":C" and "-C" rules into a filter file with your other rules).
830 The first option turns on the per-directory scanning for the .cvsignore
831 file. The second option does a one-time import of the CVS excludes
834 dit(bf(-f, --filter=RULE)) This option allows you to add rules to selectively
835 exclude certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is
836 most useful in combination with a recursive transfer.
838 You may use as many bf(--filter) options on the command line as you like
839 to build up the list of files to exclude.
841 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
843 dit(bf(-F)) The bf(-F) option is a shorthand for adding two bf(--filter) rules to
844 your command. The first time it is used is a shorthand for this rule:
846 quote(tt( --filter=': /.rsync-filter'))
848 This tells rsync to look for per-directory .rsync-filter files that have
849 been sprinkled through the hierarchy and use their rules to filter the
850 files in the transfer. If bf(-F) is repeated, it is a shorthand for this
853 quote(tt( --filter='- .rsync-filter'))
855 This filters out the .rsync-filter files themselves from the transfer.
857 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on how these options
860 dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option is a simplified form of the
861 bf(--filter) option that defaults to an exclude rule and does not allow
862 the full rule-parsing syntax of normal filter rules.
864 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
866 dit(bf(--exclude-from=FILE)) This option is similar to the bf(--exclude)
867 option, but instead it adds all exclude patterns listed in the file
868 FILE to the exclude list. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with
869 ';' or '#' are ignored.
870 If em(FILE) is bf(-) the list will be read from standard input.
872 dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option is a simplified form of the
873 bf(--filter) option that defaults to an include rule and does not allow
874 the full rule-parsing syntax of normal filter rules.
876 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
878 dit(bf(--include-from=FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns
880 If em(FILE) is "-" the list will be read from standard input.
882 dit(bf(--files-from=FILE)) Using this option allows you to specify the
883 exact list of files to transfer (as read from the specified FILE or "-"
884 for standard input). It also tweaks the default behavior of rsync to make
885 transferring just the specified files and directories easier:
888 it() The bf(--relative) (bf(-R)) option is implied, which preserves the path
889 information that is specified for each item in the file (use
890 bf(--no-relative) if you want to turn that off).
891 it() The bf(--dirs) (bf(-d)) option is implied, which will create directories
892 specified in the list on the destination rather than noisily skipping
894 it() The bf(--archive) (bf(-a)) option's behavior does not imply bf(--recursive)
895 (bf(-r)), so specify it explicitly, if you want it.
898 The file names that are read from the FILE are all relative to the
899 source dir -- any leading slashes are removed and no ".." references are
900 allowed to go higher than the source dir. For example, take this
903 quote(tt( rsync -a --files-from=/tmp/foo /usr remote:/backup))
905 If /tmp/foo contains the string "bin" (or even "/bin"), the /usr/bin
906 directory will be created as /backup/bin on the remote host (but the
907 contents of the /usr/bin dir would not be sent unless you specified bf(-r)
908 or the names were explicitly listed in /tmp/foo). Also keep in mind
909 that the effect of the (enabled by default) bf(--relative) option is to
910 duplicate only the path info that is read from the file -- it does not
911 force the duplication of the source-spec path (/usr in this case).
913 In addition, the bf(--files-from) file can be read from the remote host
914 instead of the local host if you specify a "host:" in front of the file
915 (the host must match one end of the transfer). As a short-cut, you can
916 specify just a prefix of ":" to mean "use the remote end of the
917 transfer". For example:
919 quote(tt( rsync -a --files-from=:/path/file-list src:/ /tmp/copy))
921 This would copy all the files specified in the /path/file-list file that
922 was located on the remote "src" host.
924 dit(bf(-0, --from0)) This tells rsync that the filenames it reads from a
925 file are terminated by a null ('\0') character, not a NL, CR, or CR+LF.
926 This affects bf(--exclude-from), bf(--include-from), bf(--files-from), and any
927 merged files specified in a bf(--filter) rule.
928 It does not affect bf(--cvs-exclude) (since all names read from a .cvsignore
929 file are split on whitespace).
931 dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a
932 scratch directory when creating temporary copies of the files
933 transferred on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create
934 the temporary files in the receiving directory.
936 dit(bf(-y, --fuzzy)) This option tells rsync that it should look for a
937 basis file for any destination file that is missing. The current algorithm
938 looks in the same directory as the destination file for either a file that
939 has an identical size and modified-time, or a similarly-named file. If
940 found, rsync uses the fuzzy basis file to try to speed up the transfer.
942 Note that the use of the bf(--delete) option might get rid of any potential
943 fuzzy-match files, so either use bf(--delete-after) or specify some
944 filename exclusions if you need to prevent this.
946 dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use em(DIR) on
947 the destination machine as an additional hierarchy to compare destination
948 files against doing transfers (if the files are missing in the destination
949 directory). If a file is found in em(DIR) that is identical to the
950 sender's file, the file will NOT be transferred to the destination
951 directory. This is useful for creating a sparse backup of just files that
952 have changed from an earlier backup.
954 Beginning in version 2.6.4, multiple bf(--compare-dest) directories may be
955 provided, which will cause rsync to search the list in the order specified
957 If a match is not found, a basis file from one of the em(DIR)s will be
958 selected to try to speed up the transfer.
960 If em(DIR) is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
961 See also bf(--link-dest).
963 dit(bf(--link-dest=DIR)) This option behaves like bf(--compare-dest), but
964 unchanged files are hard linked from em(DIR) to the destination directory.
965 The files must be identical in all preserved attributes (e.g. permissions,
966 possibly ownership) in order for the files to be linked together.
969 quote(tt( rsync -av --link-dest=$PWD/prior_dir host:src_dir/ new_dir/))
971 Beginning in version 2.6.4, multiple bf(--link-dest) directories may be
972 provided, which will cause rsync to search the list in the order specified
974 If a match is not found, a basis file from one of the em(DIR)s will be
975 selected to try to speed up the transfer.
977 If em(DIR) is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
978 See also bf(--compare-dest).
980 Note that rsync versions prior to 2.6.1 had a bug that could prevent
981 bf(--link-dest) from working properly for a non-root user when bf(-o) was specified
982 (or implied by bf(-a)). You can work-around this bug by avoiding the bf(-o) option
983 when sending to an old rsync.
985 dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses the file data
986 as it is sent to the destination machine, which reduces the amount of data
987 being transmitted -- something that is useful over a slow connection.
989 Note this this option typically achieves better compression ratios that can
990 be achieved by using a compressing remote shell or a compressing transport
991 because it takes advantage of the implicit information in the matching data
992 blocks that are not explicitly sent over the connection.
994 dit(bf(--numeric-ids)) With this option rsync will transfer numeric group
995 and user IDs rather than using user and group names and mapping them
998 By default rsync will use the username and groupname to determine
999 what ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group
1000 0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the bf(--numeric-ids)
1001 option is not specified.
1003 If a user or group has no name on the source system or it has no match
1004 on the destination system, then the numeric ID
1005 from the source system is used instead. See also the comments on the
1006 "use chroot" setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage for information on how
1007 the chroot setting affects rsync's ability to look up the names of the
1008 users and groups and what you can do about it.
1010 dit(bf(--timeout=TIMEOUT)) This option allows you to set a maximum I/O
1011 timeout in seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time
1012 then rsync will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout.
1014 dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
1015 rather than the default of 873. This is only needed if you are using the
1016 double-colon (::) syntax to connect with an rsync daemon (since the URL
1017 syntax has a way to specify the port as a part of the URL). See also this
1018 option in the bf(--daemon) mode section.
1020 dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This tells rsync to use blocking I/O when launching
1021 a remote shell transport. If the remote shell is either rsh or remsh,
1022 rsync defaults to using
1023 blocking I/O, otherwise it defaults to using non-blocking I/O. (Note that
1024 ssh prefers non-blocking I/O.)
1026 dit(bf(--no-blocking-io)) Turn off bf(--blocking-io), for use when it is the
1029 dit(bf(-i, --itemize-changes)) Requests a simple itemized list of the
1030 changes that are being made to each file, including attribute changes.
1031 This is exactly the same as specifying bf(--log-format='%i %n%L').
1033 The "%i" escape has a cryptic output that is 9 letters long. The general
1034 format is like the string bf(UXcstpoga)), where bf(U) is replaced by the
1035 kind of update being done, bf(X) is replaced by the file-type, and the
1036 other letters represent attributes that may be output if they are being
1039 The update types that replace the bf(U) are as follows:
1042 it() A bf(<) means that a file is being transferred to the local host
1044 it() A bf(>) means that a file is being transferred to the remote host
1046 it() A bf(c) means that a local change/creation is occuring for the item
1047 (such as the creation of a directory or a symlink).
1048 it() A bf(h) means that the item is a hard-link to another item (requires
1050 it() A bf(.) means that the item only has attributes that are being
1052 it() A bf(=) means that the item is identical (this only only output for
1053 higher levels of verbosity).
1056 The file-types that replace the bf(X) are: bf(f) for a file, a bf(d) for a
1057 dir, an bf(L) for a symlink, and a bf(D) for a device.
1059 The other letters in the string above are the actual letters that
1060 will be output if the associated attribute for the item is being updated or
1061 a "." for no change. Three exceptions to this are: (1) a newly created
1062 item replaces each letter with a "+", (2) an identical item replaces each
1063 letter with a space, and (3) an unknown attribute replaces each letter with
1064 a "?" (this happens when talking to an older rsync).
1066 The attribute that is associated with each letter is as follows:
1069 it() A bf(c) means the checksum of the file is different and will be
1070 updated by the file transfer (requries bf(--checksum)).
1071 it() A bf(s) means the size of the file is different and will be updated
1072 by the file transfer.
1073 it() A bf(t) means the modification time is different and is being updated
1074 to the server's value (requires bf(--times)). An alternate value of bf(T)
1075 means that the time will be set to the transfer time, which happens
1076 anytime a symlink is transferred, or when a file or device is transferred
1077 without bf(--times).
1078 it() A bf(p) means the permissions are different and are being updated to
1079 the server's value (requires bf(--perms)).
1080 it() An bf(o) means the owner is different and is being updated to the
1081 server's value (requires bf(--owner) and root privileges).
1082 it() A bf(g) means the group is different and is being updated to the
1083 server's value (requires bf(--group) and the authority to set the group).
1084 it() The bf(a) is reserved for a future enhanced version that supports
1085 extended file attributes, such as ACLs.
1088 One other output is possible: when deleting files, the "%i" will output
1089 the string "deleting" for each item that is being removed (assuming that
1090 you are talking to a recent enough rsync that it logs deletions instead of
1091 outputting them as a verbose message).
1093 dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
1094 rsync client outputs to the user on a per-file basis. The format is a text
1095 string containing embedded single-character escape sequences prefixed with
1096 a percent (%) character. For a list of the possible escape characters, see
1097 the "log format" setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage. (Note that this
1098 option does not affect what a daemon logs to its logfile.)
1100 Specifying this option will mention each file, dir, etc. that gets updated
1101 in a significant way (a transferred file, a recreated symlink/device, or a
1102 touched directory) unless the itemized-changes escape (%i) is included in
1103 the string, in which case the logging of names increases to mention any
1104 item that is updated in any way (as long as the receiving side is version
1105 2.6.4). See the bf(--itemized-changes) option for a description of the
1108 The bf(--verbose) option implies a format of "%n%L", but you can use
1109 bf(--log-format) without bv(--verbose) if you like, or you can override
1110 the format of its per-file output using this option.
1112 Rsync will output the log-format string prior to a file's transfer unless
1113 one of the transfer-statistic escapes is requested, in which case the
1114 logging is done at the end of the file's transfer. When this late logging
1115 is in effect and bf(--progress) is also specified, rsync will also output
1116 the name of the file being transferred prior to its progress information
1117 (followed, of course, by the log-format output).
1119 dit(bf(--stats)) This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics
1120 on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync
1121 algorithm is for your data.
1123 dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
1124 transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
1125 it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the
1126 bf(--partial) option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should
1127 make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster.
1129 dit(bf(--partial-dir=DIR)) A better way to keep partial files than the
1130 bf(--partial) option is to specify a em(DIR) that will be used to hold the
1131 partial data (instead of writing it out to the destination file).
1132 On the next transfer, rsync will use a file found in this
1133 dir as data to speed up the resumption of the transfer and then deletes it
1134 after it has served its purpose.
1135 Note that if bf(--whole-file) is specified (or implied), any partial-dir
1136 file that is found for a file that is being updated will simply be removed
1138 rsync is sending files without using the incremental rsync algorithm).
1140 Rsync will create the em(DIR) if it is missing (just the last dir -- not
1141 the whole path). This makes it easy to use a relative path (such as
1142 "bf(--partial-dir=.rsync-partial)") to have rsync create the
1143 partial-directory in the destination file's directory when needed, and then
1144 remove it again when the partial file is deleted.
1146 If the partial-dir value is not an absolute path, rsync will also add a directory
1147 bf(--exclude) of this value at the end of all your existing excludes. This
1148 will prevent partial-dir files from being transferred and also prevent the
1149 untimely deletion of partial-dir items on the receiving side. An example:
1150 the above bf(--partial-dir) option would add an "bf(--exclude=.rsync-partial/)"
1151 rule at the end of any other filter rules. Note that if you are
1152 supplying your own filter rules, you may need to manually insert a
1153 rule for this directory exclusion somewhere higher up in the list so that
1154 it has a high enough priority to be effective (e.g., if your rules specify
1155 a trailing bf(--exclude='*') rule, the auto-added rule would never be
1158 IMPORTANT: the bf(--partial-dir) should not be writable by other users or it
1159 is a security risk. E.g. AVOID "/tmp".
1161 You can also set the partial-dir value the RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR environment
1162 variable. Setting this in the environment does not force bf(--partial) to be
1163 enabled, but rather it effects where partial files go when bf(--partial) is
1164 specified. For instance, instead of using bf(--partial-dir=.rsync-tmp)
1165 along with bf(--progress), you could set RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR=.rsync-tmp in your
1166 environment and then just use the bf(-P) option to turn on the use of the
1167 .rsync-tmp dir for partial transfers. The only time that the bf(--partial)
1168 option does not look for this environment value is (1) when bf(--inplace) was
1169 specified (since bf(--inplace) conflicts with bf(--partial-dir)), or (2) when
1170 bf(--delay-updates) was specified (see below).
1172 For the purposes of the server-config's "refuse options" setting,
1173 bf(--partial-dir) does em(not) imply bf(--partial). This is so that a
1174 refusal of the bf(--partial) option can be used to disallow the overwriting
1175 of destination files with a partial transfer, while still allowing the
1176 safer idiom provided by bf(--partial-dir).
1178 dit(bf(--delay-updates)) This option puts the temporary file from each
1179 updated file into a holding directory until the end of the
1180 transfer, at which time all the files are renamed into place in rapid
1181 succession. This attempts to make the updating of the files a little more
1182 atomic. By default the files are placed into a directory named ".~tmp~" in
1183 each file's destination directory, but you can override this by specifying
1184 the bf(--partial-dir) option. (Note that RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR has no effect
1185 on this value, nor is bf(--partial-dir) considered to be implied for the
1186 purposes of the server-config's "refuse options" setting.)
1187 Conflicts with bf(--inplace).
1189 This option uses more memory on the receiving side (one bit per file
1190 transferred) and also requires enough free disk space on the receiving
1191 side to hold an additional copy of all the updated files. Note also that
1192 you should not use an absolute path to bf(--partial-dir) unless there is no
1193 chance of any of the files in the transfer having the same name (since all
1194 the updated files will be put into a single directory if the path is
1197 See also the "atomic-rsync" perl script in the "support" subdir for an
1198 update algorithm that is even more atomic (it uses bf(--link-dest) and a
1199 parallel hierarchy of files).
1201 dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information
1202 showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user
1204 Implies bf(--verbose) if it wasn't already specified.
1206 When the file is transferring, the data looks like this:
1208 verb( 782448 63% 110.64kB/s 0:00:04)
1210 This tells you the current file size, the percentage of the transfer that
1211 is complete, the current calculated file-completion rate (including both
1212 data over the wire and data being matched locally), and the estimated time
1213 remaining in this transfer.
1215 After a file is complete, the data looks like this:
1217 verb( 1238099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (5, 57.1% of 396))
1219 This tells you the final file size, that it's 100% complete, the final
1220 transfer rate for the file, the amount of elapsed time it took to transfer
1221 the file, and the addition of a total-transfer summary in parentheses.
1222 These additional numbers tell you how many files have been updated, and
1223 what percent of the total number of files has been scanned.
1225 dit(bf(-P)) The bf(-P) option is equivalent to bf(--partial) bf(--progress). Its
1226 purpose is to make it much easier to specify these two options for a long
1227 transfer that may be interrupted.
1229 dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password
1230 in a file for accessing a remote rsync server. Note that this option
1231 is only useful when accessing an rsync server using the built in
1232 transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file
1233 must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a
1236 dit(bf(--list-only)) This option will cause the source files to be listed
1237 instead of transferred. This option is inferred if there is no destination
1238 specified, so you don't usually need to use it explicitly. However, it can
1239 come in handy for a power user that wants to avoid the "bf(-r --exclude='/*/*')"
1240 options that rsync might use as a compatibility kluge when generating a
1241 non-recursive listing.
1243 dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
1244 transfer rate in kilobytes per second. This option is most effective when
1245 using rsync with large files (several megabytes and up). Due to the nature
1246 of rsync transfers, blocks of data are sent, then if rsync determines the
1247 transfer was too fast, it will wait before sending the next data block. The
1248 result is an average transfer rate equaling the specified limit. A value
1249 of zero specifies no limit.
1251 dit(bf(--write-batch=FILE)) Record a file that can later be applied to
1252 another identical destination with bf(--read-batch). See the "BATCH MODE"
1253 section for details.
1255 dit(bf(--read-batch=FILE)) Apply all of the changes stored in FILE, a
1256 file previously generated by bf(--write-batch).
1257 If em(FILE) is "-" the batch data will be read from standard input.
1258 See the "BATCH MODE" section for details.
1260 dit(bf(-4, --ipv4) or bf(-6, --ipv6)) Tells rsync to prefer IPv4/IPv6
1261 when creating sockets. This only affects sockets that rsync has direct
1262 control over, such as the outgoing socket when directly contacting an
1263 rsync daemon. See also these options in the bf(--daemon) mode section.
1265 dit(bf(--checksum-seed=NUM)) Set the MD4 checksum seed to the integer
1266 NUM. This 4 byte checksum seed is included in each block and file
1267 MD4 checksum calculation. By default the checksum seed is generated
1268 by the server and defaults to the current time(). This option
1269 is used to set a specific checksum seed, which is useful for
1270 applications that want repeatable block and file checksums, or
1271 in the case where the user wants a more random checksum seed.
1272 Note that setting NUM to 0 causes rsync to use the default of time()
1276 manpagesection(DAEMON OPTIONS)
1278 The options allowed when starting an rsync daemon are as follows:
1281 dit(bf(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The
1282 daemon you start running may be accessed using an rsync client using
1283 the bf(host::module) or bf(rsync://host/module/) syntax.
1285 If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being
1286 run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and
1287 become a background daemon. The daemon will read the config file
1288 (rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and respond to
1289 requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
1292 dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address
1293 when run as a daemon with the bf(--daemon) option or when connecting to a
1294 rsync server. The bf(--address) option allows you to specify a specific IP
1295 address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting possible
1296 in conjunction with the bf(--config) option. See also the "address" global
1297 option in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
1299 dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
1300 transfer rate in kilobytes per second for the data the daemon sends.
1301 The client can still specify a smaller bf(--bwlimit) value, but their
1302 requested value will be rounded down if they try to exceed it. See the
1303 client version of this option (above) for some extra details.
1305 dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
1306 the default. This is only relevant when bf(--daemon) is specified.
1307 The default is /etc/rsyncd.conf unless the daemon is running over
1308 a remote shell program and the remote user is not root; in that case
1309 the default is rsyncd.conf in the current directory (typically $HOME).
1311 dit(bf(--no-detach)) When running as a daemon, this option instructs
1312 rsync to not detach itself and become a background process. This
1313 option is required when running as a service on Cygwin, and may also
1314 be useful when rsync is supervised by a program such as
1315 bf(daemontools) or AIX's bf(System Resource Controller).
1316 bf(--no-detach) is also recommended when rsync is run under a
1317 debugger. This option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or
1320 dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number for the
1321 daemon to listen on rather than the default of 873. See also the "port"
1322 global option in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
1324 dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information the
1325 daemon logs during its startup phase. After the client connects, the
1326 daemon's verbosity level will be controlled by the options that the client
1327 used and the "max verbosity" setting in the module's config section.
1329 dit(bf(-4, --ipv4) or bf(-6, --ipv6)) Tells rsync to prefer IPv4/IPv6
1330 when creating the incoming sockets that the rsync daemon will use to
1331 listen for connections. One of these options may be required in older
1332 versions of Linux to work around an IPv6 bug in the kernel (if you see
1333 an "address already in use" error when nothing else is using the port,
1334 try specifying bf(--ipv6) or bf(--ipv4) when starting the daemon).
1336 dit(bf(-h, --help)) When specified after bf(--daemon), print a short help
1337 page describing the options available for starting an rsync daemon.
1340 manpagesection(FILTER RULES)
1342 The filter rules allow for flexible selection of which files to transfer
1343 (include) and which files to skip (exclude). The rules either directly
1344 specify include/exclude patterns or they specify a way to acquire more
1345 include/exclude patterns (e.g. to read them from a file).
1347 As the list of files/directories to transfer is built, rsync checks each
1348 name to be transferred against the list of include/exclude patterns in
1349 turn, and the first matching pattern is acted on: if it is an exclude
1350 pattern, then that file is skipped; if it is an include pattern then that
1351 filename is not skipped; if no matching pattern is found, then the
1352 filename is not skipped.
1354 Rsync builds an ordered list of filter rules as specified on the
1355 command-line. Filter rules have the following syntax:
1358 tt(RULE [PATTERN_OR_FILENAME])nl()
1359 tt(RULE,MODIFIERS [PATTERN_OR_FILENAME])nl()
1362 You have your choice of using either short or long RULE names, as described
1363 below. If you use a short-named rule, the ',' separating the RULE from the
1364 MODIFIERS is optional. The PATTERN or FILENAME that follows (when present)
1365 must come after either a single space or an underscore (_).
1366 Here are the available rule prefixes:
1369 bf(exclude, -) specifies an exclude pattern. nl()
1370 bf(include, +) specifies an include pattern. nl()
1371 bf(merge, .) specifies a merge-file to read for more rules. nl()
1372 bf(dir-merge, :) specifies a per-directory merge-file. nl()
1373 bf(hide, H) specifies a pattern for hiding files from the transfer. nl()
1374 bf(show, S) files that match the pattern are not hidden. nl()
1375 bf(protect, P) specifies a pattern for protecting files from deletion. nl()
1376 bf(risk, R) files that match the pattern are not protected. nl()
1377 bf(clear, !) clears the current include/exclude list (takes no arg) nl()
1380 When rules are being read from a file, empty lines are ignored, as are
1381 comment lines that start with a "#".
1383 Note that the bf(--include)/bf(--exclude) command-line options do not allow the
1384 full range of rule parsing as described above -- they only allow the
1385 specification of include/exclude patterns plus a "!" token to clear the
1386 list (and the normal comment parsing when rules are read from a file).
1388 does not begin with "- " (dash, space) or "+ " (plus, space), then the
1389 rule will be interpreted as if "+ " (for an include option) or "- " (for
1390 an exclude option) were prefixed to the string. A bf(--filter) option, on
1391 the other hand, must always contain either a short or long rule name at the
1394 Note also that the bf(--filter), bf(--include), and bf(--exclude) options take one
1395 rule/pattern each. To add multiple ones, you can repeat the options on
1396 the command-line, use the merge-file syntax of the bf(--filter) option, or
1397 the bf(--include-from)/bf(--exclude-from) options.
1399 manpagesection(INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERN RULES)
1401 You can include and exclude files by specifying patterns using the "+",
1402 "-", etc. filter rules (as introduced in the FILTER RULES section above).
1403 The include/exclude rules each specify a pattern that is matched against
1404 the names of the files that are going to be transferred. These patterns
1405 can take several forms:
1408 it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is anchored to a
1409 particular spot in the hierarchy of files, otherwise it is matched
1410 against the end of the pathname. This is similar to a leading ^ in
1411 regular expressions.
1412 Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at either the "root of the
1413 transfer" (for a global rule) or in the merge-file's directory (for a
1414 per-directory rule).
1415 An unqualified "foo" would match any file or directory named "foo"
1416 anywhere in the tree because the algorithm is applied recursively from
1418 top down; it behaves as if each path component gets a turn at being the
1419 end of the file name. Even the unanchored "sub/foo" would match at
1420 any point in the hierarchy where a "foo" was found within a directory
1421 named "sub". See the section on ANCHORING INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERNS for
1422 a full discussion of how to specify a pattern that matches at the root
1424 it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
1425 directory, not a file, link, or device.
1426 it() if the pattern contains a wildcard character from the set
1427 *?[ then expression matching is applied using the shell filename
1428 matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used.
1429 it() the double asterisk pattern "**" will match slashes while a
1430 single asterisk pattern "*" will stop at slashes.
1431 it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) or a "**"
1432 then it is matched against the full pathname, including any leading
1433 directories. If the pattern doesn't contain a / or a "**", then it is
1434 matched only against the final component of the filename.
1435 (Remember that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename"
1436 can actually be any portion of a path from the starting directory on
1440 Note that, when using the bf(--recursive) (bf(-r)) option (which is implied by
1441 bf(-a)), every subcomponent of every path is visited from the top down, so
1442 include/exclude patterns get applied recursively to each subcomponent's
1443 full name (e.g. to include "/foo/bar/baz" the subcomponents "/foo" and
1444 "/foo/bar" must not be excluded).
1445 The exclude patterns actually short-circuit the directory traversal stage
1446 when rsync finds the files to send. If a pattern excludes a particular
1447 parent directory, it can render a deeper include pattern ineffectual
1448 because rsync did not descend through that excluded section of the
1449 hierarchy. This is particularly important when using a trailing '*' rule.
1450 For instance, this won't work:
1453 tt(+ /some/path/this-file-will-not-be-found)nl()
1454 tt(+ /file-is-included)nl()
1458 This fails because the parent directory "some" is excluded by the '*'
1459 rule, so rsync never visits any of the files in the "some" or "some/path"
1460 directories. One solution is to ask for all directories in the hierarchy
1461 to be included by using a single rule: "+ */" (put it somewhere before the
1462 "- *" rule). Another solution is to add specific include rules for all
1463 the parent dirs that need to be visited. For instance, this set of rules
1468 tt(+ /some/path/)nl()
1469 tt(+ /some/path/this-file-is-found)nl()
1470 tt(+ /file-also-included)nl()
1474 Here are some examples of exclude/include matching:
1477 it() "- *.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o
1478 it() "- /foo" would exclude a file called foo in the transfer-root directory
1479 it() "- foo/" would exclude any directory called foo
1480 it() "- /foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
1481 levels below a directory called foo in the transfer-root directory
1482 it() "- /foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
1483 or more levels below a directory called foo in the transfer-root directory
1484 it() The combination of "+ */", "+ *.c", and "- *" would include all
1485 directories and C source files but nothing else.
1486 it() The combination of "+ foo/", "+ foo/bar.c", and "- *" would include
1487 only the foo directory and foo/bar.c (the foo directory must be
1488 explicitly included or it would be excluded by the "*")
1491 manpagesection(MERGE-FILE FILTER RULES)
1493 You can merge whole files into your filter rules by specifying either a
1494 merge (.) or a dir-merge (:) filter rule (as introduced in the FILTER RULES
1497 There are two kinds of merged files -- single-instance ('.') and
1498 per-directory (':'). A single-instance merge file is read one time, and
1499 its rules are incorporated into the filter list in the place of the "."
1500 rule. For per-directory merge files, rsync will scan every directory that
1501 it traverses for the named file, merging its contents when the file exists
1502 into the current list of inherited rules. These per-directory rule files
1503 must be created on the sending side because it is the sending side that is
1504 being scanned for the available files to transfer. These rule files may
1505 also need to be transferred to the receiving side if you want them to
1506 affect what files don't get deleted (see PER-DIRECTORY RULES AND DELETE
1512 tt(merge /etc/rsync/default.rules)nl()
1513 tt(. /etc/rsync/default.rules)nl()
1514 tt(dir-merge .per-dir-filter)nl()
1515 tt(dir-merge,n- .non-inherited-per-dir-excludes)nl()
1516 tt(:n- .non-inherited-per-dir-excludes)nl()
1519 The following modifiers are accepted after a merge or dir-merge rule:
1522 it() A bf(-) specifies that the file should consist of only exclude
1523 patterns, with no other rule-parsing except for in-file comments.
1524 it() A bf(+) specifies that the file should consist of only include
1525 patterns, with no other rule-parsing except for in-file comments.
1526 it() A bf(C) is a way to specify that the file should be read in a
1527 CVS-compatible manner. This turns on 'n', 'w', and '-', but also
1528 allows the list-clearing token (!) to be specified. If no filename is
1529 provided, ".cvsignore" is assumed.
1530 it() A bf(e) will exclude the merge-file name from the transfer; e.g.
1531 "dir-merge,e .rules" is like "dir-merge .rules" and "- .rules".
1532 it() An bf(n) specifies that the rules are not inherited by subdirectories.
1533 it() A bf(w) specifies that the rules are word-split on whitespace instead
1534 of the normal line-splitting. This also turns off comments. Note: the
1535 space that separates the prefix from the rule is treated specially, so
1536 "- foo + bar" is parsed as two rules (assuming that prefix-parsing wasn't
1538 it() You may also specify any of the modifiers for the "+" or "-" rules
1539 (below) in order to have the rules that are read-in from the file
1540 default to having that modifier set. For instance, "merge,-/ .excl" would
1541 treat the contents of .excl as absolute-path excludes,
1542 while "dir-merge,s .filt" and ":sC" would each make all their
1543 per-directory rules apply only on the server side.
1546 The following modifiers are accepted after a "+" or "-":
1549 it() A "/" specifies that the include/exclude should be treated as an
1550 absolute path, relative to the root of the filesystem. For example,
1551 "-/ /etc/passwd" would exclude the passwd file any time the transfer
1552 was sending files from the "/etc" directory.
1553 it() A "!" specifies that the include/exclude should take effect if
1554 the pattern fails to match. For instance, "-! */" would exclude all
1556 it() A bf(C) is used to indicate that all the global CVS-exclude rules
1557 should be inserted as excludes in place of the "-C". No arg should
1559 it() An bf(s) is used to indicate that the rule applies to the sending
1560 side. When a rule affects the sending side, it prevents files from
1561 being transferred. The default is for a rule to affect both sides
1562 unless bf(--delete-excluded) was specified, in which case default rules
1563 become sender-side only. See also the hide (H) and show (S) rules,
1564 which are an alternate way to specify server-side includes/excludes.
1565 it() An bf(r) is used to indicate that the rule applies to the receiving
1566 side. When a rule affects the receiving side, it prevents files from
1567 being deleted. See the bf(s) modifier for more info. See also the
1568 protect (P) and risk (R) rules, which are an alternate way to
1569 specify receiver-side includes/excludes.
1572 Per-directory rules are inherited in all subdirectories of the directory
1573 where the merge-file was found unless the 'n' modifier was used. Each
1574 subdirectory's rules are prefixed to the inherited per-directory rules
1575 from its parents, which gives the newest rules a higher priority than the
1576 inherited rules. The entire set of dir-merge rules are grouped together in
1577 the spot where the merge-file was specified, so it is possible to override
1578 dir-merge rules via a rule that got specified earlier in the list of global
1579 rules. When the list-clearing rule ("!") is read from a per-directory
1580 file, it only clears the inherited rules for the current merge file.
1582 Another way to prevent a single rule from a dir-merge file from being inherited is to
1583 anchor it with a leading slash. Anchored rules in a per-directory
1584 merge-file are relative to the merge-file's directory, so a pattern "/foo"
1585 would only match the file "foo" in the directory where the dir-merge filter
1588 Here's an example filter file which you'd specify via bf(--filter=". file":)
1591 tt(merge /home/user/.global-filter)nl()
1593 tt(dir-merge .rules)nl()
1598 This will merge the contents of the /home/user/.global-filter file at the
1599 start of the list and also turns the ".rules" filename into a per-directory
1600 filter file. All rules read-in prior to the start of the directory scan
1601 follow the global anchoring rules (i.e. a leading slash matches at the root
1604 If a per-directory merge-file is specified with a path that is a parent
1605 directory of the first transfer directory, rsync will scan all the parent
1606 dirs from that starting point to the transfer directory for the indicated
1607 per-directory file. For instance, here is a common filter (see bf(-F)):
1609 quote(tt(--filter=': /.rsync-filter'))
1611 That rule tells rsync to scan for the file .rsync-filter in all
1612 directories from the root down through the parent directory of the
1613 transfer prior to the start of the normal directory scan of the file in
1614 the directories that are sent as a part of the transfer. (Note: for an
1615 rsync daemon, the root is always the same as the module's "path".)
1617 Some examples of this pre-scanning for per-directory files:
1620 tt(rsync -avF /src/path/ /dest/dir)nl()
1621 tt(rsync -av --filter=': ../../.rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir)nl()
1622 tt(rsync -av --filter=': .rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir)nl()
1625 The first two commands above will look for ".rsync-filter" in "/" and
1626 "/src" before the normal scan begins looking for the file in "/src/path"
1627 and its subdirectories. The last command avoids the parent-dir scan
1628 and only looks for the ".rsync-filter" files in each directory that is
1629 a part of the transfer.
1631 If you want to include the contents of a ".cvsignore" in your patterns,
1632 you should use the rule ":C", which creates a dir-merge of the .cvsignore
1633 file, but parsed in a CVS-compatible manner. You can
1634 use this to affect where the bf(--cvs-exclude) (bf(-C)) option's inclusion of the
1635 per-directory .cvsignore file gets placed into your rules by putting the
1636 ":C" wherever you like in your filter rules. Without this, rsync would
1637 add the dir-merge rule for the .cvsignore file at the end of all your other
1638 rules (giving it a lower priority than your command-line rules). For
1642 tt(cat <<EOT | rsync -avC --filter='. -' a/ b)nl()
1647 tt(rsync -avC --include=foo.o -f :C --exclude='*.old' a/ b)nl()
1650 Both of the above rsync commands are identical. Each one will merge all
1651 the per-directory .cvsignore rules in the middle of the list rather than
1652 at the end. This allows their dir-specific rules to supersede the rules
1653 that follow the :C instead of being subservient to all your rules. To
1654 affect the other CVS exclude rules (i.e. the default list of exclusions,
1655 the contents of $HOME/.cvsignore, and the value of $CVSIGNORE) you should
1656 omit the bf(-C) command-line option and instead insert a "-C" rule into
1657 your filter rules; e.g. "--filter=-C".
1659 manpagesection(LIST-CLEARING FILTER RULE)
1661 You can clear the current include/exclude list by using the "!" filter
1662 rule (as introduced in the FILTER RULES section above). The "current"
1663 list is either the global list of rules (if the rule is encountered while
1664 parsing the filter options) or a set of per-directory rules (which are
1665 inherited in their own sub-list, so a subdirectory can use this to clear
1666 out the parent's rules).
1668 manpagesection(ANCHORING INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERNS)
1670 As mentioned earlier, global include/exclude patterns are anchored at the
1671 "root of the transfer" (as opposed to per-directory patterns, which are
1672 anchored at the merge-file's directory). If you think of the transfer as
1673 a subtree of names that are being sent from sender to receiver, the
1674 transfer-root is where the tree starts to be duplicated in the destination
1675 directory. This root governs where patterns that start with a / match.
1677 Because the matching is relative to the transfer-root, changing the
1678 trailing slash on a source path or changing your use of the bf(--relative)
1679 option affects the path you need to use in your matching (in addition to
1680 changing how much of the file tree is duplicated on the destination
1681 host). The following examples demonstrate this.
1683 Let's say that we want to match two source files, one with an absolute
1684 path of "/home/me/foo/bar", and one with a path of "/home/you/bar/baz".
1685 Here is how the various command choices differ for a 2-source transfer:
1688 Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me /home/you /dest nl()
1689 +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar nl()
1690 +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz nl()
1691 Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar nl()
1692 Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz nl()
1696 Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me/ /home/you/ /dest nl()
1697 +/- pattern: /foo/bar (note missing "me") nl()
1698 +/- pattern: /bar/baz (note missing "you") nl()
1699 Target file: /dest/foo/bar nl()
1700 Target file: /dest/bar/baz nl()
1704 Example cmd: rsync -a --relative /home/me/ /home/you /dest nl()
1705 +/- pattern: /home/me/foo/bar (note full path) nl()
1706 +/- pattern: /home/you/bar/baz (ditto) nl()
1707 Target file: /dest/home/me/foo/bar nl()
1708 Target file: /dest/home/you/bar/baz nl()
1712 Example cmd: cd /home; rsync -a --relative me/foo you/ /dest nl()
1713 +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar (starts at specified path) nl()
1714 +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz (ditto) nl()
1715 Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar nl()
1716 Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz nl()
1719 The easiest way to see what name you should filter is to just
1720 look at the output when using bf(--verbose) and put a / in front of the name
1721 (use the bf(--dry-run) option if you're not yet ready to copy any files).
1723 manpagesection(PER-DIRECTORY RULES AND DELETE)
1725 Without a delete option, per-directory rules are only relevant on the
1726 sending side, so you can feel free to exclude the merge files themselves
1727 without affecting the transfer. To make this easy, the 'e' modifier adds
1728 this exclude for you, as seen in these two equivalent commands:
1731 tt(rsync -av --filter=': .excl' --exclude=.excl host:src/dir /dest)nl()
1732 tt(rsync -av --filter=':e .excl' host:src/dir /dest)nl()
1735 However, if you want to do a delete on the receiving side AND you want some
1736 files to be excluded from being deleted, you'll need to be sure that the
1737 receiving side knows what files to exclude. The easiest way is to include
1738 the per-directory merge files in the transfer and use bf(--delete-after),
1739 because this ensures that the receiving side gets all the same exclude
1740 rules as the sending side before it tries to delete anything:
1742 quote(tt(rsync -avF --delete-after host:src/dir /dest))
1744 However, if the merge files are not a part of the transfer, you'll need to
1745 either specify some global exclude rules (i.e. specified on the command
1746 line), or you'll need to maintain your own per-directory merge files on
1747 the receiving side. An example of the first is this (assume that the
1748 remote .rules files exclude themselves):
1750 verb(rsync -av --filter=': .rules' --filter='. /my/extra.rules'
1751 --delete host:src/dir /dest)
1753 In the above example the extra.rules file can affect both sides of the
1754 transfer, but (on the sending side) the rules are subservient to the rules
1755 merged from the .rules files because they were specified after the
1756 per-directory merge rule.
1758 In one final example, the remote side is excluding the .rsync-filter
1759 files from the transfer, but we want to use our own .rsync-filter files
1760 to control what gets deleted on the receiving side. To do this we must
1761 specifically exclude the per-directory merge files (so that they don't get
1762 deleted) and then put rules into the local files to control what else
1763 should not get deleted. Like one of these commands:
1765 verb( rsync -av --filter=':e /.rsync-filter' --delete \
1767 rsync -avFF --delete host:src/dir /dest)
1769 manpagesection(BATCH MODE)
1771 Batch mode can be used to apply the same set of updates to many
1772 identical systems. Suppose one has a tree which is replicated on a
1773 number of hosts. Now suppose some changes have been made to this
1774 source tree and those changes need to be propagated to the other
1775 hosts. In order to do this using batch mode, rsync is run with the
1776 write-batch option to apply the changes made to the source tree to one
1777 of the destination trees. The write-batch option causes the rsync
1778 client to store in a "batch file" all the information needed to repeat
1779 this operation against other, identical destination trees.
1781 To apply the recorded changes to another destination tree, run rsync
1782 with the read-batch option, specifying the name of the same batch
1783 file, and the destination tree. Rsync updates the destination tree
1784 using the information stored in the batch file.
1786 For convenience, one additional file is creating when the write-batch
1787 option is used. This file's name is created by appending
1788 ".sh" to the batch filename. The .sh file contains
1789 a command-line suitable for updating a destination tree using that
1790 batch file. It can be executed using a Bourne(-like) shell, optionally
1791 passing in an alternate destination tree pathname which is then used
1792 instead of the original path. This is useful when the destination tree
1793 path differs from the original destination tree path.
1795 Generating the batch file once saves having to perform the file
1796 status, checksum, and data block generation more than once when
1797 updating multiple destination trees. Multicast transport protocols can
1798 be used to transfer the batch update files in parallel to many hosts
1799 at once, instead of sending the same data to every host individually.
1804 tt($ rsync --write-batch=foo -a host:/source/dir/ /adest/dir/)nl()
1805 tt($ scp foo* remote:)nl()
1806 tt($ ssh remote ./foo.sh /bdest/dir/)nl()
1810 tt($ rsync --write-batch=foo -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/)nl()
1811 tt($ ssh remote rsync --read-batch=- -a /bdest/dir/ <foo)nl()
1814 In these examples, rsync is used to update /adest/dir/ from /source/dir/
1815 and the information to repeat this operation is stored in "foo" and
1816 "foo.sh". The host "remote" is then updated with the batched data going
1817 into the directory /bdest/dir. The differences between the two examples
1818 reveals some of the flexibility you have in how you deal with batches:
1821 it() The first example shows that the initial copy doesn't have to be
1822 local -- you can push or pull data to/from a remote host using either the
1823 remote-shell syntax or rsync daemon syntax, as desired.
1824 it() The first example uses the created "foo.sh" file to get the right
1825 rsync options when running the read-batch command on the remote host.
1826 it() The second example reads the batch data via standard input so that
1827 the batch file doesn't need to be copied to the remote machine first.
1828 This example avoids the foo.sh script because it needed to use a modified
1829 bf(--read-batch) option, but you could edit the script file if you wished to
1830 make use of it (just be sure that no other option is trying to use
1831 standard input, such as the "bf(--exclude-from=-)" option).
1836 The read-batch option expects the destination tree that it is updating
1837 to be identical to the destination tree that was used to create the
1838 batch update fileset. When a difference between the destination trees
1839 is encountered the update might be discarded with no error (if the file
1840 appears to be up-to-date already) or the file-update may be attempted
1841 and then, if the file fails to verify, the update discarded with an
1842 error. This means that it should be safe to re-run a read-batch operation
1843 if the command got interrupted. If you wish to force the batched-update to
1844 always be attempted regardless of the file's size and date, use the bf(-I)
1845 option (when reading the batch).
1846 If an error occurs, the destination tree will probably be in a
1847 partially updated state. In that case, rsync can
1848 be used in its regular (non-batch) mode of operation to fix up the
1851 The rsync version used on all destinations must be at least as new as the
1852 one used to generate the batch file. Rsync will die with an error if the
1853 protocol version in the batch file is too new for the batch-reading rsync
1856 The bf(--dry-run) (bf(-n)) option does not work in batch mode and yields a runtime
1859 When reading a batch file, rsync will force the value of certain options
1860 to match the data in the batch file if you didn't set them to the same
1861 as the batch-writing command. Other options can (and should) be changed.
1862 For instance bf(--write-batch) changes to bf(--read-batch),
1863 bf(--files-from) is dropped, and the
1864 bf(--filter)/bf(--include)/bf(--exclude) options are not needed unless
1865 one of the bf(--delete) options is specified.
1867 The code that creates the BATCH.sh file transforms any filter/include/exclude
1868 options into a single list that is appended as a "here" document to the
1869 shell script file. An advanced user can use this to modify the exclude
1870 list if a change in what gets deleted by bf(--delete) is desired. A normal
1871 user can ignore this detail and just use the shell script as an easy way
1872 to run the appropriate bf(--read-batch) command for the batched data.
1874 The original batch mode in rsync was based on "rsync+", but the latest
1875 version uses a new implementation.
1877 manpagesection(SYMBOLIC LINKS)
1879 Three basic behaviors are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic
1880 link in the source directory.
1882 By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message
1883 "skipping non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist.
1885 If bf(--links) is specified, then symlinks are recreated with the same
1886 target on the destination. Note that bf(--archive) implies
1889 If bf(--copy-links) is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by
1890 copying their referent, rather than the symlink.
1892 rsync also distinguishes "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An
1893 example where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes
1894 ensure the rsync module they copy does not include symbolic links to
1895 bf(/etc/passwd) in the public section of the site. Using
1896 bf(--copy-unsafe-links) will cause any links to be copied as the file
1897 they point to on the destination. Using bf(--safe-links) will cause
1898 unsafe links to be omitted altogether.
1900 Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks
1901 (start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough bf("..")
1902 components to ascend from the directory being copied.
1904 manpagediagnostics()
1906 rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
1907 cryptic. The one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol
1908 version mismatch -- is your shell clean?".
1910 This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell
1911 facility producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using
1912 for its transport. The way to diagnose this problem is to run your
1913 remote shell like this:
1915 quote(tt(ssh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat))
1917 then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat
1918 should be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from
1919 rsync then you will probably find that out.dat contains some text or
1920 data. Look at the contents and try to work out what is producing
1921 it. The most common cause is incorrectly configured shell startup
1922 scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that contain output statements
1923 for non-interactive logins.
1925 If you are having trouble debugging filter patterns, then
1926 try specifying the bf(-vv) option. At this level of verbosity rsync will
1927 show why each individual file is included or excluded.
1929 manpagesection(EXIT VALUES)
1933 dit(bf(1)) Syntax or usage error
1934 dit(bf(2)) Protocol incompatibility
1935 dit(bf(3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
1936 dit(bf(4)) Requested action not supported: an attempt
1937 was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support
1938 them; or an option was specified that is supported by the client and
1940 dit(bf(5)) Error starting client-server protocol
1941 dit(bf(10)) Error in socket I/O
1942 dit(bf(11)) Error in file I/O
1943 dit(bf(12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream
1944 dit(bf(13)) Errors with program diagnostics
1945 dit(bf(14)) Error in IPC code
1946 dit(bf(20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
1947 dit(bf(21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
1948 dit(bf(22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
1949 dit(bf(23)) Partial transfer due to error
1950 dit(bf(24)) Partial transfer due to vanished source files
1951 dit(bf(30)) Timeout in data send/receive
1954 manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES)
1957 dit(bf(CVSIGNORE)) The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any
1958 ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the bf(--cvs-exclude) option for
1960 dit(bf(RSYNC_RSH)) The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to
1961 override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. Command line
1962 options are permitted after the command name, just as in the bf(-e) option.
1963 dit(bf(RSYNC_PROXY)) The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to
1964 redirect your rsync client to use a web proxy when connecting to a
1965 rsync daemon. You should set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair.
1966 dit(bf(RSYNC_PASSWORD)) Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required
1967 password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to an rsync
1968 daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a
1969 password to a shell transport such as ssh.
1970 dit(bf(USER) or bf(LOGNAME)) The USER or LOGNAME environment variables
1971 are used to determine the default username sent to an rsync server.
1972 If neither is set, the username defaults to "nobody".
1973 dit(bf(HOME)) The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's
1974 default .cvsignore file.
1979 /etc/rsyncd.conf or rsyncd.conf
1987 times are transferred as unix time_t values
1989 When transferring to FAT filesystems rsync may re-sync
1991 See the comments on the bf(--modify-window) option.
1993 file permissions, devices, etc. are transferred as native numerical
1996 see also the comments on the bf(--delete) option
1998 Please report bugs! See the website at
1999 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
2001 manpagesection(CREDITS)
2003 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
2004 COPYING for details.
2006 A WEB site is available at
2007 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/). The site
2008 includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this
2011 The primary ftp site for rsync is
2012 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
2014 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
2016 This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by
2017 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
2019 manpagesection(THANKS)
2021 Thanks to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell
2022 and David Bell for helpful suggestions, patches and testing of rsync.
2023 I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
2025 Especial thanks also to: David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer,
2026 Martin Pool, Wayne Davison, J.W. Schultz.
2030 rsync was originally written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras.
2031 Many people have later contributed to it.
2033 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
2034 url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)