1 mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
2 manpage(rsync)(1)(24 Mar 2004)()()
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 already
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
53 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine using
54 a remote shell program as the transport (such as ssh or
55 rsh). This is invoked when the destination path contains a
58 it() for copying from a remote machine to the local machine
59 using a remote shell program. This is invoked when the source
60 contains a : separator.
62 it() for copying from a remote rsync server to the local
63 machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
64 separator or an rsync:// URL.
66 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote rsync
67 server. This is invoked when the destination path contains a ::
68 separator or an rsync:// URL.
70 it() for copying from a remote machine using a remote shell
71 program as the transport, using rsync server on the remote
72 machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
73 separator and the --rsh=COMMAND (aka "-e COMMAND") option is
76 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine
77 using a remote shell program as the transport, using rsync
78 server on the remote machine. This is invoked when the
79 destination path contains a :: separator and the
80 --rsh=COMMAND option is also provided.
82 it() for listing files on a remote machine. This is done the
83 same way as rsync transfers except that you leave off the
87 Note that in all cases (other than listing) at least one of the source
88 and destination paths must be local.
92 See the file README for installation instructions.
94 Once installed, you can use rsync to any machine that you can access via
95 a remote shell (as well as some that you can access using the rsync
96 daemon-mode protocol). For remote transfers, a modern rsync uses ssh
97 for its communications, but it may have been configured to use a
98 different remote shell by default, such as rsh or remsh.
100 You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the -e
101 command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable.
103 One common substitute is to use ssh, which offers a high degree of
106 Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination
109 manpagesection(USAGE)
111 You use rsync in the same way you use rcp. You must specify a source
112 and a destination, one of which may be remote.
114 Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is with some examples:
116 quote(rsync *.c foo:src/)
118 This would transfer all files matching the pattern *.c from the
119 current directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of
120 the files already exist on the remote system then the rsync
121 remote-update protocol is used to update the file by sending only the
122 differences. See the tech report for details.
124 quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp)
126 This would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the
127 machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The
128 files are transferred in "archive" mode, which ensures that symbolic
129 links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownerships, etc. are preserved
130 in the transfer. Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the
131 size of data portions of the transfer.
133 quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp)
135 A trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to avoid creating an
136 additional directory level at the destination. You can think of a trailing
137 / on a source as meaning "copy the contents of this directory" as opposed
138 to "copy the directory by name", but in both cases the attributes of the
139 containing directory are transferred to the containing directory on the
140 destination. In other words, each of the following commands copies the
141 files in the same way, including their setting of the attributes of
144 quote(rsync -avz /src/foo /dest)
145 quote(rsync -avz /src/foo/ /dest/foo)
147 You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
148 destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like
149 an improved copy command.
151 quote(rsync somehost.mydomain.com::)
153 This would list all the anonymous rsync modules available on the host
154 somehost.mydomain.com. (See the following section for more details.)
157 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER)
159 It is also possible to use rsync without a remote shell as the
160 transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server
161 running on TCP port 873.
163 You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the
164 environment variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to
165 your web proxy. Note that your web proxy's configuration must support
166 proxy connections to port 873.
168 Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except
172 it() you use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to
173 separate the hostname from the path or an rsync:// URL.
175 it() the remote server may print a message of the day when you
178 it() if you specify no path name on the remote server then the
179 list of accessible paths on the server will be shown.
181 it() if you specify no local destination then a listing of the
182 specified files on the remote server is provided.
185 Some paths on the remote server may require authentication. If so then
186 you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the
187 password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to
188 the password you want to use or using the --password-file option. This
189 may be useful when scripting rsync.
191 WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all
192 users. On those systems using --password-file is recommended.
194 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
196 It is sometimes useful to be able to set up file transfers using rsync
197 server capabilities on the remote machine, while still using ssh or
198 rsh for transport. This is especially useful when you want to connect
199 to a remote machine via ssh (for encryption or to get through a
200 firewall), but you still want to have access to the rsync server
201 features (see RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM,
204 From the user's perspective, using rsync in this way is the same as
205 using it to connect to an rsync server, except that you must
206 explicitly set the remote shell program on the command line with
207 --rsh=COMMAND. (Setting RSYNC_RSH in the environment will not turn on
210 In order to distinguish between the remote-shell user and the rsync
211 server user, you can use '-l user' on your remote-shell command:
213 quote(rsync -av --rsh="ssh -l ssh-user" rsync-user@host::module[/path] local-path)
215 The "ssh-user" will be used at the ssh level; the "rsync-user" will be
216 used to check against the rsyncd.conf on the remote host.
218 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER)
220 An rsync server is configured using a configuration file. Please see the
221 rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more information. By default the configuration
222 file is called /etc/rsyncd.conf, unless rsync is running over a remote
223 shell program and is not running as root; in that case, the default name
224 is rsyncd.conf in the current directory on the remote computer
227 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
229 See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for full information on the rsync
230 server configuration file.
232 Several configuration options will not be available unless the remote
233 user is root (e.g. chroot, setuid/setgid, etc.). There is no need to
234 configure inetd or the services map to include the rsync server port
235 if you run an rsync server only via a remote shell program.
237 To run an rsync server out of a single-use ssh key, see this section
238 in the rsyncd.conf(5) man page.
240 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
242 Here are some examples of how I use rsync.
244 To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS Word
245 files and mail folders, I use a cron job that runs
247 quote(rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup)
249 each night over a PPP connection to a duplicate directory on my machine
252 To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile
256 rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ .
259 rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/
263 this allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the
264 connection. I then do cvs operations on the remote machine, which saves a
265 lot of time as the remote cvs protocol isn't very efficient.
267 I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the
270 quote(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba/ nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge/samba")
272 this is launched from cron every few hours.
274 manpagesection(OPTIONS SUMMARY)
276 Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer
277 to the detailed description below for a complete description.
280 -v, --verbose increase verbosity
281 -q, --quiet decrease verbosity
282 -c, --checksum always checksum
283 -a, --archive archive mode, equivalent to -rlptgoD
284 -r, --recursive recurse into directories
285 -R, --relative use relative path names
286 --no-relative turn off --relative
287 --no-implied-dirs don't send implied dirs with -R
288 -b, --backup make backups (see --suffix & --backup-dir)
289 --backup-dir make backups into this directory
290 --suffix=SUFFIX backup suffix (default ~ w/o --backup-dir)
291 -u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files)
292 -l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks
293 -L, --copy-links copy the referent of all symlinks
294 --copy-unsafe-links copy the referent of "unsafe" symlinks
295 --safe-links ignore "unsafe" symlinks
296 -H, --hard-links preserve hard links
297 -p, --perms preserve permissions
298 -o, --owner preserve owner (root only)
299 -g, --group preserve group
300 -D, --devices preserve devices (root only)
301 -t, --times preserve times
302 -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently
303 -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
304 -W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks
305 --no-whole-file turn off --whole-file
306 -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
307 -B, --block-size=SIZE checksum blocking size (default 700)
308 -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify the remote shell
309 --rsync-path=PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine
310 --existing only update files that already exist
311 --ignore-existing ignore files that already exist on receiver
312 --delete delete files that don't exist on sender
313 --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on receiver
314 --delete-after receiver deletes after transfer, not before
315 --ignore-errors delete even if there are I/O errors
316 --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
317 --partial keep partially transferred files
318 --force force deletion of dirs even if not empty
319 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
320 --timeout=TIME set I/O timeout in seconds
321 -I, --ignore-times turn off mod time & file size quick check
322 --size-only ignore mod time for quick check (use size)
323 --modify-window=NUM compare mod times with reduced accuracy
324 -T --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
325 --compare-dest=DIR also compare received files relative to DIR
326 --link-dest=DIR create hardlinks to DIR for unchanged files
327 -P equivalent to --partial --progress
328 -z, --compress compress file data
329 -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does
330 --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
331 --exclude-from=FILE exclude patterns listed in FILE
332 --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN
333 --include-from=FILE don't exclude patterns listed in FILE
334 --files-from=FILE read FILE for list of source-file names
335 -0 --from0 all file lists are delimited by nulls
336 --version print version number
337 --daemon run as an rsync daemon
338 --no-detach do not detach from the parent
339 --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address
340 --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
341 --port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number
342 --blocking-io use blocking I/O for the remote shell
343 --no-blocking-io turn off --blocking-io
344 --stats give some file transfer stats
345 --progress show progress during transfer
346 --log-format=FORMAT log file transfers using specified format
347 --password-file=FILE get password from FILE
348 --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth, KBytes per second
349 --write-batch=PREFIX write batch fileset starting with PREFIX
350 --read-batch=PREFIX read batch fileset starting with PREFIX
351 -h, --help show this help screen
358 rsync uses the GNU long options package. Many of the command line
359 options have two variants, one short and one long. These are shown
360 below, separated by commas. Some options only have a long variant.
361 The '=' for options that take a parameter is optional; whitespace
365 dit(bf(-h, --help)) Print a short help page describing the options
368 dit(bf(--version)) print the rsync version number and exit
370 dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you
371 are given during the transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A
372 single -v will give you information about what files are being
373 transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two -v flags will give you
374 information on what files are being skipped and slightly more
375 information at the end. More than two -v flags should only be used if
376 you are debugging rsync.
378 dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) This option decreases the amount of information you
379 are given during the transfer, notably suppressing information messages
380 from the remote server. This flag is useful when invoking rsync from
383 dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
384 already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp.
385 This option turns off this "quick check" behavior.
387 dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
388 already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp. With the
389 --size-only option files will be skipped if they have the same size,
390 regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync
391 after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
394 dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps rsync treats
395 the timestamps as being equal if they are within the value of
396 modify_window. This is normally zero, but you may find it useful to
397 set this to a larger value in some situations. In particular, when
398 transferring to Windows FAT filesystems which cannot represent times
399 with a 1 second resolution --modify-window=1 is useful.
401 dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using
402 a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then
403 explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name
404 which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
405 receiver are skipped. This option can be quite slow.
407 dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptgoD. It is a quick
408 way of saying you want recursion and want to preserve almost
411 Note however that bf(-a) bf(does not preserve hardlinks), because
412 finding multiply-linked files is expensive. You must separately
415 dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories
416 recursively. If you don't specify this then rsync won't copy
419 dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path
420 names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than
421 just the last parts of the filenames. This is particularly useful when
422 you want to send several different directories at the same time. For
423 example, if you used the command
425 verb(rsync foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
427 then this would create a file called foo.c in /tmp/ on the remote
428 machine. If instead you used
430 verb(rsync -R foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
432 then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/foo.c would be created on the remote
433 machine -- the full path name is preserved.
435 dit(bf(--no-relative)) Turn off the --relative option. This is only
436 needed if you want to use --files-from without its implied --relative
439 dit(bf(--no-implied-dirs)) When combined with the --relative option, the
440 implied directories in each path are not explicitly duplicated as part
441 of the transfer. This makes the transfer more optimal and also allows
442 the two sides to have non-matching symlinks in the implied part of the
443 path. For instance, if you transfer the file "/path/foo/file" with -R,
444 the default is for rsync to ensure that "/path" and "/path/foo" on the
445 destination exactly match the directories/symlinks of the source. Using
446 the --no-implied-dirs option would omit both of these implied dirs,
447 which means that if "/path" was a real directory on one machine and a
448 symlink of the other machine, rsync would not try to change this.
450 dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option, preexisting destination files are
451 renamed as each file is transferred or deleted. You can control where the
452 backup file goes and what (if any) suffix gets appended using the
453 --backup-dir and --suffix options.
455 dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the --backup option, this
456 tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
457 very useful for incremental backups. You can additionally
458 specify a backup suffix using the --suffix option
459 (otherwise the files backed up in the specified directory
460 will keep their original filenames).
461 If DIR is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory
462 (which changes in a recursive transfer).
464 dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
465 backup suffix used with the --backup (-b) option. The default suffix is a ~
466 if no --backup-dir was specified, otherwise it is an empty string.
468 dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files for which the
469 destination file already exists and has a date later than the source
472 dit(bf(-l, --links)) When symlinks are encountered, recreate the
473 symlink on the destination.
475 dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) When symlinks are encountered, the file that
476 they point to (the referent) is copied, rather than the symlink.
478 dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to copy the referent of
479 symbolic links that point outside the copied tree. Absolute symlinks
480 are also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the
481 source path itself when --relative is used.
483 dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links
484 which point outside the copied tree. All absolute symlinks are
485 also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with --relative may
486 give unexpected results.
488 dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on
489 the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
490 option hard links are treated like regular files.
492 Note that rsync can only detect hard links if both parts of the link
493 are in the list of files being sent.
495 This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it.
497 dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm
498 is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. The transfer may be
499 faster if this option is used when the bandwidth between the source and
500 target machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the
501 "disk" is actually a networked filesystem). This is the default when both
502 the source and target are on the local machine.
504 dit(bf(--no-whole-file)) Turn off --whole-file, for use when it is the
507 dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to set the destination
508 permissions to be the same as the source permissions.
510 Without this option, each new file gets its permissions set based on the
511 source file's permissions and the umask at the receiving end, while all
512 other files (including updated files) retain their existing permissions
513 (which is the same behavior as other file-copy utilities, such as cp).
515 dit(bf(-o, --owner)) This option causes rsync to set the owner of the
516 destination file to be the same as the source file. On most systems,
517 only the super-user can set file ownership. By default, the preservation
518 is done by name, but may fall back to using the ID number in some
519 circumstances. See the --numeric-ids option for a full discussion.
521 dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to set the group of the
522 destination file to be the same as the source file. If the receiving
523 program is not running as the super-user, only groups that the
524 receiver is a member of will be preserved. By default, the preservation
525 is done by name, but may fall back to using the ID number in some
526 circumstances. See the --numeric-ids option for a full discussion.
528 dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
529 block device information to the remote system to recreate these
530 devices. This option is only available to the super-user.
532 dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along
533 with the files and update them on the remote system. Note that if this
534 option is not used, the optimization that excludes files that have not been
535 modified cannot be effective; in other words, a missing -t or -a will
536 cause the next transfer to behave as if it used -I, and all files will have
537 their checksums compared and show up in log messages even if they haven't
540 dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers,
541 instead it will just report the actions it would have taken.
543 dit(bf(-S, --sparse)) Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take
544 up less space on the destination.
546 NOTE: Don't use this option when the destination is a Solaris "tmpfs"
547 filesystem. It doesn't seem to handle seeks over null regions
548 correctly and ends up corrupting the files.
550 dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync not to cross filesystem
551 boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the
552 contents of only one filesystem.
554 dit(bf(--existing)) This tells rsync not to create any new files -
555 only update files that already exist on the destination.
557 dit(bf(--ignore-existing))
558 This tells rsync not to update files that already exist on
561 dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM
562 files or directories. This is useful when mirroring very large trees
563 to prevent disasters.
565 dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving
566 side that aren't on the sending side. Files that are excluded from
567 transfer are excluded from being deleted unless you use --delete-excluded.
569 This option has no effect if directory recursion is not selected.
571 This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea
572 to run first using the dry run option (-n) to see what files would be
573 deleted to make sure important files aren't listed.
575 If the sending side detects any I/O errors then the deletion of any
576 files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to
577 prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the
578 sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the
579 destination. You can override this with the --ignore-errors option.
581 dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the
582 receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also
583 delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see --exclude).
586 dit(bf(--delete-after)) By default rsync does file deletions on the
587 receiving side before transferring files to try to ensure that there is
588 sufficient space on the receiving filesystem. If you want to delete
589 after transferring, use the --delete-after switch. Implies --delete.
591 dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files
592 even when there are I/O errors.
594 dit(bf(--force)) This options tells rsync to delete directories even if
595 they are not empty when they are to be replaced by non-directories. This
596 is only relevant without --delete because deletions are now done depth-first.
597 Requires the --recursive option (which is implied by -a) to have any effect.
599 dit(bf(-B , --block-size=BLOCKSIZE)) This controls the block size used in
600 the rsync algorithm. See the technical report for details.
602 dit(bf(-e, --rsh=COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative
603 remote shell program to use for communication between the local and
604 remote copies of rsync. Typically, rsync is configured to use ssh by
605 default, but you may prefer to use rsh on a local network.
607 If this option is used with bf([user@]host::module/path), then the
608 remote shell em(COMMAND) will be used to run an rsync server on the
609 remote host, and all data will be transmitted through that remote
610 shell connection, rather than through a direct socket connection to a
611 running rsync server on the remote host. See the section "CONNECTING
612 TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM" above.
614 Command-line arguments are permitted in COMMAND provided that COMMAND is
615 presented to rsync as a single argument. For example:
617 quote(-e "ssh -p 2234")
619 (Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect
620 options in their .ssh/config file.)
622 You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
623 environment variable, which accepts the same range of values as -e.
625 See also the --blocking-io option which is affected by this option.
627 dit(bf(--rsync-path=PATH)) Use this to specify the path to the copy of
628 rsync on the remote machine. Useful when it's not in your path. Note
629 that this is the full path to the binary, not just the directory that
632 dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a
633 broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between
634 systems. It uses the same algorithm that CVS uses to determine if
635 a file should be ignored.
637 The exclude list is initialized to:
639 quote(RCS/ SCCS/ CVS/ .svn/ CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state
640 .nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej .del-*
641 *.a *.o *.obj *.so *.Z *.elc *.ln core)
643 then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
644 files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (space delimited).
646 Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a
647 .cvsignore file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. See
648 the bf(cvs(1)) manual for more information.
650 dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option allows you to selectively exclude
651 certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is most
652 useful in combination with a recursive transfer.
654 You may use as many --exclude options on the command line as you like
655 to build up the list of files to exclude.
657 See the EXCLUDE PATTERNS section for detailed information on this option.
659 dit(bf(--exclude-from=FILE)) This option is similar to the --exclude
660 option, but instead it adds all exclude patterns listed in the file
661 FILE to the exclude list. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with
662 ';' or '#' are ignored.
663 If em(FILE) is bf(-) the list will be read from standard input.
665 dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option tells rsync to not exclude the
666 specified pattern of filenames. This is useful as it allows you to
667 build up quite complex exclude/include rules.
669 See the EXCLUDE PATTERNS section for detailed information on this option.
671 dit(bf(--include-from=FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns
673 If em(FILE) is bf(-) the list will be read from standard input.
675 dit(bf(--files-from=FILE)) Using this option allows you to specify the
676 exact list of files to transfer (as read from the specified FILE or "-"
677 for stdin). It also tweaks the default behavior of rsync to make
678 transferring just the specified files and directories easier. For
679 instance, the --relative option is enabled by default when this option
680 is used (use --no-relative if you want to turn that off), all
681 directories specified in the list are created on the destination (rather
682 than being noisily skipped without -r), and the -a (--archive) option's
683 behavior does not imply -r (--recursive) -- specify it explicitly, if
686 The file names that are read from the FILE are all relative to the
687 source dir -- any leading slashes are removed and no ".." references are
688 allowed to go higher than the source dir. For example, take this
691 quote(rsync -a --files-from=/tmp/foo /usr remote:/backup)
693 If /tmp/foo contains the string "bin" (or even "/bin"), the /usr/bin
694 directory will be created as /backup/bin on the remote host (but the
695 contents of the /usr/bin dir would not be sent unless you specified -r
696 or the names were explicitly listed in /tmp/foo). Also keep in mind
697 that the effect of the (enabled by default) --relative option is to
698 duplicate only the path info that is read from the file -- it does not
699 force the duplication of the source-spec path (/usr in this case).
701 In addition, the --files-from file can be read from the remote host
702 instead of the local host if you specify a "host:" in front of the file
703 (the host must match one end of the transfer). As a short-cut, you can
704 specify just a prefix of ":" to mean "use the remote end of the
705 transfer". For example:
707 quote(rsync -a --files-from=:/path/file-list src:/ /tmp/copy)
709 This would copy all the files specified in the /path/file-list file that
710 was located on the remote "src" host.
712 dit(bf(-0, --from0)) This tells rsync that the filenames it reads from a
713 file are terminated by a null ('\0') character, not a NL, CR, or CR+LF.
714 This affects --exclude-from, --include-from, and --files-from.
716 dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a
717 scratch directory when creating temporary copies of the files
718 transferred on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create
719 the temporary files in the receiving directory.
721 dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR on
722 the destination machine as an additional directory to compare destination
723 files against when doing transfers if the files are missing in the
724 destination directory. This is useful for doing transfers to a new
725 destination while leaving existing files intact, and then doing a
726 flash-cutover when all files have been successfully transferred (for
727 example by moving directories around and removing the old directory,
728 although this skips files that haven't changed; see also --link-dest).
729 This option increases the usefulness of --partial because partially
730 transferred files will remain in the new temporary destination until they
731 have a chance to be completed. If DIR is a relative path, it is relative
732 to the destination directory (which changes in a recursive transfer).
734 dit(bf(--link-dest=DIR)) This option behaves like bf(--compare-dest) but
735 also will create hard links from em(DIR) to the destination directory for
736 unchanged files. Files with changed ownership or permissions will not be
738 Like bf(--compare-dest) if DIR is a relative path, it is relative
739 to the destination directory (which changes in a recursive transfer).
741 dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses any data from
742 the files that it sends to the destination machine. This
743 option is useful on slow connections. The compression method used is the
744 same method that gzip uses.
746 Note this this option typically achieves better compression ratios
747 that can be achieved by using a compressing remote shell, or a
748 compressing transport, as it takes advantage of the implicit
749 information sent for matching data blocks.
751 dit(bf(--numeric-ids)) With this option rsync will transfer numeric group
752 and user IDs rather than using user and group names and mapping them
755 By default rsync will use the username and groupname to determine
756 what ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group
757 0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the --numeric-ids
758 option is not specified.
760 If a user or group has no name on the source system or it has no match
761 on the destination system, then the numeric ID
762 from the source system is used instead. See also the comments on the
763 "use chroot" setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage for information on how
764 the chroot setting affects rsync's ability to look up the names of the
765 users and groups and what you can do about it.
767 dit(bf(--timeout=TIMEOUT)) This option allows you to set a maximum I/O
768 timeout in seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time
769 then rsync will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout.
771 dit(bf(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The
772 daemon may be accessed using the bf(host::module) or
773 bf(rsync://host/module/) syntax.
775 If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being
776 run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and
777 become a background daemon. The daemon will read the config file
778 (rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and respond to
779 requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
782 dit(bf(--no-detach)) When running as a daemon, this option instructs
783 rsync to not detach itself and become a background process. This
784 option is required when running as a service on Cygwin, and may also
785 be useful when rsync is supervised by a program such as
786 bf(daemontools) or AIX's bf(System Resource Controller).
787 bf(--no-detach) is also recommended when rsync is run under a
788 debugger. This option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or
791 dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address
792 when run as a daemon with the --daemon option or when connecting to a
793 rsync server. The --address option allows you to specify a specific IP
794 address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting possible
795 in conjunction with the --config option.
797 dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
798 the default. This is only relevant when --daemon is specified.
799 The default is /etc/rsyncd.conf unless the daemon is running over
800 a remote shell program and the remote user is not root; in that case
801 the default is rsyncd.conf in the current directory (typically $HOME).
803 dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
804 rather than the default port 873.
806 dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This tells rsync to use blocking I/O when launching
807 a remote shell transport. If the remote shell is either rsh or remsh,
808 rsync defaults to using
809 blocking I/O, otherwise it defaults to using non-blocking I/O. (Note that
810 ssh prefers non-blocking I/O.)
812 dit(bf(--no-blocking-io)) Turn off --blocking-io, for use when it is the
815 dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
816 rsync client logs to stdout on a per-file basis. The log format is
817 specified using the same format conventions as the log format option in
820 dit(bf(--stats)) This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics
821 on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync
822 algorithm is for your data.
824 dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
825 transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
826 it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the
827 --partial option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should
828 make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster.
830 dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information
831 showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user
833 Implies --verbose without incrementing verbosity.
835 When the file is transferring, the data looks like this:
838 782448 63% 110.64kB/s 0:00:04
841 This tells you the current file size, the percentage of the transfer that
842 is complete, the current calculated file-completion rate (including both
843 data over the wire and data being matched locally), and the estimated time
844 remaining in this transfer.
846 After the a file is complete, it the data looks like this:
849 1238099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (5, 57.1% of 396)
852 This tells you the final file size, that it's 100% complete, the final
853 transfer rate for the file, the amount of elapsed time it took to transfer
854 the file, and the addition of a total-transfer summary in parentheses.
855 These additional numbers tell you how many files have been updated, and
856 what percent of the total number of files has been scanned.
858 dit(bf(-P)) The -P option is equivalent to --partial --progress. I
859 found myself typing that combination quite often so I created an
860 option to make it easier.
862 dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password
863 in a file for accessing a remote rsync server. Note that this option
864 is only useful when accessing an rsync server using the built in
865 transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file
866 must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a
869 dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
870 transfer rate in kilobytes per second. This option is most effective when
871 using rsync with large files (several megabytes and up). Due to the nature
872 of rsync transfers, blocks of data are sent, then if rsync determines the
873 transfer was too fast, it will wait before sending the next data block. The
874 result is an average transfer rate equaling the specified limit. A value
875 of zero specifies no limit.
877 dit(bf(--write-batch=PREFIX)) Generate a set of files that can be
878 transferred as a batch update. Each filename in the set starts with
879 PREFIX. See the "BATCH MODE" section for details.
881 dit(bf(--read-batch=PREFIX)) Apply a previously generated change batch,
882 using the fileset whose filenames start with PREFIX. See the "BATCH
883 MODE" section for details.
887 manpagesection(EXCLUDE PATTERNS)
889 The exclude and include patterns specified to rsync allow for flexible
890 selection of which files to transfer and which files to skip.
892 Rsync builds an ordered list of include/exclude options as specified on
893 the command line. Rsync checks each file and directory
894 name against each exclude/include pattern in turn. The first matching
895 pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern, then that file is
896 skipped. If it is an include pattern then that filename is not
897 skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the
898 filename is not skipped.
900 The filenames matched against the exclude/include patterns are relative
901 to the "root of the transfer". If you think of the transfer as a
902 subtree of names that are being sent from sender to receiver, the root
903 is where the tree starts to be duplicated in the destination directory.
904 This root governs where patterns that start with a / match (see below).
906 Because the matching is relative to the transfer-root, changing the
907 trailing slash on the source path or changing your use of the --relative
908 option affects the path you need to use in your matching (in addition to
909 changing how much of the file tree is duplicated on the destination
910 system). The following examples demonstrate this.
912 Let's say that we want to match two source files, one with an absolute
913 path of "/home/me/foo/bar", and one with a path of "/home/you/bar/baz".
914 Here is how the various command choices differ for a 2-source transfer:
917 Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me /home/you /dest
918 +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar
919 +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz
920 Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar
921 Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz
923 Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me/ /home/you/ /dest
924 +/- pattern: /foo/bar (note missing "me")
925 +/- pattern: /bar/baz (note missing "you")
926 Target file: /dest/foo/bar
927 Target file: /dest/bar/baz
929 Example cmd: rsync -a --relative /home/me/ /home/you /dest
930 +/- pattern: /home/me/foo/bar (note full path)
931 +/- pattern: /home/you/bar/baz (ditto)
932 Target file: /dest/home/me/foo/bar
933 Target file: /dest/home/you/bar/baz
935 Example cmd: cd /home; rsync -a --relative me/foo you/ /dest
936 +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar (starts at specified path)
937 +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz (ditto)
938 Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar
939 Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz
942 The easiest way to see what name you should include/exclude is to just
943 look at the output when using --verbose and put a / in front of the name
944 (use the --dry-run option if you're not yet ready to copy any files).
946 Note that, when using the --recursive (-r) option (which is implied by -a),
947 every subcomponent of
948 every path is visited from the top down, so include/exclude patterns get
949 applied recursively to each subcomponent.
951 Note also that the --include and --exclude options take one pattern
952 each. To add multiple patterns use the --include-from and
953 --exclude-from options or multiple --include and --exclude options.
955 The patterns can take several forms. The rules are:
959 it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is matched against the
960 start of the filename, otherwise it is matched against the end of
962 This is the equivalent of a leading ^ in regular expressions.
963 Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at the transfer-root
964 (see above for how this is different from the filesystem-root).
965 On the other hand, "foo" would match any file called "foo"
966 anywhere in the tree because the algorithm is applied recursively from
967 top down; it behaves as if each path component gets a turn at being the
968 end of the file name.
970 it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
971 directory, not a file, link, or device.
973 it() if the pattern contains a wildcard character from the set
974 *?[ then expression matching is applied using the shell filename
975 matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used.
977 it() the double asterisk pattern "**" will match slashes while a
978 single asterisk pattern "*" will stop at slashes.
980 it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) or a "**"
981 then it is matched against the full filename, including any leading
982 directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a / or a "**", then it is
983 matched only against the final component of the filename. Again,
984 remember that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename" can
985 actually be any portion of a path below the starting directory.
987 it() if the pattern starts with "+ " (a plus followed by a space)
988 then it is always considered an include pattern, even if specified as
989 part of an exclude option. The "+ " part is discarded before matching.
991 it() if the pattern starts with "- " (a minus followed by a space)
992 then it is always considered an exclude pattern, even if specified as
993 part of an include option. The "- " part is discarded before matching.
995 it() if the pattern is a single exclamation mark ! then the current
996 include/exclude list is reset, removing all previously defined patterns.
999 The +/- rules are most useful in a list that was read from a file, allowing
1000 you to have a single exclude list that contains both include and exclude
1003 If you end an exclude list with --exclude '*', note that since the
1004 algorithm is applied recursively that unless you explicitly include
1005 parent directories of files you want to include then the algorithm
1006 will stop at the parent directories and never see the files below
1007 them. To include all directories, use --include '*/' before the
1010 Here are some exclude/include examples:
1013 it() --exclude "*.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o
1014 it() --exclude "/foo" would exclude a file called foo in the transfer-root directory
1015 it() --exclude "foo/" would exclude any directory called foo
1016 it() --exclude "/foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
1017 levels below a directory called foo in the transfer-root directory
1018 it() --exclude "/foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
1019 or more levels below a directory called foo in the transfer-root directory
1020 it() --include "*/" --include "*.c" --exclude "*" would include all
1021 directories and C source files
1022 it() --include "foo/" --include "foo/bar.c" --exclude "*" would include
1023 only foo/bar.c (the foo/ directory must be explicitly included or
1024 it would be excluded by the "*")
1027 manpagesection(BATCH MODE)
1029 bf(Note:) Batch mode should be considered experimental in this version
1030 of rsync. The interface or behaviour may change before it stabilizes.
1032 Batch mode can be used to apply the same set of updates to many
1033 identical systems. Suppose one has a tree which is replicated on a
1034 number of hosts. Now suppose some changes have been made to this
1035 source tree and those changes need to be propagated to the other
1036 hosts. In order to do this using batch mode, rsync is run with the
1037 write-batch option to apply the changes made to the source tree to one
1038 of the destination trees. The write-batch option causes the rsync
1039 client to store the information needed to repeat this operation against
1040 other destination trees in a batch update fileset (see below). The
1041 filename of each file in the fileset starts with a prefix specified by
1042 the user as an argument to the write-batch option. This fileset is
1043 then copied to each remote host, where rsync is run with the read-batch
1044 option, again specifying the same prefix, and the destination tree.
1045 Rsync updates the destination tree using the information stored in the
1046 batch update fileset.
1048 The fileset consists of 4 files:
1051 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_argvs) command-line arguments
1052 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_flist) rsync internal file metadata
1053 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_csums) rsync checksums
1054 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_delta) data blocks for file update & change
1057 The .rsync_argvs file contains a command-line suitable for updating a
1058 destination tree using that batch update fileset. It can be executed
1059 using a Bourne(-like) shell, optionally passing in an alternate
1060 destination tree pathname which is then used instead of the original
1061 path. This is useful when the destination tree path differs from the
1062 original destination tree path.
1064 Generating the batch update fileset once saves having to perform the
1065 file status, checksum and data block generation more than once when
1066 updating multiple destination trees. Multicast transport protocols can
1067 be used to transfer the batch update files in parallel to many hosts at
1068 once, instead of sending the same data to every host individually.
1073 $ rsync --write-batch=pfx -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/
1074 $ rcp pfx.rsync_* remote:
1075 $ ssh remote rsync --read-batch=pfx -a /bdest/dir/
1077 $ ssh remote ./pfx.rsync_argvs /bdest/dir/
1080 In this example, rsync is used to update /adest/dir/ with /source/dir/
1081 and the information to repeat this operation is stored in the files
1082 pfx.rsync_*. These files are then copied to the machine named "remote".
1083 Rsync is then invoked on "remote" to update /bdest/dir/ the same way as
1084 /adest/dir/. The last line shows the rsync_argvs file being used to
1089 The read-batch option expects the destination tree it is meant to update
1090 to be identical to the destination tree that was used to create the
1091 batch update fileset. When a difference between the destination trees
1092 is encountered the update will fail at that point, leaving the
1093 destination tree in a partially updated state. In that case, rsync can
1094 be used in its regular (non-batch) mode of operation to fix up the
1097 The rsync version used on all destinations should be identical to the
1098 one used on the original destination.
1100 The -z/--compress option does not work in batch mode and yields a usage
1101 error. A separate compression tool can be used instead to reduce the
1102 size of the batch update files for transport to the destination.
1104 The -n/--dryrun option does not work in batch mode and yields a runtime
1107 See bf(http://www.ils.unc.edu/i2dsi/unc_rsync+.html) for papers and technical
1110 manpagesection(SYMBOLIC LINKS)
1112 Three basic behaviours are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic
1113 link in the source directory.
1115 By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message
1116 "skipping non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist.
1118 If bf(--links) is specified, then symlinks are recreated with the same
1119 target on the destination. Note that bf(--archive) implies
1122 If bf(--copy-links) is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by
1123 copying their referent, rather than the symlink.
1125 rsync also distinguishes "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An
1126 example where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes
1127 ensure the rsync module they copy does not include symbolic links to
1128 bf(/etc/passwd) in the public section of the site. Using
1129 bf(--copy-unsafe-links) will cause any links to be copied as the file
1130 they point to on the destination. Using bf(--safe-links) will cause
1131 unsafe links to be omitted altogether.
1133 Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks
1134 (start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough bf("..")
1135 components to ascend from the directory being copied.
1137 manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS)
1139 rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
1140 cryptic. The one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol
1141 version mismatch - is your shell clean?".
1143 This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell
1144 facility producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using
1145 for its transport. The way to diagnose this problem is to run your
1146 remote shell like this:
1149 ssh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat
1152 then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat
1153 should be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from
1154 rsync then you will probably find that out.dat contains some text or
1155 data. Look at the contents and try to work out what is producing
1156 it. The most common cause is incorrectly configured shell startup
1157 scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that contain output statements
1158 for non-interactive logins.
1160 If you are having trouble debugging include and exclude patterns, then
1161 try specifying the -vv option. At this level of verbosity rsync will
1162 show why each individual file is included or excluded.
1164 manpagesection(EXIT VALUES)
1168 dit(bf(1)) Syntax or usage error
1169 dit(bf(2)) Protocol incompatibility
1170 dit(bf(3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
1171 dit(bf(4)) Requested action not supported: an attempt
1172 was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support
1173 them; or an option was specifed that is supported by the client and
1175 dit(bf(5)) Error starting client-server protocol
1176 dit(bf(10)) Error in socket I/O
1177 dit(bf(11)) Error in file I/O
1178 dit(bf(12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream
1179 dit(bf(13)) Errors with program diagnostics
1180 dit(bf(14)) Error in IPC code
1181 dit(bf(20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
1182 dit(bf(21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
1183 dit(bf(22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
1184 dit(bf(23)) Partial transfer due to error
1185 dit(bf(24)) Partial transfer due to vanished source files
1186 dit(bf(30)) Timeout in data send/receive
1189 manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES)
1193 dit(bf(CVSIGNORE)) The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any
1194 ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the --cvs-exclude option for
1197 dit(bf(RSYNC_RSH)) The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to
1198 override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. Command line
1199 options are permitted after the command name, just as in the -e option.
1201 dit(bf(RSYNC_PROXY)) The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to
1202 redirect your rsync client to use a web proxy when connecting to a
1203 rsync daemon. You should set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair.
1205 dit(bf(RSYNC_PASSWORD)) Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required
1206 password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to an rsync
1207 daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a
1208 password to a shell transport such as ssh.
1210 dit(bf(USER) or bf(LOGNAME)) The USER or LOGNAME environment variables
1211 are used to determine the default username sent to an rsync server.
1212 If neither is set, the username defaults to "nobody".
1214 dit(bf(HOME)) The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's
1215 default .cvsignore file.
1221 /etc/rsyncd.conf or rsyncd.conf
1227 manpagediagnostics()
1231 times are transferred as unix time_t values
1233 When transferring to FAT filesystems rsync may resync
1235 See the comments on the --modify-window option.
1237 file permissions, devices, etc. are transferred as native numerical
1240 see also the comments on the --delete option
1242 Please report bugs! See the website at
1243 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
1245 manpagesection(CREDITS)
1247 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
1248 COPYING for details.
1250 A WEB site is available at
1251 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/). The site
1252 includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this
1255 The primary ftp site for rsync is
1256 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
1258 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
1260 This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by
1261 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
1263 manpagesection(THANKS)
1265 Thanks to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell
1266 and David Bell for helpful suggestions, patches and testing of rsync.
1267 I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
1269 Especial thanks also to: David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer,
1270 Martin Pool, Wayne Davison.
1274 rsync was originally written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras.
1275 Many people have later contributed to it.
1277 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
1278 url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)