1 mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
2 manpage(rsync)(1)(25 Jan 2002)()()
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 link, 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 rsh or ssh
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 rsh or
55 ssh). 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 a 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 a 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=COMMMAND 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, rsync typically uses rsh
97 for its communications, but it may have been configured to use a
98 different remote shell by default, such as ssh.
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 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 transfer
136 all files from the directory src/bar on the machine foo into the
137 /data/tmp/. A trailing / on a source name means "copy the
138 contents of this directory". Without a trailing slash it means "copy
139 the directory". This difference becomes particularly important when
140 using the --delete option.
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(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.)
152 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER)
154 It is also possible to use rsync without a remote shell as the
155 transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server
156 running on TCP port 873.
158 You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the
159 environment variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to
160 your web proxy. Note that your web proxy's configuration must allow
161 proxying to port 873.
163 Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except
167 it() you use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to
168 separate the hostname from the path or a rsync:// URL.
170 it() the remote server may print a message of the day when you
173 it() if you specify no path name on the remote server then the
174 list of accessible paths on the server will be shown.
176 it() if you specify no local destination then a listing of the
177 specified files on the remote server is provided.
180 Some paths on the remote server may require authentication. If so then
181 you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the
182 password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to
183 the password you want to use or using the --password-file option. This
184 may be useful when scripting rsync.
186 WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all
187 users. On those systems using --password-file is recommended.
189 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
191 It is sometimes useful to be able to set up file transfers using rsync
192 server capabilities on the remote machine, while still using rsh or
193 ssh for transport. This is especially useful when you want to connect
194 to a remote machine via ssh (for encryption or to get through a
195 firewall), but you still want to have access to the rsync server
196 features (see RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM,
199 From the user's perspective, using rsync in this way is the same as
200 using it to connect to an rsync server, except that you must
201 explicitly set the remote shell program on the command line with
202 --rsh=COMMAND. (Setting RSYNC_RSH in the environment will not turn on
205 In order to distinguish between the remote-shell user and the rsync
206 server user, you can use '-l user' on your remote-shell command:
208 quote(rsync -av --rsh="ssh -l ssh-user" rsync-user@host::module[/path] local-path)
210 The "ssh-user" will be used at the ssh level; the "rsync-user" will be
211 used to check against the rsyncd.conf on the remote host.
213 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER)
215 An rsync server is configured using a config file which by default is
216 called /etc/rsyncd.conf. Please see the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
219 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
221 See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for full information on the rsync
222 server configuration file.
224 Several configuration options will not be available unless the remote
225 user is root (e.g. chroot, setuid/setgid, etc.). There is no need to
226 configure inetd or the services map to include the rsync server port
227 if you run an rsync server only via a remote shell program.
229 To run an rsync server out of a single-use ssh key, use the
230 "command=em(COMMAND)" syntax in the remote user's
231 authorized_keys entry, where command would be
233 quote(rsync --server --daemon .)
235 NOTE: rsync's argument parsing expects the trailing ".", so make sure
236 that it's there. If you want to use a rsyncd.conf(5)-style
237 configuration file other than /etc/rsyncd.conf, you can added a
238 --config-file option to the em(command):
240 quote(rsync --server --daemon --config-file=em(file) .)
242 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
244 Here are some examples of how I use rsync.
246 To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS Word
247 files and mail folders, I use a cron job that runs
249 quote(rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup)
251 each night over a PPP link to a duplicate directory on my machine
254 To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile
258 rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ .
261 rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/
265 this allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the
266 link. I then do cvs operations on the remote machine, which saves a
267 lot of time as the remote cvs protocol isn't very efficient.
269 I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the
272 quote(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba/ nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge/samba")
274 this is launched from cron every few hours.
276 manpagesection(OPTIONS SUMMARY)
278 Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer
279 to the detailed description below for a complete description.
282 -v, --verbose increase verbosity
283 -q, --quiet decrease verbosity
284 -c, --checksum always checksum
285 -a, --archive archive mode
286 -r, --recursive recurse into directories
287 -R, --relative use relative path names
288 -b, --backup make backups (default ~ suffix)
289 --backup-dir make backups into this directory
290 --suffix=SUFFIX define backup suffix
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 symlinks
294 --copy-unsafe-links copy links outside the source tree
295 --safe-links ignore links outside the destination tree
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 to use
309 --rsync-path=PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine
310 -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does
311 --existing only update files that already exist
312 --ignore-existing ignore files that already exist on the receiving side
313 --delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side
314 --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on the receiving side
315 --delete-after delete after transferring, not before
316 --ignore-errors delete even if there are IO errors
317 --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
318 --partial keep partially transferred files
319 --force force deletion of directories even if not empty
320 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
321 --timeout=TIME set IO timeout in seconds
322 -I, --ignore-times don't exclude files that match length and time
323 --size-only only use file size when determining if a file should be transferred
324 --modify-window=NUM Timestamp window (seconds) for file match (default=0)
325 -T --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
326 --compare-dest=DIR also compare destination files relative to DIR
327 -P equivalent to --partial --progress
328 -z, --compress compress file data
329 --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
330 --exclude-from=FILE exclude patterns listed in FILE
331 --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN
332 --include-from=FILE don't exclude patterns listed in FILE
333 --version print version number
334 --daemon run as a rsync daemon
335 --no-detach do not detach from the parent
336 --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address
337 --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
338 --port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number
339 --blocking-io use blocking IO for the remote shell
340 --no-blocking-io turn off --blocking-io
341 --stats give some file transfer stats
342 --progress show progress during transfer
343 --log-format=FORMAT log file transfers using specified format
344 --password-file=FILE get password from FILE
345 --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth, KBytes per second
346 --read-batch=PREFIX read batch fileset starting with PREFIX
347 --write-batch=PREFIX write batch fileset starting with PREFIX
348 -h, --help show this help screen
355 rsync uses the GNU long options package. Many of the command line
356 options have two variants, one short and one long. These are shown
357 below, separated by commas. Some options only have a long variant.
358 The '=' for options that take a parameter is optional; whitespace
362 dit(bf(-h, --help)) Print a short help page describing the options
365 dit(bf(--version)) print the rsync version number and exit
367 dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you
368 are given during the transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A
369 single -v will give you information about what files are being
370 transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two -v flags will give you
371 information on what files are being skipped and slightly more
372 information at the end. More than two -v flags should only be used if
373 you are debugging rsync.
375 dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) This option decreases the amount of information you
376 are given during the transfer, notably suppressing information messages
377 from the remote server. This flag is useful when invoking rsync from
380 dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
381 already the same length and have the same time-stamp. This option turns
384 dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
385 already the same length and have the same time-stamp. With the
386 --size-only option files will be skipped if they have the same size,
387 regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync
388 after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
391 dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps rsync treats
392 the timestamps as being equal if they are within the value of
393 modify_window. This is normally zero, but you may find it useful to
394 set this to a larger value in some situations. In particular, when
395 transferring to/from FAT filesystems which cannot represent times with
396 a 1 second resolution this option is useful.
398 dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using
399 a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then
400 explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name
401 which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
402 receiver are skipped. This option can be quite slow.
404 dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptgoD. It is a quick
405 way of saying you want recursion and want to preserve almost
408 Note however that bf(-a) bf(does not preserve hardlinks), because
409 finding multiply-linked files is expensive. You must separately
412 dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories
413 recursively. If you don't specify this then rsync won't copy
416 dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path
417 names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than
418 just the last parts of the filenames. This is particularly useful when
419 you want to send several different directories at the same time. For
420 example, if you used the command
422 verb(rsync foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
424 then this would create a file called foo.c in /tmp/ on the remote
425 machine. If instead you used
427 verb(rsync -R foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
429 then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/foo.c would be created on the remote
430 machine. The full path name is preserved.
432 dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option preexisting destination files are
433 renamed with a ~ extension as each file is transferred. You can
434 control the backup suffix using the --suffix option.
436 dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the --backup option, this
437 tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
438 very useful for incremental backups. You can additionally
439 specify a backup suffix using the --suffix option
440 (otherwise the files backed up in the specified directory
441 will keep their original filenames).
443 dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
444 backup suffix used with the -b option. The default is a ~.
445 If --backup-dir and --suffix are both specified,
446 the SUFFIX is appended to the filename even in the backup directory.
448 dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files for which the
449 destination file already exists and has a date later than the source
452 dit(bf(-l, --links)) When symlinks are encountered, recreate the
453 symlink on the destination.
455 dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) When symlinks are encountered, the file that
456 they point to is copied, rather than the symlink.
458 dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to copy the referent of
459 symbolic links that point outside the source tree. Absolute symlinks
460 are also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the
461 source path itself when --relative is used.
463 dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links
464 which point outside the destination tree. All absolute symlinks are
465 also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with --relative may
466 give unexpected results.
468 dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on
469 the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
470 option hard links are treated like regular files.
472 Note that rsync can only detect hard links if both parts of the link
473 are in the list of files being sent.
475 This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it.
477 dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm
478 is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. The transfer may be
479 faster if this option is used when the bandwidth between the source and
480 target machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the
481 "disk" is actually a networked file system). This is the default when both
482 the source and target are on the local machine.
484 dit(bf(--no-whole-file)) Turn off --whole-file, for use when it is the
487 dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to update the remote
488 permissions to be the same as the local permissions.
490 dit(bf(-o, --owner)) This option causes rsync to set the owner of the
491 destination file to be the same as the source file. On most systems,
492 only the super-user can set file ownership. Note that if the remote system
493 is a daemon using chroot, the --numeric-ids option is implied because the
494 remote system cannot get access to the usernames from /etc/passwd.
496 dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to set the group of the
497 destination file to be the same as the source file. If the receiving
498 program is not running as the super-user, only groups that the
499 receiver is a member of will be preserved (by group name, not group id
502 dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
503 block device information to the remote system to recreate these
504 devices. This option is only available to the super-user.
506 dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along
507 with the files and update them on the remote system. Note that if this
508 option is not used, the optimization that excludes files that have not been
509 modified cannot be effective; in other words, a missing -t or -a will
510 cause the next transfer to behave as if it used -I, and all files will have
511 their checksums compared and show up in log messages even if they haven't
514 dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers,
515 instead it will just report the actions it would have taken.
517 dit(bf(-S, --sparse)) Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take
518 up less space on the destination.
520 NOTE: Don't use this option when the destination is a Solaris "tmpfs"
521 filesystem. It doesn't seem to handle seeks over null regions
522 correctly and ends up corrupting the files.
524 dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync not to cross filesystem
525 boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the
526 contents of only one filesystem.
528 dit(bf(--existing)) This tells rsync not to create any new files -
529 only update files that already exist on the destination.
531 dit(bf(--ignore-existing))
532 This tells rsync not to update files that already exist on
535 dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM
536 files or directories. This is useful when mirroring very large trees
537 to prevent disasters.
539 dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving
540 side that aren't on the sending side. Files that are excluded from
541 transfer are excluded from being deleted unless you use --delete-excluded.
543 This option has no effect if directory recursion is not selected.
545 This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea
546 to run first using the dry run option (-n) to see what files would be
547 deleted to make sure important files aren't listed.
549 If the sending side detects any IO errors then the deletion of any
550 files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to
551 prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the
552 sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the
553 destination. You can override this with the --ignore-errors option.
555 dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the
556 receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also
557 delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see --exclude).
560 dit(bf(--delete-after)) By default rsync does file deletions before
561 transferring files to try to ensure that there is sufficient space on
562 the receiving filesystem. If you want to delete after transferring
563 then use the --delete-after switch. Implies --delete.
565 dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files
566 even when there are IO errors.
568 dit(bf(--force)) This options tells rsync to delete directories even if
569 they are not empty when they are to be replaced by non-directories. This
570 is only relevant without --delete because deletions are now done depth-first.
571 Requires the --recursive option (which is implied by -a) to have any effect.
573 dit(bf(-B , --block-size=BLOCKSIZE)) This controls the block size used in
574 the rsync algorithm. See the technical report for details.
576 dit(bf(-e, --rsh=COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative
577 remote shell program to use for communication between the local and
578 remote copies of rsync. Typically, rsync is configured to use rsh by
579 default, but you may prefer to use ssh because of its high security.
581 If this option is used with bf([user@]host::module/path), then the
582 remote shell em(COMMMAND) will be used to run an rsync server on the
583 remote host, and all data will be transmitted through that remote
584 shell connection, rather than through a direct socket connection to a
585 running rsync server on the remote host. See the section "CONNECTING
586 TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM" above.
588 Command-line arguments are permitted in COMMAND provided that COMMAND is
589 presented to rsync as a single argument. For example:
591 quote(-e "ssh -p 2234")
593 (Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect
594 options in their .ssh/config file.)
596 You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
597 environment variable, which accepts the same range of values as -e.
599 See also the --blocking-io option which is affected by this option.
601 dit(bf(--rsync-path=PATH)) Use this to specify the path to the copy of
602 rsync on the remote machine. Useful when it's not in your path. Note
603 that this is the full path to the binary, not just the directory that
606 dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option allows you to selectively exclude
607 certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is most
608 useful in combination with a recursive transfer.
610 You may use as many --exclude options on the command line as you like
611 to build up the list of files to exclude.
613 See the section on exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
616 dit(bf(--exclude-from=FILE)) This option is similar to the --exclude
617 option, but instead it adds all exclude patterns listed in the file
618 FILE to the exclude list. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with
619 ';' or '#' are ignored.
621 dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option tells rsync to not exclude the
622 specified pattern of filenames. This is useful as it allows you to
623 build up quite complex exclude/include rules.
625 See the section of exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
628 dit(bf(--include-from=FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns
631 dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a
632 broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between
633 systems. It uses the same algorithm that CVS uses to determine if
634 a file should be ignored.
636 The exclude list is initialized to:
638 quote(RCS SCCS CVS CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state
639 .nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej .del-*
640 *.a *.o *.obj *.so *.Z *.elc *.ln core)
642 then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
643 files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (space delimited).
645 Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a
646 .cvsignore file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. See
647 the bf(cvs(1)) manual for more information.
649 dit(bf(--csum-length=LENGTH)) By default the primary checksum used in
650 rsync is a very strong 16 byte MD4 checksum. In most cases you will
651 find that a truncated version of this checksum is quite efficient, and
652 this will decrease the size of the checksum data sent over the link,
653 making things faster.
655 You can choose the number of bytes in the truncated checksum using the
656 --csum-length option. Any value less than or equal to 16 is valid.
658 Note that if you use this option then you run the risk of ending up
659 with an incorrect target file. The risk with a value of 16 is
660 microscopic and can be safely ignored (the universe will probably end
661 before it fails) but with smaller values the risk is higher.
663 Current versions of rsync actually use an adaptive algorithm for the
664 checksum length by default, using a 16 byte file checksum to determine
665 if a 2nd pass is required with a longer block checksum. Only use this
666 option if you have read the source code and know what you are doing.
668 dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a
669 scratch directory when creating temporary copies of the files
670 transferred on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create
671 the temporary files in the receiving directory.
673 dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR on
674 the destination machine as an additional directory to compare destination
675 files against when doing transfers. This is useful for doing transfers to
676 a new destination while leaving existing files intact, and then doing a
677 flash-cutover when all files have been successfully transferred (for
678 example by moving directories around and removing the old directory,
679 although this requires also doing the transfer with -I to avoid skipping
680 files that haven't changed). This option increases the usefulness of
681 --partial because partially transferred files will remain in the new
682 temporary destination until they have a chance to be completed. If DIR is
683 a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
685 dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses any data from
686 the files that it sends to the destination machine. This
687 option is useful on slow links. The compression method used is the
688 same method that gzip uses.
690 Note this this option typically achieves better compression ratios
691 that can be achieved by using a compressing remote shell, or a
692 compressing transport, as it takes advantage of the implicit
693 information sent for matching data blocks.
695 dit(bf(--numeric-ids)) With this option rsync will transfer numeric group
696 and user ids rather than using user and group names and mapping them
699 By default rsync will use the user name and group name to determine
700 what ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group
701 0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the --numeric-ids
702 option is not specified.
704 If the source system is a daemon using chroot, or if a user or group
705 name does not exist on the destination system, then the numeric id
706 from the source system is used instead.
708 dit(bf(--timeout=TIMEOUT)) This option allows you to set a maximum IO
709 timeout in seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time
710 then rsync will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout.
712 dit(bf(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The
713 daemon may be accessed using the bf(host::module) or
714 bf(rsync://host/module/) syntax.
716 If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being
717 run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and
718 become a background daemon. The daemon will read the config file
719 (/etc/rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and respond to
720 requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
723 dit(bf(--no-detach)) When running as a daemon, this option instructs
724 rsync to not detach itself and become a background process. This
725 option is required when running as a service on Cygwin, and may also
726 be useful when rsync is supervised by a program such as
727 bf(daemontools) or AIX's bf(System Resource Controller).
728 bf(--no-detach) is also recommended when rsync is run under a
729 debugger. This option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or
732 dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address
733 when run as a daemon with the --daemon option or when connecting to a
734 rsync server. The --address option allows you to specify a specific IP
735 address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting possible
736 in conjunction with the --config option.
738 dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
739 the default /etc/rsyncd.conf. This is only relevant when --daemon is
742 dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
743 rather than the default port 873.
745 dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This tells rsync to use blocking IO when launching
746 a remote shell transport. If -e or --rsh are not specified or are set to
747 the default "rsh", this defaults to blocking IO, otherwise it defaults to
748 non-blocking IO. You may find the --blocking-io option is needed for some
749 remote shells that can't handle non-blocking IO. (Note that ssh prefers
752 dit(bf(--no-blocking-io)) Turn off --blocking-io, for use when it is the
755 dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
756 rsync client logs to stdout on a per-file basis. The log format is
757 specified using the same format conventions as the log format option in
760 dit(bf(--stats)) This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics
761 on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync
762 algorithm is for your data.
764 dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
765 transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
766 it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the
767 --partial option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should
768 make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster.
770 dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information
771 showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user
774 This option is normally combined with -v. Using this option without
775 the -v option will produce weird results on your display.
777 dit(bf(-P)) The -P option is equivalent to --partial --progress. I
778 found myself typing that combination quite often so I created an
779 option to make it easier.
781 dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password
782 in a file for accessing a remote rsync server. Note that this option
783 is only useful when accessing a rsync server using the built in
784 transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file
785 must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a
788 dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
789 transfer rate in kilobytes per second. This option is most effective when
790 using rsync with large files (several megabytes and up). Due to the nature
791 of rsync transfers, blocks of data are sent, then if rsync determines the
792 transfer was too fast, it will wait before sending the next data block. The
793 result is an average transfer rate equalling the specified limit. A value
794 of zero specifies no limit.
796 dit(bf(--write-batch=PREFIX)) Generate a set of files that can be
797 transferred as a batch update. Each filename in the set starts with
798 PREFIX. See the "BATCH MODE" section for details.
800 dit(bf(--read-batch=PREFIX)) Apply a previously generated change batch,
801 using the fileset whose filenames start with PREFIX. See the "BATCH
802 MODE" section for details.
806 manpagesection(EXCLUDE PATTERNS)
808 The exclude and include patterns specified to rsync allow for flexible
809 selection of which files to transfer and which files to skip.
811 rsync builds an ordered list of include/exclude options as specified on
812 the command line. When a filename is encountered, rsync checks the
813 name against each exclude/include pattern in turn. The first matching
814 pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern, then that file is
815 skipped. If it is an include pattern then that filename is not
816 skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the
817 filename is not skipped.
819 Note that when used with -r (which is implied by -a), every subcomponent of
820 every path is visited from top down, so include/exclude patterns get
821 applied recursively to each subcomponent.
823 Note also that the --include and --exclude options take one pattern
824 each. To add multiple patterns use the --include-from and
825 --exclude-from options or multiple --include and --exclude options.
827 The patterns can take several forms. The rules are:
830 it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is matched against the
831 start of the filename, otherwise it is matched against the end of
832 the filename. Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at the base of
833 the tree. On the other hand, "foo" would match any file called "foo"
834 anywhere in the tree because the algorithm is applied recursively from
835 top down; it behaves as if each path component gets a turn at being the
836 end of the file name.
838 it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
839 directory, not a file, link or device.
841 it() if the pattern contains a wildcard character from the set
842 *?[ then expression matching is applied using the shell filename
843 matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used.
845 it() if the pattern includes a double asterisk "**" then all wildcards in
846 the pattern will match slashes, otherwise they will stop at slashes.
848 it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) then it
849 is matched against the full filename, including any leading
850 directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a / then it is matched
851 only against the final component of the filename. Again, remember
852 that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename" can
853 actually be any portion of a path.
855 it() if the pattern starts with "+ " (a plus followed by a space)
856 then it is always considered an include pattern, even if specified as
857 part of an exclude option. The "+ " part is discarded before matching.
859 it() if the pattern starts with "- " (a minus followed by a space)
860 then it is always considered an exclude pattern, even if specified as
861 part of an include option. The "- " part is discarded before matching.
863 it() if the pattern is a single exclamation mark ! then the current
864 include/exclude list is reset, removing all previously defined patterns.
867 The +/- rules are most useful in exclude lists, allowing you to have a
868 single exclude list that contains both include and exclude options.
870 If you end an exclude list with --exclude '*', note that since the
871 algorithm is applied recursively that unless you explicitly include
872 parent directories of files you want to include then the algorithm
873 will stop at the parent directories and never see the files below
874 them. To include all directories, use --include '*/' before the
877 Here are some exclude/include examples:
880 it() --exclude "*.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o
881 it() --exclude "/foo" would exclude a file in the base directory called foo
882 it() --exclude "foo/" would exclude any directory called foo
883 it() --exclude "/foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
884 levels below a base directory called foo
885 it() --exclude "/foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
886 or more levels below a base directory called foo
887 it() --include "*/" --include "*.c" --exclude "*" would include all
888 directories and C source files
889 it() --include "foo/" --include "foo/bar.c" --exclude "*" would include
890 only foo/bar.c (the foo/ directory must be explicitly included or
891 it would be excluded by the "*")
894 manpagesection(BATCH MODE)
896 bf(Note:) Batch mode should be considered experimental in this version
897 of rsync. The interface or behaviour may change before it stabilizes.
899 Batch mode can be used to apply the same set of updates to many
900 identical systems. Suppose one has a tree which is replicated on a
901 number of hosts. Now suppose some changes have been made to this
902 source tree and those changes need to be propagated to the other
903 hosts. In order to do this using batch mode, rsync is run with the
904 write-batch option to apply the changes made to the source tree to one
905 of the destination trees. The write-batch option causes the rsync
906 client to store the information needed to repeat this operation against
907 other destination trees in a batch update fileset (see below). The
908 filename of each file in the fileset starts with a prefix specified by
909 the user as an argument to the write-batch option. This fileset is
910 then copied to each remote host, where rsync is run with the read-batch
911 option, again specifying the same prefix, and the destination tree.
912 Rsync updates the destination tree using the information stored in the
913 batch update fileset.
915 The fileset consists of 4 files:
918 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_argvs) command-line arguments
919 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_flist) rsync internal file metadata
920 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_csums) rsync checksums
921 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_delta) data blocks for file update & change
924 The .rsync_argvs file contains a command-line suitable for updating a
925 destination tree using that batch update fileset. It can be executed
926 using a Bourne(-like) shell, optionally passing in an alternate
927 destination tree pathname which is then used instead of the original
928 path. This is useful when the destination tree path differs from the
929 original destination tree path.
931 Generating the batch update fileset once saves having to perform the
932 file status, checksum and data block generation more than once when
933 updating multiple destination trees. Multicast transport protocols can
934 be used to transfer the batch update files in parallel to many hosts at
935 once, instead of sending the same data to every host individually.
940 $ rsync --write_batch=pfx -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/
941 $ rcp pfx.rsync_* remote:
942 $ rsh remote rsync --read_batch=pfx -a /bdest/dir/
944 $ rsh remote ./pfx.rsync_argvs /bdest/dir/
947 In this example, rsync is used to update /adest/dir/ with /source/dir/
948 and the information to repeat this operation is stored in the files
949 pfx.rsync_*. These files are then copied to the machine named "remote".
950 Rsync is then invoked on "remote" to update /bdest/dir/ the same way as
951 /adest/dir/. The last line shows the rsync_argvs file being used to
956 The read-batch option expects the destination tree it is meant to update
957 to be identical to the destination tree that was used to create the
958 batch update fileset. When a difference between the destination trees
959 is encountered the update will fail at that point, leaving the
960 destination tree in a partially updated state. In that case, rsync can
961 be used in its regular (non-batch) mode of operation to fix up the
964 The rsync version used on all destinations should be identical to the
965 one used on the original destination.
967 The -z/--compress option does not work in batch mode and yields a usage
968 error. A separate compression tool can be used instead to reduce the
969 size of the batch update files for transport to the destination.
971 The -n/--dryrun option does not work in batch mode and yields a runtime
974 See bf(http://www.ils.unc.edu/i2dsi/unc_rsync+.html) for papers and technical
977 manpagesection(SYMBOLIC LINKS)
979 Three basic behaviours are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic
980 link in the source directory.
982 By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message
983 "skipping non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist.
985 If bf(--links) is specified, then symlinks are recreated with the same
986 target on the destination. Note that bf(--archive) implies
989 If bf(--copy-links) is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by
990 copying their referent, rather than the symlink.
992 rsync also distinguishes "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An
993 example where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes
994 ensure the rsync module they copy does not include symbolic links to
995 bf(/etc/passwd) in the public section of the site. Using
996 bf(--copy-unsafe-links) will cause any links to be copied as the file
997 they point to on the destination. Using bf(--safe-links) will cause
998 unsafe links to be ommitted altogether.
1000 Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks
1001 (start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough bf("..")
1002 components to ascend from the directory being copied.
1004 manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS)
1006 rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
1007 cryptic. The one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol
1008 version mismatch - is your shell clean?".
1010 This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell
1011 facility producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using
1012 for its transport. The way to diagnose this problem is to run your
1013 remote shell like this:
1016 rsh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat
1019 then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat
1020 should be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from
1021 rsync then you will probably find that out.dat contains some text or
1022 data. Look at the contents and try to work out what is producing
1023 it. The most common cause is incorrectly configured shell startup
1024 scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that contain output statements
1025 for non-interactive logins.
1027 If you are having trouble debugging include and exclude patterns, then
1028 try specifying the -vv option. At this level of verbosity rsync will
1029 show why each individual file is included or excluded.
1031 manpagesection(EXIT VALUES)
1034 dit(bf(RERR_SYNTAX 1)) Syntax or usage error
1035 dit(bf(RERR_PROTOCOL 2)) Protocol incompatibility
1036 dit(bf(RERR_FILESELECT 3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
1038 dit(bf(RERR_UNSUPPORTED 4)) Requested action not supported: an attempt
1039 was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support
1040 them; or an option was speciifed that is supported by the client and
1043 dit(bf(RERR_SOCKETIO 10)) Error in socket IO
1044 dit(bf(RERR_FILEIO 11)) Error in file IO
1045 dit(bf(RERR_STREAMIO 12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream
1046 dit(bf(RERR_MESSAGEIO 13)) Errors with program diagnostics
1047 dit(bf(RERR_IPC 14)) Error in IPC code
1048 dit(bf(RERR_SIGNAL 20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
1049 dit(bf(RERR_WAITCHILD 21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
1050 dit(bf(RERR_MALLOC 22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
1051 dit(bf(RERR_TIMEOUT 30)) Timeout in data send/receive
1054 manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES)
1058 dit(bf(CVSIGNORE)) The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any
1059 ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the --cvs-exclude option for
1062 dit(bf(RSYNC_RSH)) The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to
1063 override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. Command line
1064 options are permitted after the command name, just as in the -e option.
1066 dit(bf(RSYNC_PROXY)) The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to
1067 redirect your rsync client to use a web proxy when connecting to a
1068 rsync daemon. You should set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair.
1070 dit(bf(RSYNC_PASSWORD)) Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required
1071 password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to a rsync
1072 daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a
1073 password to a shell transport such as ssh.
1075 dit(bf(USER) or bf(LOGNAME)) The USER or LOGNAME environment variables
1076 are used to determine the default username sent to a rsync server.
1078 dit(bf(HOME)) The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's
1079 default .cvsignore file.
1091 manpagediagnostics()
1095 times are transferred as unix time_t values
1097 file permissions, devices etc are transferred as native numerical
1100 see also the comments on the --delete option
1102 Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at
1103 url(http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/)(http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/)
1105 manpagesection(VERSION)
1106 This man page is current for version 2.0 of rsync
1108 manpagesection(CREDITS)
1110 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
1111 COPYING for details.
1113 A WEB site is available at
1114 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/). The site
1115 includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this
1118 The primary ftp site for rsync is
1119 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
1121 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
1123 This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by
1124 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
1126 manpagesection(THANKS)
1128 Thanks to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell
1129 and David Bell for helpful suggestions, patches and testing of rsync.
1130 I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
1132 Especial thanks also to: David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer.
1137 rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell <tridge@samba.org> and Paul
1140 rsync is now maintained by Martin Pool <mbp@samba.org>.
1142 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
1143 url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)
1145 If you suspect you have found a security vulnerability in rsync,
1146 please send it directly to Martin Pool and Andrew Tridgell. For other
1147 enquiries, please use the mailing list.