1 mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
2 manpage(rsync)(1)(28 Jul 2005)()()
3 manpagename(rsync)(faster, flexible replacement for rcp)
6 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... DEST
8 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST:DEST
10 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST::DEST
12 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/DEST
14 rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC [DEST]
16 rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST]
18 rsync [OPTION]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC [DEST]
22 rsync is a program that behaves in much the same way that rcp does,
23 but has many more options and uses the rsync remote-update protocol to
24 greatly speed up file transfers when the destination file is being
27 The rsync remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the
28 differences between two sets of files across the network connection, using
29 an efficient checksum-search algorithm described in the technical
30 report that accompanies this package.
32 Some of the additional features of rsync are:
35 it() support for copying links, devices, owners, groups, and permissions
36 it() exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar
37 it() a CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore
38 it() can use any transparent remote shell, including ssh or rsh
39 it() does not require super-user privileges
40 it() pipelining of file transfers to minimize latency costs
41 it() support for anonymous or authenticated rsync daemons (ideal for
45 manpagesection(GENERAL)
47 Rsync copies files either to or from a remote host, or locally on the
48 current host (it does not support copying files between two remote hosts).
50 There are two different ways for rsync to contact a remote system: using a
51 remote-shell program as the transport (such as ssh or rsh) or contacting an
52 rsync daemon directly via TCP. The remote-shell transport is used whenever
53 the source or destination path contains a single colon (:) separator after
54 a host specification. Contacting an rsync daemon directly happens when the
55 source or destination path contains a double colon (::) separator after a
56 host specification, OR when an rsync:// URL is specified (see also the
57 "USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION" section for
58 an exception to this latter rule).
60 As a special case, if a remote source is specified without a destination,
61 the remote files are listed in an output format similar to "ls -l".
63 As expected, if neither the source or destination path specify a remote
64 host, the copy occurs locally (see also the bf(--list-only) option).
68 See the file README for installation instructions.
70 Once installed, you can use rsync to any machine that you can access via
71 a remote shell (as well as some that you can access using the rsync
72 daemon-mode protocol). For remote transfers, a modern rsync uses ssh
73 for its communications, but it may have been configured to use a
74 different remote shell by default, such as rsh or remsh.
76 You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the bf(-e)
77 command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable.
79 Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination
84 You use rsync in the same way you use rcp. You must specify a source
85 and a destination, one of which may be remote.
87 Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is with some examples:
89 quote(tt(rsync -t *.c foo:src/))
91 This would transfer all files matching the pattern *.c from the
92 current directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of
93 the files already exist on the remote system then the rsync
94 remote-update protocol is used to update the file by sending only the
95 differences. See the tech report for details.
97 quote(tt(rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp))
99 This would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the
100 machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The
101 files are transferred in "archive" mode, which ensures that symbolic
102 links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownerships, etc. are preserved
103 in the transfer. Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the
104 size of data portions of the transfer.
106 quote(tt(rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp))
108 A trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to avoid creating an
109 additional directory level at the destination. You can think of a trailing
110 / on a source as meaning "copy the contents of this directory" as opposed
111 to "copy the directory by name", but in both cases the attributes of the
112 containing directory are transferred to the containing directory on the
113 destination. In other words, each of the following commands copies the
114 files in the same way, including their setting of the attributes of
118 tt(rsync -av /src/foo /dest)nl()
119 tt(rsync -av /src/foo/ /dest/foo)nl()
122 Note also that host and module references don't require a trailing slash to
123 copy the contents of the default directory. For example, both of these
124 copy the remote directory's contents into "/dest":
127 tt(rsync -av host: /dest)nl()
128 tt(rsync -av host::module /dest)nl()
131 You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
132 destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like
133 an improved copy command.
135 Finally, you can list all the (listable) modules available from a
136 particular rsync daemon by leaving off the module name:
138 quote(tt(rsync somehost.mydomain.com::))
140 See the following section for more details.
142 manpagesection(ADVANCED USAGE)
144 The syntax for requesting multiple files from a remote host involves using
145 quoted spaces in the SRC. Some examples:
147 quote(tt(rsync host::'modname/dir1/file1 modname/dir2/file2' /dest))
149 This would copy file1 and file2 into /dest from an rsync daemon. Each
150 additional arg must include the same "modname/" prefix as the first one,
151 and must be preceded by a single space. All other spaces are assumed
152 to be a part of the filenames.
154 quote(tt(rsync -av host:'dir1/file1 dir2/file2' /dest))
156 This would copy file1 and file2 into /dest using a remote shell. This
157 word-splitting is done by the remote shell, so if it doesn't work it means
158 that the remote shell isn't configured to split its args based on
159 whitespace (a very rare setting, but not unknown). If you need to transfer
160 a filename that contains whitespace, you'll need to either escape the
161 whitespace in a way that the remote shell will understand, or use wildcards
162 in place of the spaces. Two examples of this are:
165 tt(rsync -av host:'file\ name\ with\ spaces' /dest)nl()
166 tt(rsync -av host:file?name?with?spaces /dest)nl()
169 This latter example assumes that your shell passes through unmatched
170 wildcards. If it complains about "no match", put the name in quotes.
172 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC DAEMON)
174 It is also possible to use rsync without a remote shell as the transport.
175 In this case you will directly connect to a remote rsync daemon, typically
176 using TCP port 873. (This obviously requires the daemon to be running on
177 the remote system, so refer to the STARTING AN RSYNC DAEMON TO ACCEPT
178 CONNECTIONS section below for information on that.)
180 Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except
184 it() you either use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to
185 separate the hostname from the path, or you use an rsync:// URL.
186 it() the first word of the "path" is actually a module name.
187 it() the remote daemon may print a message of the day when you
189 it() if you specify no path name on the remote daemon then the
190 list of accessible paths on the daemon will be shown.
191 it() if you specify no local destination then a listing of the
192 specified files on the remote daemon is provided.
193 it() you must not specify the bf(--rsh) (bf(-e)) option.
196 An example that copies all the files in a remote module named "src":
198 verb( rsync -av host::src /dest)
200 Some modules on the remote daemon may require authentication. If so,
201 you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the
202 password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to
203 the password you want to use or using the bf(--password-file) option. This
204 may be useful when scripting rsync.
206 WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all
207 users. On those systems using bf(--password-file) is recommended.
209 You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the
210 environment variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to
211 your web proxy. Note that your web proxy's configuration must support
212 proxy connections to port 873.
214 manpagesection(USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION)
216 It is sometimes useful to use various features of an rsync daemon (such as
217 named modules) without actually allowing any new socket connections into a
218 system (other than what is already required to allow remote-shell access).
219 Rsync supports connecting to a host using a remote shell and then spawning
220 a single-use "daemon" server that expects to read its config file in the
221 home dir of the remote user. This can be useful if you want to encrypt a
222 daemon-style transfer's data, but since the daemon is started up fresh by
223 the remote user, you may not be able to use features such as chroot or
224 change the uid used by the daemon. (For another way to encrypt a daemon
225 transfer, consider using ssh to tunnel a local port to a remote machine and
226 configure a normal rsync daemon on that remote host to only allow
227 connections from "localhost".)
229 From the user's perspective, a daemon transfer via a remote-shell
230 connection uses nearly the same command-line syntax as a normal
231 rsync-daemon transfer, with the only exception being that you must
232 explicitly set the remote shell program on the command-line with the
233 bf(--rsh=COMMAND) option. (Setting the RSYNC_RSH in the environment
234 will not turn on this functionality.) For example:
236 verb( rsync -av --rsh=ssh host::module /dest)
238 If you need to specify a different remote-shell user, keep in mind that the
239 user@ prefix in front of the host is specifying the rsync-user value (for a
240 module that requires user-based authentication). This means that you must
241 give the '-l user' option to ssh when specifying the remote-shell:
243 verb( rsync -av -e "ssh -l ssh-user" rsync-user@host::module /dest)
245 The "ssh-user" will be used at the ssh level; the "rsync-user" will be
246 used to log-in to the "module".
248 manpagesection(STARTING AN RSYNC DAEMON TO ACCEPT CONNECTIONS)
250 In order to connect to an rsync daemon, the remote system needs to have a
251 daemon already running (or it needs to have configured something like inetd
252 to spawn an rsync daemon for incoming connections on a particular port).
253 For full information on how to start a daemon that will handling incoming
254 socket connections, see the rsyncd.conf(5) man page -- that is the config
255 file for the daemon, and it contains the full details for how to run the
256 daemon (including stand-alone and inetd configurations).
258 If you're using one of the remote-shell transports for the transfer, there is
259 no need to manually start an rsync daemon.
261 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
263 Here are some examples of how I use rsync.
265 To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS Word
266 files and mail folders, I use a cron job that runs
268 quote(tt(rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup))
270 each night over a PPP connection to a duplicate directory on my machine
273 To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile
277 rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ .
279 rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/
282 this allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the
283 connection. I then do CVS operations on the remote machine, which saves a
284 lot of time as the remote CVS protocol isn't very efficient.
286 I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the
289 tt(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge")
291 This is launched from cron every few hours.
293 manpagesection(OPTIONS SUMMARY)
295 Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer
296 to the detailed description below for a complete description. verb(
297 -v, --verbose increase verbosity
298 -q, --quiet suppress non-error messages
299 -c, --checksum skip based on checksum, not mod-time & size
300 -a, --archive archive mode; same as -rlptgoD (no -H)
301 --no-OPTION turn off an implied OPTION (e.g. --no-D)
302 -r, --recursive recurse into directories
303 -R, --relative use relative path names
304 --no-implied-dirs don't send implied dirs with --relative
305 -b, --backup make backups (see --suffix & --backup-dir)
306 --backup-dir=DIR make backups into hierarchy based in DIR
307 --suffix=SUFFIX backup suffix (default ~ w/o --backup-dir)
308 -u, --update skip files that are newer on the receiver
309 --inplace update destination files in-place
310 --append append data onto shorter files
311 -d, --dirs transfer directories without recursing
312 -l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks
313 -L, --copy-links transform symlink into referent file/dir
314 --copy-unsafe-links only "unsafe" symlinks are transformed
315 --safe-links ignore symlinks that point outside the tree
316 -H, --hard-links preserve hard links
317 -K, --keep-dirlinks treat symlinked dir on receiver as dir
318 -p, --perms preserve permissions
319 -o, --owner preserve owner (super-user only)
320 -g, --group preserve group
321 --devices preserve device files (super-user only)
322 --specials preserve special files
323 -D same as --devices --specials
324 -t, --times preserve times
325 -O, --omit-dir-times omit directories when preserving times
326 --super receiver attempts super-user activities
327 --chmod=CHMOD change destination permissions
328 -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently
329 -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
330 -W, --whole-file copy files whole (without rsync algorithm)
331 -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
332 -B, --block-size=SIZE force a fixed checksum block-size
333 -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify the remote shell to use
334 --rsync-path=PROGRAM specify the rsync to run on remote machine
335 --existing ignore non-existing files on receiving side
336 --ignore-existing ignore files that already exist on receiver
337 --remove-sent-files sent files/symlinks are removed from sender
338 --del an alias for --delete-during
339 --delete delete files that don't exist on sender
340 --delete-before receiver deletes before transfer (default)
341 --delete-during receiver deletes during xfer, not before
342 --delete-after receiver deletes after transfer, not before
343 --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on receiver
344 --ignore-errors delete even if there are I/O errors
345 --force force deletion of dirs even if not empty
346 --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
347 --max-size=SIZE don't transfer any file larger than SIZE
348 --min-size=SIZE don't transfer any file smaller than SIZE
349 --partial keep partially transferred files
350 --partial-dir=DIR put a partially transferred file into DIR
351 --delay-updates put all updated files into place at end
352 -m, --prune-empty-dirs prune empty directory chains from file-list
353 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
354 --timeout=TIME set I/O timeout in seconds
355 -I, --ignore-times don't skip files that match size and time
356 --size-only skip files that match in size
357 --modify-window=NUM compare mod-times with reduced accuracy
358 -T, --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
359 -y, --fuzzy find similar file for basis if no dest file
360 --compare-dest=DIR also compare received files relative to DIR
361 --copy-dest=DIR ... and include copies of unchanged files
362 --link-dest=DIR hardlink to files in DIR when unchanged
363 -z, --compress compress file data during the transfer
364 --compress-level=NUM explicitly set compression level
365 -C, --cvs-exclude auto-ignore files in the same way CVS does
366 -f, --filter=RULE add a file-filtering RULE
367 -F same as --filter='dir-merge /.rsync-filter'
368 repeated: --filter='- .rsync-filter'
369 --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
370 --exclude-from=FILE read exclude patterns from FILE
371 --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN
372 --include-from=FILE read include patterns from FILE
373 --files-from=FILE read list of source-file names from FILE
374 -0, --from0 all *from/filter files are delimited by 0s
375 --address=ADDRESS bind address for outgoing socket to daemon
376 --port=PORT specify double-colon alternate port number
377 --sockopts=OPTIONS specify custom TCP options
378 --blocking-io use blocking I/O for the remote shell
379 --stats give some file-transfer stats
380 -h, --human-readable output numbers in a human-readable format
381 --si like human-readable, but use powers of 1000
382 --progress show progress during transfer
383 -P same as --partial --progress
384 -i, --itemize-changes output a change-summary for all updates
385 --log-format=FORMAT output filenames using the specified format
386 --password-file=FILE read password from FILE
387 --list-only list the files instead of copying them
388 --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second
389 --write-batch=FILE write a batched update to FILE
390 --only-write-batch=FILE like --write-batch but w/o updating dest
391 --read-batch=FILE read a batched update from FILE
392 --protocol=NUM force an older protocol version to be used
393 --checksum-seed=NUM set block/file checksum seed (advanced)
394 -4, --ipv4 prefer IPv4
395 -6, --ipv6 prefer IPv6
396 --version print version number
397 --help show this help screen)
399 Rsync can also be run as a daemon, in which case the following options are
401 --daemon run as an rsync daemon
402 --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address
403 --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second
404 --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
405 --no-detach do not detach from the parent
406 --port=PORT listen on alternate port number
407 --sockopts=OPTIONS specify custom TCP options
408 -v, --verbose increase verbosity
409 -4, --ipv4 prefer IPv4
410 -6, --ipv6 prefer IPv6
411 --help show this help screen)
415 rsync uses the GNU long options package. Many of the command line
416 options have two variants, one short and one long. These are shown
417 below, separated by commas. Some options only have a long variant.
418 The '=' for options that take a parameter is optional; whitespace
422 dit(bf(--help)) Print a short help page describing the options
423 available in rsync and exit. For backward-compatibility with older
424 versions of rsync, the same help output can also be requested by using
425 the bf(-h) option without any other args.
427 dit(bf(--version)) print the rsync version number and exit.
429 dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you
430 are given during the transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A
431 single bf(-v) will give you information about what files are being
432 transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two bf(-v) flags will give you
433 information on what files are being skipped and slightly more
434 information at the end. More than two bf(-v) flags should only be used if
435 you are debugging rsync.
437 Note that the names of the transferred files that are output are done using
438 a default bf(--log-format) of "%n%L", which tells you just the name of the
439 file and, if the item is a link, where it points. At the single bf(-v)
440 level of verbosity, this does not mention when a file gets its attributes
441 changed. If you ask for an itemized list of changed attributes (either
442 bf(--itemize-changes) or adding "%i" to the bf(--log-format) setting), the
443 output (on the client) increases to mention all items that are changed in
444 any way. See the bf(--log-format) option for more details.
446 dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) This option decreases the amount of information you
447 are given during the transfer, notably suppressing information messages
448 from the remote server. This flag is useful when invoking rsync from
451 dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
452 already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp.
453 This option turns off this "quick check" behavior.
455 dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will not transfer any files that are
456 already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp. With the
457 bf(--size-only) option, files will not be transferred if they have the same size,
458 regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync
459 after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
462 dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps, rsync treats the
463 timestamps as being equal if they differ by no more than the modify-window
464 value. This is normally 0 (for an exact match), but you may find it useful
465 to set this to a larger value in some situations. In particular, when
466 transferring to or from an MS Windows FAT filesystem (which represents
467 times with a 2-second resolution), bf(--modify-window=1) is useful
468 (allowing times to differ by up to 1 second).
470 dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using
471 a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then
472 explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name
473 which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
474 receiver are not transferred. This option can be quite slow.
476 dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to bf(-rlptgoD). It is a quick
477 way of saying you want recursion and want to preserve almost
478 everything (with -H being a notable omission).
479 The only exception to the above equivalence is when bf(--files-from) is
480 specified, in which case bf(-r) is not implied.
482 Note that bf(-a) bf(does not preserve hardlinks), because
483 finding multiply-linked files is expensive. You must separately
486 dit(--no-OPTION) You may turn off one or more implied options by prefixing
487 the option name with "no-". Not all options may be prefixed with a "no-":
488 only options that are implied by other options (e.g. bf(--no-D),
489 bf(--no-perms)) or have different defaults in various circumstances
490 (e.g. bf(--no-whole-file), bf(--no-blocking-io), bf(--no-dirs)). You may
491 specify either the short or the long option name after the "no-" prefix
492 (e.g. bf(--no-R) is the same as bf(--no-relative)).
494 For example: if you want to use bf(-a) (bf(--archive)) but don't want
495 bf(-o) (bf(--owner)), instead of converting bf(-a) into bf(-rlptgD), you
496 could specify bf(-a --no-o) (or bf(-a --no-owner)).
498 The order of the options is important: if you specify bf(--no-r -a), the
499 bf(-r) option would end up being turned on, the opposite of bf(-a --no-r).
500 Note also that the side-effects of the bf(--files-from) option are NOT
501 positional, as it affects the default state of several options and slightly
502 changes the meaning of bf(-a) (see the bf(--files-from) option for more
505 dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories
506 recursively. See also bf(--dirs) (bf(-d)).
508 dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path
509 names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than
510 just the last parts of the filenames. This is particularly useful when
511 you want to send several different directories at the same time. For
512 example, if you used this command:
514 quote(tt( rsync -av /foo/bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/))
516 ... this would create a file called baz.c in /tmp/ on the remote
517 machine. If instead you used
519 quote(tt( rsync -avR /foo/bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/))
521 then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/baz.c would be created on the remote
522 machine -- the full path name is preserved. To limit the amount of
523 path information that is sent, you have a couple options: (1) With
524 a modern rsync on the sending side (beginning with 2.6.7), you can
525 insert a dot dir into the source path, like this:
527 quote(tt( rsync -avR /foo/./bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/))
529 That would create /tmp/bar/baz.c on the remote machine. (Note that the
530 dot dir must followed by a slash, so "/foo/." would not be abbreviated.)
531 (2) For older rsync versions, you would need to use a chdir to limit the
532 source path. For example, when pushing files:
534 quote(tt( (cd /foo; rsync -avR bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/) ))
536 (Note that the parens put the two commands into a sub-shell, so that the
537 "cd" command doesn't remain in effect for future commands.)
538 If you're pulling files, use this idiom (which doesn't work with an
542 tt( rsync -avR --rsync-path="cd /foo; rsync" \ )nl()
543 tt( remote:bar/baz.c /tmp/)
546 dit(bf(--no-implied-dirs)) When combined with the bf(--relative) option, the
547 implied directories in each path are not explicitly duplicated as part
548 of the transfer. This makes the transfer more optimal and also allows
549 the two sides to have non-matching symlinks in the implied part of the
550 path. For instance, if you transfer the file "/path/foo/file" with bf(-R),
551 the default is for rsync to ensure that "/path" and "/path/foo" on the
552 destination exactly match the directories/symlinks of the source. Using
553 the bf(--no-implied-dirs) option would omit both of these implied dirs,
554 which means that if "/path" was a real directory on one machine and a
555 symlink of the other machine, rsync would not try to change this.
557 dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option, preexisting destination files are
558 renamed as each file is transferred or deleted. You can control where the
559 backup file goes and what (if any) suffix gets appended using the
560 bf(--backup-dir) and bf(--suffix) options.
562 Note that if you don't specify bf(--backup-dir), (1) the
563 bf(--omit-dir-times) option will be implied, and (2) if bf(--delete) is
564 also in effect (without bf(--delete-excluded)), rsync will add a protect
565 filter-rule for the backup suffix to the end of all your existing excludes
566 (e.g. -f "P *~"). This will prevent previously backed-up files from being
567 deleted. Note that if you are supplying your own filter rules, you may
568 need to manually insert your own exclude/protect rule somewhere higher up
569 in the list so that it has a high enough priority to be effective (e.g., if
570 your rules specify a trailing inclusion/exclusion of '*', the auto-added
571 rule would never be reached).
573 dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the bf(--backup) option, this
574 tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
575 very useful for incremental backups. You can additionally
576 specify a backup suffix using the bf(--suffix) option
577 (otherwise the files backed up in the specified directory
578 will keep their original filenames).
580 dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
581 backup suffix used with the bf(--backup) (bf(-b)) option. The default suffix is a ~
582 if no -bf(-backup-dir) was specified, otherwise it is an empty string.
584 dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files which exist on
585 the destination and have a modified time that is newer than the source
586 file. (If an existing destination file has a modify time equal to the
587 source file's, it will be updated if the sizes are different.)
589 In the current implementation of bf(--update), a difference of file format
590 between the sender and receiver is always
591 considered to be important enough for an update, no matter what date
592 is on the objects. In other words, if the source has a directory or a
593 symlink where the destination has a file, the transfer would occur
594 regardless of the timestamps. This might change in the future (feel
595 free to comment on this on the mailing list if you have an opinion).
597 dit(bf(--inplace)) This causes rsync not to create a new copy of the file
598 and then move it into place. Instead rsync will overwrite the existing
599 file, meaning that the rsync algorithm can't accomplish the full amount of
600 network reduction it might be able to otherwise (since it does not yet try
601 to sort data matches). One exception to this is if you combine the option
602 with bf(--backup), since rsync is smart enough to use the backup file as the
603 basis file for the transfer.
605 This option is useful for transfer of large files with block-based changes
606 or appended data, and also on systems that are disk bound, not network
609 The option implies bf(--partial) (since an interrupted transfer does not delete
610 the file), but conflicts with bf(--partial-dir) and bf(--delay-updates).
611 Prior to rsync 2.6.4 bf(--inplace) was also incompatible with bf(--compare-dest)
614 WARNING: The file's data will be in an inconsistent state during the
615 transfer (and possibly afterward if the transfer gets interrupted), so you
616 should not use this option to update files that are in use. Also note that
617 rsync will be unable to update a file in-place that is not writable by the
620 dit(bf(--append)) This causes rsync to update a file by appending data onto
621 the end of the file, which presumes that the data that already exists on
622 the receiving side is identical with the start of the file on the sending
623 side. If that is not true, the file will fail the checksum test, and the
624 resend will do a normal bf(--inplace) update to correct the mismatched data.
625 Only files on the receiving side that are shorter than the corresponding
626 file on the sending side (as well as new files) are sent.
627 Implies bf(--inplace), but does not conflict with bf(--sparse) (though the
628 bf(--sparse) option will be auto-disabled if a resend of the already-existing
631 dit(bf(-d, --dirs)) Tell the sending side to include any directories that
632 are encountered. Unlike bf(--recursive), a directory's contents are not copied
633 unless the directory name specified is "." or ends with a trailing slash
634 (e.g. ".", "dir/.", "dir/", etc.). Without this option or the
635 bf(--recursive) option, rsync will skip all directories it encounters (and
636 output a message to that effect for each one). If you specify both
637 bf(--dirs) and bf(--recursive), bf(--recursive) takes precedence.
639 dit(bf(-l, --links)) When symlinks are encountered, recreate the
640 symlink on the destination.
642 dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) When symlinks are encountered, the file that
643 they point to (the referent) is copied, rather than the symlink. In older
644 versions of rsync, this option also had the side-effect of telling the
645 receiving side to follow symlinks, such as symlinks to directories. In a
646 modern rsync such as this one, you'll need to specify bf(--keep-dirlinks) (bf(-K))
647 to get this extra behavior. The only exception is when sending files to
648 an rsync that is too old to understand bf(-K) -- in that case, the bf(-L) option
649 will still have the side-effect of bf(-K) on that older receiving rsync.
651 dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to copy the referent of
652 symbolic links that point outside the copied tree. Absolute symlinks
653 are also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the
654 source path itself when bf(--relative) is used.
656 dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links
657 which point outside the copied tree. All absolute symlinks are
658 also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with bf(--relative) may
659 give unexpected results.
661 dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on
662 the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
663 option hard links are treated like regular files.
665 Note that rsync can only detect hard links if both parts of the link
666 are in the list of files being sent.
668 This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it.
670 dit(bf(-K, --keep-dirlinks)) On the receiving side, if a symlink is
671 pointing to a directory, it will be treated as matching a directory
674 dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm
675 is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. The transfer may be
676 faster if this option is used when the bandwidth between the source and
677 destination machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the
678 "disk" is actually a networked filesystem). This is the default when both
679 the source and destination are specified as local paths.
681 dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to set the destination
682 permissions to be the same as the source permissions.
684 Without this option, all existing files (including updated files) retain
685 their existing permissions, while each new file gets its permissions set
686 based on the source file's permissions, but masked by the receiving end's
688 (which is the same behavior as other file-copy utilities, such as cp).
690 dit(bf(-o, --owner)) This option causes rsync to set the owner of the
691 destination file to be the same as the source file. By default, the
692 preservation is done by name, but may fall back to using the ID number
693 in some circumstances (see the bf(--numeric-ids) option for a full
695 This option has no effect if the receiving rsync is not run as the
696 super-user and bf(--super) is not specified.
698 dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to set the group of the
699 destination file to be the same as the source file. If the receiving
700 program is not running as the super-user (or with the bf(--no-super)
701 option), only groups that the
702 receiver is a member of will be preserved. By default, the preservation
703 is done by name, but may fall back to using the ID number in some
704 circumstances. See the bf(--numeric-ids) option for a full discussion.
706 dit(bf(--devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
707 block device files to the remote system to recreate these devices.
708 This option has no effect if the receiving rsync is not run as the
709 super-user and bf(--super) is not specified.
711 dit(bf(--specials)) This option causes rsync to transfer special files
712 such as named sockets and fifos.
714 dit(bf(-D)) The bf(-D) option is equivalent to bf(--devices) bf(--specials).
716 dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along
717 with the files and update them on the remote system. Note that if this
718 option is not used, the optimization that excludes files that have not been
719 modified cannot be effective; in other words, a missing bf(-t) or bf(-a) will
720 cause the next transfer to behave as if it used bf(-I), causing all files to be
721 updated (though the rsync algorithm will make the update fairly efficient
722 if the files haven't actually changed, you're much better off using bf(-t)).
724 dit(bf(-O, --omit-dir-times)) This tells rsync to omit directories when
725 it is preserving modification times (see bf(--times)). If NFS is sharing
726 the directories on the receiving side, it is a good idea to use bf(-O).
727 This option is inferred if you use bf(--backup) without bf(--backup-dir).
729 dit(bf(--super)) This tells the receiving side to attempt super-user
730 activities even if the receiving rsync wasn't run by the super-user. These
731 activities include: preserving users via the bf(--owner) option, preserving
732 all groups (not just the current user's groups) via the bf(--groups)
733 option, and copying devices via the bf(--devices) option. This is useful
734 for systems that allow such activities without being the super-user, and
735 also for ensuring that you will get errors if the receiving side isn't
736 being running as the super-user. To turn off super-user activities, the
737 super-user can use bf(--no-super).
739 dit(bf(--chmod)) This option tells rsync to apply the listed "chmod" pattern
740 to the permission of the files on the destination. In addition to the normal
741 parsing rules specified in the chmod manpage, you can specify an item that
742 should only apply to a directory by prefixing it with a 'D', or specify an
743 item that should only apply to a file by prefixing it with a 'F'. For example:
745 quote(--chmod=Dg+s,ug+w,Fo-w,+X)
747 It is also legal to specify multiple bf(--chmod) options.
749 dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers,
750 instead it will just report the actions it would have taken.
752 dit(bf(-S, --sparse)) Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take
753 up less space on the destination. Conflicts with bf(--inplace) because it's
754 not possible to overwrite data in a sparse fashion.
756 NOTE: Don't use this option when the destination is a Solaris "tmpfs"
757 filesystem. It doesn't seem to handle seeks over null regions
758 correctly and ends up corrupting the files.
760 dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync to avoid crossing a
761 filesystem boundary when recursing. This does not limit the user's ability
762 to specify items to copy from multiple filesystems, just rsync's recursion
763 through the hierarchy of each directory that the user specified, and also
764 the analogous recursion on the receiving side during deletion. Also keep
765 in mind that rsync treats a "bind" mount to the same device as being on the
768 If this option is repeated, rsync omits all mount-point directories from
769 the copy. Otherwise, it includes an empty directory at each mount-point it
770 encounters (using the attributes of the mounted directory because those of
771 the underlying mount-point directory are inaccessible).
773 If rsync has been told to collapse symlinks (via bf(--copy-links) or
774 bf(--copy-unsafe-links)), a symlink to a directory on another device is
775 treated like a mount-point. Symlinks to non-directories are unaffected
778 dit(bf(--existing, --ignore-non-existing)) This tells rsync to skip
779 updating files that do not exist yet on the destination. If this option is
780 combined with the bf(--ignore-existing) option, no files will be updated
781 (which can be useful if all you want to do is to delete missing files).
783 dit(bf(--ignore-existing)) This tells rsync to skip updating files that
784 already exist on the destination. See also bf(--ignore-non-existing).
786 dit(bf(--remove-sent-files)) This tells rsync to remove from the sending
787 side the files and/or symlinks that are newly created or whose content is
788 updated on the receiving side. Directories and devices are not removed,
789 nor are files/symlinks whose attributes are merely changed.
791 dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete extraneous files from the
792 receiving side (ones that aren't on the sending side), but only for the
793 directories that are being synchronized. You must have asked rsync to
794 send the whole directory (e.g. "dir" or "dir/") without using a wildcard
795 for the directory's contents (e.g. "dir/*") since the wildcard is expanded
796 by the shell and rsync thus gets a request to transfer individual files, not
797 the files' parent directory. Files that are excluded from transfer are
798 also excluded from being deleted unless you use the bf(--delete-excluded)
799 option or mark the rules as only matching on the sending side (see the
800 include/exclude modifiers in the FILTER RULES section).
802 Prior to rsync 2.6.7, this option would have no effect unless bf(--recursive)
803 was in effect. Beginning with 2.6.7, deletions will also occur when bf(--dirs)
804 (bf(-d)) is in effect, but only for directories whose contents are being copied.
806 This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea
807 to run first using the bf(--dry-run) option (bf(-n)) to see what files would be
808 deleted to make sure important files aren't listed.
810 If the sending side detects any I/O errors, then the deletion of any
811 files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to
812 prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the
813 sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the
814 destination. You can override this with the bf(--ignore-errors) option.
816 The bf(--delete) option may be combined with one of the --delete-WHEN options
817 without conflict, as well as bf(--delete-excluded). However, if none of the
818 --delete-WHEN options are specified, rsync will currently choose the
819 bf(--delete-before) algorithm. A future version may change this to choose the
820 bf(--delete-during) algorithm. See also bf(--delete-after).
822 dit(bf(--delete-before)) Request that the file-deletions on the receiving
823 side be done before the transfer starts. This is the default if bf(--delete)
824 or bf(--delete-excluded) is specified without one of the --delete-WHEN options.
825 See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
827 Deleting before the transfer is helpful if the filesystem is tight for space
828 and removing extraneous files would help to make the transfer possible.
829 However, it does introduce a delay before the start of the transfer,
830 and this delay might cause the transfer to timeout (if bf(--timeout) was
833 dit(bf(--delete-during, --del)) Request that the file-deletions on the
834 receiving side be done incrementally as the transfer happens. This is
835 a faster method than choosing the before- or after-transfer algorithm,
836 but it is only supported beginning with rsync version 2.6.4.
837 See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
839 dit(bf(--delete-after)) Request that the file-deletions on the receiving
840 side be done after the transfer has completed. This is useful if you
841 are sending new per-directory merge files as a part of the transfer and
842 you want their exclusions to take effect for the delete phase of the
844 See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
846 dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the
847 receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also
848 delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see bf(--exclude)).
849 See the FILTER RULES section for a way to make individual exclusions behave
850 this way on the receiver, and for a way to protect files from
851 bf(--delete-excluded).
852 See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
854 dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells bf(--delete) to go ahead and delete files
855 even when there are I/O errors.
857 dit(bf(--force)) This option tells rsync to delete directories even if
858 they are not empty when they are to be replaced by non-directories. This
859 is only relevant without bf(--delete) because deletions are now done depth-first.
860 Requires the bf(--recursive) option (which is implied by bf(-a)) to have any effect.
862 dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM
863 files or directories (NUM must be non-zero).
864 This is useful when mirroring very large trees to prevent disasters.
866 dit(bf(--max-size=SIZE)) This tells rsync to avoid transferring any
867 file that is larger than the specified SIZE. The SIZE value can be
868 suffixed with a string to indicate a size multiplier, and
869 may be a fractional value (e.g. "bf(--max-size=1.5m)").
871 The suffixes are as follows: "K" (or "KiB") is a kibibyte (1024),
872 "M" (or "MiB") is a mebibyte (1024*1024), and "G" (or "GiB") is a
873 gibibyte (1024*1024*1024).
874 If you want the multiplier to be 1000 instead of 1024, use "KB",
875 "MB", or "GB". (Note: lower-case is also accepted for all values.)
876 Finally, if the suffix ends in either "+1" or "-1", the value will
877 be offset by one byte in the indicated direction.
879 Examples: --max-size=1.5mb-1 is 1499999 bytes, and --max-size=2g+1 is
882 dit(bf(--min-size=SIZE)) This tells rsync to avoid transferring any
883 file that is smaller than the specified SIZE, which can help in not
884 transferring small, junk files.
885 See the bf(--max-size) option for a description of SIZE.
887 dit(bf(-B, --block-size=BLOCKSIZE)) This forces the block size used in
888 the rsync algorithm to a fixed value. It is normally selected based on
889 the size of each file being updated. See the technical report for details.
891 dit(bf(-e, --rsh=COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative
892 remote shell program to use for communication between the local and
893 remote copies of rsync. Typically, rsync is configured to use ssh by
894 default, but you may prefer to use rsh on a local network.
896 If this option is used with bf([user@]host::module/path), then the
897 remote shell em(COMMAND) will be used to run an rsync daemon on the
898 remote host, and all data will be transmitted through that remote
899 shell connection, rather than through a direct socket connection to a
900 running rsync daemon on the remote host. See the section "USING
901 RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION" above.
903 Command-line arguments are permitted in COMMAND provided that COMMAND is
904 presented to rsync as a single argument. You must use spaces (not tabs
905 or other whitespace) to separate the command and args from each other,
906 and you can use single- and/or double-quotes to preserve spaces in an
907 argument (but not backslashes). Note that doubling a single-quote
908 inside a single-quoted string gives you a single-quote; likewise for
909 double-quotes (though you need to pay attention to which quotes your
910 shell is parsing and which quotes rsync is parsing). Some examples:
913 tt( -e 'ssh -p 2234')nl()
914 tt( -e 'ssh -o "ProxyCommand nohup ssh firewall nc -w1 %h %p"')nl()
917 (Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect
918 options in their .ssh/config file.)
920 You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
921 environment variable, which accepts the same range of values as bf(-e).
923 See also the bf(--blocking-io) option which is affected by this option.
925 dit(bf(--rsync-path=PROGRAM)) Use this to specify what program is to be run
926 on the remote machine to start-up rsync. Often used when rsync is not in
927 the default remote-shell's path (e.g. --rsync-path=/usr/local/bin/rsync).
928 Note that PROGRAM is run with the help of a shell, so it can be any
929 program, script, or command sequence you'd care to run, so long as it does
930 not corrupt the standard-in & standard-out that rsync is using to
933 One tricky example is to set a different default directory on the remote
934 machine for use with the bf(--relative) option. For instance:
936 quote(tt( rsync -avR --rsync-path="cd /a/b && rsync" hst:c/d /e/))
938 dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a
939 broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between
940 systems. It uses the same algorithm that CVS uses to determine if
941 a file should be ignored.
943 The exclude list is initialized to:
945 quote(quote(tt(RCS SCCS CVS CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state
946 .nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* _$* *$ *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej
947 .del-* *.a *.olb *.o *.obj *.so *.exe *.Z *.elc *.ln core .svn/)))
949 then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
950 files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (all cvsignore names
951 are delimited by whitespace).
953 Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a
954 .cvsignore file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. Unlike
955 rsync's filter/exclude files, these patterns are split on whitespace.
956 See the bf(cvs(1)) manual for more information.
958 If you're combining bf(-C) with your own bf(--filter) rules, you should
959 note that these CVS excludes are appended at the end of your own rules,
960 regardless of where the bf(-C) was placed on the command-line. This makes them
961 a lower priority than any rules you specified explicitly. If you want to
962 control where these CVS excludes get inserted into your filter rules, you
963 should omit the bf(-C) as a command-line option and use a combination of
964 bf(--filter=:C) and bf(--filter=-C) (either on your command-line or by
965 putting the ":C" and "-C" rules into a filter file with your other rules).
966 The first option turns on the per-directory scanning for the .cvsignore
967 file. The second option does a one-time import of the CVS excludes
970 dit(bf(-f, --filter=RULE)) This option allows you to add rules to selectively
971 exclude certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is
972 most useful in combination with a recursive transfer.
974 You may use as many bf(--filter) options on the command line as you like
975 to build up the list of files to exclude.
977 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
979 dit(bf(-F)) The bf(-F) option is a shorthand for adding two bf(--filter) rules to
980 your command. The first time it is used is a shorthand for this rule:
982 quote(tt( --filter='dir-merge /.rsync-filter'))
984 This tells rsync to look for per-directory .rsync-filter files that have
985 been sprinkled through the hierarchy and use their rules to filter the
986 files in the transfer. If bf(-F) is repeated, it is a shorthand for this
989 quote(tt( --filter='exclude .rsync-filter'))
991 This filters out the .rsync-filter files themselves from the transfer.
993 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on how these options
996 dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option is a simplified form of the
997 bf(--filter) option that defaults to an exclude rule and does not allow
998 the full rule-parsing syntax of normal filter rules.
1000 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
1002 dit(bf(--exclude-from=FILE)) This option is related to the bf(--exclude)
1003 option, but it specifies a FILE that contains exclude patterns (one per line).
1004 Blank lines in the file and lines starting with ';' or '#' are ignored.
1005 If em(FILE) is bf(-), the list will be read from standard input.
1007 dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option is a simplified form of the
1008 bf(--filter) option that defaults to an include rule and does not allow
1009 the full rule-parsing syntax of normal filter rules.
1011 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
1013 dit(bf(--include-from=FILE)) This option is related to the bf(--include)
1014 option, but it specifies a FILE that contains include patterns (one per line).
1015 Blank lines in the file and lines starting with ';' or '#' are ignored.
1016 If em(FILE) is bf(-), the list will be read from standard input.
1018 dit(bf(--files-from=FILE)) Using this option allows you to specify the
1019 exact list of files to transfer (as read from the specified FILE or bf(-)
1020 for standard input). It also tweaks the default behavior of rsync to make
1021 transferring just the specified files and directories easier:
1024 it() The bf(--relative) (bf(-R)) option is implied, which preserves the path
1025 information that is specified for each item in the file (use
1026 bf(--no-relative) or bf(--no-R) if you want to turn that off).
1027 it() The bf(--dirs) (bf(-d)) option is implied, which will create directories
1028 specified in the list on the destination rather than noisily skipping
1029 them (use bf(--no-dirs) or bf(--no-d) if you want to turn that off).
1030 it() The bf(--archive) (bf(-a)) option's behavior does not imply bf(--recursive)
1031 (bf(-r)), so specify it explicitly, if you want it.
1032 it() These side-effects change the default state of rsync, so the position
1033 of the bf(--files-from) option on the command-line has no bearing on how
1034 other options are parsed (e.g. bf(-a) works the same before or after
1035 bf(--files-from), as does bf(--no-R) and all other options).
1038 The file names that are read from the FILE are all relative to the
1039 source dir -- any leading slashes are removed and no ".." references are
1040 allowed to go higher than the source dir. For example, take this
1043 quote(tt( rsync -a --files-from=/tmp/foo /usr remote:/backup))
1045 If /tmp/foo contains the string "bin" (or even "/bin"), the /usr/bin
1046 directory will be created as /backup/bin on the remote host. If it
1047 contains "bin/" (note the trailing slash), the immediate contents of
1048 the directory would also be sent (without needing to be explicitly
1049 mentioned in the file -- this began in version 2.6.4). In both cases,
1050 if the bf(-r) option was enabled, that dir's entire hierarchy would
1051 also be transferred (keep in mind that bf(-r) needs to be specified
1052 explicitly with bf(--files-from), since it is not implied by bf(-a)).
1054 that the effect of the (enabled by default) bf(--relative) option is to
1055 duplicate only the path info that is read from the file -- it does not
1056 force the duplication of the source-spec path (/usr in this case).
1058 In addition, the bf(--files-from) file can be read from the remote host
1059 instead of the local host if you specify a "host:" in front of the file
1060 (the host must match one end of the transfer). As a short-cut, you can
1061 specify just a prefix of ":" to mean "use the remote end of the
1062 transfer". For example:
1064 quote(tt( rsync -a --files-from=:/path/file-list src:/ /tmp/copy))
1066 This would copy all the files specified in the /path/file-list file that
1067 was located on the remote "src" host.
1069 dit(bf(-0, --from0)) This tells rsync that the rules/filenames it reads from a
1070 file are terminated by a null ('\0') character, not a NL, CR, or CR+LF.
1071 This affects bf(--exclude-from), bf(--include-from), bf(--files-from), and any
1072 merged files specified in a bf(--filter) rule.
1073 It does not affect bf(--cvs-exclude) (since all names read from a .cvsignore
1074 file are split on whitespace).
1076 dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a
1077 scratch directory when creating temporary copies of the files transferred
1078 on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create each temporary
1079 file in the same directory as the associated destination file.
1081 This option is most often used when the receiving disk partition does not
1082 have enough free space to hold a copy of the largest file in the transfer.
1083 In this case (i.e. when the scratch directory in on a different disk
1084 partition), rsync will not be able to rename each received temporary file
1085 over the top of the associated destination file, but instead must copy it
1086 into place. Rsync does this by copying the file over the top of the
1087 destination file, which means that the destination file will contain
1088 truncated data during this copy. If this were not done this way (even if
1089 the destination file were first removed, the data locally copied to a
1090 temporary file in the destination directory, and then renamed into place)
1091 it would be possible for the old file to continue taking up disk space (if
1092 someone had it open), and thus there might not be enough room to fit the
1093 new version on the disk at the same time.
1095 If you are using this option for reasons other than a shortage of disk
1096 space, you may wish to combine it with the bf(--delay-updates) option,
1097 which will ensure that all copied files go into a subdirectory of the
1098 destination dir, awaiting the end of the transfer.
1100 dit(bf(-y, --fuzzy)) This option tells rsync that it should look for a
1101 basis file for any destination file that is missing. The current algorithm
1102 looks in the same directory as the destination file for either a file that
1103 has an identical size and modified-time, or a similarly-named file. If
1104 found, rsync uses the fuzzy basis file to try to speed up the transfer.
1106 Note that the use of the bf(--delete) option might get rid of any potential
1107 fuzzy-match files, so either use bf(--delete-after) or specify some
1108 filename exclusions if you need to prevent this.
1110 dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use em(DIR) on
1111 the destination machine as an additional hierarchy to compare destination
1112 files against doing transfers (if the files are missing in the destination
1113 directory). If a file is found in em(DIR) that is identical to the
1114 sender's file, the file will NOT be transferred to the destination
1115 directory. This is useful for creating a sparse backup of just files that
1116 have changed from an earlier backup.
1118 Beginning in version 2.6.4, multiple bf(--compare-dest) directories may be
1119 provided, which will cause rsync to search the list in the order specified
1121 If a match is found that differs only in attributes, a local copy is made
1122 and the attributes updated.
1123 If a match is not found, a basis file from one of the em(DIR)s will be
1124 selected to try to speed up the transfer.
1126 If em(DIR) is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
1127 See also bf(--copy-dest) and bf(--link-dest).
1129 dit(bf(--copy-dest=DIR)) This option behaves like bf(--compare-dest), but
1130 rsync will also copy unchanged files found in em(DIR) to the destination
1131 directory using a local copy.
1132 This is useful for doing transfers to a new destination while leaving
1133 existing files intact, and then doing a flash-cutover when all files have
1134 been successfully transferred.
1136 Multiple bf(--copy-dest) directories may be provided, which will cause
1137 rsync to search the list in the order specified for an unchanged file.
1138 If a match is not found, a basis file from one of the em(DIR)s will be
1139 selected to try to speed up the transfer.
1141 If em(DIR) is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
1142 See also bf(--compare-dest) and bf(--link-dest).
1144 dit(bf(--link-dest=DIR)) This option behaves like bf(--copy-dest), but
1145 unchanged files are hard linked from em(DIR) to the destination directory.
1146 The files must be identical in all preserved attributes (e.g. permissions,
1147 possibly ownership) in order for the files to be linked together.
1150 quote(tt( rsync -av --link-dest=$PWD/prior_dir host:src_dir/ new_dir/))
1152 Beginning in version 2.6.4, multiple bf(--link-dest) directories may be
1153 provided, which will cause rsync to search the list in the order specified
1155 If a match is found that differs only in attributes, a local copy is made
1156 and the attributes updated.
1157 If a match is not found, a basis file from one of the em(DIR)s will be
1158 selected to try to speed up the transfer.
1160 If em(DIR) is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
1161 See also bf(--compare-dest) and bf(--copy-dest).
1163 Note that rsync versions prior to 2.6.1 had a bug that could prevent
1164 bf(--link-dest) from working properly for a non-super-user when bf(-o) was
1165 specified (or implied by bf(-a)). You can work-around this bug by avoiding
1166 the bf(-o) option when sending to an old rsync.
1168 dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses the file data
1169 as it is sent to the destination machine, which reduces the amount of data
1170 being transmitted -- something that is useful over a slow connection.
1172 Note this this option typically achieves better compression ratios that can
1173 be achieved by using a compressing remote shell or a compressing transport
1174 because it takes advantage of the implicit information in the matching data
1175 blocks that are not explicitly sent over the connection.
1177 dit(bf(--compress-level=NUM)) Explicitly set the compression level to use
1178 (see bf(--compress)) instead of letting it default. If NUM is non-zero,
1179 the bf(--compress) option is implied.
1181 dit(bf(--numeric-ids)) With this option rsync will transfer numeric group
1182 and user IDs rather than using user and group names and mapping them
1185 By default rsync will use the username and groupname to determine
1186 what ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group
1187 0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the bf(--numeric-ids)
1188 option is not specified.
1190 If a user or group has no name on the source system or it has no match
1191 on the destination system, then the numeric ID
1192 from the source system is used instead. See also the comments on the
1193 "use chroot" setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage for information on how
1194 the chroot setting affects rsync's ability to look up the names of the
1195 users and groups and what you can do about it.
1197 dit(bf(--timeout=TIMEOUT)) This option allows you to set a maximum I/O
1198 timeout in seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time
1199 then rsync will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout.
1201 dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address when
1202 connecting to an rsync daemon. The bf(--address) option allows you to
1203 specify a specific IP address (or hostname) to bind to. See also this
1204 option in the bf(--daemon) mode section.
1206 dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
1207 rather than the default of 873. This is only needed if you are using the
1208 double-colon (::) syntax to connect with an rsync daemon (since the URL
1209 syntax has a way to specify the port as a part of the URL). See also this
1210 option in the bf(--daemon) mode section.
1212 dit(bf(--sockopts)) This option can provide endless fun for people
1213 who like to tune their systems to the utmost degree. You can set all
1214 sorts of socket options which may make transfers faster (or
1215 slower!). Read the man page for the setsockopt() system call for
1216 details on some of the options you may be able to set. By default no
1217 special socket options are set. This only affects direct socket
1218 connections to a remote rsync daemon. This option also exists in the
1219 bf(--daemon) mode section.
1221 dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This tells rsync to use blocking I/O when launching
1222 a remote shell transport. If the remote shell is either rsh or remsh,
1223 rsync defaults to using
1224 blocking I/O, otherwise it defaults to using non-blocking I/O. (Note that
1225 ssh prefers non-blocking I/O.)
1227 dit(bf(-i, --itemize-changes)) Requests a simple itemized list of the
1228 changes that are being made to each file, including attribute changes.
1229 This is exactly the same as specifying bf(--log-format='%i %n%L').
1230 If you repeat the option, unchanged files will also be output, but only
1231 if the receiving rsync is at least version 2.6.7 (you can use bf(-vv)
1232 with older versions of rsync, but that also turns on the output of other
1235 The "%i" escape has a cryptic output that is 9 letters long. The general
1236 format is like the string bf(UXcstpog)), where bf(U) is replaced by the
1237 kind of update being done, bf(X) is replaced by the file-type, and the
1238 other letters represent attributes that may be output if they are being
1241 The update types that replace the bf(U) are as follows:
1244 it() A bf(<) means that a file is being transferred to the remote host
1246 it() A bf(>) means that a file is being transferred to the local host
1248 it() A bf(c) means that a local change/creation is occurring for the item
1249 (such as the creation of a directory or the changing of a symlink, etc.).
1250 it() A bf(h) means that the item is a hard-link to another item (requires
1252 it() A bf(.) means that the item is not being updated (though it might
1253 have attributes that are being modified).
1256 The file-types that replace the bf(X) are: bf(f) for a file, a bf(d) for a
1257 directory, an bf(L) for a symlink, a bf(D) for a device, and a bf(S) for a
1258 special file (e.g. named sockets and fifos).
1260 The other letters in the string above are the actual letters that
1261 will be output if the associated attribute for the item is being updated or
1262 a "." for no change. Three exceptions to this are: (1) a newly created
1263 item replaces each letter with a "+", (2) an identical item replaces the
1264 dots with spaces, and (3) an unknown attribute replaces each letter with
1265 a "?" (this can happen when talking to an older rsync).
1267 The attribute that is associated with each letter is as follows:
1270 it() A bf(c) means the checksum of the file is different and will be
1271 updated by the file transfer (requires bf(--checksum)).
1272 it() A bf(s) means the size of the file is different and will be updated
1273 by the file transfer.
1274 it() A bf(t) means the modification time is different and is being updated
1275 to the sender's value (requires bf(--times)). An alternate value of bf(T)
1276 means that the time will be set to the transfer time, which happens
1277 anytime a symlink is transferred, or when a file or device is transferred
1278 without bf(--times).
1279 it() A bf(p) means the permissions are different and are being updated to
1280 the sender's value (requires bf(--perms)).
1281 it() An bf(o) means the owner is different and is being updated to the
1282 sender's value (requires bf(--owner) and super-user privileges).
1283 it() A bf(g) means the group is different and is being updated to the
1284 sender's value (requires bf(--group) and the authority to set the group).
1287 One other output is possible: when deleting files, the "%i" will output
1288 the string "*deleting" for each item that is being removed (assuming that
1289 you are talking to a recent enough rsync that it logs deletions instead of
1290 outputting them as a verbose message).
1292 dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
1293 rsync client outputs to the user on a per-file basis. The format is a text
1294 string containing embedded single-character escape sequences prefixed with
1295 a percent (%) character. For a list of the possible escape characters, see
1296 the "log format" setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage. (Note that this
1297 option does not affect what a daemon logs to its logfile.)
1299 Specifying this option will mention each file, dir, etc. that gets updated
1300 in a significant way (a transferred file, a recreated symlink/device, or a
1301 touched directory) unless the itemized-changes escape (%i) is included in
1302 the string, in which case the logging of names increases to mention any
1303 item that is changed in any way (as long as the receiving side is at least
1304 2.6.4). See the bf(--itemize-changes) option for a description of the
1307 The bf(--verbose) option implies a format of "%n%L", but you can use
1308 bf(--log-format) without bf(--verbose) if you like, or you can override
1309 the format of its per-file output using this option.
1311 Rsync will output the log-format string prior to a file's transfer unless
1312 one of the transfer-statistic escapes is requested, in which case the
1313 logging is done at the end of the file's transfer. When this late logging
1314 is in effect and bf(--progress) is also specified, rsync will also output
1315 the name of the file being transferred prior to its progress information
1316 (followed, of course, by the log-format output).
1318 dit(bf(--stats)) This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics
1319 on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync
1320 algorithm is for your data.
1322 dit(bf(-h, --human-readable)) Output numbers in a more human-readable format.
1323 Large numbers may be output in larger units, with a K (1024), M (1024*1024),
1324 or G (1024*1024*1024) suffix.
1326 dit(bf(--si)) Similar to the bf(--human-readable) option, but using powers
1327 of 1000 instead of 1024.
1329 dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
1330 transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
1331 it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the
1332 bf(--partial) option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should
1333 make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster.
1335 dit(bf(--partial-dir=DIR)) A better way to keep partial files than the
1336 bf(--partial) option is to specify a em(DIR) that will be used to hold the
1337 partial data (instead of writing it out to the destination file).
1338 On the next transfer, rsync will use a file found in this
1339 dir as data to speed up the resumption of the transfer and then delete it
1340 after it has served its purpose.
1342 Note that if bf(--whole-file) is specified (or implied), any partial-dir
1343 file that is found for a file that is being updated will simply be removed
1345 rsync is sending files without using the incremental rsync algorithm).
1347 Rsync will create the em(DIR) if it is missing (just the last dir -- not
1348 the whole path). This makes it easy to use a relative path (such as
1349 "bf(--partial-dir=.rsync-partial)") to have rsync create the
1350 partial-directory in the destination file's directory when needed, and then
1351 remove it again when the partial file is deleted.
1353 If the partial-dir value is not an absolute path, rsync will also add a directory
1354 bf(--exclude) of this value at the end of all your existing excludes. This
1355 will prevent partial-dir files from being transferred and also prevent the
1356 untimely deletion of partial-dir items on the receiving side. An example:
1357 the above bf(--partial-dir) option would add an "bf(--exclude=.rsync-partial/)"
1358 rule at the end of any other filter rules. Note that if you are
1359 supplying your own exclude rules, you may need to manually insert your own
1360 exclude/protect rule somewhere higher up in the list so that
1361 it has a high enough priority to be effective (e.g., if your rules specify
1362 a trailing inclusion/exclusion of '*', the auto-added rule would never be
1365 IMPORTANT: the bf(--partial-dir) should not be writable by other users or it
1366 is a security risk. E.g. AVOID "/tmp".
1368 You can also set the partial-dir value the RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR environment
1369 variable. Setting this in the environment does not force bf(--partial) to be
1370 enabled, but rather it effects where partial files go when bf(--partial) is
1371 specified. For instance, instead of using bf(--partial-dir=.rsync-tmp)
1372 along with bf(--progress), you could set RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR=.rsync-tmp in your
1373 environment and then just use the bf(-P) option to turn on the use of the
1374 .rsync-tmp dir for partial transfers. The only times that the bf(--partial)
1375 option does not look for this environment value are (1) when bf(--inplace) was
1376 specified (since bf(--inplace) conflicts with bf(--partial-dir)), and (2) when
1377 bf(--delay-updates) was specified (see below).
1379 For the purposes of the daemon-config's "refuse options" setting,
1380 bf(--partial-dir) does em(not) imply bf(--partial). This is so that a
1381 refusal of the bf(--partial) option can be used to disallow the overwriting
1382 of destination files with a partial transfer, while still allowing the
1383 safer idiom provided by bf(--partial-dir).
1385 dit(bf(--delay-updates)) This option puts the temporary file from each
1386 updated file into a holding directory until the end of the
1387 transfer, at which time all the files are renamed into place in rapid
1388 succession. This attempts to make the updating of the files a little more
1389 atomic. By default the files are placed into a directory named ".~tmp~" in
1390 each file's destination directory, but if you've specified the
1391 bf(--partial-dir) option, that directory will be used instead.
1392 Conflicts with bf(--inplace) and bf(--append).
1394 This option uses more memory on the receiving side (one bit per file
1395 transferred) and also requires enough free disk space on the receiving
1396 side to hold an additional copy of all the updated files. Note also that
1397 you should not use an absolute path to bf(--partial-dir) unless (1)
1399 chance of any of the files in the transfer having the same name (since all
1400 the updated files will be put into a single directory if the path is
1402 and (2) there are no mount points in the hierarchy (since the
1403 delayed updates will fail if they can't be renamed into place).
1405 See also the "atomic-rsync" perl script in the "support" subdir for an
1406 update algorithm that is even more atomic (it uses bf(--link-dest) and a
1407 parallel hierarchy of files).
1409 dit(bf(-m, --prune-empty-dirs)) This option tells the receiving rsync to get
1410 rid of empty directories from the file-list, including nested directories
1411 that have no non-directory children. This is useful for avoiding the
1412 creation of a bunch of useless directories when the sending rsync is
1413 recursively scanning a hierarchy of files using include/exclude/filter
1416 Because the file-list is actually being pruned, this option also affects
1417 what directories get deleted when a delete is active. However, keep in
1418 mind that excluded files and directories can prevent existing items from
1419 being deleted (because an exclude hides source files and protects
1422 You can prevent the pruning of certain empty directories from the file-list
1423 by using a global "protect" filter. For instance, this option would ensure
1424 that the directory "emptydir" was kept in the file-list:
1426 quote( --filter 'protect emptydir/')
1428 Here's an example that copies all .pdf files in a hierarchy, only creating
1429 the necessary destination directories to hold the .pdf files, and ensures
1430 that any superfluous files and directories in the destination are removed
1431 (note the hide filter of non-directories being used instead of an exclude):
1433 quote( rsync -avm --del --include='*.pdf' -f 'hide! */' src/ dest)
1435 If you didn't want to remove superfluous destination files, the more
1436 time-honored options of "--include='*/' --exclude='*'" would work fine
1437 in place of the hide-filter (if that is more natural to you).
1439 dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information
1440 showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user
1442 Implies bf(--verbose) if it wasn't already specified.
1444 When the file is transferring, the data looks like this:
1446 verb( 782448 63% 110.64kB/s 0:00:04)
1448 This tells you the current file size, the percentage of the transfer that
1449 is complete, the current calculated file-completion rate (including both
1450 data over the wire and data being matched locally), and the estimated time
1451 remaining in this transfer.
1453 After a file is complete, the data looks like this:
1455 verb( 1238099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (5, 57.1% of 396))
1457 This tells you the final file size, that it's 100% complete, the final
1458 transfer rate for the file, the amount of elapsed time it took to transfer
1459 the file, and the addition of a total-transfer summary in parentheses.
1460 These additional numbers tell you how many files have been updated, and
1461 what percent of the total number of files has been scanned.
1463 dit(bf(-P)) The bf(-P) option is equivalent to bf(--partial) bf(--progress). Its
1464 purpose is to make it much easier to specify these two options for a long
1465 transfer that may be interrupted.
1467 dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password
1468 in a file for accessing a remote rsync daemon. Note that this option
1469 is only useful when accessing an rsync daemon using the built in
1470 transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file
1471 must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a
1474 dit(bf(--list-only)) This option will cause the source files to be listed
1475 instead of transferred. This option is inferred if there is no destination
1476 specified, so you don't usually need to use it explicitly. However, it can
1477 come in handy for a user that wants to avoid the "bf(-r --exclude='/*/*')"
1478 options that rsync might use as a compatibility kluge when generating a
1479 non-recursive listing, or to list the files that are involved in a local
1480 copy (since the destination path is not optional for a local copy, you
1481 must specify this option explicitly and still include a destination).
1483 dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
1484 transfer rate in kilobytes per second. This option is most effective when
1485 using rsync with large files (several megabytes and up). Due to the nature
1486 of rsync transfers, blocks of data are sent, then if rsync determines the
1487 transfer was too fast, it will wait before sending the next data block. The
1488 result is an average transfer rate equaling the specified limit. A value
1489 of zero specifies no limit.
1491 dit(bf(--write-batch=FILE)) Record a file that can later be applied to
1492 another identical destination with bf(--read-batch). See the "BATCH MODE"
1493 section for details, and also the bf(--only-write-batch) option.
1495 dit(bf(--only-write-batch=FILE)) Works like bf(--write-batch), except that
1496 no updates are made on the destination system when creating the batch.
1497 This lets you transport the changes to the destination system via some
1498 other means and then apply the changes via bf(--read-batch).
1500 Note that you can feel free to write the batch directly to some portable
1501 media: if this media fills to capacity before the end of the transfer, you
1502 can just apply that partial transfer to the destination and repeat the
1503 whole process to get the rest of the changes (as long as you don't mind a
1504 partially updated destination system while the multi-update cycle is
1507 Also note that you only save bandwidth when pushing changes to a remote
1508 system because this allows the batched data to be diverted from the sender
1509 into the batch file without having to flow over the wire to the receiver
1510 (when pulling, the sender is remote, and thus can't write the batch).
1512 dit(bf(--read-batch=FILE)) Apply all of the changes stored in FILE, a
1513 file previously generated by bf(--write-batch).
1514 If em(FILE) is bf(-), the batch data will be read from standard input.
1515 See the "BATCH MODE" section for details.
1517 dit(bf(--protocol=NUM)) Force an older protocol version to be used. This
1518 is useful for creating a batch file that is compatible with an older
1519 version of rsync. For instance, if rsync 2.6.4 is being used with the
1520 bf(--write-batch) option, but rsync 2.6.3 is what will be used to run the
1521 bf(--read-batch) option, you should use "--protocol=28" when creating the
1522 batch file to force the older protocol version to be used in the batch
1523 file (assuming you can't upgrade the rsync on the reading system).
1525 dit(bf(-4, --ipv4) or bf(-6, --ipv6)) Tells rsync to prefer IPv4/IPv6
1526 when creating sockets. This only affects sockets that rsync has direct
1527 control over, such as the outgoing socket when directly contacting an
1528 rsync daemon. See also these options in the bf(--daemon) mode section.
1530 dit(bf(--checksum-seed=NUM)) Set the MD4 checksum seed to the integer
1531 NUM. This 4 byte checksum seed is included in each block and file
1532 MD4 checksum calculation. By default the checksum seed is generated
1533 by the server and defaults to the current time(). This option
1534 is used to set a specific checksum seed, which is useful for
1535 applications that want repeatable block and file checksums, or
1536 in the case where the user wants a more random checksum seed.
1537 Note that setting NUM to 0 causes rsync to use the default of time()
1541 manpagesection(DAEMON OPTIONS)
1543 The options allowed when starting an rsync daemon are as follows:
1546 dit(bf(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The
1547 daemon you start running may be accessed using an rsync client using
1548 the bf(host::module) or bf(rsync://host/module/) syntax.
1550 If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being
1551 run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and
1552 become a background daemon. The daemon will read the config file
1553 (rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and respond to
1554 requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
1557 dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address when
1558 run as a daemon with the bf(--daemon) option. The bf(--address) option
1559 allows you to specify a specific IP address (or hostname) to bind to. This
1560 makes virtual hosting possible in conjunction with the bf(--config) option.
1561 See also the "address" global option in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
1563 dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
1564 transfer rate in kilobytes per second for the data the daemon sends.
1565 The client can still specify a smaller bf(--bwlimit) value, but their
1566 requested value will be rounded down if they try to exceed it. See the
1567 client version of this option (above) for some extra details.
1569 dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
1570 the default. This is only relevant when bf(--daemon) is specified.
1571 The default is /etc/rsyncd.conf unless the daemon is running over
1572 a remote shell program and the remote user is not the super-user; in that case
1573 the default is rsyncd.conf in the current directory (typically $HOME).
1575 dit(bf(--no-detach)) When running as a daemon, this option instructs
1576 rsync to not detach itself and become a background process. This
1577 option is required when running as a service on Cygwin, and may also
1578 be useful when rsync is supervised by a program such as
1579 bf(daemontools) or AIX's bf(System Resource Controller).
1580 bf(--no-detach) is also recommended when rsync is run under a
1581 debugger. This option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or
1584 dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number for the
1585 daemon to listen on rather than the default of 873. See also the "port"
1586 global option in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
1588 dit(bf(--sockopts)) This overrides the bf(socket options) setting in the
1589 rsyncd.conf file and has the same syntax.
1591 dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information the
1592 daemon logs during its startup phase. After the client connects, the
1593 daemon's verbosity level will be controlled by the options that the client
1594 used and the "max verbosity" setting in the module's config section.
1596 dit(bf(-4, --ipv4) or bf(-6, --ipv6)) Tells rsync to prefer IPv4/IPv6
1597 when creating the incoming sockets that the rsync daemon will use to
1598 listen for connections. One of these options may be required in older
1599 versions of Linux to work around an IPv6 bug in the kernel (if you see
1600 an "address already in use" error when nothing else is using the port,
1601 try specifying bf(--ipv6) or bf(--ipv4) when starting the daemon).
1603 dit(bf(-h, --help)) When specified after bf(--daemon), print a short help
1604 page describing the options available for starting an rsync daemon.
1607 manpagesection(FILTER RULES)
1609 The filter rules allow for flexible selection of which files to transfer
1610 (include) and which files to skip (exclude). The rules either directly
1611 specify include/exclude patterns or they specify a way to acquire more
1612 include/exclude patterns (e.g. to read them from a file).
1614 As the list of files/directories to transfer is built, rsync checks each
1615 name to be transferred against the list of include/exclude patterns in
1616 turn, and the first matching pattern is acted on: if it is an exclude
1617 pattern, then that file is skipped; if it is an include pattern then that
1618 filename is not skipped; if no matching pattern is found, then the
1619 filename is not skipped.
1621 Rsync builds an ordered list of filter rules as specified on the
1622 command-line. Filter rules have the following syntax:
1625 tt(RULE [PATTERN_OR_FILENAME])nl()
1626 tt(RULE,MODIFIERS [PATTERN_OR_FILENAME])nl()
1629 You have your choice of using either short or long RULE names, as described
1630 below. If you use a short-named rule, the ',' separating the RULE from the
1631 MODIFIERS is optional. The PATTERN or FILENAME that follows (when present)
1632 must come after either a single space or an underscore (_).
1633 Here are the available rule prefixes:
1636 bf(exclude, -) specifies an exclude pattern. nl()
1637 bf(include, +) specifies an include pattern. nl()
1638 bf(merge, .) specifies a merge-file to read for more rules. nl()
1639 bf(dir-merge, :) specifies a per-directory merge-file. nl()
1640 bf(hide, H) specifies a pattern for hiding files from the transfer. nl()
1641 bf(show, S) files that match the pattern are not hidden. nl()
1642 bf(protect, P) specifies a pattern for protecting files from deletion. nl()
1643 bf(risk, R) files that match the pattern are not protected. nl()
1644 bf(clear, !) clears the current include/exclude list (takes no arg) nl()
1647 When rules are being read from a file, empty lines are ignored, as are
1648 comment lines that start with a "#".
1650 Note that the bf(--include)/bf(--exclude) command-line options do not allow the
1651 full range of rule parsing as described above -- they only allow the
1652 specification of include/exclude patterns plus a "!" token to clear the
1653 list (and the normal comment parsing when rules are read from a file).
1655 does not begin with "- " (dash, space) or "+ " (plus, space), then the
1656 rule will be interpreted as if "+ " (for an include option) or "- " (for
1657 an exclude option) were prefixed to the string. A bf(--filter) option, on
1658 the other hand, must always contain either a short or long rule name at the
1661 Note also that the bf(--filter), bf(--include), and bf(--exclude) options take one
1662 rule/pattern each. To add multiple ones, you can repeat the options on
1663 the command-line, use the merge-file syntax of the bf(--filter) option, or
1664 the bf(--include-from)/bf(--exclude-from) options.
1666 manpagesection(INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERN RULES)
1668 You can include and exclude files by specifying patterns using the "+",
1669 "-", etc. filter rules (as introduced in the FILTER RULES section above).
1670 The include/exclude rules each specify a pattern that is matched against
1671 the names of the files that are going to be transferred. These patterns
1672 can take several forms:
1675 it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is anchored to a
1676 particular spot in the hierarchy of files, otherwise it is matched
1677 against the end of the pathname. This is similar to a leading ^ in
1678 regular expressions.
1679 Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at either the "root of the
1680 transfer" (for a global rule) or in the merge-file's directory (for a
1681 per-directory rule).
1682 An unqualified "foo" would match any file or directory named "foo"
1683 anywhere in the tree because the algorithm is applied recursively from
1685 top down; it behaves as if each path component gets a turn at being the
1686 end of the file name. Even the unanchored "sub/foo" would match at
1687 any point in the hierarchy where a "foo" was found within a directory
1688 named "sub". See the section on ANCHORING INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERNS for
1689 a full discussion of how to specify a pattern that matches at the root
1691 it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
1692 directory, not a file, link, or device.
1694 it() rsync chooses between doing a simple string match and wildcard
1695 matching by checking if the pattern contains one of these three wildcard
1696 characters: '*', '?', and '[' .
1697 it() a '*' matches any non-empty path component (it stops at slashes).
1698 it() use '**' to match anything, including slashes.
1699 it() a '?' matches any character except a slash (/).
1700 it() a '[' introduces a character class, such as [a-z] or [[:alpha:]].
1701 it() in a wildcard pattern, a backslash can be used to escape a wildcard
1702 character, but it is matched literally when no wildcards are present.
1703 it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) or a "**",
1704 then it is matched against the full pathname, including any leading
1705 directories. If the pattern doesn't contain a / or a "**", then it is
1706 matched only against the final component of the filename.
1707 (Remember that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename"
1708 can actually be any portion of a path from the starting directory on
1710 it() a trailing "dir_name/***" will match both the directory (as if
1711 "dir_name/" had been specified) and all the files in the directory
1712 (as if "dir_name/**" had been specified). (This behavior is new for
1716 Note that, when using the bf(--recursive) (bf(-r)) option (which is implied by
1717 bf(-a)), every subcomponent of every path is visited from the top down, so
1718 include/exclude patterns get applied recursively to each subcomponent's
1719 full name (e.g. to include "/foo/bar/baz" the subcomponents "/foo" and
1720 "/foo/bar" must not be excluded).
1721 The exclude patterns actually short-circuit the directory traversal stage
1722 when rsync finds the files to send. If a pattern excludes a particular
1723 parent directory, it can render a deeper include pattern ineffectual
1724 because rsync did not descend through that excluded section of the
1725 hierarchy. This is particularly important when using a trailing '*' rule.
1726 For instance, this won't work:
1729 tt(+ /some/path/this-file-will-not-be-found)nl()
1730 tt(+ /file-is-included)nl()
1734 This fails because the parent directory "some" is excluded by the '*'
1735 rule, so rsync never visits any of the files in the "some" or "some/path"
1736 directories. One solution is to ask for all directories in the hierarchy
1737 to be included by using a single rule: "+ */" (put it somewhere before the
1738 "- *" rule). Another solution is to add specific include rules for all
1739 the parent dirs that need to be visited. For instance, this set of rules
1744 tt(+ /some/path/)nl()
1745 tt(+ /some/path/this-file-is-found)nl()
1746 tt(+ /file-also-included)nl()
1750 Here are some examples of exclude/include matching:
1753 it() "- *.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o
1754 it() "- /foo" would exclude a file called foo in the transfer-root directory
1755 it() "- foo/" would exclude any directory called foo
1756 it() "- /foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
1757 levels below a directory called foo in the transfer-root directory
1758 it() "- /foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
1759 or more levels below a directory called foo in the transfer-root directory
1760 it() The combination of "+ */", "+ *.c", and "- *" would include all
1761 directories and C source files but nothing else.
1762 it() The combination of "+ foo/", "+ foo/bar.c", and "- *" would include
1763 only the foo directory and foo/bar.c (the foo directory must be
1764 explicitly included or it would be excluded by the "*")
1767 manpagesection(MERGE-FILE FILTER RULES)
1769 You can merge whole files into your filter rules by specifying either a
1770 merge (.) or a dir-merge (:) filter rule (as introduced in the FILTER RULES
1773 There are two kinds of merged files -- single-instance ('.') and
1774 per-directory (':'). A single-instance merge file is read one time, and
1775 its rules are incorporated into the filter list in the place of the "."
1776 rule. For per-directory merge files, rsync will scan every directory that
1777 it traverses for the named file, merging its contents when the file exists
1778 into the current list of inherited rules. These per-directory rule files
1779 must be created on the sending side because it is the sending side that is
1780 being scanned for the available files to transfer. These rule files may
1781 also need to be transferred to the receiving side if you want them to
1782 affect what files don't get deleted (see PER-DIRECTORY RULES AND DELETE
1788 tt(merge /etc/rsync/default.rules)nl()
1789 tt(. /etc/rsync/default.rules)nl()
1790 tt(dir-merge .per-dir-filter)nl()
1791 tt(dir-merge,n- .non-inherited-per-dir-excludes)nl()
1792 tt(:n- .non-inherited-per-dir-excludes)nl()
1795 The following modifiers are accepted after a merge or dir-merge rule:
1798 it() A bf(-) specifies that the file should consist of only exclude
1799 patterns, with no other rule-parsing except for in-file comments.
1800 it() A bf(+) specifies that the file should consist of only include
1801 patterns, with no other rule-parsing except for in-file comments.
1802 it() A bf(C) is a way to specify that the file should be read in a
1803 CVS-compatible manner. This turns on 'n', 'w', and '-', but also
1804 allows the list-clearing token (!) to be specified. If no filename is
1805 provided, ".cvsignore" is assumed.
1806 it() A bf(e) will exclude the merge-file name from the transfer; e.g.
1807 "dir-merge,e .rules" is like "dir-merge .rules" and "- .rules".
1808 it() An bf(n) specifies that the rules are not inherited by subdirectories.
1809 it() A bf(w) specifies that the rules are word-split on whitespace instead
1810 of the normal line-splitting. This also turns off comments. Note: the
1811 space that separates the prefix from the rule is treated specially, so
1812 "- foo + bar" is parsed as two rules (assuming that prefix-parsing wasn't
1814 it() You may also specify any of the modifiers for the "+" or "-" rules
1815 (below) in order to have the rules that are read-in from the file
1816 default to having that modifier set. For instance, "merge,-/ .excl" would
1817 treat the contents of .excl as absolute-path excludes,
1818 while "dir-merge,s .filt" and ":sC" would each make all their
1819 per-directory rules apply only on the sending side.
1822 The following modifiers are accepted after a "+" or "-":
1825 it() A "/" specifies that the include/exclude rule should be matched
1826 against the absolute pathname of the current item. For example,
1827 "-/ /etc/passwd" would exclude the passwd file any time the transfer
1828 was sending files from the "/etc" directory, and "-/ subdir/foo"
1829 would always exclude "foo" when it is in a dir named "subdir", even
1830 if "foo" is at the root of the current transfer.
1831 it() A "!" specifies that the include/exclude should take effect if
1832 the pattern fails to match. For instance, "-! */" would exclude all
1834 it() A bf(C) is used to indicate that all the global CVS-exclude rules
1835 should be inserted as excludes in place of the "-C". No arg should
1837 it() An bf(s) is used to indicate that the rule applies to the sending
1838 side. When a rule affects the sending side, it prevents files from
1839 being transferred. The default is for a rule to affect both sides
1840 unless bf(--delete-excluded) was specified, in which case default rules
1841 become sender-side only. See also the hide (H) and show (S) rules,
1842 which are an alternate way to specify sending-side includes/excludes.
1843 it() An bf(r) is used to indicate that the rule applies to the receiving
1844 side. When a rule affects the receiving side, it prevents files from
1845 being deleted. See the bf(s) modifier for more info. See also the
1846 protect (P) and risk (R) rules, which are an alternate way to
1847 specify receiver-side includes/excludes.
1850 Per-directory rules are inherited in all subdirectories of the directory
1851 where the merge-file was found unless the 'n' modifier was used. Each
1852 subdirectory's rules are prefixed to the inherited per-directory rules
1853 from its parents, which gives the newest rules a higher priority than the
1854 inherited rules. The entire set of dir-merge rules are grouped together in
1855 the spot where the merge-file was specified, so it is possible to override
1856 dir-merge rules via a rule that got specified earlier in the list of global
1857 rules. When the list-clearing rule ("!") is read from a per-directory
1858 file, it only clears the inherited rules for the current merge file.
1860 Another way to prevent a single rule from a dir-merge file from being inherited is to
1861 anchor it with a leading slash. Anchored rules in a per-directory
1862 merge-file are relative to the merge-file's directory, so a pattern "/foo"
1863 would only match the file "foo" in the directory where the dir-merge filter
1866 Here's an example filter file which you'd specify via bf(--filter=". file":)
1869 tt(merge /home/user/.global-filter)nl()
1871 tt(dir-merge .rules)nl()
1876 This will merge the contents of the /home/user/.global-filter file at the
1877 start of the list and also turns the ".rules" filename into a per-directory
1878 filter file. All rules read-in prior to the start of the directory scan
1879 follow the global anchoring rules (i.e. a leading slash matches at the root
1882 If a per-directory merge-file is specified with a path that is a parent
1883 directory of the first transfer directory, rsync will scan all the parent
1884 dirs from that starting point to the transfer directory for the indicated
1885 per-directory file. For instance, here is a common filter (see bf(-F)):
1887 quote(tt(--filter=': /.rsync-filter'))
1889 That rule tells rsync to scan for the file .rsync-filter in all
1890 directories from the root down through the parent directory of the
1891 transfer prior to the start of the normal directory scan of the file in
1892 the directories that are sent as a part of the transfer. (Note: for an
1893 rsync daemon, the root is always the same as the module's "path".)
1895 Some examples of this pre-scanning for per-directory files:
1898 tt(rsync -avF /src/path/ /dest/dir)nl()
1899 tt(rsync -av --filter=': ../../.rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir)nl()
1900 tt(rsync -av --filter=': .rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir)nl()
1903 The first two commands above will look for ".rsync-filter" in "/" and
1904 "/src" before the normal scan begins looking for the file in "/src/path"
1905 and its subdirectories. The last command avoids the parent-dir scan
1906 and only looks for the ".rsync-filter" files in each directory that is
1907 a part of the transfer.
1909 If you want to include the contents of a ".cvsignore" in your patterns,
1910 you should use the rule ":C", which creates a dir-merge of the .cvsignore
1911 file, but parsed in a CVS-compatible manner. You can
1912 use this to affect where the bf(--cvs-exclude) (bf(-C)) option's inclusion of the
1913 per-directory .cvsignore file gets placed into your rules by putting the
1914 ":C" wherever you like in your filter rules. Without this, rsync would
1915 add the dir-merge rule for the .cvsignore file at the end of all your other
1916 rules (giving it a lower priority than your command-line rules). For
1920 tt(cat <<EOT | rsync -avC --filter='. -' a/ b)nl()
1925 tt(rsync -avC --include=foo.o -f :C --exclude='*.old' a/ b)nl()
1928 Both of the above rsync commands are identical. Each one will merge all
1929 the per-directory .cvsignore rules in the middle of the list rather than
1930 at the end. This allows their dir-specific rules to supersede the rules
1931 that follow the :C instead of being subservient to all your rules. To
1932 affect the other CVS exclude rules (i.e. the default list of exclusions,
1933 the contents of $HOME/.cvsignore, and the value of $CVSIGNORE) you should
1934 omit the bf(-C) command-line option and instead insert a "-C" rule into
1935 your filter rules; e.g. "--filter=-C".
1937 manpagesection(LIST-CLEARING FILTER RULE)
1939 You can clear the current include/exclude list by using the "!" filter
1940 rule (as introduced in the FILTER RULES section above). The "current"
1941 list is either the global list of rules (if the rule is encountered while
1942 parsing the filter options) or a set of per-directory rules (which are
1943 inherited in their own sub-list, so a subdirectory can use this to clear
1944 out the parent's rules).
1946 manpagesection(ANCHORING INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERNS)
1948 As mentioned earlier, global include/exclude patterns are anchored at the
1949 "root of the transfer" (as opposed to per-directory patterns, which are
1950 anchored at the merge-file's directory). If you think of the transfer as
1951 a subtree of names that are being sent from sender to receiver, the
1952 transfer-root is where the tree starts to be duplicated in the destination
1953 directory. This root governs where patterns that start with a / match.
1955 Because the matching is relative to the transfer-root, changing the
1956 trailing slash on a source path or changing your use of the bf(--relative)
1957 option affects the path you need to use in your matching (in addition to
1958 changing how much of the file tree is duplicated on the destination
1959 host). The following examples demonstrate this.
1961 Let's say that we want to match two source files, one with an absolute
1962 path of "/home/me/foo/bar", and one with a path of "/home/you/bar/baz".
1963 Here is how the various command choices differ for a 2-source transfer:
1966 Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me /home/you /dest nl()
1967 +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar nl()
1968 +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz nl()
1969 Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar nl()
1970 Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz nl()
1974 Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me/ /home/you/ /dest nl()
1975 +/- pattern: /foo/bar (note missing "me") nl()
1976 +/- pattern: /bar/baz (note missing "you") nl()
1977 Target file: /dest/foo/bar nl()
1978 Target file: /dest/bar/baz nl()
1982 Example cmd: rsync -a --relative /home/me/ /home/you /dest nl()
1983 +/- pattern: /home/me/foo/bar (note full path) nl()
1984 +/- pattern: /home/you/bar/baz (ditto) nl()
1985 Target file: /dest/home/me/foo/bar nl()
1986 Target file: /dest/home/you/bar/baz nl()
1990 Example cmd: cd /home; rsync -a --relative me/foo you/ /dest nl()
1991 +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar (starts at specified path) nl()
1992 +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz (ditto) nl()
1993 Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar nl()
1994 Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz nl()
1997 The easiest way to see what name you should filter is to just
1998 look at the output when using bf(--verbose) and put a / in front of the name
1999 (use the bf(--dry-run) option if you're not yet ready to copy any files).
2001 manpagesection(PER-DIRECTORY RULES AND DELETE)
2003 Without a delete option, per-directory rules are only relevant on the
2004 sending side, so you can feel free to exclude the merge files themselves
2005 without affecting the transfer. To make this easy, the 'e' modifier adds
2006 this exclude for you, as seen in these two equivalent commands:
2009 tt(rsync -av --filter=': .excl' --exclude=.excl host:src/dir /dest)nl()
2010 tt(rsync -av --filter=':e .excl' host:src/dir /dest)nl()
2013 However, if you want to do a delete on the receiving side AND you want some
2014 files to be excluded from being deleted, you'll need to be sure that the
2015 receiving side knows what files to exclude. The easiest way is to include
2016 the per-directory merge files in the transfer and use bf(--delete-after),
2017 because this ensures that the receiving side gets all the same exclude
2018 rules as the sending side before it tries to delete anything:
2020 quote(tt(rsync -avF --delete-after host:src/dir /dest))
2022 However, if the merge files are not a part of the transfer, you'll need to
2023 either specify some global exclude rules (i.e. specified on the command
2024 line), or you'll need to maintain your own per-directory merge files on
2025 the receiving side. An example of the first is this (assume that the
2026 remote .rules files exclude themselves):
2028 verb(rsync -av --filter=': .rules' --filter='. /my/extra.rules'
2029 --delete host:src/dir /dest)
2031 In the above example the extra.rules file can affect both sides of the
2032 transfer, but (on the sending side) the rules are subservient to the rules
2033 merged from the .rules files because they were specified after the
2034 per-directory merge rule.
2036 In one final example, the remote side is excluding the .rsync-filter
2037 files from the transfer, but we want to use our own .rsync-filter files
2038 to control what gets deleted on the receiving side. To do this we must
2039 specifically exclude the per-directory merge files (so that they don't get
2040 deleted) and then put rules into the local files to control what else
2041 should not get deleted. Like one of these commands:
2043 verb( rsync -av --filter=':e /.rsync-filter' --delete \
2045 rsync -avFF --delete host:src/dir /dest)
2047 manpagesection(BATCH MODE)
2049 Batch mode can be used to apply the same set of updates to many
2050 identical systems. Suppose one has a tree which is replicated on a
2051 number of hosts. Now suppose some changes have been made to this
2052 source tree and those changes need to be propagated to the other
2053 hosts. In order to do this using batch mode, rsync is run with the
2054 write-batch option to apply the changes made to the source tree to one
2055 of the destination trees. The write-batch option causes the rsync
2056 client to store in a "batch file" all the information needed to repeat
2057 this operation against other, identical destination trees.
2059 To apply the recorded changes to another destination tree, run rsync
2060 with the read-batch option, specifying the name of the same batch
2061 file, and the destination tree. Rsync updates the destination tree
2062 using the information stored in the batch file.
2064 For convenience, one additional file is creating when the write-batch
2065 option is used. This file's name is created by appending
2066 ".sh" to the batch filename. The .sh file contains
2067 a command-line suitable for updating a destination tree using that
2068 batch file. It can be executed using a Bourne(-like) shell, optionally
2069 passing in an alternate destination tree pathname which is then used
2070 instead of the original path. This is useful when the destination tree
2071 path differs from the original destination tree path.
2073 Generating the batch file once saves having to perform the file
2074 status, checksum, and data block generation more than once when
2075 updating multiple destination trees. Multicast transport protocols can
2076 be used to transfer the batch update files in parallel to many hosts
2077 at once, instead of sending the same data to every host individually.
2082 tt($ rsync --write-batch=foo -a host:/source/dir/ /adest/dir/)nl()
2083 tt($ scp foo* remote:)nl()
2084 tt($ ssh remote ./foo.sh /bdest/dir/)nl()
2088 tt($ rsync --write-batch=foo -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/)nl()
2089 tt($ ssh remote rsync --read-batch=- -a /bdest/dir/ <foo)nl()
2092 In these examples, rsync is used to update /adest/dir/ from /source/dir/
2093 and the information to repeat this operation is stored in "foo" and
2094 "foo.sh". The host "remote" is then updated with the batched data going
2095 into the directory /bdest/dir. The differences between the two examples
2096 reveals some of the flexibility you have in how you deal with batches:
2099 it() The first example shows that the initial copy doesn't have to be
2100 local -- you can push or pull data to/from a remote host using either the
2101 remote-shell syntax or rsync daemon syntax, as desired.
2102 it() The first example uses the created "foo.sh" file to get the right
2103 rsync options when running the read-batch command on the remote host.
2104 it() The second example reads the batch data via standard input so that
2105 the batch file doesn't need to be copied to the remote machine first.
2106 This example avoids the foo.sh script because it needed to use a modified
2107 bf(--read-batch) option, but you could edit the script file if you wished to
2108 make use of it (just be sure that no other option is trying to use
2109 standard input, such as the "bf(--exclude-from=-)" option).
2114 The read-batch option expects the destination tree that it is updating
2115 to be identical to the destination tree that was used to create the
2116 batch update fileset. When a difference between the destination trees
2117 is encountered the update might be discarded with a warning (if the file
2118 appears to be up-to-date already) or the file-update may be attempted
2119 and then, if the file fails to verify, the update discarded with an
2120 error. This means that it should be safe to re-run a read-batch operation
2121 if the command got interrupted. If you wish to force the batched-update to
2122 always be attempted regardless of the file's size and date, use the bf(-I)
2123 option (when reading the batch).
2124 If an error occurs, the destination tree will probably be in a
2125 partially updated state. In that case, rsync can
2126 be used in its regular (non-batch) mode of operation to fix up the
2129 The rsync version used on all destinations must be at least as new as the
2130 one used to generate the batch file. Rsync will die with an error if the
2131 protocol version in the batch file is too new for the batch-reading rsync
2132 to handle. See also the bf(--protocol) option for a way to have the
2133 creating rsync generate a batch file that an older rsync can understand.
2134 (Note that batch files changed format in version 2.6.3, so mixing versions
2135 older than that with newer versions will not work.)
2137 When reading a batch file, rsync will force the value of certain options
2138 to match the data in the batch file if you didn't set them to the same
2139 as the batch-writing command. Other options can (and should) be changed.
2140 For instance bf(--write-batch) changes to bf(--read-batch),
2141 bf(--files-from) is dropped, and the
2142 bf(--filter)/bf(--include)/bf(--exclude) options are not needed unless
2143 one of the bf(--delete) options is specified.
2145 The code that creates the BATCH.sh file transforms any filter/include/exclude
2146 options into a single list that is appended as a "here" document to the
2147 shell script file. An advanced user can use this to modify the exclude
2148 list if a change in what gets deleted by bf(--delete) is desired. A normal
2149 user can ignore this detail and just use the shell script as an easy way
2150 to run the appropriate bf(--read-batch) command for the batched data.
2152 The original batch mode in rsync was based on "rsync+", but the latest
2153 version uses a new implementation.
2155 manpagesection(SYMBOLIC LINKS)
2157 Three basic behaviors are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic
2158 link in the source directory.
2160 By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message
2161 "skipping non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist.
2163 If bf(--links) is specified, then symlinks are recreated with the same
2164 target on the destination. Note that bf(--archive) implies
2167 If bf(--copy-links) is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by
2168 copying their referent, rather than the symlink.
2170 rsync also distinguishes "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An
2171 example where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes
2172 ensure the rsync module they copy does not include symbolic links to
2173 bf(/etc/passwd) in the public section of the site. Using
2174 bf(--copy-unsafe-links) will cause any links to be copied as the file
2175 they point to on the destination. Using bf(--safe-links) will cause
2176 unsafe links to be omitted altogether. (Note that you must specify
2177 bf(--links) for bf(--safe-links) to have any effect.)
2179 Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks
2180 (start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough bf("..")
2181 components to ascend from the directory being copied.
2183 Here's a summary of how the symlink options are interpreted. The list is
2184 in order of precedence, so if your combination of options isn't mentioned,
2185 use the first line that is a complete subset of your options:
2187 dit(bf(--copy-links)) Turn all symlinks into normal files (leaving no
2188 symlinks for any other options to affect).
2190 dit(bf(--links --copy-unsafe-links)) Turn all unsafe symlinks into files
2191 and duplicate all safe symlinks.
2193 dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) Turn all unsafe symlinks into files, noisily
2194 skip all safe symlinks.
2196 dit(bf(--links --safe-links)) Duplicate safe symlinks and skip unsafe
2199 dit(bf(--links)) Duplicate all symlinks.
2201 manpagediagnostics()
2203 rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
2204 cryptic. The one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol
2205 version mismatch -- is your shell clean?".
2207 This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell
2208 facility producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using
2209 for its transport. The way to diagnose this problem is to run your
2210 remote shell like this:
2212 quote(tt(ssh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat))
2214 then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat
2215 should be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from
2216 rsync then you will probably find that out.dat contains some text or
2217 data. Look at the contents and try to work out what is producing
2218 it. The most common cause is incorrectly configured shell startup
2219 scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that contain output statements
2220 for non-interactive logins.
2222 If you are having trouble debugging filter patterns, then
2223 try specifying the bf(-vv) option. At this level of verbosity rsync will
2224 show why each individual file is included or excluded.
2226 manpagesection(EXIT VALUES)
2230 dit(bf(1)) Syntax or usage error
2231 dit(bf(2)) Protocol incompatibility
2232 dit(bf(3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
2233 dit(bf(4)) Requested action not supported: an attempt
2234 was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support
2235 them; or an option was specified that is supported by the client and
2237 dit(bf(5)) Error starting client-server protocol
2238 dit(bf(6)) Daemon unable to append to log-file
2239 dit(bf(10)) Error in socket I/O
2240 dit(bf(11)) Error in file I/O
2241 dit(bf(12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream
2242 dit(bf(13)) Errors with program diagnostics
2243 dit(bf(14)) Error in IPC code
2244 dit(bf(20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
2245 dit(bf(21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
2246 dit(bf(22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
2247 dit(bf(23)) Partial transfer due to error
2248 dit(bf(24)) Partial transfer due to vanished source files
2249 dit(bf(25)) The --max-delete limit stopped deletions
2250 dit(bf(30)) Timeout in data send/receive
2253 manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES)
2256 dit(bf(CVSIGNORE)) The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any
2257 ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the bf(--cvs-exclude) option for
2259 dit(bf(RSYNC_RSH)) The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to
2260 override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. Command line
2261 options are permitted after the command name, just as in the bf(-e) option.
2262 dit(bf(RSYNC_PROXY)) The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to
2263 redirect your rsync client to use a web proxy when connecting to a
2264 rsync daemon. You should set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair.
2265 dit(bf(RSYNC_PASSWORD)) Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required
2266 password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to an rsync
2267 daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a
2268 password to a shell transport such as ssh.
2269 dit(bf(USER) or bf(LOGNAME)) The USER or LOGNAME environment variables
2270 are used to determine the default username sent to an rsync daemon.
2271 If neither is set, the username defaults to "nobody".
2272 dit(bf(HOME)) The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's
2273 default .cvsignore file.
2278 /etc/rsyncd.conf or rsyncd.conf
2286 times are transferred as unix time_t values
2288 When transferring to FAT filesystems rsync may re-sync
2290 See the comments on the bf(--modify-window) option.
2292 file permissions, devices, etc. are transferred as native numerical
2295 see also the comments on the bf(--delete) option
2297 Please report bugs! See the website at
2298 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
2300 manpagesection(VERSION)
2302 This man page is current for version 2.6.6 of rsync.
2304 manpagesection(CREDITS)
2306 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
2307 COPYING for details.
2309 A WEB site is available at
2310 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/). The site
2311 includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this
2314 The primary ftp site for rsync is
2315 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
2317 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
2319 This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by
2320 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
2322 manpagesection(THANKS)
2324 Thanks to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell
2325 and David Bell for helpful suggestions, patches and testing of rsync.
2326 I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
2328 Especial thanks also to: David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer,
2329 Martin Pool, Wayne Davison, J.W. Schultz.
2333 rsync was originally written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras.
2334 Many people have later contributed to it.
2336 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
2337 url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)