4 rsync is a replacement for rcp that has many more features.
6 rsyns uses the "rsync algorithm" which provides a very fast method for
7 bringing remote files into sync. It does this by sending just the
8 differences in the files across the link, without requiring that both
9 sets of files are present at one of the ends of the link beforehand.
10 At first glance this may seem impossible because the calculation of
11 diffs between two files normally requires local access to both
14 A technical report describing the rsync algorithm is included with
21 Basically you use rsync just like rcp, but rsync has many additional options.
23 Here is a brief description of available options:
25 -v, --verbose increase verbosity
26 -c, --checksum always checksum
27 -a, --archive archive mode (same as -rlptDog)
28 -r, --recursive recurse into directories
29 -b, --backup make backups (default ~ extension)
30 -u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files)
31 -l, --links preserve soft links
32 -p, --perms preserve permissions
33 -o, --owner preserve owner (root only)
34 -g, --group preserve group
35 -D, --devices preserve devices (root only)
36 -t, --times preserve times
37 -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
38 -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
39 -B, --block-size SIZE checksum blocking size
40 -e, --rsh COMMAND specify rsh replacement
41 --rsync-path PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine
42 -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does
43 --delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side
44 -I, --ignore-times don't exclude files that match length and time
45 --exclude FILE exclude file FILE
46 --exclude-from FILE exclude files listed in FILE
47 --suffix SUFFIX override backup suffix
48 --version print version number
55 Rsync uses rsh or ssh for communication. It does not need to be setuid
56 and requires no special privilages for installation. It does not
57 require a inetd entry or a daemon. You must, however, have a working
58 rsh or ssh system. Using ssh is recommended for its security and
61 To install rsync, first run the "configure" script. This will create a
62 Makefile and config.h appropriate for your system. Then type
65 Once built put a copy of rsync in your search path on the local and
66 remote systems (or use "make install"). That's it!
72 Rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras, and is
73 available under the GPL.
75 Andrew.Tridgell@anu.edu.au
82 The main ftp site for rsync is ftp://samba.anu.edu.au/pub/rsync