1 mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
2 manpage(rsync)(1)(25 Jan 2002)()()
3 manpagename(rsync)(faster, flexible replacement for rcp)
6 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST:DEST
8 rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC DEST
10 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... DEST
12 rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST]
14 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST::DEST
16 rsync [OPTION]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC [DEST]
20 rsync is a program that behaves in much the same way that rcp does,
21 but has many more options and uses the rsync remote-update protocol to
22 greatly speed up file transfers when the destination file already
25 The rsync remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the
26 differences between two sets of files across the network link, using
27 an efficient checksum-search algorithm described in the technical
28 report that accompanies this package.
30 Some of the additional features of rsync are:
33 it() support for copying links, devices, owners, groups and permissions
34 it() exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar
35 it() a CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore
36 it() can use any transparent remote shell, including rsh or ssh
37 it() does not require root privileges
38 it() pipelining of file transfers to minimize latency costs
39 it() support for anonymous or authenticated rsync servers (ideal for
43 manpagesection(GENERAL)
45 There are eight different ways of using rsync. They are:
48 it() for copying local files. This is invoked when neither
49 source nor destination path contains a : separator
51 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine using
52 a remote shell program as the transport (such as rsh or
53 ssh). This is invoked when the destination path contains a
56 it() for copying from a remote machine to the local machine
57 using a remote shell program. This is invoked when the source
58 contains a : separator.
60 it() for copying from a remote rsync server to the local
61 machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
62 separator or a rsync:// URL.
64 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote rsync
65 server. This is invoked when the destination path contains a ::
68 it() for copying from a remote machine using a remote shell
69 program as the transport, using rsync server on the remote
70 machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
71 separator and the --rsh=COMMAND (aka "-e COMMAND") option is
74 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine
75 using a remote shell program as the transport, using rsync
76 server on the remote machine. This is invoked when the
77 destination path contains a :: separator and the
78 --rsh=COMMMAND option is also provided.
80 it() for listing files on a remote machine. This is done the
81 same way as rsync transfers except that you leave off the
85 Note that in all cases (other than listing) at least one of the source
86 and destination paths must be local.
90 See the file README for installation instructions.
92 Once installed, you can use rsync to any machine that you can access via
93 a remote shell (as well as some that you can access using the rsync
94 daemon-mode protocol). For remote transfers, rsync typically uses rsh
95 for its communications, but it may have been configured to use a
96 different remote shell by default, such as ssh.
98 You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the -e
99 command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable.
101 One common substitute is to use ssh, which offers a high degree of
104 Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination
107 manpagesection(USAGE)
109 You use rsync in the same way you use rcp. You must specify a source
110 and a destination, one of which may be remote.
112 Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is some examples:
114 quote(rsync *.c foo:src/)
116 this would transfer all files matching the pattern *.c from the
117 current directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of
118 the files already exist on the remote system then the rsync
119 remote-update protocol is used to update the file by sending only the
120 differences. See the tech report for details.
122 quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp)
124 this would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the
125 machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The
126 files are transferred in "archive" mode, which ensures that symbolic
127 links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownerships etc are preserved
128 in the transfer. Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the
129 size of data portions of the transfer.
131 quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp)
133 a trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to transfer
134 all files from the directory src/bar on the machine foo into the
135 /data/tmp/. A trailing / on a source name means "copy the
136 contents of this directory". Without a trailing slash it means "copy
137 the directory". This difference becomes particularly important when
138 using the --delete option.
140 You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
141 destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like
142 an improved copy command.
144 quote(rsync somehost.mydomain.com::)
146 this would list all the anonymous rsync modules available on the host
147 somehost.mydomain.com. (See the following section for more details.)
150 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER)
152 It is also possible to use rsync without a remote shell as the
153 transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server
154 running on TCP port 873.
156 You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the
157 environment variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to
158 your web proxy. Note that your web proxy's configuration must allow
159 proxying to port 873.
161 Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except
165 it() you use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to
166 separate the hostname from the path.
168 it() the remote server may print a message of the day when you
171 it() if you specify no path name on the remote server then the
172 list of accessible paths on the server will be shown.
174 it() if you specify no local destination then a listing of the
175 specified files on the remote server is provided.
178 Some paths on the remote server may require authentication. If so then
179 you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the
180 password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to
181 the password you want to use or using the --password-file option. This
182 may be useful when scripting rsync.
184 WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all
185 users. On those systems using --password-file is recommended.
187 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
189 It is sometimes useful to be able to set up file transfers using rsync
190 server capabilities on the remote machine, while still using rsh or
191 ssh for transport. This is especially useful when you want to connect
192 to a remote machine via ssh (for encryption or to get through a
193 firewall), but you still want to have access to the rsync server
194 features (see RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM,
197 From the user's perspective, using rsync in this way is the same as
198 using it to connect to an rsync server, except that you must
199 explicitly set the remote shell program on the command line with
200 --rsh=COMMAND. (Setting RSYNC_RSH in the environment will not turn on
203 In order to distinguish between the remote-shell user and the rsync
204 server user, you can use '-l user' on your remote-shell command:
206 quote(rsync -av --rsh="ssh -l ssh-user" rsync-user@host::module[/path] local-path)
208 The "ssh-user" will be used at the ssh level; the "rsync-user" will be
209 used to check against the rsyncd.conf on the remote host.
211 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER)
213 An rsync server is configured using a config file which by default is
214 called /etc/rsyncd.conf. Please see the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
217 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
219 See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for full information on the rsync
220 server configuration file.
222 Several configuration options will not be available unless the remote
223 user is root (e.g. chroot, setuid/setgid, etc.). There is no need to
224 configure inetd or the services map to include the rsync server port
225 if you run an rsync server only via a remote shell program.
227 To run an rsync server out of a single-use ssh key, use the
228 "command=em(COMMAND)" syntax in the remote user's
229 authorized_keys entry, where command would be
231 quote(rsync --server --daemon .)
233 NOTE: rsync's argument parsing expects the trailing ".", so make sure
234 that it's there. If you want to use a rsyncd.conf(5)-style
235 configuration file other than /etc/rsyncd.conf, you can added a
236 --config-file option to the em(command):
238 quote(rsync --server --daemon --config-file=em(file) .)
240 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
242 Here are some examples of how I use rsync.
244 To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS Word
245 files and mail folders, I use a cron job that runs
247 quote(rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup)
249 each night over a PPP link to a duplicate directory on my machine
252 To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile
256 rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ .
259 rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/
263 this allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the
264 link. I then do cvs operations on the remote machine, which saves a
265 lot of time as the remote cvs protocol isn't very efficient.
267 I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the
270 quote(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba/ nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge/samba")
272 this is launched from cron every few hours.
274 manpagesection(OPTIONS SUMMARY)
276 Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer
277 to the detailed description below for a complete description.
280 -v, --verbose increase verbosity
281 -q, --quiet decrease verbosity
282 -c, --checksum always checksum
283 -a, --archive archive mode
284 -r, --recursive recurse into directories
285 -R, --relative use relative path names
286 -b, --backup make backups (default ~ suffix)
287 --backup-dir make backups into this directory
288 --suffix=SUFFIX define backup suffix
289 -u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files)
290 -l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks
291 -L, --copy-links copy the referent of symlinks
292 --copy-unsafe-links copy links outside the source tree
293 --safe-links ignore links outside the destination tree
294 -H, --hard-links preserve hard links
295 -p, --perms preserve permissions
296 -o, --owner preserve owner (root only)
297 -g, --group preserve group
298 -D, --devices preserve devices (root only)
299 -t, --times preserve times
300 -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently
301 -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
302 -W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks
303 --no-whole-file turn off --whole-file
304 -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
305 -B, --block-size=SIZE checksum blocking size (default 700)
306 -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify the remote shell to use
307 --rsync-path=PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine
308 -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does
309 --existing only update files that already exist
310 --ignore-existing ignore files that already exist on the receiving side
311 --delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side
312 --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on the receiving side
313 --delete-after delete after transferring, not before
314 --ignore-errors delete even if there are IO errors
315 --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
316 --partial keep partially transferred files
317 --force force deletion of directories even if not empty
318 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
319 --timeout=TIME set IO timeout in seconds
320 -I, --ignore-times don't exclude files that match length and time
321 --size-only only use file size when determining if a file should be transferred
322 --modify-window=NUM Timestamp window (seconds) for file match (default=0)
323 -T --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
324 --compare-dest=DIR also compare destination files relative to DIR
325 -P equivalent to --partial --progress
326 -z, --compress compress file data
327 --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
328 --exclude-from=FILE exclude patterns listed in FILE
329 --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN
330 --include-from=FILE don't exclude patterns listed in FILE
331 --version print version number
332 --daemon run as a rsync daemon
333 --no-detach do not detach from the parent
334 --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address
335 --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
336 --port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number
337 --blocking-io use blocking IO for the remote shell
338 --no-blocking-io turn off --blocking-io
339 --stats give some file transfer stats
340 --progress show progress during transfer
341 --log-format=FORMAT log file transfers using specified format
342 --password-file=FILE get password from FILE
343 --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth, KBytes per second
344 --read-batch=PREFIX read batch fileset starting with PREFIX
345 --write-batch=PREFIX write batch fileset starting with PREFIX
346 -h, --help show this help screen
353 rsync uses the GNU long options package. Many of the command line
354 options have two variants, one short and one long. These are shown
355 below, separated by commas. Some options only have a long variant.
356 The '=' for options that take a parameter is optional; whitespace
360 dit(bf(-h, --help)) Print a short help page describing the options
363 dit(bf(--version)) print the rsync version number and exit
365 dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you
366 are given during the transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A
367 single -v will give you information about what files are being
368 transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two -v flags will give you
369 information on what files are being skipped and slightly more
370 information at the end. More than two -v flags should only be used if
371 you are debugging rsync.
373 dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) This option decreases the amount of information you
374 are given during the transfer, notably suppressing information messages
375 from the remote server. This flag is useful when invoking rsync from
378 dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
379 already the same length and have the same time-stamp. This option turns
382 dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
383 already the same length and have the same time-stamp. With the
384 --size-only option files will be skipped if they have the same size,
385 regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync
386 after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
389 dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps rsync treats
390 the timestamps as being equal if they are within the value of
391 modify_window. This is normally zero, but you may find it useful to
392 set this to a larger value in some situations. In particular, when
393 transferring to/from FAT filesystems which cannot represent times with
394 a 1 second resolution this option is useful.
396 dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using
397 a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then
398 explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name
399 which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
400 receiver are skipped. This option can be quite slow.
402 dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptgoD. It is a quick
403 way of saying you want recursion and want to preserve almost
406 Note however that bf(-a) bf(does not preserve hardlinks), because
407 finding multiply-linked files is expensive. You must separately
410 dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories
411 recursively. If you don't specify this then rsync won't copy
414 dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path
415 names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than
416 just the last parts of the filenames. This is particularly useful when
417 you want to send several different directories at the same time. For
418 example, if you used the command
420 verb(rsync foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
422 then this would create a file called foo.c in /tmp/ on the remote
423 machine. If instead you used
425 verb(rsync -R foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
427 then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/foo.c would be created on the remote
428 machine. The full path name is preserved.
430 dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option preexisting destination files are
431 renamed with a ~ extension as each file is transferred. You can
432 control the backup suffix using the --suffix option.
434 dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the --backup option, this
435 tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
436 very useful for incremental backups. You can additionally
437 specify a backup suffix using the --suffix option
438 (otherwise the files backed up in the specified directory
439 will keep their original filenames).
441 dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
442 backup suffix used with the -b option. The default is a ~.
443 If --backup-dir and --suffix are both specified,
444 the SUFFIX is appended to the filename even in the backup directory.
446 dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files for which the
447 destination file already exists and has a date later than the source
450 dit(bf(-l, --links)) When symlinks are encountered, recreate the
451 symlink on the destination.
453 dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) When symlinks are encountered, the file that
454 they point to is copied, rather than the symlink.
456 dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to copy the referent of
457 symbolic links that point outside the source tree. Absolute symlinks
458 are also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the
459 source path itself when --relative is used.
461 dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links
462 which point outside the destination tree. All absolute symlinks are
463 also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with --relative may
464 give unexpected results.
466 dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on
467 the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
468 option hard links are treated like regular files.
470 Note that rsync can only detect hard links if both parts of the link
471 are in the list of files being sent.
473 This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it.
475 dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm
476 is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. The transfer may be
477 faster if this option is used when the bandwidth between the source and
478 target machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the
479 "disk" is actually a networked file system). This is the default when both
480 the source and target are on the local machine.
482 dit(bf(--no-whole-file)) Turn off --whole-file, for use when it is the
485 dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to update the remote
486 permissions to be the same as the local permissions.
488 dit(bf(-o, --owner)) This option causes rsync to set the owner of the
489 destination file to be the same as the source file. On most systems,
490 only the super-user can set file ownership. Note that if the remote system
491 is a daemon using chroot, the --numeric-ids option is implied because the
492 remote system cannot get access to the usernames from /etc/passwd.
494 dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to set the group of the
495 destination file to be the same as the source file. If the receiving
496 program is not running as the super-user, only groups that the
497 receiver is a member of will be preserved (by group name, not group id
500 dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
501 block device information to the remote system to recreate these
502 devices. This option is only available to the super-user.
504 dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along
505 with the files and update them on the remote system. Note that if this
506 option is not used, the optimization that excludes files that have not been
507 modified cannot be effective; in other words, a missing -t or -a will
508 cause the next transfer to behave as if it used -I, and all files will have
509 their checksums compared and show up in log messages even if they haven't
512 dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers,
513 instead it will just report the actions it would have taken.
515 dit(bf(-S, --sparse)) Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take
516 up less space on the destination.
518 NOTE: Don't use this option when the destination is a Solaris "tmpfs"
519 filesystem. It doesn't seem to handle seeks over null regions
520 correctly and ends up corrupting the files.
522 dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync not to cross filesystem
523 boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the
524 contents of only one filesystem.
526 dit(bf(--existing)) This tells rsync not to create any new files -
527 only update files that already exist on the destination.
529 dit(bf(--ignore-existing))
530 This tells rsync not to update files that already exist on
533 dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM
534 files or directories. This is useful when mirroring very large trees
535 to prevent disasters.
537 dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving
538 side that aren't on the sending side. Files that are excluded from
539 transfer are excluded from being deleted unless you use --delete-excluded.
541 This option has no effect if directory recursion is not selected.
543 This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea
544 to run first using the dry run option (-n) to see what files would be
545 deleted to make sure important files aren't listed.
547 If the sending side detects any IO errors then the deletion of any
548 files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to
549 prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the
550 sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the
551 destination. You can override this with the --ignore-errors option.
553 dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the
554 receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also
555 delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see --exclude).
558 dit(bf(--delete-after)) By default rsync does file deletions before
559 transferring files to try to ensure that there is sufficient space on
560 the receiving filesystem. If you want to delete after transferring
561 then use the --delete-after switch. Implies --delete.
563 dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files
564 even when there are IO errors.
566 dit(bf(--force)) This options tells rsync to delete directories even if
567 they are not empty when they are to be replaced by non-directories. This
568 is only relevant without --delete because deletions are now done depth-first.
569 Requires the --recursive option (which is implied by -a) to have any effect.
571 dit(bf(-B , --block-size=BLOCKSIZE)) This controls the block size used in
572 the rsync algorithm. See the technical report for details.
574 dit(bf(-e, --rsh=COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative
575 remote shell program to use for communication between the local and
576 remote copies of rsync. Typically, rsync is configured to use rsh by
577 default, but you may prefer to use ssh because of its high security.
579 If this option is used with bf([user@]host::module/path), then the
580 remote shell em(COMMMAND) will be used to run an rsync server on the
581 remote host, and all data will be transmitted through that remote
582 shell connection, rather than through a direct socket connection to a
583 running rsync server on the remote host. See the section "CONNECTING
584 TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM" above.
586 Command-line arguments are permitted in COMMAND provided that COMMAND is
587 presented to rsync as a single argument. For example:
589 quote(-e "ssh -p 2234")
591 (Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect
592 options in their .ssh/config file.)
594 You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
595 environment variable, which accepts the same range of values as -e.
597 See also the --blocking-io option which is affected by this option.
599 dit(bf(--rsync-path=PATH)) Use this to specify the path to the copy of
600 rsync on the remote machine. Useful when it's not in your path. Note
601 that this is the full path to the binary, not just the directory that
604 dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option allows you to selectively exclude
605 certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is most
606 useful in combination with a recursive transfer.
608 You may use as many --exclude options on the command line as you like
609 to build up the list of files to exclude.
611 See the section on exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
614 dit(bf(--exclude-from=FILE)) This option is similar to the --exclude
615 option, but instead it adds all exclude patterns listed in the file
616 FILE to the exclude list. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with
617 ';' or '#' are ignored.
619 dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option tells rsync to not exclude the
620 specified pattern of filenames. This is useful as it allows you to
621 build up quite complex exclude/include rules.
623 See the section of exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
626 dit(bf(--include-from=FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns
629 dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a
630 broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between
631 systems. It uses the same algorithm that CVS uses to determine if
632 a file should be ignored.
634 The exclude list is initialized to:
636 quote(RCS SCCS CVS CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state
637 .nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej .del-*
638 *.a *.o *.obj *.so *.Z *.elc *.ln core)
640 then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
641 files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (space delimited).
643 Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a
644 .cvsignore file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. See
645 the bf(cvs(1)) manual for more information.
647 dit(bf(--csum-length=LENGTH)) By default the primary checksum used in
648 rsync is a very strong 16 byte MD4 checksum. In most cases you will
649 find that a truncated version of this checksum is quite efficient, and
650 this will decrease the size of the checksum data sent over the link,
651 making things faster.
653 You can choose the number of bytes in the truncated checksum using the
654 --csum-length option. Any value less than or equal to 16 is valid.
656 Note that if you use this option then you run the risk of ending up
657 with an incorrect target file. The risk with a value of 16 is
658 microscopic and can be safely ignored (the universe will probably end
659 before it fails) but with smaller values the risk is higher.
661 Current versions of rsync actually use an adaptive algorithm for the
662 checksum length by default, using a 16 byte file checksum to determine
663 if a 2nd pass is required with a longer block checksum. Only use this
664 option if you have read the source code and know what you are doing.
666 dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a
667 scratch directory when creating temporary copies of the files
668 transferred on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create
669 the temporary files in the receiving directory.
671 dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR on
672 the destination machine as an additional directory to compare destination
673 files against when doing transfers. This is useful for doing transfers to
674 a new destination while leaving existing files intact, and then doing a
675 flash-cutover when all files have been successfully transferred (for
676 example by moving directories around and removing the old directory,
677 although this requires also doing the transfer with -I to avoid skipping
678 files that haven't changed). This option increases the usefulness of
679 --partial because partially transferred files will remain in the new
680 temporary destination until they have a chance to be completed. If DIR is
681 a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
683 dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses any data from
684 the files that it sends to the destination machine. This
685 option is useful on slow links. The compression method used is the
686 same method that gzip uses.
688 Note this this option typically achieves better compression ratios
689 that can be achieved by using a compressing remote shell, or a
690 compressing transport, as it takes advantage of the implicit
691 information sent for matching data blocks.
693 dit(bf(--numeric-ids)) With this option rsync will transfer numeric group
694 and user ids rather than using user and group names and mapping them
697 By default rsync will use the user name and group name to determine
698 what ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group
699 0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the --numeric-ids
700 option is not specified.
702 If the source system is a daemon using chroot, or if a user or group
703 name does not exist on the destination system, then the numeric id
704 from the source system is used instead.
706 dit(bf(--timeout=TIMEOUT)) This option allows you to set a maximum IO
707 timeout in seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time
708 then rsync will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout.
710 dit(bf(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The
711 daemon may be accessed using the bf(host::module) or
712 bf(rsync://host/module/) syntax.
714 If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being
715 run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and
716 become a background daemon. The daemon will read the config file
717 (/etc/rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and respond to
718 requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
721 dit(bf(--no-detach)) When running as a daemon, this option instructs
722 rsync to not detach itself and become a background process. This
723 option is required when running as a service on Cygwin, and may also
724 be useful when rsync is supervised by a program such as
725 bf(daemontools) or AIX's bf(System Resource Controller).
726 bf(--no-detach) is also recommended when rsync is run under a
727 debugger. This option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or
730 dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address
731 when run as a daemon with the --daemon option or when connecting to a
732 rsync server. The --address option allows you to specify a specific IP
733 address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting possible
734 in conjunction with the --config option.
736 dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
737 the default /etc/rsyncd.conf. This is only relevant when --daemon is
740 dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
741 rather than the default port 873.
743 dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This tells rsync to use blocking IO when launching
744 a remote shell transport. If -e or --rsh are not specified or are set to
745 the default "rsh", this defaults to blocking IO, otherwise it defaults to
746 non-blocking IO. You may find the --blocking-io option is needed for some
747 remote shells that can't handle non-blocking IO. (Note that ssh prefers
750 dit(bf(--no-blocking-io)) Turn off --blocking-io, for use when it is the
753 dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
754 rsync client logs to stdout on a per-file basis. The log format is
755 specified using the same format conventions as the log format option in
758 dit(bf(--stats)) This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics
759 on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync
760 algorithm is for your data.
762 dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
763 transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
764 it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the
765 --partial option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should
766 make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster.
768 dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information
769 showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user
772 This option is normally combined with -v. Using this option without
773 the -v option will produce weird results on your display.
775 dit(bf(-P)) The -P option is equivalent to --partial --progress. I
776 found myself typing that combination quite often so I created an
777 option to make it easier.
779 dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password
780 in a file for accessing a remote rsync server. Note that this option
781 is only useful when accessing a rsync server using the built in
782 transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file
783 must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a
786 dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
787 transfer rate in kilobytes per second. This option is most effective when
788 using rsync with large files (several megabytes and up). Due to the nature
789 of rsync transfers, blocks of data are sent, then if rsync determines the
790 transfer was too fast, it will wait before sending the next data block. The
791 result is an average transfer rate equalling the specified limit. A value
792 of zero specifies no limit.
794 dit(bf(--write-batch=PREFIX)) Generate a set of files that can be
795 transferred as a batch update. Each filename in the set starts with
796 PREFIX. See the "BATCH MODE" section for details.
798 dit(bf(--read-batch=PREFIX)) Apply a previously generated change batch,
799 using the fileset whose filenames start with PREFIX. See the "BATCH
800 MODE" section for details.
804 manpagesection(EXCLUDE PATTERNS)
806 The exclude and include patterns specified to rsync allow for flexible
807 selection of which files to transfer and which files to skip.
809 rsync builds an ordered list of include/exclude options as specified on
810 the command line. When a filename is encountered, rsync checks the
811 name against each exclude/include pattern in turn. The first matching
812 pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern, then that file is
813 skipped. If it is an include pattern then that filename is not
814 skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the
815 filename is not skipped.
817 Note that when used with -r (which is implied by -a), every subcomponent of
818 every path is visited from top down, so include/exclude patterns get
819 applied recursively to each subcomponent.
821 Note also that the --include and --exclude options take one pattern
822 each. To add multiple patterns use the --include-from and
823 --exclude-from options or multiple --include and --exclude options.
825 The patterns can take several forms. The rules are:
828 it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is matched against the
829 start of the filename, otherwise it is matched against the end of
830 the filename. Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at the base of
831 the tree. On the other hand, "foo" would match any file called "foo"
832 anywhere in the tree because the algorithm is applied recursively from
833 top down; it behaves as if each path component gets a turn at being the
834 end of the file name.
836 it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
837 directory, not a file, link or device.
839 it() if the pattern contains a wildcard character from the set
840 *?[ then expression matching is applied using the shell filename
841 matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used.
843 it() if the pattern includes a double asterisk "**" then all wildcards in
844 the pattern will match slashes, otherwise they will stop at slashes.
846 it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) then it
847 is matched against the full filename, including any leading
848 directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a / then it is matched
849 only against the final component of the filename. Again, remember
850 that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename" can
851 actually be any portion of a path.
853 it() if the pattern starts with "+ " (a plus followed by a space)
854 then it is always considered an include pattern, even if specified as
855 part of an exclude option. The "+ " part is discarded before matching.
857 it() if the pattern starts with "- " (a minus followed by a space)
858 then it is always considered an exclude pattern, even if specified as
859 part of an include option. The "- " part is discarded before matching.
861 it() if the pattern is a single exclamation mark ! then the current
862 include/exclude list is reset, removing all previously defined patterns.
865 The +/- rules are most useful in exclude lists, allowing you to have a
866 single exclude list that contains both include and exclude options.
868 If you end an exclude list with --exclude '*', note that since the
869 algorithm is applied recursively that unless you explicitly include
870 parent directories of files you want to include then the algorithm
871 will stop at the parent directories and never see the files below
872 them. To include all directories, use --include '*/' before the
875 Here are some exclude/include examples:
878 it() --exclude "*.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o
879 it() --exclude "/foo" would exclude a file in the base directory called foo
880 it() --exclude "foo/" would exclude any directory called foo
881 it() --exclude "/foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
882 levels below a base directory called foo
883 it() --exclude "/foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
884 or more levels below a base directory called foo
885 it() --include "*/" --include "*.c" --exclude "*" would include all
886 directories and C source files
887 it() --include "foo/" --include "foo/bar.c" --exclude "*" would include
888 only foo/bar.c (the foo/ directory must be explicitly included or
889 it would be excluded by the "*")
892 manpagesection(BATCH MODE)
894 bf(Note:) Batch mode should be considered experimental in this version
895 of rsync. The interface or behaviour may change before it stabilizes.
897 Batch mode can be used to apply the same set of updates to many
898 identical systems. Suppose one has a tree which is replicated on a
899 number of hosts. Now suppose some changes have been made to this
900 source tree and those changes need to be propagated to the other
901 hosts. In order to do this using batch mode, rsync is run with the
902 write-batch option to apply the changes made to the source tree to one
903 of the destination trees. The write-batch option causes the rsync
904 client to store the information needed to repeat this operation against
905 other destination trees in a batch update fileset (see below). The
906 filename of each file in the fileset starts with a prefix specified by
907 the user as an argument to the write-batch option. This fileset is
908 then copied to each remote host, where rsync is run with the read-batch
909 option, again specifying the same prefix, and the destination tree.
910 Rsync updates the destination tree using the information stored in the
911 batch update fileset.
913 The fileset consists of 4 files:
916 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_argvs) command-line arguments
917 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_flist) rsync internal file metadata
918 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_csums) rsync checksums
919 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_delta) data blocks for file update & change
922 The .rsync_argvs file contains a command-line suitable for updating a
923 destination tree using that batch update fileset. It can be executed
924 using a Bourne(-like) shell, optionally passing in an alternate
925 destination tree pathname which is then used instead of the original
926 path. This is useful when the destination tree path differs from the
927 original destination tree path.
929 Generating the batch update fileset once saves having to perform the
930 file status, checksum and data block generation more than once when
931 updating multiple destination trees. Multicast transport protocols can
932 be used to transfer the batch update files in parallel to many hosts at
933 once, instead of sending the same data to every host individually.
938 $ rsync --write_batch=pfx -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/
939 $ rcp pfx.rsync_* remote:
940 $ rsh remote rsync --read_batch=pfx -a /bdest/dir/
942 $ rsh remote ./pfx.rsync_argvs /bdest/dir/
945 In this example, rsync is used to update /adest/dir/ with /source/dir/
946 and the information to repeat this operation is stored in the files
947 pfx.rsync_*. These files are then copied to the machine named "remote".
948 Rsync is then invoked on "remote" to update /bdest/dir/ the same way as
949 /adest/dir/. The last line shows the rsync_argvs file being used to
954 The read-batch option expects the destination tree it is meant to update
955 to be identical to the destination tree that was used to create the
956 batch update fileset. When a difference between the destination trees
957 is encountered the update will fail at that point, leaving the
958 destination tree in a partially updated state. In that case, rsync can
959 be used in its regular (non-batch) mode of operation to fix up the
962 The rsync version used on all destinations should be identical to the
963 one used on the original destination.
965 The -z/--compress option does not work in batch mode and yields a usage
966 error. A separate compression tool can be used instead to reduce the
967 size of the batch update files for transport to the destination.
969 The -n/--dryrun option does not work in batch mode and yields a runtime
972 See bf(http://www.ils.unc.edu/i2dsi/unc_rsync+.html) for papers and technical
975 manpagesection(SYMBOLIC LINKS)
977 Three basic behaviours are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic
978 link in the source directory.
980 By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message
981 "skipping non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist.
983 If bf(--links) is specified, then symlinks are recreated with the same
984 target on the destination. Note that bf(--archive) implies
987 If bf(--copy-links) is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by
988 copying their referent, rather than the symlink.
990 rsync also distinguishes "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An
991 example where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes
992 ensure the rsync module they copy does not include symbolic links to
993 bf(/etc/passwd) in the public section of the site. Using
994 bf(--copy-unsafe-links) will cause any links to be copied as the file
995 they point to on the destination. Using bf(--safe-links) will cause
996 unsafe links to be ommitted altogether.
998 Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks
999 (start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough bf("..")
1000 components to ascend from the directory being copied.
1002 manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS)
1004 rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
1005 cryptic. The one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol
1006 version mismatch - is your shell clean?".
1008 This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell
1009 facility producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using
1010 for its transport. The way to diagnose this problem is to run your
1011 remote shell like this:
1014 rsh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat
1017 then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat
1018 should be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from
1019 rsync then you will probably find that out.dat contains some text or
1020 data. Look at the contents and try to work out what is producing
1021 it. The most common cause is incorrectly configured shell startup
1022 scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that contain output statements
1023 for non-interactive logins.
1025 If you are having trouble debugging include and exclude patterns, then
1026 try specifying the -vv option. At this level of verbosity rsync will
1027 show why each individual file is included or excluded.
1029 manpagesection(EXIT VALUES)
1032 dit(bf(RERR_SYNTAX 1)) Syntax or usage error
1033 dit(bf(RERR_PROTOCOL 2)) Protocol incompatibility
1034 dit(bf(RERR_FILESELECT 3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
1036 dit(bf(RERR_UNSUPPORTED 4)) Requested action not supported: an attempt
1037 was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support
1038 them; or an option was speciifed that is supported by the client and
1041 dit(bf(RERR_SOCKETIO 10)) Error in socket IO
1042 dit(bf(RERR_FILEIO 11)) Error in file IO
1043 dit(bf(RERR_STREAMIO 12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream
1044 dit(bf(RERR_MESSAGEIO 13)) Errors with program diagnostics
1045 dit(bf(RERR_IPC 14)) Error in IPC code
1046 dit(bf(RERR_SIGNAL 20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
1047 dit(bf(RERR_WAITCHILD 21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
1048 dit(bf(RERR_MALLOC 22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
1049 dit(bf(RERR_TIMEOUT 30)) Timeout in data send/receive
1052 manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES)
1056 dit(bf(CVSIGNORE)) The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any
1057 ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the --cvs-exclude option for
1060 dit(bf(RSYNC_RSH)) The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to
1061 override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. Command line
1062 options are permitted after the command name, just as in the -e option.
1064 dit(bf(RSYNC_PROXY)) The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to
1065 redirect your rsync client to use a web proxy when connecting to a
1066 rsync daemon. You should set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair.
1068 dit(bf(RSYNC_PASSWORD)) Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required
1069 password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to a rsync
1070 daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a
1071 password to a shell transport such as ssh.
1073 dit(bf(USER) or bf(LOGNAME)) The USER or LOGNAME environment variables
1074 are used to determine the default username sent to a rsync server.
1076 dit(bf(HOME)) The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's
1077 default .cvsignore file.
1089 manpagediagnostics()
1093 times are transferred as unix time_t values
1095 file permissions, devices etc are transferred as native numerical
1098 see also the comments on the --delete option
1100 Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at
1101 url(http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/)(http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/)
1103 manpagesection(VERSION)
1104 This man page is current for version 2.0 of rsync
1106 manpagesection(CREDITS)
1108 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
1109 COPYING for details.
1111 A WEB site is available at
1112 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/). The site
1113 includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this
1116 The primary ftp site for rsync is
1117 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
1119 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
1121 This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by
1122 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
1124 manpagesection(THANKS)
1126 Thanks to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell
1127 and David Bell for helpful suggestions, patches and testing of rsync.
1128 I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
1130 Especial thanks also to: David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer.
1135 rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell <tridge@samba.org> and Paul
1138 rsync is now maintained by Martin Pool <mbp@samba.org>.
1140 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
1141 url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)
1143 If you suspect you have found a security vulnerability in rsync,
1144 please send it directly to Martin Pool and Andrew Tridgell. For other
1145 enquiries, please use the mailing list.