1 mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
2 manpage(rsync)(1)(25 Jan 2002)()()
3 manpagename(rsync)(faster, flexible replacement for rcp)
6 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST:DEST
8 rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC DEST
10 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... DEST
12 rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST]
14 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST::DEST
16 rsync [OPTION]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC [DEST]
18 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/DEST
22 rsync is a program that behaves in much the same way that rcp does,
23 but has many more options and uses the rsync remote-update protocol to
24 greatly speed up file transfers when the destination file already
27 The rsync remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the
28 differences between two sets of files across the network link, using
29 an efficient checksum-search algorithm described in the technical
30 report that accompanies this package.
32 Some of the additional features of rsync are:
35 it() support for copying links, devices, owners, groups and permissions
36 it() exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar
37 it() a CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore
38 it() can use any transparent remote shell, including rsh or ssh
39 it() does not require root privileges
40 it() pipelining of file transfers to minimize latency costs
41 it() support for anonymous or authenticated rsync servers (ideal for
45 manpagesection(GENERAL)
47 There are eight different ways of using rsync. They are:
50 it() for copying local files. This is invoked when neither
51 source nor destination path contains a : separator
53 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine using
54 a remote shell program as the transport (such as rsh or
55 ssh). This is invoked when the destination path contains a
58 it() for copying from a remote machine to the local machine
59 using a remote shell program. This is invoked when the source
60 contains a : separator.
62 it() for copying from a remote rsync server to the local
63 machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
64 separator or a rsync:// URL.
66 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote rsync
67 server. This is invoked when the destination path contains a ::
68 separator or a rsync:// URL.
70 it() for copying from a remote machine using a remote shell
71 program as the transport, using rsync server on the remote
72 machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
73 separator and the --rsh=COMMAND (aka "-e COMMAND") option is
76 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine
77 using a remote shell program as the transport, using rsync
78 server on the remote machine. This is invoked when the
79 destination path contains a :: separator and the
80 --rsh=COMMMAND option is also provided.
82 it() for listing files on a remote machine. This is done the
83 same way as rsync transfers except that you leave off the
87 Note that in all cases (other than listing) at least one of the source
88 and destination paths must be local.
92 See the file README for installation instructions.
94 Once installed, you can use rsync to any machine that you can access via
95 a remote shell (as well as some that you can access using the rsync
96 daemon-mode protocol). For remote transfers, rsync typically uses rsh
97 for its communications, but it may have been configured to use a
98 different remote shell by default, such as ssh.
100 You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the -e
101 command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable.
103 One common substitute is to use ssh, which offers a high degree of
106 Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination
109 manpagesection(USAGE)
111 You use rsync in the same way you use rcp. You must specify a source
112 and a destination, one of which may be remote.
114 Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is some examples:
116 quote(rsync *.c foo:src/)
118 this would transfer all files matching the pattern *.c from the
119 current directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of
120 the files already exist on the remote system then the rsync
121 remote-update protocol is used to update the file by sending only the
122 differences. See the tech report for details.
124 quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp)
126 this would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the
127 machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The
128 files are transferred in "archive" mode, which ensures that symbolic
129 links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownerships etc are preserved
130 in the transfer. Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the
131 size of data portions of the transfer.
133 quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp)
135 a trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to transfer
136 all files from the directory src/bar on the machine foo into the
137 /data/tmp/. A trailing / on a source name means "copy the
138 contents of this directory". Without a trailing slash it means "copy
139 the directory". This difference becomes particularly important when
140 using the --delete option.
142 You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
143 destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like
144 an improved copy command.
146 quote(rsync somehost.mydomain.com::)
148 this would list all the anonymous rsync modules available on the host
149 somehost.mydomain.com. (See the following section for more details.)
152 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER)
154 It is also possible to use rsync without a remote shell as the
155 transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server
156 running on TCP port 873.
158 You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the
159 environment variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to
160 your web proxy. Note that your web proxy's configuration must allow
161 proxying to port 873.
163 Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except
167 it() you use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to
168 separate the hostname from the path or a rsync:// URL.
170 it() the remote server may print a message of the day when you
173 it() if you specify no path name on the remote server then the
174 list of accessible paths on the server will be shown.
176 it() if you specify no local destination then a listing of the
177 specified files on the remote server is provided.
180 Some paths on the remote server may require authentication. If so then
181 you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the
182 password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to
183 the password you want to use or using the --password-file option. This
184 may be useful when scripting rsync.
186 WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all
187 users. On those systems using --password-file is recommended.
189 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
191 It is sometimes useful to be able to set up file transfers using rsync
192 server capabilities on the remote machine, while still using rsh or
193 ssh for transport. This is especially useful when you want to connect
194 to a remote machine via ssh (for encryption or to get through a
195 firewall), but you still want to have access to the rsync server
196 features (see RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM,
199 From the user's perspective, using rsync in this way is the same as
200 using it to connect to an rsync server, except that you must
201 explicitly set the remote shell program on the command line with
202 --rsh=COMMAND. (Setting RSYNC_RSH in the environment will not turn on
205 In order to distinguish between the remote-shell user and the rsync
206 server user, you can use '-l user' on your remote-shell command:
208 quote(rsync -av --rsh="ssh -l ssh-user" rsync-user@host::module[/path] local-path)
210 The "ssh-user" will be used at the ssh level; the "rsync-user" will be
211 used to check against the rsyncd.conf on the remote host.
213 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER)
215 An rsync server is configured using a config file which by default is
216 called /etc/rsyncd.conf. Please see the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
219 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
221 See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for full information on the rsync
222 server configuration file.
224 Several configuration options will not be available unless the remote
225 user is root (e.g. chroot, setuid/setgid, etc.). There is no need to
226 configure inetd or the services map to include the rsync server port
227 if you run an rsync server only via a remote shell program.
229 To run an rsync server out of a single-use ssh key, use the
230 "command=em(COMMAND)" syntax in the remote user's
231 authorized_keys entry, where command would be
233 quote(rsync --server --daemon .)
235 NOTE: rsync's argument parsing expects the trailing ".", so make sure
236 that it's there. If you want to use a rsyncd.conf(5)-style
237 configuration file other than /etc/rsyncd.conf, you can added a
238 --config-file option to the em(command):
240 quote(rsync --server --daemon --config-file=em(file) .)
242 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
244 Here are some examples of how I use rsync.
246 To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS Word
247 files and mail folders, I use a cron job that runs
249 quote(rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup)
251 each night over a PPP link to a duplicate directory on my machine
254 To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile
258 rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ .
261 rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/
265 this allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the
266 link. I then do cvs operations on the remote machine, which saves a
267 lot of time as the remote cvs protocol isn't very efficient.
269 I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the
272 quote(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba/ nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge/samba")
274 this is launched from cron every few hours.
276 manpagesection(OPTIONS SUMMARY)
278 Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer
279 to the detailed description below for a complete description.
282 -v, --verbose increase verbosity
283 -q, --quiet decrease verbosity
284 -c, --checksum always checksum
285 -a, --archive archive mode
286 -r, --recursive recurse into directories
287 -R, --relative use relative path names
288 -b, --backup make backups (default ~ suffix)
289 --backup-dir make backups into this directory
290 --suffix=SUFFIX define backup suffix
291 -u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files)
292 -l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks
293 -L, --copy-links copy the referent of symlinks
294 --copy-unsafe-links copy links outside the source tree
295 --safe-links ignore links outside the destination tree
296 -H, --hard-links preserve hard links
297 -p, --perms preserve permissions
298 -o, --owner preserve owner (root only)
299 -g, --group preserve group
300 -D, --devices preserve devices (root only)
301 -t, --times preserve times
302 -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently
303 -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
304 -W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks
305 --no-whole-file turn off --whole-file
306 -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
307 -B, --block-size=SIZE checksum blocking size (default 700)
308 -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify the remote shell to use
309 --rsync-path=PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine
310 -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does
311 --existing only update files that already exist
312 --ignore-existing ignore files that already exist on the receiving side
313 --delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side
314 --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on the receiving side
315 --delete-after delete after transferring, not before
316 --ignore-errors delete even if there are IO errors
317 --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
318 --partial keep partially transferred files
319 --force force deletion of directories even if not empty
320 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
321 --timeout=TIME set IO timeout in seconds
322 -I, --ignore-times don't exclude files that match length and time
323 --size-only only use file size when determining if a file should be transferred
324 --modify-window=NUM Timestamp window (seconds) for file match (default=0)
325 -T --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
326 --compare-dest=DIR also compare destination files relative to DIR
327 --link-dest=DIR create hardlinks to DIR for unchanged files
328 -P equivalent to --partial --progress
329 -z, --compress compress file data
330 --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
331 --exclude-from=FILE exclude patterns listed in FILE
332 --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN
333 --include-from=FILE don't exclude patterns listed in FILE
334 --version print version number
335 --daemon run as a rsync daemon
336 --no-detach do not detach from the parent
337 --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address
338 --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
339 --port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number
340 --blocking-io use blocking IO for the remote shell
341 --no-blocking-io turn off --blocking-io
342 --stats give some file transfer stats
343 --progress show progress during transfer
344 --log-format=FORMAT log file transfers using specified format
345 --password-file=FILE get password from FILE
346 --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth, KBytes per second
347 --read-batch=PREFIX read batch fileset starting with PREFIX
348 --write-batch=PREFIX write batch fileset starting with PREFIX
349 -h, --help show this help screen
356 rsync uses the GNU long options package. Many of the command line
357 options have two variants, one short and one long. These are shown
358 below, separated by commas. Some options only have a long variant.
359 The '=' for options that take a parameter is optional; whitespace
363 dit(bf(-h, --help)) Print a short help page describing the options
366 dit(bf(--version)) print the rsync version number and exit
368 dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you
369 are given during the transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A
370 single -v will give you information about what files are being
371 transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two -v flags will give you
372 information on what files are being skipped and slightly more
373 information at the end. More than two -v flags should only be used if
374 you are debugging rsync.
376 dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) This option decreases the amount of information you
377 are given during the transfer, notably suppressing information messages
378 from the remote server. This flag is useful when invoking rsync from
381 dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
382 already the same length and have the same time-stamp. This option turns
385 dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
386 already the same length and have the same time-stamp. With the
387 --size-only option files will be skipped if they have the same size,
388 regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync
389 after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
392 dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps rsync treats
393 the timestamps as being equal if they are within the value of
394 modify_window. This is normally zero, but you may find it useful to
395 set this to a larger value in some situations. In particular, when
396 transferring to/from FAT filesystems which cannot represent times with
397 a 1 second resolution this option is useful.
399 dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using
400 a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then
401 explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name
402 which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
403 receiver are skipped. This option can be quite slow.
405 dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptgoD. It is a quick
406 way of saying you want recursion and want to preserve almost
409 Note however that bf(-a) bf(does not preserve hardlinks), because
410 finding multiply-linked files is expensive. You must separately
413 dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories
414 recursively. If you don't specify this then rsync won't copy
417 dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path
418 names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than
419 just the last parts of the filenames. This is particularly useful when
420 you want to send several different directories at the same time. For
421 example, if you used the command
423 verb(rsync foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
425 then this would create a file called foo.c in /tmp/ on the remote
426 machine. If instead you used
428 verb(rsync -R foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
430 then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/foo.c would be created on the remote
431 machine. The full path name is preserved.
433 dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option preexisting destination files are
434 renamed with a ~ extension as each file is transferred. You can
435 control the backup suffix using the --suffix option.
437 dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the --backup option, this
438 tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
439 very useful for incremental backups. You can additionally
440 specify a backup suffix using the --suffix option
441 (otherwise the files backed up in the specified directory
442 will keep their original filenames).
444 dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
445 backup suffix used with the -b option. The default is a ~.
446 If --backup-dir and --suffix are both specified,
447 the SUFFIX is appended to the filename even in the backup directory.
449 dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files for which the
450 destination file already exists and has a date later than the source
453 dit(bf(-l, --links)) When symlinks are encountered, recreate the
454 symlink on the destination.
456 dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) When symlinks are encountered, the file that
457 they point to is copied, rather than the symlink.
459 dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to copy the referent of
460 symbolic links that point outside the source tree. Absolute symlinks
461 are also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the
462 source path itself when --relative is used.
464 dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links
465 which point outside the destination tree. All absolute symlinks are
466 also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with --relative may
467 give unexpected results.
469 dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on
470 the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
471 option hard links are treated like regular files.
473 Note that rsync can only detect hard links if both parts of the link
474 are in the list of files being sent.
476 This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it.
478 dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm
479 is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. The transfer may be
480 faster if this option is used when the bandwidth between the source and
481 target machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the
482 "disk" is actually a networked file system). This is the default when both
483 the source and target are on the local machine.
485 dit(bf(--no-whole-file)) Turn off --whole-file, for use when it is the
488 dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to update the remote
489 permissions to be the same as the local permissions.
491 dit(bf(-o, --owner)) This option causes rsync to set the owner of the
492 destination file to be the same as the source file. On most systems,
493 only the super-user can set file ownership. Note that if the remote system
494 is a daemon using chroot, the --numeric-ids option is implied because the
495 remote system cannot get access to the usernames from /etc/passwd.
497 dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to set the group of the
498 destination file to be the same as the source file. If the receiving
499 program is not running as the super-user, only groups that the
500 receiver is a member of will be preserved (by group name, not group id
503 dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
504 block device information to the remote system to recreate these
505 devices. This option is only available to the super-user.
507 dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along
508 with the files and update them on the remote system. Note that if this
509 option is not used, the optimization that excludes files that have not been
510 modified cannot be effective; in other words, a missing -t or -a will
511 cause the next transfer to behave as if it used -I, and all files will have
512 their checksums compared and show up in log messages even if they haven't
515 dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers,
516 instead it will just report the actions it would have taken.
518 dit(bf(-S, --sparse)) Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take
519 up less space on the destination.
521 NOTE: Don't use this option when the destination is a Solaris "tmpfs"
522 filesystem. It doesn't seem to handle seeks over null regions
523 correctly and ends up corrupting the files.
525 dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync not to cross filesystem
526 boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the
527 contents of only one filesystem.
529 dit(bf(--existing)) This tells rsync not to create any new files -
530 only update files that already exist on the destination.
532 dit(bf(--ignore-existing))
533 This tells rsync not to update files that already exist on
536 dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM
537 files or directories. This is useful when mirroring very large trees
538 to prevent disasters.
540 dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving
541 side that aren't on the sending side. Files that are excluded from
542 transfer are excluded from being deleted unless you use --delete-excluded.
544 This option has no effect if directory recursion is not selected.
546 This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea
547 to run first using the dry run option (-n) to see what files would be
548 deleted to make sure important files aren't listed.
550 If the sending side detects any IO errors then the deletion of any
551 files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to
552 prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the
553 sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the
554 destination. You can override this with the --ignore-errors option.
556 dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the
557 receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also
558 delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see --exclude).
561 dit(bf(--delete-after)) By default rsync does file deletions before
562 transferring files to try to ensure that there is sufficient space on
563 the receiving filesystem. If you want to delete after transferring
564 then use the --delete-after switch. Implies --delete.
566 dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files
567 even when there are IO errors.
569 dit(bf(--force)) This options tells rsync to delete directories even if
570 they are not empty when they are to be replaced by non-directories. This
571 is only relevant without --delete because deletions are now done depth-first.
572 Requires the --recursive option (which is implied by -a) to have any effect.
574 dit(bf(-B , --block-size=BLOCKSIZE)) This controls the block size used in
575 the rsync algorithm. See the technical report for details.
577 dit(bf(-e, --rsh=COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative
578 remote shell program to use for communication between the local and
579 remote copies of rsync. Typically, rsync is configured to use rsh by
580 default, but you may prefer to use ssh because of its high security.
582 If this option is used with bf([user@]host::module/path), then the
583 remote shell em(COMMMAND) will be used to run an rsync server on the
584 remote host, and all data will be transmitted through that remote
585 shell connection, rather than through a direct socket connection to a
586 running rsync server on the remote host. See the section "CONNECTING
587 TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM" above.
589 Command-line arguments are permitted in COMMAND provided that COMMAND is
590 presented to rsync as a single argument. For example:
592 quote(-e "ssh -p 2234")
594 (Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect
595 options in their .ssh/config file.)
597 You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
598 environment variable, which accepts the same range of values as -e.
600 See also the --blocking-io option which is affected by this option.
602 dit(bf(--rsync-path=PATH)) Use this to specify the path to the copy of
603 rsync on the remote machine. Useful when it's not in your path. Note
604 that this is the full path to the binary, not just the directory that
607 dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option allows you to selectively exclude
608 certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is most
609 useful in combination with a recursive transfer.
611 You may use as many --exclude options on the command line as you like
612 to build up the list of files to exclude.
614 See the section on exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
617 dit(bf(--exclude-from=FILE)) This option is similar to the --exclude
618 option, but instead it adds all exclude patterns listed in the file
619 FILE to the exclude list. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with
620 ';' or '#' are ignored.
621 If em(FILE) is bf(-) the list will be read from standard input.
624 dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option tells rsync to not exclude the
625 specified pattern of filenames. This is useful as it allows you to
626 build up quite complex exclude/include rules.
628 See the section of exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
631 dit(bf(--include-from=FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns
633 If em(FILE) is bf(-) the list will be read from standard input.
636 dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a
637 broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between
638 systems. It uses the same algorithm that CVS uses to determine if
639 a file should be ignored.
641 The exclude list is initialized to:
643 quote(RCS SCCS CVS CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state
644 .nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej .del-*
645 *.a *.o *.obj *.so *.Z *.elc *.ln core)
647 then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
648 files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (space delimited).
650 Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a
651 .cvsignore file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. See
652 the bf(cvs(1)) manual for more information.
654 dit(bf(--csum-length=LENGTH)) By default the primary checksum used in
655 rsync is a very strong 16 byte MD4 checksum. In most cases you will
656 find that a truncated version of this checksum is quite efficient, and
657 this will decrease the size of the checksum data sent over the link,
658 making things faster.
660 You can choose the number of bytes in the truncated checksum using the
661 --csum-length option. Any value less than or equal to 16 is valid.
663 Note that if you use this option then you run the risk of ending up
664 with an incorrect target file. The risk with a value of 16 is
665 microscopic and can be safely ignored (the universe will probably end
666 before it fails) but with smaller values the risk is higher.
668 Current versions of rsync actually use an adaptive algorithm for the
669 checksum length by default, using a 16 byte file checksum to determine
670 if a 2nd pass is required with a longer block checksum. Only use this
671 option if you have read the source code and know what you are doing.
673 dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a
674 scratch directory when creating temporary copies of the files
675 transferred on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create
676 the temporary files in the receiving directory.
678 dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR on
679 the destination machine as an additional directory to compare destination
680 files against when doing transfers if the files are missing in the
681 destination directory. This is useful for doing transfers to a new
682 destination while leaving existing files intact, and then doing a
683 flash-cutover when all files have been successfully transferred (for
684 example by moving directories around and removing the old directory,
685 although this skips files that haven't changed; see also --link-dest).
686 This option increases the usefulness of --partial because partially
687 transferred files will remain in the new temporary destination until they
688 have a chance to be completed. If DIR is a relative path, it is relative
689 to the destination directory.
691 dit(bf(--link-dest=DIR)) This option behaves like bf(--compare-dest) but
692 also will create hard links from em(DIR) to the destination directory for
693 unchanged files. Files with changed ownership or permissions will not be
696 dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses any data from
697 the files that it sends to the destination machine. This
698 option is useful on slow links. The compression method used is the
699 same method that gzip uses.
701 Note this this option typically achieves better compression ratios
702 that can be achieved by using a compressing remote shell, or a
703 compressing transport, as it takes advantage of the implicit
704 information sent for matching data blocks.
706 dit(bf(--numeric-ids)) With this option rsync will transfer numeric group
707 and user ids rather than using user and group names and mapping them
710 By default rsync will use the user name and group name to determine
711 what ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group
712 0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the --numeric-ids
713 option is not specified.
715 If the source system is a daemon using chroot, or if a user or group
716 name does not exist on the destination system, then the numeric id
717 from the source system is used instead.
719 dit(bf(--timeout=TIMEOUT)) This option allows you to set a maximum IO
720 timeout in seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time
721 then rsync will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout.
723 dit(bf(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The
724 daemon may be accessed using the bf(host::module) or
725 bf(rsync://host/module/) syntax.
727 If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being
728 run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and
729 become a background daemon. The daemon will read the config file
730 (/etc/rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and respond to
731 requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
734 dit(bf(--no-detach)) When running as a daemon, this option instructs
735 rsync to not detach itself and become a background process. This
736 option is required when running as a service on Cygwin, and may also
737 be useful when rsync is supervised by a program such as
738 bf(daemontools) or AIX's bf(System Resource Controller).
739 bf(--no-detach) is also recommended when rsync is run under a
740 debugger. This option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or
743 dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address
744 when run as a daemon with the --daemon option or when connecting to a
745 rsync server. The --address option allows you to specify a specific IP
746 address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting possible
747 in conjunction with the --config option.
749 dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
750 the default /etc/rsyncd.conf. This is only relevant when --daemon is
753 dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
754 rather than the default port 873.
756 dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This tells rsync to use blocking IO when launching
757 a remote shell transport. If -e or --rsh are not specified or are set to
758 the default "rsh", this defaults to blocking IO, otherwise it defaults to
759 non-blocking IO. You may find the --blocking-io option is needed for some
760 remote shells that can't handle non-blocking IO. (Note that ssh prefers
763 dit(bf(--no-blocking-io)) Turn off --blocking-io, for use when it is the
766 dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
767 rsync client logs to stdout on a per-file basis. The log format is
768 specified using the same format conventions as the log format option in
771 dit(bf(--stats)) This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics
772 on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync
773 algorithm is for your data.
775 dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
776 transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
777 it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the
778 --partial option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should
779 make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster.
781 dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information
782 showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user
785 This option is normally combined with -v. Using this option without
786 the -v option will produce weird results on your display.
788 dit(bf(-P)) The -P option is equivalent to --partial --progress. I
789 found myself typing that combination quite often so I created an
790 option to make it easier.
792 dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password
793 in a file for accessing a remote rsync server. Note that this option
794 is only useful when accessing a rsync server using the built in
795 transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file
796 must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a
799 dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
800 transfer rate in kilobytes per second. This option is most effective when
801 using rsync with large files (several megabytes and up). Due to the nature
802 of rsync transfers, blocks of data are sent, then if rsync determines the
803 transfer was too fast, it will wait before sending the next data block. The
804 result is an average transfer rate equalling the specified limit. A value
805 of zero specifies no limit.
807 dit(bf(--write-batch=PREFIX)) Generate a set of files that can be
808 transferred as a batch update. Each filename in the set starts with
809 PREFIX. See the "BATCH MODE" section for details.
811 dit(bf(--read-batch=PREFIX)) Apply a previously generated change batch,
812 using the fileset whose filenames start with PREFIX. See the "BATCH
813 MODE" section for details.
817 manpagesection(EXCLUDE PATTERNS)
819 The exclude and include patterns specified to rsync allow for flexible
820 selection of which files to transfer and which files to skip.
822 rsync builds an ordered list of include/exclude options as specified on
823 the command line. When a filename is encountered, rsync checks the
824 name against each exclude/include pattern in turn. The first matching
825 pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern, then that file is
826 skipped. If it is an include pattern then that filename is not
827 skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the
828 filename is not skipped.
830 Note that when used with -r (which is implied by -a), every subcomponent of
831 every path is visited from top down, so include/exclude patterns get
832 applied recursively to each subcomponent.
834 Note also that the --include and --exclude options take one pattern
835 each. To add multiple patterns use the --include-from and
836 --exclude-from options or multiple --include and --exclude options.
838 The patterns can take several forms. The rules are:
841 it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is matched against the
842 start of the filename, otherwise it is matched against the end of
843 the filename. Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at the base of
844 the tree. On the other hand, "foo" would match any file called "foo"
845 anywhere in the tree because the algorithm is applied recursively from
846 top down; it behaves as if each path component gets a turn at being the
847 end of the file name.
849 it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
850 directory, not a file, link or device.
852 it() if the pattern contains a wildcard character from the set
853 *?[ then expression matching is applied using the shell filename
854 matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used.
856 it() if the pattern includes a double asterisk "**" then all wildcards in
857 the pattern will match slashes, otherwise they will stop at slashes.
859 it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) then it
860 is matched against the full filename, including any leading
861 directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a / then it is matched
862 only against the final component of the filename. Again, remember
863 that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename" can
864 actually be any portion of a path.
866 it() if the pattern starts with "+ " (a plus followed by a space)
867 then it is always considered an include pattern, even if specified as
868 part of an exclude option. The "+ " part is discarded before matching.
870 it() if the pattern starts with "- " (a minus followed by a space)
871 then it is always considered an exclude pattern, even if specified as
872 part of an include option. The "- " part is discarded before matching.
874 it() if the pattern is a single exclamation mark ! then the current
875 include/exclude list is reset, removing all previously defined patterns.
878 The +/- rules are most useful in exclude lists, allowing you to have a
879 single exclude list that contains both include and exclude options.
881 If you end an exclude list with --exclude '*', note that since the
882 algorithm is applied recursively that unless you explicitly include
883 parent directories of files you want to include then the algorithm
884 will stop at the parent directories and never see the files below
885 them. To include all directories, use --include '*/' before the
888 Here are some exclude/include examples:
891 it() --exclude "*.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o
892 it() --exclude "/foo" would exclude a file in the base directory called foo
893 it() --exclude "foo/" would exclude any directory called foo
894 it() --exclude "/foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
895 levels below a base directory called foo
896 it() --exclude "/foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
897 or more levels below a base directory called foo
898 it() --include "*/" --include "*.c" --exclude "*" would include all
899 directories and C source files
900 it() --include "foo/" --include "foo/bar.c" --exclude "*" would include
901 only foo/bar.c (the foo/ directory must be explicitly included or
902 it would be excluded by the "*")
905 manpagesection(BATCH MODE)
907 bf(Note:) Batch mode should be considered experimental in this version
908 of rsync. The interface or behaviour may change before it stabilizes.
910 Batch mode can be used to apply the same set of updates to many
911 identical systems. Suppose one has a tree which is replicated on a
912 number of hosts. Now suppose some changes have been made to this
913 source tree and those changes need to be propagated to the other
914 hosts. In order to do this using batch mode, rsync is run with the
915 write-batch option to apply the changes made to the source tree to one
916 of the destination trees. The write-batch option causes the rsync
917 client to store the information needed to repeat this operation against
918 other destination trees in a batch update fileset (see below). The
919 filename of each file in the fileset starts with a prefix specified by
920 the user as an argument to the write-batch option. This fileset is
921 then copied to each remote host, where rsync is run with the read-batch
922 option, again specifying the same prefix, and the destination tree.
923 Rsync updates the destination tree using the information stored in the
924 batch update fileset.
926 The fileset consists of 4 files:
929 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_argvs) command-line arguments
930 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_flist) rsync internal file metadata
931 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_csums) rsync checksums
932 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_delta) data blocks for file update & change
935 The .rsync_argvs file contains a command-line suitable for updating a
936 destination tree using that batch update fileset. It can be executed
937 using a Bourne(-like) shell, optionally passing in an alternate
938 destination tree pathname which is then used instead of the original
939 path. This is useful when the destination tree path differs from the
940 original destination tree path.
942 Generating the batch update fileset once saves having to perform the
943 file status, checksum and data block generation more than once when
944 updating multiple destination trees. Multicast transport protocols can
945 be used to transfer the batch update files in parallel to many hosts at
946 once, instead of sending the same data to every host individually.
951 $ rsync --write_batch=pfx -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/
952 $ rcp pfx.rsync_* remote:
953 $ rsh remote rsync --read_batch=pfx -a /bdest/dir/
955 $ rsh remote ./pfx.rsync_argvs /bdest/dir/
958 In this example, rsync is used to update /adest/dir/ with /source/dir/
959 and the information to repeat this operation is stored in the files
960 pfx.rsync_*. These files are then copied to the machine named "remote".
961 Rsync is then invoked on "remote" to update /bdest/dir/ the same way as
962 /adest/dir/. The last line shows the rsync_argvs file being used to
967 The read-batch option expects the destination tree it is meant to update
968 to be identical to the destination tree that was used to create the
969 batch update fileset. When a difference between the destination trees
970 is encountered the update will fail at that point, leaving the
971 destination tree in a partially updated state. In that case, rsync can
972 be used in its regular (non-batch) mode of operation to fix up the
975 The rsync version used on all destinations should be identical to the
976 one used on the original destination.
978 The -z/--compress option does not work in batch mode and yields a usage
979 error. A separate compression tool can be used instead to reduce the
980 size of the batch update files for transport to the destination.
982 The -n/--dryrun option does not work in batch mode and yields a runtime
985 See bf(http://www.ils.unc.edu/i2dsi/unc_rsync+.html) for papers and technical
988 manpagesection(SYMBOLIC LINKS)
990 Three basic behaviours are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic
991 link in the source directory.
993 By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message
994 "skipping non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist.
996 If bf(--links) is specified, then symlinks are recreated with the same
997 target on the destination. Note that bf(--archive) implies
1000 If bf(--copy-links) is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by
1001 copying their referent, rather than the symlink.
1003 rsync also distinguishes "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An
1004 example where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes
1005 ensure the rsync module they copy does not include symbolic links to
1006 bf(/etc/passwd) in the public section of the site. Using
1007 bf(--copy-unsafe-links) will cause any links to be copied as the file
1008 they point to on the destination. Using bf(--safe-links) will cause
1009 unsafe links to be ommitted altogether.
1011 Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks
1012 (start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough bf("..")
1013 components to ascend from the directory being copied.
1015 manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS)
1017 rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
1018 cryptic. The one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol
1019 version mismatch - is your shell clean?".
1021 This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell
1022 facility producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using
1023 for its transport. The way to diagnose this problem is to run your
1024 remote shell like this:
1027 rsh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat
1030 then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat
1031 should be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from
1032 rsync then you will probably find that out.dat contains some text or
1033 data. Look at the contents and try to work out what is producing
1034 it. The most common cause is incorrectly configured shell startup
1035 scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that contain output statements
1036 for non-interactive logins.
1038 If you are having trouble debugging include and exclude patterns, then
1039 try specifying the -vv option. At this level of verbosity rsync will
1040 show why each individual file is included or excluded.
1042 manpagesection(EXIT VALUES)
1045 dit(bf(RERR_SYNTAX 1)) Syntax or usage error
1046 dit(bf(RERR_PROTOCOL 2)) Protocol incompatibility
1047 dit(bf(RERR_FILESELECT 3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
1049 dit(bf(RERR_UNSUPPORTED 4)) Requested action not supported: an attempt
1050 was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support
1051 them; or an option was speciifed that is supported by the client and
1054 dit(bf(RERR_SOCKETIO 10)) Error in socket IO
1055 dit(bf(RERR_FILEIO 11)) Error in file IO
1056 dit(bf(RERR_STREAMIO 12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream
1057 dit(bf(RERR_MESSAGEIO 13)) Errors with program diagnostics
1058 dit(bf(RERR_IPC 14)) Error in IPC code
1059 dit(bf(RERR_SIGNAL 20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
1060 dit(bf(RERR_WAITCHILD 21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
1061 dit(bf(RERR_MALLOC 22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
1062 dit(bf(RERR_TIMEOUT 30)) Timeout in data send/receive
1065 manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES)
1069 dit(bf(CVSIGNORE)) The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any
1070 ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the --cvs-exclude option for
1073 dit(bf(RSYNC_RSH)) The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to
1074 override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. Command line
1075 options are permitted after the command name, just as in the -e option.
1077 dit(bf(RSYNC_PROXY)) The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to
1078 redirect your rsync client to use a web proxy when connecting to a
1079 rsync daemon. You should set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair.
1081 dit(bf(RSYNC_PASSWORD)) Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required
1082 password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to a rsync
1083 daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a
1084 password to a shell transport such as ssh.
1086 dit(bf(USER) or bf(LOGNAME)) The USER or LOGNAME environment variables
1087 are used to determine the default username sent to a rsync server.
1089 dit(bf(HOME)) The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's
1090 default .cvsignore file.
1102 manpagediagnostics()
1106 times are transferred as unix time_t values
1108 file permissions, devices etc are transferred as native numerical
1111 see also the comments on the --delete option
1113 Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at
1114 url(http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/)(http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/)
1116 manpagesection(VERSION)
1117 This man page is current for version 2.0 of rsync
1119 manpagesection(CREDITS)
1121 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
1122 COPYING for details.
1124 A WEB site is available at
1125 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/). The site
1126 includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this
1129 The primary ftp site for rsync is
1130 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
1132 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
1134 This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by
1135 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
1137 manpagesection(THANKS)
1139 Thanks to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell
1140 and David Bell for helpful suggestions, patches and testing of rsync.
1141 I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
1143 Especial thanks also to: David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer.
1148 rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell <tridge@samba.org> and Paul
1151 rsync is now maintained by Martin Pool <mbp@samba.org>.
1153 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
1154 url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)
1156 If you suspect you have found a security vulnerability in rsync,
1157 please send it directly to Martin Pool and Andrew Tridgell. For other
1158 enquiries, please use the mailing list.