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 six 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 listing files on a remote machine. This is done the
69 same way as rsync transfers except that you leave off the
73 Note that in all cases (other than listing) at least one of the source
74 and destination paths must be local.
78 See the file README for installation instructions.
80 Once installed you can use rsync to any machine that you can use rsh
81 to. rsync uses rsh for its communications, unless both the source and
82 destination are local.
84 You can also specify an alternative to rsh, either by using the -e
85 command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable.
87 One common substitute is to use ssh, which offers a high degree of
90 Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination
95 You use rsync in the same way you use rcp. You must specify a source
96 and a destination, one of which may be remote.
98 Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is some examples:
100 quote(rsync *.c foo:src/)
102 this would transfer all files matching the pattern *.c from the
103 current directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of
104 the files already exist on the remote system then the rsync
105 remote-update protocol is used to update the file by sending only the
106 differences. See the tech report for details.
108 quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp)
110 this would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the
111 machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The
112 files are transferred in "archive" mode, which ensures that symbolic
113 links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownerships etc are preserved
114 in the transfer. Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the
115 size of data portions of the transfer.
117 quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp)
119 a trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to transfer
120 all files from the directory src/bar on the machine foo into the
121 /data/tmp/. A trailing / on a source name means "copy the
122 contents of this directory". Without a trailing slash it means "copy
123 the directory". This difference becomes particularly important when
124 using the --delete option.
126 You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
127 destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like
128 an improved copy command.
130 quote(rsync somehost.mydomain.com::)
132 this would list all the anonymous rsync modules available on the host
133 somehost.mydomain.com. (See the following section for more details.)
136 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER)
138 It is also possible to use rsync without using rsh or ssh as the
139 transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server
140 running on TCP port 873.
142 You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the
143 environment variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to
144 your web proxy. Note that your web proxy's configuration must allow
145 proxying to port 873.
147 Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with rsh or ssh except
151 it() you use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to
152 separate the hostname from the path.
154 it() the remote server may print a message of the day when you
157 it() if you specify no path name on the remote server then the
158 list of accessible paths on the server will be shown.
160 it() if you specify no local destination then a listing of the
161 specified files on the remote server is provided.
164 Some paths on the remote server may require authentication. If so then
165 you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the
166 password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to
167 the password you want to use or using the --password-file option. This
168 may be useful when scripting rsync.
170 WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all
171 users. On those systems using --password-file is recommended.
173 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER)
175 An rsync server is configured using a config file which by default is
176 called /etc/rsyncd.conf. Please see the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
179 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
181 Here are some examples of how I use rsync.
183 To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS Word
184 files and mail folders, I use a cron job that runs
186 quote(rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup)
188 each night over a PPP link to a duplicate directory on my machine
191 To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile
195 rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ .
198 rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/
202 this allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the
203 link. I then do cvs operations on the remote machine, which saves a
204 lot of time as the remote cvs protocol isn't very efficient.
206 I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the
209 quote(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba/ nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge/samba")
211 this is launched from cron every few hours.
213 manpagesection(OPTIONS SUMMARY)
215 Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer
216 to the detailed description below for a complete description.
219 -v, --verbose increase verbosity
220 -q, --quiet decrease verbosity
221 -c, --checksum always checksum
222 -a, --archive archive mode
223 -r, --recursive recurse into directories
224 -R, --relative use relative path names
225 -b, --backup make backups (default ~ suffix)
226 --backup-dir make backups into this directory
227 --suffix=SUFFIX override backup suffix
228 -u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files)
229 -l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks
230 -L, --copy-links copy the referent of symlinks
231 --copy-unsafe-links copy links outside the source tree
232 --safe-links ignore links outside the destination tree
233 -H, --hard-links preserve hard links
234 -p, --perms preserve permissions
235 -o, --owner preserve owner (root only)
236 -g, --group preserve group
237 -D, --devices preserve devices (root only)
238 -t, --times preserve times
239 -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently
240 -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
241 -W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks
242 -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
243 -B, --block-size=SIZE checksum blocking size (default 700)
244 -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify rsh replacement
245 --rsync-path=PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine
246 -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does
247 --existing only update files that already exist
248 --ignore-existing ignore files that already exist on the receiving side
249 --delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side
250 --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on the receiving side
251 --delete-after delete after transferring, not before
252 --ignore-errors delete even if there are IO errors
253 --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
254 --partial keep partially transferred files
255 --force force deletion of directories even if not empty
256 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
257 --timeout=TIME set IO timeout in seconds
258 -I, --ignore-times don't exclude files that match length and time
259 --size-only only use file size when determining if a file should be transferred
260 --modify-window=NUM Timestamp window (seconds) for file match (default=0)
261 -T --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
262 --compare-dest=DIR also compare destination files relative to DIR
263 -P equivalent to --partial --progress
264 -z, --compress compress file data
265 --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
266 --exclude-from=FILE exclude patterns listed in FILE
267 --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN
268 --include-from=FILE don't exclude patterns listed in FILE
269 --version print version number
270 --daemon run as a rsync daemon
271 --no-detach do not detach from the parent
272 --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address
273 --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
274 --port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number
275 --blocking-io use blocking IO for the remote shell
276 --stats give some file transfer stats
277 --progress show progress during transfer
278 --log-format=FORMAT log file transfers using specified format
279 --password-file=FILE get password from FILE
280 --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth, KBytes per second
281 --read-batch=FILE read batch file
282 --write-batch write batch file
283 -h, --help show this help screen
290 rsync uses the GNU long options package. Many of the command line
291 options have two variants, one short and one long. These are shown
292 below, separated by commas. Some options only have a long variant.
293 The '=' for options that take a parameter is optional; whitespace
297 dit(bf(-h, --help)) Print a short help page describing the options
300 dit(bf(--version)) print the rsync version number and exit
302 dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you
303 are given during the transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A
304 single -v will give you information about what files are being
305 transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two -v flags will give you
306 information on what files are being skipped and slightly more
307 information at the end. More than two -v flags should only be used if
308 you are debugging rsync.
310 dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) This option decreases the amount of information you
311 are given during the transfer, notably suppressing information messages
312 from the remote server. This flag is useful when invoking rsync from
315 dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
316 already the same length and have the same time-stamp. This option turns
319 dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
320 already the same length and have the same time-stamp. With the
321 --size-only option files will be skipped if they have the same size,
322 regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync
323 after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
326 dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps rsync treats
327 the timestamps as being equal if they are within the value of
328 modify_window. This is normally zero, but you may find it useful to
329 set this to a larger value in some situations. In particular, when
330 transferring to/from FAT filesystems which cannot represent times with
331 a 1 second resolution this option is useful.
333 dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using
334 a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then
335 explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name
336 which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
337 receiver are skipped. This option can be quite slow.
339 dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptgoD. It is a quick
340 way of saying you want recursion and want to preserve almost
343 Note however that bf(-a) bf(does not preserve hardlinks), because
344 finding multiply-linked files is expensive. You must separately
347 dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories
348 recursively. If you don't specify this then rsync won't copy
351 dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path
352 names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than
353 just the last parts of the filenames. This is particularly useful when
354 you want to send several different directories at the same time. For
355 example, if you used the command
357 verb(rsync foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
359 then this would create a file called foo.c in /tmp/ on the remote
360 machine. If instead you used
362 verb(rsync -R foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
364 then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/foo.c would be created on the remote
365 machine. The full path name is preserved.
367 dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option preexisting destination files are
368 renamed with a ~ extension as each file is transferred. You can
369 control the backup suffix using the --suffix option.
371 dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the --backup option, this
372 tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
373 very useful for incremental backups.
375 dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
376 backup suffix used with the -b option. The default is a ~.
378 dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files for which the
379 destination file already exists and has a date later than the source
382 dit(bf(-l, --links)) When symlinks are encountered, recreate the
383 symlink on the destination.
385 dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) When symlinks are encountered, the file that
386 they point to is copied, rather than the symlink.
388 dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to copy the referent of
389 symbolic links that point outside the source tree. Absolute symlinks
390 are also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the
391 source path itself when --relative is used.
393 dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links
394 which point outside the destination tree. All absolute symlinks are
395 also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with --relative may
396 give unexpected results.
398 dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on
399 the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
400 option hard links are treated like regular files.
402 Note that rsync can only detect hard links if both parts of the link
403 are in the list of files being sent.
405 This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it.
407 dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm
408 is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. The transfer may be
409 faster if this option is used when the bandwidth between the source and
410 target machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the
411 "disk" is actually a networked file system). This is the default when both
412 the source and target are on the local machine.
414 dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to update the remote
415 permissions to be the same as the local permissions.
417 dit(bf(-o, --owner)) This option causes rsync to set the owner of the
418 destination file to be the same as the source file. On most systems,
419 only the super-user can set file ownership.
421 dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to set the group of the
422 destination file to be the same as the source file. If the receiving
423 program is not running as the super-user, only groups that the
424 receiver is a member of will be preserved (by group name, not group id
427 dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
428 block device information to the remote system to recreate these
429 devices. This option is only available to the super-user.
431 dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along
432 with the files and update them on the remote system. Note that if this
433 option is not used, the optimization that excludes files that have not been
434 modified cannot be effective; in other words, a missing -t or -a will
435 cause the next transfer to behave as if it used -I, and all files will have
436 their checksums compared and show up in log messages even if they haven't
439 dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers,
440 instead it will just report the actions it would have taken.
442 dit(bf(-S, --sparse)) Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take
443 up less space on the destination.
445 NOTE: Don't use this option when the destination is a Solaris "tmpfs"
446 filesystem. It doesn't seem to handle seeks over null regions
447 correctly and ends up corrupting the files.
449 dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync not to cross filesystem
450 boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the
451 contents of only one filesystem.
453 dit(bf(--existing)) This tells rsync not to create any new files -
454 only update files that already exist on the destination.
456 dit(bf(--ignore-existing))
457 This tells rsync not to update files that already exist on
460 dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM
461 files or directories. This is useful when mirroring very large trees
462 to prevent disasters.
464 dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving
465 side that aren't on the sending side. Files that are excluded from
466 transfer are excluded from being deleted unless you use --delete-excluded.
468 This option has no effect if directory recursion is not selected.
470 This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea
471 to run first using the dry run option (-n) to see what files would be
472 deleted to make sure important files aren't listed.
474 If the sending side detects any IO errors then the deletion of any
475 files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to
476 prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the
477 sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the
478 destination. You can override this with the --ignore-errors option.
480 dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the
481 receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also
482 delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see --exclude).
484 dit(bf(--delete-after)) By default rsync does file deletions before
485 transferring files to try to ensure that there is sufficient space on
486 the receiving filesystem. If you want to delete after transferring
487 then use the --delete-after switch.
489 dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files
490 even when there are IO errors.
492 dit(bf(--force)) This option tells rsync to delete directories
493 when non-directories (for example symlinks or plain files) take their
494 place even if the deleted directories are not empty. This applies to both
495 the --delete option and to cases where rsync tries to copy a normal file
496 but the destination contains a directory of the same name.
498 dit(bf(-B , --block-size=BLOCKSIZE)) This controls the block size used in
499 the rsync algorithm. See the technical report for details.
501 dit(bf(-e, --rsh=COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative
502 remote shell program to use for communication between the local and
503 remote copies of rsync. By default, rsync will use rsh, but you may
504 like to instead use ssh because of its high security.
506 You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
507 environment variable.
509 See also the --blocking-io option which is affected by this option.
511 dit(bf(--rsync-path=PATH)) Use this to specify the path to the copy of
512 rsync on the remote machine. Useful when it's not in your path. Note
513 that this is the full path to the binary, not just the directory that
516 dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option allows you to selectively exclude
517 certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is most
518 useful in combination with a recursive transfer.
520 You may use as many --exclude options on the command line as you like
521 to build up the list of files to exclude.
523 See the section on exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
526 dit(bf(--exclude-from=FILE)) This option is similar to the --exclude
527 option, but instead it adds all exclude patterns listed in the file
528 FILE to the exclude list. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with
529 ';' or '#' are ignored.
531 dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option tells rsync to not exclude the
532 specified pattern of filenames. This is useful as it allows you to
533 build up quite complex exclude/include rules.
535 See the section of exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
538 dit(bf(--include-from=FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns
541 dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a
542 broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between
543 systems. It uses the same algorithm that CVS uses to determine if
544 a file should be ignored.
546 The exclude list is initialized to:
548 quote(RCS SCCS CVS CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state
549 .nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej .del-*
550 *.a *.o *.obj *.so *.Z *.elc *.ln core)
552 then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
553 files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (space delimited).
555 Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a
556 .cvsignore file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. See
557 the bf(cvs(1)) manual for more information.
559 dit(bf(--csum-length=LENGTH)) By default the primary checksum used in
560 rsync is a very strong 16 byte MD4 checksum. In most cases you will
561 find that a truncated version of this checksum is quite efficient, and
562 this will decrease the size of the checksum data sent over the link,
563 making things faster.
565 You can choose the number of bytes in the truncated checksum using the
566 --csum-length option. Any value less than or equal to 16 is valid.
568 Note that if you use this option then you run the risk of ending up
569 with an incorrect target file. The risk with a value of 16 is
570 microscopic and can be safely ignored (the universe will probably end
571 before it fails) but with smaller values the risk is higher.
573 Current versions of rsync actually use an adaptive algorithm for the
574 checksum length by default, using a 16 byte file checksum to determine
575 if a 2nd pass is required with a longer block checksum. Only use this
576 option if you have read the source code and know what you are doing.
578 dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a
579 scratch directory when creating temporary copies of the files
580 transferred on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create
581 the temporary files in the receiving directory.
583 dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR on
584 the destination machine as an additional directory to compare destination
585 files against when doing transfers. This is useful for doing transfers to
586 a new destination while leaving existing files intact, and then doing a
587 flash-cutover when all files have been successfully transferred (for
588 example by moving directories around and removing the old directory,
589 although this requires also doing the transfer with -I to avoid skipping
590 files that haven't changed). This option increases the usefulness of
591 --partial because partially transferred files will remain in the new
592 temporary destination until they have a chance to be completed. If DIR is
593 a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
595 dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses any data from
596 the files that it sends to the destination machine. This
597 option is useful on slow links. The compression method used is the
598 same method that gzip uses.
600 Note this this option typically achieves better compression ratios
601 that can be achieved by using a compressing remote shell, or a
602 compressing transport, as it takes advantage of the implicit
603 information sent for matching data blocks.
605 dit(bf(--numeric-ids)) With this option rsync will transfer numeric group
606 and user ids rather than using user and group names and mapping them
609 By default rsync will use the user name and group name to determine
610 what ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group
611 0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the --numeric-ids
612 option is not specified.
614 If the source system is a daemon using chroot, or if a user or group
615 name does not exist on the destination system, then the numeric id
616 from the source system is used instead.
618 dit(bf(--timeout=TIMEOUT)) This option allows you to set a maximum IO
619 timeout in seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time
620 then rsync will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout.
622 dit(bf(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The
623 daemon may be accessed using the bf(host::module) or
624 bf(rsync://host/module/) syntax.
626 If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being
627 run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and
628 become a background daemon. The daemon will read the config file
629 (/etc/rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and respond to
630 requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
633 dit(bf(--no-detach)) When running as a daemon, this option instructs
634 rsync to not detach itself and become a background process. This
635 option is required when running as a service on Cygwin, and may also
636 be useful when rsync is supervised by a program such as
637 bf(daemontools) or AIX's bf(System Resource Controller).
638 bf(--no-detach) is also recommended when rsync is run under a
639 debugger. This option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or
642 dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address
643 when run as a daemon with the --daemon option or when connecting to a
644 rsync server. The --address option allows you to specify a specific IP
645 address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting possible
646 in conjunction with the --config option.
648 dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
649 the default /etc/rsyncd.conf. This is only relevant when --daemon is
652 dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
653 rather than the default port 873.
655 dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This tells rsync to use blocking IO when launching
656 a remote shell transport. If -e or --rsh are not specified or are set to
657 the default "rsh", this defaults to blocking IO, otherwise it defaults to
658 non-blocking IO. You may find the --blocking-io option is needed for some
659 remote shells that can't handle non-blocking IO. Ssh prefers blocking IO.
661 dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
662 rsync client logs to stdout on a per-file basis. The log format is
663 specified using the same format conventions as the log format option in
666 dit(bf(--stats)) This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics
667 on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync
668 algorithm is for your data.
670 dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
671 transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
672 it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the
673 --partial option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should
674 make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster.
676 dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information
677 showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user
680 This option is normally combined with -v. Using this option without
681 the -v option will produce weird results on your display.
683 dit(bf(-P)) The -P option is equivalent to --partial --progress. I
684 found myself typing that combination quite often so I created an
685 option to make it easier.
687 dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password
688 in a file for accessing a remote rsync server. Note that this option
689 is only useful when accessing a rsync server using the built in
690 transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file
691 must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a
694 dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
695 transfer rate in kilobytes per second. This option is most effective when
696 using rsync with large files (several megabytes and up). Due to the nature
697 of rsync transfers, blocks of data are sent, then if rsync determines the
698 transfer was too fast, it will wait before sending the next data block. The
699 result is an average transfer rate equalling the specified limit. A value
700 of zero specifies no limit.
702 dit(bf(--read-batch)) Apply a previously generated change batch.
704 dit(bf(--write-batch)) Generate a set of files that can be transferred
709 manpagesection(EXCLUDE PATTERNS)
711 The exclude and include patterns specified to rsync allow for flexible
712 selection of which files to transfer and which files to skip.
714 rsync builds an ordered list of include/exclude options as specified on
715 the command line. When a filename is encountered, rsync checks the
716 name against each exclude/include pattern in turn. The first matching
717 pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern, then that file is
718 skipped. If it is an include pattern then that filename is not
719 skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the
720 filename is not skipped.
722 Note that when used with -r (which is implied by -a), every subcomponent of
723 every path is visited from top down, so include/exclude patterns get
724 applied recursively to each subcomponent.
726 Note also that the --include and --exclude options take one pattern
727 each. To add multiple patterns use the --include-from and
728 --exclude-from options or multiple --include and --exclude options.
730 The patterns can take several forms. The rules are:
733 it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is matched against the
734 start of the filename, otherwise it is matched against the end of
735 the filename. Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at the base of
736 the tree. On the other hand, "foo" would match any file called "foo"
737 anywhere in the tree because the algorithm is applied recursively from
738 top down; it behaves as if each path component gets a turn at being the
739 end of the file name.
741 it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
742 directory, not a file, link or device.
744 it() if the pattern contains a wildcard character from the set
745 *?[ then expression matching is applied using the shell filename
746 matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used.
748 it() if the pattern includes a double asterisk "**" then all wildcards in
749 the pattern will match slashes, otherwise they will stop at slashes.
751 it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) then it
752 is matched against the full filename, including any leading
753 directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a / then it is matched
754 only against the final component of the filename. Again, remember
755 that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename" can
756 actually be any portion of a path.
758 it() if the pattern starts with "+ " (a plus followed by a space)
759 then it is always considered an include pattern, even if specified as
760 part of an exclude option. The "+ " part is discarded before matching.
762 it() if the pattern starts with "- " (a minus followed by a space)
763 then it is always considered an exclude pattern, even if specified as
764 part of an include option. The "- " part is discarded before matching.
766 it() if the pattern is a single exclamation mark ! then the current
767 include/exclude list is reset, removing all previously defined patterns.
770 The +/- rules are most useful in exclude lists, allowing you to have a
771 single exclude list that contains both include and exclude options.
773 If you end an exclude list with --exclude '*', note that since the
774 algorithm is applied recursively that unless you explicitly include
775 parent directories of files you want to include then the algorithm
776 will stop at the parent directories and never see the files below
777 them. To include all directories, use --include '*/' before the
780 Here are some exclude/include examples:
783 it() --exclude "*.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o
784 it() --exclude "/foo" would exclude a file in the base directory called foo
785 it() --exclude "foo/" would exclude any directory called foo
786 it() --exclude "/foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
787 levels below a base directory called foo
788 it() --exclude "/foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
789 or more levels below a base directory called foo
790 it() --include "*/" --include "*.c" --exclude "*" would include all
791 directories and C source files
792 it() --include "foo/" --include "foo/bar.c" --exclude "*" would include
793 only foo/bar.c (the foo/ directory must be explicitly included or
794 it would be excluded by the "*")
797 manpagesection(BATCH MODE)
799 bf(Note:) Batch mode should be considered experimental in this version
800 of rsync. The interface or behaviour may change before it stabilizes.
802 The following call generates 4 files that encapsulate the information
803 for synchronizing the contents of bf(target_dir) with the updates found in
807 $ rsync --write-batch [other rsync options here] \nl()
808 /somewhere/src_dir /somewhere/target_dir
811 The generated files are labeled with a common timestamp:
814 it() bf(rsync_argvs.<timestamp>) command-line arguments
815 it() bf(rsync_flist.<timestamp>) rsync internal file metadata
816 it() bf(rsync_csums.<timestamp>) rsync checksums
817 it() bf(rsync_delta.<timestamp>) data blocks for file update & change
820 See bf(http://www.ils.unc.edu/i2dsi/unc_rsync+.html) for papers and technical
823 manpagesection(SYMBOLIC LINKS)
825 Three basic behaviours are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic
826 link in the source directory.
828 By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message
829 "skipping non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist.
831 If bf(--links) is specified, then symlinks are recreated with the same
832 target on the destination. Note that bf(--archive) implies
835 If bf(--copy-links) is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by
836 copying their referent, rather than the symlink.
838 rsync also distinguishes "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An
839 example where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes
840 ensure the rsync module they copy does not include symbolic links to
841 bf(/etc/passwd) in the public section of the site. Using
842 bf(--copy-unsafe-links) will cause any links to be copied as the file
843 they point to on the destination. Using bf(--safe-links) will cause
844 unsafe links to be ommitted altogether.
846 manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS)
848 rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
849 cryptic. The one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol
850 version mismatch - is your shell clean?".
852 This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell
853 facility producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using
854 for its transport. The way to diagnose this problem is to run your
855 remote shell like this:
858 rsh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat
861 then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat
862 should be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from
863 rsync then you will probably find that out.dat contains some text or
864 data. Look at the contents and try to work out what is producing
865 it. The most common cause is incorrectly configured shell startup
866 scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that contain output statements
867 for non-interactive logins.
869 If you are having trouble debugging include and exclude patterns, then
870 try specifying the -vv option. At this level of verbosity rsync will
871 show why each individual file is included or excluded.
873 manpagesection(EXIT VALUES)
876 dit(bf(RERR_SYNTAX 1)) Syntax or usage error
877 dit(bf(RERR_PROTOCOL 2)) Protocol incompatibility
878 dit(bf(RERR_FILESELECT 3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
880 dit(bf(RERR_UNSUPPORTED 4)) Requested action not supported: an attempt
881 was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support
882 them; or an option was speciifed that is supported by the client and
885 dit(bf(RERR_SOCKETIO 10)) Error in socket IO
886 dit(bf(RERR_FILEIO 11)) Error in file IO
887 dit(bf(RERR_STREAMIO 12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream
888 dit(bf(RERR_MESSAGEIO 13)) Errors with program diagnostics
889 dit(bf(RERR_IPC 14)) Error in IPC code
890 dit(bf(RERR_SIGNAL 20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
891 dit(bf(RERR_WAITCHILD 21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
892 dit(bf(RERR_MALLOC 22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
893 dit(bf(RERR_TIMEOUT 30)) Timeout in data send/receive
896 manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES)
900 dit(bf(CVSIGNORE)) The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any
901 ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the --cvs-exclude option for
904 dit(bf(RSYNC_RSH)) The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to
905 override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. This can
906 be used instead of the -e option.
908 dit(bf(RSYNC_PROXY)) The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to
909 redirect your rsync client to use a web proxy when connecting to a
910 rsync daemon. You should set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair.
912 dit(bf(RSYNC_PASSWORD)) Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required
913 password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to a rsync
914 daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a
915 password to a shell transport such as ssh.
917 dit(bf(USER) or bf(LOGNAME)) The USER or LOGNAME environment variables
918 are used to determine the default username sent to a rsync server.
920 dit(bf(HOME)) The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's
921 default .cvsignore file.
937 times are transferred as unix time_t values
939 file permissions, devices etc are transferred as native numerical
942 see also the comments on the --delete option
944 Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at
945 url(http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/)(http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/)
947 manpagesection(VERSION)
948 This man page is current for version 2.0 of rsync
950 manpagesection(CREDITS)
952 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
955 A WEB site is available at
956 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/). The site
957 includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this
960 The primary ftp site for rsync is
961 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
963 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
965 This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by
966 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
968 manpagesection(THANKS)
970 Thanks to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell
971 and David Bell for helpful suggestions, patches and testing of rsync.
972 I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
974 Especial thanks also to: David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer.
979 rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell <tridge@samba.org> and Paul
982 rsync is now maintained by Martin Pool <mbp@samba.org>.
984 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
985 url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)
987 If you suspect you have found a security vulnerability in rsync,
988 please send it directly to Martin Pool and Andrew Tridgell. For other
989 enquiries, please use the mailing list.