1 mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
2 manpage(rsync)(1)(1 Jan 2004)()()
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 connection, using
29 an efficient checksum-search algorithm described in the technical
30 report that accompanies this package.
32 Some of the additional features of rsync are:
35 it() support for copying links, devices, owners, groups and permissions
36 it() exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar
37 it() a CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore
38 it() can use any transparent remote shell, including ssh or rsh
39 it() does not require 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 ssh or
55 rsh). 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=COMMAND 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, a modern rsync uses ssh
97 for its communications, but it may have been configured to use a
98 different remote shell by default, such as rsh or remsh.
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 with 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 avoid creating an
136 additional directory level at the destination. You can think of a trailing
137 / on a source as meaning "copy the contents of this directory" as opposed
138 to "copy the directory by name", but in both cases the attributes of the
139 containing directory are transferred to the containing directory on the
140 destination. In other words, each of the following commands copies the
141 files in the same way, including their setting of the attributes of
144 quote(rsync -avz /src/foo /dest)
145 quote(rsync -avz /src/foo/ /dest/foo)
147 You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
148 destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like
149 an improved copy command.
151 quote(rsync somehost.mydomain.com::)
153 This would list all the anonymous rsync modules available on the host
154 somehost.mydomain.com. (See the following section for more details.)
157 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER)
159 It is also possible to use rsync without a remote shell as the
160 transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server
161 running on TCP port 873.
163 You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the
164 environment variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to
165 your web proxy. Note that your web proxy's configuration must support
166 proxy connections to port 873.
168 Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except
172 it() you use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to
173 separate the hostname from the path or a rsync:// URL.
175 it() the remote server may print a message of the day when you
178 it() if you specify no path name on the remote server then the
179 list of accessible paths on the server will be shown.
181 it() if you specify no local destination then a listing of the
182 specified files on the remote server is provided.
185 Some paths on the remote server may require authentication. If so then
186 you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the
187 password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to
188 the password you want to use or using the --password-file option. This
189 may be useful when scripting rsync.
191 WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all
192 users. On those systems using --password-file is recommended.
194 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
196 It is sometimes useful to be able to set up file transfers using rsync
197 server capabilities on the remote machine, while still using ssh or
198 rsh for transport. This is especially useful when you want to connect
199 to a remote machine via ssh (for encryption or to get through a
200 firewall), but you still want to have access to the rsync server
201 features (see RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM,
204 From the user's perspective, using rsync in this way is the same as
205 using it to connect to an rsync server, except that you must
206 explicitly set the remote shell program on the command line with
207 --rsh=COMMAND. (Setting RSYNC_RSH in the environment will not turn on
210 In order to distinguish between the remote-shell user and the rsync
211 server user, you can use '-l user' on your remote-shell command:
213 quote(rsync -av --rsh="ssh -l ssh-user" rsync-user@host::module[/path] local-path)
215 The "ssh-user" will be used at the ssh level; the "rsync-user" will be
216 used to check against the rsyncd.conf on the remote host.
218 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER)
220 An rsync server is configured using a configuration file. Please see the
221 rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more information. By default the configuration
222 file is called /etc/rsyncd.conf, unless rsync is running over a remote
223 shell program and is not running as root; in that case, the default name
224 is rsyncd.conf in the current directory on the remote computer
227 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
229 See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for full information on the rsync
230 server configuration file.
232 Several configuration options will not be available unless the remote
233 user is root (e.g. chroot, setuid/setgid, etc.). There is no need to
234 configure inetd or the services map to include the rsync server port
235 if you run an rsync server only via a remote shell program.
237 To run an rsync server out of a single-use ssh key, see this section
238 in the rsyncd.conf(5) man page.
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 connection 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 connection. 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, equivalent to -rlptgoD
284 -r, --recursive recurse into directories
285 -R, --relative use relative path names
286 --no-relative turn off --relative
287 --no-implied-dirs don't send implied dirs with -R
288 -b, --backup make backups (see --suffix & --backup-dir)
289 --backup-dir make backups into this directory
290 --suffix=SUFFIX backup suffix (default ~ w/o --backup-dir)
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
309 --rsync-path=PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine
310 --existing only update files that already exist
311 --ignore-existing ignore files that already exist on receiver
312 --delete delete files that don't exist on sender
313 --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on receiver
314 --delete-after receiver deletes after transfer, not before
315 --ignore-errors delete even if there are I/O errors
316 --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
317 --partial keep partially transferred files
318 --force force deletion of dirs even if not empty
319 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
320 --timeout=TIME set I/O timeout in seconds
321 -I, --ignore-times turn off mod time & file size quick check
322 --size-only ignore mod time for quick check (use size)
323 --modify-window=NUM compare mod times with reduced accuracy
324 -T --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
325 --compare-dest=DIR also compare received files relative to DIR
326 --link-dest=DIR create hardlinks to DIR for unchanged files
327 -P equivalent to --partial --progress
328 -z, --compress compress file data
329 -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does
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 --files-from=FILE read FILE for list of source-file names
335 -0 --from0 all file lists are delimited by nulls
336 --version print version number
337 --daemon run as a rsync daemon
338 --no-detach do not detach from the parent
339 --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address
340 --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
341 --port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number
342 --blocking-io use blocking I/O for the remote shell
343 --no-blocking-io turn off --blocking-io
344 --stats give some file transfer stats
345 --progress show progress during transfer
346 --log-format=FORMAT log file transfers using specified format
347 --password-file=FILE get password from FILE
348 --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth, KBytes per second
349 --write-batch=PREFIX write batch fileset starting with PREFIX
350 --read-batch=PREFIX read batch fileset starting with PREFIX
351 -h, --help show this help screen
358 rsync uses the GNU long options package. Many of the command line
359 options have two variants, one short and one long. These are shown
360 below, separated by commas. Some options only have a long variant.
361 The '=' for options that take a parameter is optional; whitespace
365 dit(bf(-h, --help)) Print a short help page describing the options
368 dit(bf(--version)) print the rsync version number and exit
370 dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you
371 are given during the transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A
372 single -v will give you information about what files are being
373 transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two -v flags will give you
374 information on what files are being skipped and slightly more
375 information at the end. More than two -v flags should only be used if
376 you are debugging rsync.
378 dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) This option decreases the amount of information you
379 are given during the transfer, notably suppressing information messages
380 from the remote server. This flag is useful when invoking rsync from
383 dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
384 already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp.
385 This option turns off this "quick check" behavior.
387 dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
388 already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp. With the
389 --size-only option files will be skipped if they have the same size,
390 regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync
391 after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
394 dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps rsync treats
395 the timestamps as being equal if they are within the value of
396 modify_window. This is normally zero, but you may find it useful to
397 set this to a larger value in some situations. In particular, when
398 transferring to Windows FAT filesystems which cannot represent times
399 with a 1 second resolution --modify-window=1 is useful.
401 dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using
402 a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then
403 explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name
404 which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
405 receiver are skipped. This option can be quite slow.
407 dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptgoD. It is a quick
408 way of saying you want recursion and want to preserve almost
411 Note however that bf(-a) bf(does not preserve hardlinks), because
412 finding multiply-linked files is expensive. You must separately
415 dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories
416 recursively. If you don't specify this then rsync won't copy
419 dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path
420 names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than
421 just the last parts of the filenames. This is particularly useful when
422 you want to send several different directories at the same time. For
423 example, if you used the command
425 verb(rsync foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
427 then this would create a file called foo.c in /tmp/ on the remote
428 machine. If instead you used
430 verb(rsync -R foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
432 then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/foo.c would be created on the remote
433 machine -- the full path name is preserved.
435 dit(bf(--no-relative)) Turn off the --relative option. This is only
436 needed if you want to use --files-from without its implied --relative
439 dit(bf(--no-implied-dirs)) When combined with the --relative option, the
440 implied directories in each path are not explicitly duplicated as part
441 of the transfer. This makes the transfer more optimal and also allows
442 the two sides to have non-matching symlinks in the implied part of the
443 path. For instance, if you transfer the file "/path/foo/file" with -R,
444 the default is for rsync to ensure that "/path" and "/path/foo" on the
445 destination exactly match the directories/symlinks of the source. Using
446 the --no-implied-dirs option would omit both of these implied dirs,
447 which means that if "/path" was a real directory on one machine and a
448 symlink of the other machine, rsync would not try to change this.
450 dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option, preexisting destination files are
451 renamed as each file is transferred or deleted. You can control where the
452 backup file goes and what (if any) suffix gets appended using the
453 --backup-dir and --suffix options.
455 dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the --backup option, this
456 tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
457 very useful for incremental backups. You can additionally
458 specify a backup suffix using the --suffix option
459 (otherwise the files backed up in the specified directory
460 will keep their original filenames).
462 dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
463 backup suffix used with the --backup (-b) option. The default suffix is a ~
464 if no --backup-dir was specified, otherwise it is an empty string.
466 dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files for which the
467 destination file already exists and has a date later than the source
470 dit(bf(-l, --links)) When symlinks are encountered, recreate the
471 symlink on the destination.
473 dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) When symlinks are encountered, the file that
474 they point to is copied, rather than the symlink.
476 dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to copy the referent of
477 symbolic links that point outside the source tree. Absolute symlinks
478 are also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the
479 source path itself when --relative is used.
481 dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links
482 which point outside the destination tree. All absolute symlinks are
483 also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with --relative may
484 give unexpected results.
486 dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on
487 the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
488 option hard links are treated like regular files.
490 Note that rsync can only detect hard links if both parts of the link
491 are in the list of files being sent.
493 This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it.
495 dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm
496 is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. The transfer may be
497 faster if this option is used when the bandwidth between the source and
498 target machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the
499 "disk" is actually a networked filesystem). This is the default when both
500 the source and target are on the local machine.
502 dit(bf(--no-whole-file)) Turn off --whole-file, for use when it is the
505 dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to set the destination
506 permissions to be the same as the source permissions.
508 Without this option, each new file gets its permissions set based on the
509 source file's permissions and the umask at the receiving end, while all
510 other files (including updated files) retain their existing permissions
511 (which is the same behavior as other file-copy utilities, such as cp).
513 dit(bf(-o, --owner)) This option causes rsync to set the owner of the
514 destination file to be the same as the source file. On most systems,
515 only the super-user can set file ownership. The preservation is done
516 primarily by name, but falls back to using the ID number if the ID has
517 no name on the sending side or has no match on the receiving side.
518 See also the --numeric-ids option and the "use chroot" setting in the
521 dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to set the group of the
522 destination file to be the same as the source file. If the receiving
523 program is not running as the super-user, only groups that the
524 receiver is a member of will be preserved. The preservation is done
525 primarily by name, but falls back to using the ID number if the ID has
526 no name on the sending side or has no match on the receiving side.
527 See also the --numeric-ids option and the "use chroot" setting in the
530 dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
531 block device information to the remote system to recreate these
532 devices. This option is only available to the super-user.
534 dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along
535 with the files and update them on the remote system. Note that if this
536 option is not used, the optimization that excludes files that have not been
537 modified cannot be effective; in other words, a missing -t or -a will
538 cause the next transfer to behave as if it used -I, and all files will have
539 their checksums compared and show up in log messages even if they haven't
542 dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers,
543 instead it will just report the actions it would have taken.
545 dit(bf(-S, --sparse)) Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take
546 up less space on the destination.
548 NOTE: Don't use this option when the destination is a Solaris "tmpfs"
549 filesystem. It doesn't seem to handle seeks over null regions
550 correctly and ends up corrupting the files.
552 dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync not to cross filesystem
553 boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the
554 contents of only one filesystem.
556 dit(bf(--existing)) This tells rsync not to create any new files -
557 only update files that already exist on the destination.
559 dit(bf(--ignore-existing))
560 This tells rsync not to update files that already exist on
563 dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM
564 files or directories. This is useful when mirroring very large trees
565 to prevent disasters.
567 dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving
568 side that aren't on the sending side. Files that are excluded from
569 transfer are excluded from being deleted unless you use --delete-excluded.
571 This option has no effect if directory recursion is not selected.
573 This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea
574 to run first using the dry run option (-n) to see what files would be
575 deleted to make sure important files aren't listed.
577 If the sending side detects any I/O errors then the deletion of any
578 files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to
579 prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the
580 sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the
581 destination. You can override this with the --ignore-errors option.
583 dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the
584 receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also
585 delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see --exclude).
588 dit(bf(--delete-after)) By default rsync does file deletions on the
589 receiving side before transferring files to try to ensure that there is
590 sufficient space on the receiving filesystem. If you want to delete
591 after transferring, use the --delete-after switch. Implies --delete.
593 dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files
594 even when there are I/O errors.
596 dit(bf(--force)) This options tells rsync to delete directories even if
597 they are not empty when they are to be replaced by non-directories. This
598 is only relevant without --delete because deletions are now done depth-first.
599 Requires the --recursive option (which is implied by -a) to have any effect.
601 dit(bf(-B , --block-size=BLOCKSIZE)) This controls the block size used in
602 the rsync algorithm. See the technical report for details.
604 dit(bf(-e, --rsh=COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative
605 remote shell program to use for communication between the local and
606 remote copies of rsync. Typically, rsync is configured to use ssh by
607 default, but you may prefer to use rsh on a local network.
609 If this option is used with bf([user@]host::module/path), then the
610 remote shell em(COMMAND) will be used to run an rsync server on the
611 remote host, and all data will be transmitted through that remote
612 shell connection, rather than through a direct socket connection to a
613 running rsync server on the remote host. See the section "CONNECTING
614 TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM" above.
616 Command-line arguments are permitted in COMMAND provided that COMMAND is
617 presented to rsync as a single argument. For example:
619 quote(-e "ssh -p 2234")
621 (Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect
622 options in their .ssh/config file.)
624 You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
625 environment variable, which accepts the same range of values as -e.
627 See also the --blocking-io option which is affected by this option.
629 dit(bf(--rsync-path=PATH)) Use this to specify the path to the copy of
630 rsync on the remote machine. Useful when it's not in your path. Note
631 that this is the full path to the binary, not just the directory that
634 dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a
635 broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between
636 systems. It uses the same algorithm that CVS uses to determine if
637 a file should be ignored.
639 The exclude list is initialized to:
641 quote(RCS/ SCCS/ CVS/ .svn/ CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state
642 .nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej .del-*
643 *.a *.o *.obj *.so *.Z *.elc *.ln core)
645 then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
646 files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (space delimited).
648 Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a
649 .cvsignore file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. See
650 the bf(cvs(1)) manual for more information.
652 dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option allows you to selectively exclude
653 certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is most
654 useful in combination with a recursive transfer.
656 You may use as many --exclude options on the command line as you like
657 to build up the list of files to exclude.
659 See the EXCLUDE PATTERNS section for information on the syntax of
662 dit(bf(--exclude-from=FILE)) This option is similar to the --exclude
663 option, but instead it adds all exclude patterns listed in the file
664 FILE to the exclude list. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with
665 ';' or '#' are ignored.
666 If em(FILE) is bf(-) the list will be read from standard input.
668 dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option tells rsync to not exclude the
669 specified pattern of filenames. This is useful as it allows you to
670 build up quite complex exclude/include rules.
672 See the EXCLUDE PATTERNS section for information on the syntax of
675 dit(bf(--include-from=FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns
677 If em(FILE) is bf(-) the list will be read from standard input.
679 dit(bf(--files-from=FILE)) Using this option allows you to specify the
680 exact list of files to transfer (as read from the specified FILE or "-"
681 for stdin). It also tweaks the default behavior of rsync to make
682 transferring just the specified files and directories easier. For
683 instance, the --relative option is enabled by default when this option
684 is used (use --no-relative if you want to turn that off), all
685 directories specified in the list are created on the destination (rather
686 than being noisily skipped without -r), and the -a (--archive) option's
687 behavior does not imply -r (--recursive) -- specify it explicitly, if
690 The file names that are read from the FILE are all relative to the
691 source dir -- any leading slashes are removed and no ".." references are
692 allowed to go higher than the source dir. For example, take this
695 quote(rsync -a --files-from=/tmp/foo /usr remote:/backup)
697 If /tmp/foo contains the string "bin" (or even "/bin"), the /usr/bin
698 directory will be created as /backup/bin on the remote host (but the
699 contents of the /usr/bin dir would not be sent unless you specified -r
700 or the names were explicitly listed in /tmp/foo). Also keep in mind
701 that the effect of the (enabled by default) --relative option is to
702 duplicate only the path info that is read from the file -- it does not
703 force the duplication of the source-spec path (/usr in this case).
705 In addition, the --files-from file can be read from the remote host
706 instead of the local host if you specify a "host:" in front of the file
707 (the host must match one end of the transfer). As a short-cut, you can
708 specify just a prefix of ":" to mean "use the remote end of the
709 transfer". For example:
711 quote(rsync -a --files-from=:/path/file-list src:/ /tmp/copy)
713 This would copy all the files specified in the /path/file-list file that
714 was located on the remote "src" host.
716 dit(bf(-0, --from0)) This tells rsync that the filenames it reads from a
717 file are terminated by a null ('\0') character, not a NL, CR, or CR+LF.
718 This affects --exclude-from, --include-from, and --files-from.
720 dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a
721 scratch directory when creating temporary copies of the files
722 transferred on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create
723 the temporary files in the receiving directory.
725 dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR on
726 the destination machine as an additional directory to compare destination
727 files against when doing transfers if the files are missing in the
728 destination directory. This is useful for doing transfers to a new
729 destination while leaving existing files intact, and then doing a
730 flash-cutover when all files have been successfully transferred (for
731 example by moving directories around and removing the old directory,
732 although this skips files that haven't changed; see also --link-dest).
733 This option increases the usefulness of --partial because partially
734 transferred files will remain in the new temporary destination until they
735 have a chance to be completed. If DIR is a relative path, it is relative
736 to the destination directory.
738 dit(bf(--link-dest=DIR)) This option behaves like bf(--compare-dest) but
739 also will create hard links from em(DIR) to the destination directory for
740 unchanged files. Files with changed ownership or permissions will not be
742 Like bf(--compare-dest) if DIR is a relative path, it is relative
743 to the destination directory.
745 dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses any data from
746 the files that it sends to the destination machine. This
747 option is useful on slow connections. The compression method used is the
748 same method that gzip uses.
750 Note this this option typically achieves better compression ratios
751 that can be achieved by using a compressing remote shell, or a
752 compressing transport, as it takes advantage of the implicit
753 information sent for matching data blocks.
755 dit(bf(--numeric-ids)) With this option rsync will transfer numeric group
756 and user IDs rather than using user and group names and mapping them
759 By default rsync will use the username and groupname to determine
760 what ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group
761 0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the --numeric-ids
762 option is not specified.
764 If a user or group has no name on the source system or it has no match
765 on the destination system, then the numeric ID
766 from the source system is used instead. See also the comments on the
767 "use chroot" setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
769 dit(bf(--timeout=TIMEOUT)) This option allows you to set a maximum I/O
770 timeout in seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time
771 then rsync will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout.
773 dit(bf(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The
774 daemon may be accessed using the bf(host::module) or
775 bf(rsync://host/module/) syntax.
777 If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being
778 run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and
779 become a background daemon. The daemon will read the config file
780 (rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and respond to
781 requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
784 dit(bf(--no-detach)) When running as a daemon, this option instructs
785 rsync to not detach itself and become a background process. This
786 option is required when running as a service on Cygwin, and may also
787 be useful when rsync is supervised by a program such as
788 bf(daemontools) or AIX's bf(System Resource Controller).
789 bf(--no-detach) is also recommended when rsync is run under a
790 debugger. This option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or
793 dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address
794 when run as a daemon with the --daemon option or when connecting to a
795 rsync server. The --address option allows you to specify a specific IP
796 address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting possible
797 in conjunction with the --config option.
799 dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
800 the default. This is only relevant when --daemon is specified.
801 The default is /etc/rsyncd.conf unless the daemon is running over
802 a remote shell program and the remote user is not root; in that case
803 the default is rsyncd.conf in the current directory (typically $HOME).
805 dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
806 rather than the default port 873.
808 dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This tells rsync to use blocking I/O when launching
809 a remote shell transport. If the remote shell is either rsh or remsh,
810 rsync defaults to using
811 blocking I/O, otherwise it defaults to using non-blocking I/O. (Note that
812 ssh prefers non-blocking I/O.)
814 dit(bf(--no-blocking-io)) Turn off --blocking-io, for use when it is the
817 dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
818 rsync client logs to stdout on a per-file basis. The log format is
819 specified using the same format conventions as the log format option in
822 dit(bf(--stats)) This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics
823 on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync
824 algorithm is for your data.
826 dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
827 transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
828 it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the
829 --partial option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should
830 make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster.
832 dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information
833 showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user
835 Implies --verbose without incrementing verbosity.
837 When the file is transferring, the data looks like this:
840 782448 63% 110.64kB/s 0:00:04
843 This tells you the current file size, the percentage of the transfer that
844 is complete, the current calculated file-completion rate (including both
845 data over the wire and data being matched locally), and the estimated time
846 remaining in this transfer.
848 After the a file is complete, it the data looks like this:
851 1238099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (5, 57.1% of 396)
854 This tells you the final file size, that it's 100% complete, the final
855 transfer rate for the file, the amount of elapsed time it took to transfer
856 the file, and the addition of a total-transfer summary in parentheses.
857 These additional numbers tell you how many files have been updated, and
858 what percent of the total number of files has been scanned.
860 dit(bf(-P)) The -P option is equivalent to --partial --progress. I
861 found myself typing that combination quite often so I created an
862 option to make it easier.
864 dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password
865 in a file for accessing a remote rsync server. Note that this option
866 is only useful when accessing a rsync server using the built in
867 transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file
868 must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a
871 dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
872 transfer rate in kilobytes per second. This option is most effective when
873 using rsync with large files (several megabytes and up). Due to the nature
874 of rsync transfers, blocks of data are sent, then if rsync determines the
875 transfer was too fast, it will wait before sending the next data block. The
876 result is an average transfer rate equaling the specified limit. A value
877 of zero specifies no limit.
879 dit(bf(--write-batch=PREFIX)) Generate a set of files that can be
880 transferred as a batch update. Each filename in the set starts with
881 PREFIX. See the "BATCH MODE" section for details.
883 dit(bf(--read-batch=PREFIX)) Apply a previously generated change batch,
884 using the fileset whose filenames start with PREFIX. See the "BATCH
885 MODE" section for details.
889 manpagesection(EXCLUDE PATTERNS)
891 The exclude and include patterns specified to rsync allow for flexible
892 selection of which files to transfer and which files to skip.
894 rsync builds an ordered list of include/exclude options as specified on
895 the command line. Rsync checks each file and directory
896 name against each exclude/include pattern in turn. The first matching
897 pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern, then that file is
898 skipped. If it is an include pattern then that filename is not
899 skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the
900 filename is not skipped.
902 The filenames matched against the exclude/include patterns
903 are relative to the destination directory, or "top
904 directory", so patterns should not include the path elements
905 of the source or destination directories. The only way in
906 which a pattern will match the absolute path of a file or
907 directory is if the source path is the root directory.
909 Note that when used with -r (which is implied by -a), every subcomponent of
910 every path is visited from top down, so include/exclude patterns get
911 applied recursively to each subcomponent.
913 Note also that the --include and --exclude options take one pattern
914 each. To add multiple patterns use the --include-from and
915 --exclude-from options or multiple --include and --exclude options.
917 The patterns can take several forms. The rules are:
921 it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is matched against the
922 start of the filename, otherwise it is matched against the end of
924 This is the equivalent of a leading ^ in regular expressions.
925 Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at the top of the
927 On the other hand, "foo" would match any file called "foo"
928 anywhere in the tree because the algorithm is applied recursively from
929 top down; it behaves as if each path component gets a turn at being the
930 end of the file name.
931 The leading / does not make the pattern an absolute pathname.
933 it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
934 directory, not a file, link or device.
936 it() if the pattern contains a wildcard character from the set
937 *?[ then expression matching is applied using the shell filename
938 matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used.
940 it() the double asterisk pattern "**" will match slashes while a
941 single asterisk pattern "*" will stop at slashes.
943 it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) or a "**"
944 then it is matched against the full filename, including any leading
945 directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a / or a "**", then it is
946 matched only against the final component of the filename. Again,
947 remember that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename" can
948 actually be any portion of a path below the starting directory.
950 it() if the pattern starts with "+ " (a plus followed by a space)
951 then it is always considered an include pattern, even if specified as
952 part of an exclude option. The "+ " part is discarded before matching.
954 it() if the pattern starts with "- " (a minus followed by a space)
955 then it is always considered an exclude pattern, even if specified as
956 part of an include option. The "- " part is discarded before matching.
958 it() if the pattern is a single exclamation mark ! then the current
959 include/exclude list is reset, removing all previously defined patterns.
962 The +/- rules are most useful in a list that was read from a file, allowing
963 you to have a single exclude list that contains both include and exclude
966 If you end an exclude list with --exclude '*', note that since the
967 algorithm is applied recursively that unless you explicitly include
968 parent directories of files you want to include then the algorithm
969 will stop at the parent directories and never see the files below
970 them. To include all directories, use --include '*/' before the
973 Here are some exclude/include examples:
976 it() --exclude "*.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o
977 it() --exclude "/foo" would exclude a file called foo in the top directory
978 it() --exclude "foo/" would exclude any directory called foo
979 it() --exclude "/foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
980 levels below a directory called foo in the top directory
981 it() --exclude "/foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
982 or more levels below a directory called foo in the top directory
983 it() --include "*/" --include "*.c" --exclude "*" would include all
984 directories and C source files
985 it() --include "foo/" --include "foo/bar.c" --exclude "*" would include
986 only foo/bar.c (the foo/ directory must be explicitly included or
987 it would be excluded by the "*")
990 manpagesection(BATCH MODE)
992 bf(Note:) Batch mode should be considered experimental in this version
993 of rsync. The interface or behaviour may change before it stabilizes.
995 Batch mode can be used to apply the same set of updates to many
996 identical systems. Suppose one has a tree which is replicated on a
997 number of hosts. Now suppose some changes have been made to this
998 source tree and those changes need to be propagated to the other
999 hosts. In order to do this using batch mode, rsync is run with the
1000 write-batch option to apply the changes made to the source tree to one
1001 of the destination trees. The write-batch option causes the rsync
1002 client to store the information needed to repeat this operation against
1003 other destination trees in a batch update fileset (see below). The
1004 filename of each file in the fileset starts with a prefix specified by
1005 the user as an argument to the write-batch option. This fileset is
1006 then copied to each remote host, where rsync is run with the read-batch
1007 option, again specifying the same prefix, and the destination tree.
1008 Rsync updates the destination tree using the information stored in the
1009 batch update fileset.
1011 The fileset consists of 4 files:
1014 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_argvs) command-line arguments
1015 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_flist) rsync internal file metadata
1016 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_csums) rsync checksums
1017 it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_delta) data blocks for file update & change
1020 The .rsync_argvs file contains a command-line suitable for updating a
1021 destination tree using that batch update fileset. It can be executed
1022 using a Bourne(-like) shell, optionally passing in an alternate
1023 destination tree pathname which is then used instead of the original
1024 path. This is useful when the destination tree path differs from the
1025 original destination tree path.
1027 Generating the batch update fileset once saves having to perform the
1028 file status, checksum and data block generation more than once when
1029 updating multiple destination trees. Multicast transport protocols can
1030 be used to transfer the batch update files in parallel to many hosts at
1031 once, instead of sending the same data to every host individually.
1036 $ rsync --write-batch=pfx -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/
1037 $ rcp pfx.rsync_* remote:
1038 $ ssh remote rsync --read-batch=pfx -a /bdest/dir/
1040 $ ssh remote ./pfx.rsync_argvs /bdest/dir/
1043 In this example, rsync is used to update /adest/dir/ with /source/dir/
1044 and the information to repeat this operation is stored in the files
1045 pfx.rsync_*. These files are then copied to the machine named "remote".
1046 Rsync is then invoked on "remote" to update /bdest/dir/ the same way as
1047 /adest/dir/. The last line shows the rsync_argvs file being used to
1052 The read-batch option expects the destination tree it is meant to update
1053 to be identical to the destination tree that was used to create the
1054 batch update fileset. When a difference between the destination trees
1055 is encountered the update will fail at that point, leaving the
1056 destination tree in a partially updated state. In that case, rsync can
1057 be used in its regular (non-batch) mode of operation to fix up the
1060 The rsync version used on all destinations should be identical to the
1061 one used on the original destination.
1063 The -z/--compress option does not work in batch mode and yields a usage
1064 error. A separate compression tool can be used instead to reduce the
1065 size of the batch update files for transport to the destination.
1067 The -n/--dryrun option does not work in batch mode and yields a runtime
1070 See bf(http://www.ils.unc.edu/i2dsi/unc_rsync+.html) for papers and technical
1073 manpagesection(SYMBOLIC LINKS)
1075 Three basic behaviours are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic
1076 link in the source directory.
1078 By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message
1079 "skipping non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist.
1081 If bf(--links) is specified, then symlinks are recreated with the same
1082 target on the destination. Note that bf(--archive) implies
1085 If bf(--copy-links) is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by
1086 copying their referent, rather than the symlink.
1088 rsync also distinguishes "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An
1089 example where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes
1090 ensure the rsync module they copy does not include symbolic links to
1091 bf(/etc/passwd) in the public section of the site. Using
1092 bf(--copy-unsafe-links) will cause any links to be copied as the file
1093 they point to on the destination. Using bf(--safe-links) will cause
1094 unsafe links to be omitted altogether.
1096 Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks
1097 (start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough bf("..")
1098 components to ascend from the directory being copied.
1100 manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS)
1102 rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
1103 cryptic. The one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol
1104 version mismatch - is your shell clean?".
1106 This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell
1107 facility producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using
1108 for its transport. The way to diagnose this problem is to run your
1109 remote shell like this:
1112 ssh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat
1115 then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat
1116 should be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from
1117 rsync then you will probably find that out.dat contains some text or
1118 data. Look at the contents and try to work out what is producing
1119 it. The most common cause is incorrectly configured shell startup
1120 scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that contain output statements
1121 for non-interactive logins.
1123 If you are having trouble debugging include and exclude patterns, then
1124 try specifying the -vv option. At this level of verbosity rsync will
1125 show why each individual file is included or excluded.
1127 manpagesection(EXIT VALUES)
1131 dit(bf(1)) Syntax or usage error
1132 dit(bf(2)) Protocol incompatibility
1133 dit(bf(3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
1134 dit(bf(4)) Requested action not supported: an attempt
1135 was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support
1136 them; or an option was specifed that is supported by the client and
1138 dit(bf(5)) Error starting client-server protocol
1139 dit(bf(10)) Error in socket I/O
1140 dit(bf(11)) Error in file I/O
1141 dit(bf(12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream
1142 dit(bf(13)) Errors with program diagnostics
1143 dit(bf(14)) Error in IPC code
1144 dit(bf(20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
1145 dit(bf(21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
1146 dit(bf(22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
1147 dit(bf(23)) Partial transfer due to error
1148 dit(bf(24)) Partial transfer due to vanished source files
1149 dit(bf(30)) Timeout in data send/receive
1152 manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES)
1156 dit(bf(CVSIGNORE)) The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any
1157 ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the --cvs-exclude option for
1160 dit(bf(RSYNC_RSH)) The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to
1161 override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. Command line
1162 options are permitted after the command name, just as in the -e option.
1164 dit(bf(RSYNC_PROXY)) The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to
1165 redirect your rsync client to use a web proxy when connecting to a
1166 rsync daemon. You should set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair.
1168 dit(bf(RSYNC_PASSWORD)) Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required
1169 password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to a rsync
1170 daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a
1171 password to a shell transport such as ssh.
1173 dit(bf(USER) or bf(LOGNAME)) The USER or LOGNAME environment variables
1174 are used to determine the default username sent to a rsync server.
1176 dit(bf(HOME)) The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's
1177 default .cvsignore file.
1183 /etc/rsyncd.conf or rsyncd.conf
1189 manpagediagnostics()
1193 times are transferred as unix time_t values
1195 When transferring to FAT filesystems rsync may resync
1197 See the comments on the --modify-window option.
1199 file permissions, devices, etc. are transferred as native numerical
1202 see also the comments on the --delete option
1204 Please report bugs! See the website at
1205 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
1207 manpagesection(CREDITS)
1209 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
1210 COPYING for details.
1212 A WEB site is available at
1213 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/). The site
1214 includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this
1217 The primary ftp site for rsync is
1218 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
1220 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
1222 This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by
1223 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
1225 manpagesection(THANKS)
1227 Thanks to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell
1228 and David Bell for helpful suggestions, patches and testing of rsync.
1229 I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
1231 Especial thanks also to: David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer.
1236 rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell <tridge@samba.org> and Paul
1239 rsync is now maintained by Martin Pool <mbp@samba.org>.
1241 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
1242 url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)
1244 If you suspect you have found a security vulnerability in rsync,
1245 please send it directly to Martin Pool and Andrew Tridgell. For other
1246 enquiries, please use the mailing list.