1 mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au)
2 manpage(rsync)(1)(13 May 1998)()()
3 manpagename(rsync)(faster, flexible replacement for rcp)
6 rsync [options] [user@]host:path path
8 rsync [options] path [user@]host:path
10 rsync [options] path path
12 rsync [options] [user@]host::path path
14 rsync [options] path [user@]host::path
18 rsync is a program that behaves in much the same way that rcp does,
19 but has many more options and uses the rsync remote-update protocol to
20 greatly speedup file transfers when the destination file already
23 The rsync remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the
24 differences between two sets of files across the network link, using
25 an efficient checksum-search algorithm described in the technical
26 report that accompanies this package.
28 Some of the additional features of rsync are:
31 it() support for copying links, devices, owners, groups and permissions
32 it() exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar
33 it() a CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore
34 it() can use any transparent remote shell, including rsh or ssh
35 it() does not require root privileges
36 it() pipelining of file transfers to minimize latency costs
37 it() support for anonymous or authenticated rsync servers (ideal for
41 manpagesection(GENERAL)
43 There are five different ways of using rsync. They are:
46 it() for copying local files. This is invoked when neither
47 source nor destination path contains a : separator
49 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine using
50 a remote shell program as the transport (such as rsh or
51 ssh). This is invoked when the destination path contains a
54 it() for copying from a remote machine to the local machine
55 using a remote shell program. This is invoked when the local path
56 contains a : separator.
58 it() for copying from a remote rsync server to the local
59 machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
62 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote rsync
63 server. This is invoked when the destination path contains a ::
67 Note that in all cases at least one of the source and destination
72 See the file README for installation instructions.
74 Once installed you can use rsync to any machine that you can use rsh
75 to. rsync uses rsh for its communications, unless both the source and
76 destination are local.
78 You can also specify a alternative to rsh, by either using the -e
79 command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable.
81 One common substitute is to use ssh, which offers a high degree of
84 Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination
89 You use rsync in the same way you use rcp. You must specify a source
90 and a destination, one of which may be remote.
92 Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is some examples:
94 quote(rsync *.c foo:src/)
96 this would transfer all files matching the pattern *.c from the
97 current directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of
98 the files already exist on the remote system then the rsync
99 remote-update protocol is used to update the file by sending only the
100 differences. See the tech report for details.
102 quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp)
104 recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the
105 machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The
106 files are transferred in "archive" mode, which ensures that symbolic
107 links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownerships etc are preserved
108 in the transfer. Additionally compression will be used to reduce the
109 size of data portions of the transfer.
111 quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp)
113 With a trailing slash on the source this behavior changes to transfer
114 all files from the directory src/bar on the machine foo into the
115 /data/tmp/. With a trailing / on a source name it means "copy the
116 contents of this directory". Without a trailing slash it means "copy
117 the directory". This difference becomes particularly important when
118 using the --delete option.
120 You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
121 destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like
122 an improved copy command.
125 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER)
127 It is also possible to use rsync without using rsh or ssh as the
128 transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server
129 running on TCP port 873.
131 Using rsync in this was is the same as using it with rsh or ssh except
135 it() you use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to
136 separate the hostname from the path.
138 it() the remote server may print a message of the day when you
141 it() if you specify no path name on the remote server then the
142 list of accessible paths on the server will be shown.
145 Some paths on the remote server may require authentication. If so then
146 you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the
147 password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to
148 the password you want to use. This may be useful when scripting rsync.
150 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER)
152 An rsync server is configured using a config file which by default is
153 called /etc/rsyncd.conf. Please see the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
156 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
158 Here are some examples of how I use rsync.
160 To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS word
161 files and mail folders I use a cron job that runs
163 quote(rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup)
165 each night over a PPP link to a duplicate directory on my machine
168 To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile
172 rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ .
175 rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/
179 this allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the
180 link. I then do cvs operations on the remote machine, which saves a
181 lot of time as the remote cvs protocol isn't very efficient.
183 I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the
186 quote(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba/ nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge/samba")
188 this is launched from cron every few hours.
192 rsync uses the GNU long options package. Many of the command line
193 options have two variants, one short and one long. These are shown
194 below separated by commas. Some options only have a long variant.
197 dit(bf(-h, --help)) Print a short help page describing the options
200 dit(bf(--version)) print the rsync version number and exit
202 dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you
203 are given during the transfer. By default rsync works silently. A
204 single -v will give you information about what files are being
205 transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two -v flags will give you
206 information on what files are being skipped and slightly more
207 information at the end. More than two -v flags should only be used if
208 you are debugging rsync
210 dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
211 already the same length and have the same time-stamp. This option turns
214 dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using
215 a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then
216 explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name
217 which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
218 receiver are skipped. This option can be quite slow.
220 dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptDog. It is a quick way
221 of saying I want recursion and want to preserve everything.
223 dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories recursively
225 dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path
226 names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than
227 just the last parts of the filenames. This is particularly useful when
228 you want to sent several different directories at the same time. For
229 example if you used the command
231 verb(rsync foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
233 then this would create a file called foo.c in /tmp/ on the remote
234 machine. If instead you used
236 verb(rsync -R foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
238 then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/foo.c would be created on the remote
239 machine. The full path name is preserved.
241 dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option preexisting destination files are
242 renamed with a ~ extension as each file is transferred. You can
243 control the backup suffix using the --suffix option.
245 dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files for which the
246 destination file already exists and has a date later than the source
249 dit(bf(-l, --links)) This tells rsync to recreate symbolic links on the
250 remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
251 option all symbolic links are skipped.
253 dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) This tells rsync to treat symbolic links just
256 dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on
257 the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
258 option hard links are treated like regular files.
260 Note that rsync can only detect hard links if both parts of the link
261 are in the list of files being sent.
263 This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it.
265 dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm
266 is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. This may be
267 useful when using rsync with a local machine.
269 dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to update the remote
270 permissions to be the same as the local permissions.
272 dit(bf(-o, --owner)) This option causes rsync to update the remote owner
273 of the file to be the same as the local owner. This is only available
276 dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to update the remote group
277 of the file to be the same as the local group.
279 dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
280 block device information to the remote system to recreate these
281 devices. This option is only available to the super-user.
283 dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along
284 with the files and update them on the remote system
286 dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers,
287 instead it will just report the actions it would have taken.
289 dit(bf(-S, --sparse)) Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take
290 up less space on the destination.
292 dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync not to cross filesystem
293 boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the
294 contents of only one filesystem.
296 dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving
297 side that aren't on the sending side. This option can be dangerous if
300 It is a very good idea to run first using the dry run option (-n) to
301 see what files would be deleted to make sure important files aren't
304 rsync 1.6.4 changed the behavior of --delete to make it less
305 dangerous. rsync now only scans directories on the receiving side
306 that are explicitly transferred from the sending side. Only files in
307 these directories are deleted.
309 Still, it is probably easy to get burnt with this option. The moral
310 of the story is to use the -n option until you get used to the
311 behavior of --delete.
313 NOTE: It also may delete files on the destination if the sending side
314 can't open them or stat them. This is a bug that hopefully will be
315 fixed in a future release.
317 dit(bf(--force)) This options tells rsync to delete directories even if
318 they are not empty. This applies to both the --delete option and to
319 cases where rsync tries to copy a normal file but the destination
320 contains a directory of the same name. Normally rsync will refuse to
321 do a recursive directory deletion in such cases, by using --force
322 the recursive deletion will be done.
324 Use this option with caution!
326 dit(bf(-B , --block_size BLOCKSIZE)) This controls the block size used in
327 the rsync algorithm. See the technical report for details.
329 dit(bf(-e, --rsh COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative
330 remote shell program to use for communication between the local and
331 remote copies of rsync. By default rsync will use rsh, but you may
332 like to instead use ssh because of its high security.
334 You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
335 environment variable.
337 dit(bf(--rsync-path PATH)) Use this to specify the path to the copy of
338 rsync on the remote machine. Useful when its not in your path.
340 dit(bf(--exclude pattern)) This option allows you to selectively exclude
341 certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is most
342 useful in combination with a recursive transfer.
344 You may use as many --exclude options on the command line as you like
345 to build up the list of files to exclude.
347 See the section of exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
350 dit(bf(--exclude-from FILE)) This option is similar to the --exclude
351 option, but instead it adds all filenames listed in the file FILE to
354 dit(bf(--include pattern)) This option tells rsync to not exclude the
355 specified pattern of filenames. This is useful as it allows you to
356 build up quite complex exclude/include rules.
358 See the section of exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
361 dit(bf(--include-from FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns
364 dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a
365 broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between
366 systems. It uses the same algorithm that CVS uses to determine if
367 a file should be ignored.
369 The exclude list is initialized to:
371 quote(RCS SCCS CVS CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state
372 .nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej .del-*
373 *.a *.o *.obj *.so *.Z *.elc *.ln core)
375 then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
376 files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (space delimited).
378 Finally in each directory any files listed in the .cvsignore file in
379 that directory are added to the list.
381 dit(bf(--suffix SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
382 backup suffix used with the -b option. The default is a ~.
384 dit(bf(--csum-length LENGTH)) By default the primary checksum used in
385 rsync is a very strong 16 byte MD4 checksum. In most cases you will
386 find that a truncated version of this checksum is quite efficient, and
387 this will decrease the size of the checksum data sent over the link,
388 making things faster.
390 You can choose the number of bytes in the truncated checksum using the
391 --csum-length option. Any value less than or equal to 16 is valid.
393 Note that if you use this option then you run the risk of ending up
394 with an incorrect target file. The risk with a value of 16 is
395 microscopic and can be safely ignored (the universe will probably end
396 before it fails) but with smaller values the risk is higher.
398 dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir DIR)) This options instructs rsync to use DIR as a
399 scratch directory when creating a temporary copies of the files
400 transferred on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create
401 the temporary files in the receiving directory.
403 dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses any data from
404 the source file(s) which it sends to the destination machine. This
405 option is useful on slow links. The compression method used is the
406 same method that gzip uses.
408 Note this this option typically achieves better compression ratios
409 that can be achieved by using a compressing remote shell, or a
410 compressing transport, as it takes advantage of the implicit
411 information sent for matching data blocks.
413 dit(bf(--numeric-ids)) With this option rsync will transfer numeric group
414 and user ids rather than using user and group names and mapping them
417 By default rsync will use the user name and group name to determine
418 what ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group
419 0 and never mapped via user/group names even if the --numeric-ids
420 option is not specified.
422 If a user or group name does not exist on the destination system then
423 the numeric id from the source system is used instead.
425 dit(bf(--timeout)) This option allows you to set a maximum IO timeout in
426 seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time then rsync
427 will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout.
429 dit(bf(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a rsync
430 daemon. If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it
431 is being run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current
432 terminal and become a background daemon. The daemon will read the
433 config file (/etc/rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and
434 respond to requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
437 dit(bf(--config FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
438 the default /etc/rsyncd.conf. This is only relevant when --daemon is
441 dit(bf(--port PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
442 rather than the default port 873.
446 manpagesection(EXCLUDE PATTERNS)
448 The exclude and include patterns specified to rsync allow for flexible
449 selection of what files to transfer and what files to skip.
451 rsync build a ordered list of include/exclude options as specified on
452 the command line. When a filename is encountered rsync then checks the
453 name against each exclude/include pattern in turn. The first matching
454 pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern than that file is
455 skipped. If it is an include pattern then that filename is not
456 skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the
457 filename is not skipped.
459 The patterns themselves can take several forms. The rules are:
462 it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is matched against the
463 start of the filename, otherwise it is matched against the end of
464 the filename. Thus /foo would match a file called foo
465 at the base of the tree whereas foo would match any file
466 called foo anywhere in the tree.
468 it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
469 directory, not a file, link or device.
471 it() if the pattern contains a wildcard character from the set
472 *?[ then regular expression matching is applied using the
473 normal shell filename matching rules. Otherwise a simple string
476 it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) then it
477 is matched against the full filename, including any leading
478 directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a / then it is matched
479 only against the final component of the filename.
481 it() if the pattern starts with "+ " (a plus followed by a space)
482 then it is always considered a include pattern, even if specified as
483 part of an exclude option. The "+ " part is discarded before matching.
485 it() if the pattern starts with "- " (a minus followed by a space)
486 then it is always considered a exclude pattern, even if specified as
487 part of an include option. The "- " part is discarded before matching.
490 The +/- rules are most useful in exclude lists, allowing you to have a
491 single exclude list that contains both include and exclude options.
493 Here are some examples:
496 it() --exclude "*.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o
497 it() --exclude "/foo" would exclude a file in the base directory called foo
498 it() --exclude "foo/" would exclude any directory called foo
499 it() --include "*/" --include "*.c" --exclude "*" would include all
500 directories and C source files.
515 times are transferred as unix time_t values
517 file permissions, devices etc are transferred as native numerical
520 see also the comments on the --delete option
522 Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at
523 url(http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/)(http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/)
525 manpagesection(VERSION)
526 This man page is current for version 2.0 of rsync
528 manpagesection(CREDITS)
530 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
533 The primary ftp site for rsync is
534 url(ftp://samba.anu.edu.au/pub/rsync)(ftp://samba.anu.edu.au/pub/rsync).
536 A WEB site is available at
537 url(http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/)(http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/)
539 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
541 This program uses the zlib compression library written by Jean-loup
542 Gailly and Mark Adler.
544 manpagesection(THANKS)
546 Thanks to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell
547 and David Bell for helpful suggestions and testing of rsync. I've
548 probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
553 rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras. They may be
554 contacted via email at tridge@samba.anu.edu.au and
555 Paul.Mackerras@cs.anu.edu.au