See the file README for installation instructions.
-Once installed you can use rsync to any machine that you can use rsh
-to. rsync uses rsh for its communications, unless both the source and
-destination are local.
+Once installed, you can use rsync to any machine that you can access via
+a remote shell (as well as some that you can access using the rsync
+daemon-mode protocol). For remote transfers, rsync typically uses rsh
+for its communications, but it may have been configured to use a
+different remote shell by default, such as ssh.
-You can also specify an alternative to rsh, either by using the -e
+You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the -e
command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable.
One common substitute is to use ssh, which offers a high degree of
manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER)
-It is also possible to use rsync without using rsh or ssh as the
+It is also possible to use rsync without a remote shell as the
transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server
running on TCP port 873.
your web proxy. Note that your web proxy's configuration must allow
proxying to port 873.
-Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with rsh or ssh except
+Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except
that:
itemize(
-R, --relative use relative path names
-b, --backup make backups (default ~ suffix)
--backup-dir make backups into this directory
- --suffix=SUFFIX override backup suffix
+ --suffix=SUFFIX define backup suffix
-u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files)
-l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks
-L, --copy-links copy the referent of symlinks
--no-whole-file turn off --whole-file
-x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
-B, --block-size=SIZE checksum blocking size (default 700)
- -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify rsh replacement
+ -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify the remote shell to use
--rsync-path=PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine
-C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does
--existing only update files that already exist
dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the --backup option, this
tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
-very useful for incremental backups.
+very useful for incremental backups. You can additionally
+specify a backup suffix using the --suffix option
+(otherwise the files backed up in the specified directory
+will keep their original filenames).
dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
backup suffix used with the -b option. The default is a ~.
+If --backup-dir and --suffix are both specified,
+the SUFFIX is appended to the filename even in the backup directory.
dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files for which the
destination file already exists and has a date later than the source
dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the
receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also
delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see --exclude).
+Implies --delete.
dit(bf(--delete-after)) By default rsync does file deletions before
transferring files to try to ensure that there is sufficient space on
the receiving filesystem. If you want to delete after transferring
-then use the --delete-after switch.
+then use the --delete-after switch. Implies --delete.
dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files
even when there are IO errors.
dit(bf(-e, --rsh=COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative
remote shell program to use for communication between the local and
-remote copies of rsync. By default, rsync will use rsh, but you may
-like to instead use ssh because of its high security.
+remote copies of rsync. Typically, rsync is configured to use rsh by
+default, but you may prefer to use ssh because of its high security.
+
+Feel free to include options in the COMMAND. For instance:
+
+quote(-e "ssh -1 -l joe")
+
+(Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect
+options in their .ssh/config file.)
You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
environment variable.
a remote shell transport. If -e or --rsh are not specified or are set to
the default "rsh", this defaults to blocking IO, otherwise it defaults to
non-blocking IO. You may find the --blocking-io option is needed for some
-remote shells that can't handle non-blocking IO. Ssh prefers blocking IO.
+remote shells that can't handle non-blocking IO. (Note that ssh prefers
+non-blocking IO.)
dit(bf(--no-blocking-io)) Turn off --blocking-io, for use when it is the
default.
they point to on the destination. Using bf(--safe-links) will cause
unsafe links to be ommitted altogether.
+Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks
+(start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough bf("..")
+components to ascend from the directory being copied.
+
manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS)
rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
Matt McCutchen's Web Site / rsync / rsync.git / blobdiff