As expected, if neither the source or destination path specify a remote
host, the copy occurs locally (see also the bf(--list-only) option).
+Rsync refers to the local side as the "client" and the remote side as the
+"server". Don't confuse "server" with an rsync daemon -- a daemon is always a
+server, but a server can be either a daemon or a remote-shell spawned process.
+
manpagesection(SETUP)
See the file README for installation instructions.
--remove-source-files sender removes synchronized files (non-dir)
--del an alias for --delete-during
--delete delete extraneous files from dest dirs
- --delete-before receiver deletes before transfer (default)
- --delete-during receiver deletes during xfer, not before
+ --delete-before receiver deletes before xfer, not during
+ --delete-during receiver deletes during transfer (default)
--delete-delay find deletions during, delete after
--delete-after receiver deletes after transfer, not before
--delete-excluded also delete excluded files from dest dirs
+ --ignore-missing-args ignore missing source args without error
+ --delete-missing-args delete missing source args from destination
--ignore-errors delete even if there are I/O errors
--force force deletion of dirs even if not empty
--max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
--delay-updates put all updated files into place at end
-m, --prune-empty-dirs prune empty directory chains from file-list
--numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
+ --usermap=STRING custom username mapping
+ --groupmap=STRING custom groupname mapping
+ --chown=USER:GROUP simple username/groupname mapping
--timeout=SECONDS set I/O timeout in seconds
--contimeout=SECONDS set daemon connection timeout in seconds
-I, --ignore-times don't skip files that match size and time
been changed and are in need of a transfer. Without this option, rsync
uses a "quick check" that (by default) checks if each file's size and time
of last modification match between the sender and receiver. This option
-changes this to compare a 128-bit MD4 checksum for each file that has a
+changes this to compare a 128-bit checksum for each file that has a
matching size. Generating the checksums means that both sides will expend
a lot of disk I/O reading all the data in the files in the transfer (and
this is prior to any reading that will be done to transfer changed files),
automatic after-the-transfer verification has nothing to do with this
option's before-the-transfer "Does this file need to be updated?" check.
+For protocol 30 and beyond (first supported in 3.0.0), the checksum used is
+MD5. For older protocols, the checksum used is MD4.
+
dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to bf(-rlptgoD). It is a quick
way of saying you want recursion and want to preserve almost
everything (with -H being a notable omission).
bf(--omit-dir-times) option will be implied, and (2) if bf(--delete) is
also in effect (without bf(--delete-excluded)), rsync will add a "protect"
filter-rule for the backup suffix to the end of all your existing excludes
-(e.g. bf(-f "Pp *~")). This will prevent previously backed-up files from being
+(e.g. bf(-f "P *~")). This will prevent previously backed-up files from being
deleted. Note that if you are supplying your own filter rules, you may
need to manually insert your own exclude/protect rule somewhere higher up
in the list so that it has a high enough priority to be effective (e.g., if
where the destination has a file, the transfer would occur regardless of
the timestamps.
+This option is a transfer rule, not an exclude, so it doesn't affect the
+data that goes into the file-lists, and thus it doesn't affect deletions.
+It just limits the files that the receiver requests to be transferred.
+
dit(bf(--inplace)) This option changes how rsync transfers a file when the
file's data needs to be updated: instead of the default method of creating
a new copy of the file and moving it into place when it is complete, rsync
option, and copying devices via the bf(--devices) option. This is useful
for systems that allow such activities without being the super-user, and
also for ensuring that you will get errors if the receiving side isn't
-being running as the super-user. To turn off super-user activities, the
+being run as the super-user. To turn off super-user activities, the
super-user can use bf(--no-super).
dit(bf(--fake-super)) When this option is enabled, rsync simulates
faster if this option is used when the bandwidth between the source and
destination machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the
"disk" is actually a networked filesystem). This is the default when both
-the source and destination are specified as local paths.
+the source and destination are specified as local paths, but only if no
+batch-writing option is in effect.
dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync to avoid crossing a
filesystem boundary when recursing. This does not limit the user's ability
combined with the bf(--ignore-existing) option, no files will be updated
(which can be useful if all you want to do is delete extraneous files).
+This option is a transfer rule, not an exclude, so it doesn't affect the
+data that goes into the file-lists, and thus it doesn't affect deletions.
+It just limits the files that the receiver requests to be transferred.
+
dit(bf(--ignore-existing)) This tells rsync to skip updating files that
already exist on the destination (this does em(not) ignore existing
directories, or nothing would get done). See also bf(--existing).
+This option is a transfer rule, not an exclude, so it doesn't affect the
+data that goes into the file-lists, and thus it doesn't affect deletions.
+It just limits the files that the receiver requests to be transferred.
+
This option can be useful for those doing backups using the bf(--link-dest)
option when they need to continue a backup run that got interrupted. Since
a bf(--link-dest) run is copied into a new directory hierarchy (when it is
bf(--delete-excluded).
See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
+dit(bf(--ignore-missing-args)) When rsync is first processing the explicitly
+requested source files (e.g. command-line arguments or bf(--files-from)
+entries), it is normally an error if the file cannot be found. This option
+suppresses that error, and does not try to transfer the file. This does not
+affect subsequent vanished-file errors if a file was initially found to be
+present and later is no longer there.
+
+dit(bf(--delete-missing-args)) This option takes the behavior of (the implied)
+bf(--ignore-missing-args) option a step farther: each missing arg will become
+a deletion request of the corresponding destination file on the receiving side
+(should it exist). If the destination file is a non-empty directory, it will
+only be successfully deleted if --force or --delete are in effect. Other than
+that, this option is independent of any other type of delete processing.
+
+The missing source files are represented by special file-list entries which
+display as a "*missing" entry in the bf(--list-only) output.
+
dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells bf(--delete) to go ahead and delete files
even when there are I/O errors.
suffixed with a string to indicate a size multiplier, and
may be a fractional value (e.g. "bf(--max-size=1.5m)").
+This option is a transfer rule, not an exclude, so it doesn't affect the
+data that goes into the file-lists, and thus it doesn't affect deletions.
+It just limits the files that the receiver requests to be transferred.
+
The suffixes are as follows: "K" (or "KiB") is a kibibyte (1024),
"M" (or "MiB") is a mebibyte (1024*1024), and "G" (or "GiB") is a
gibibyte (1024*1024*1024).
dit(bf(--min-size=SIZE)) This tells rsync to avoid transferring any
file that is smaller than the specified SIZE, which can help in not
transferring small, junk files.
-See the bf(--max-size) option for a description of SIZE.
+See the bf(--max-size) option for a description of SIZE and other information.
dit(bf(-B, --block-size=BLOCKSIZE)) This forces the block size used in
rsync's delta-transfer algorithm to a fixed value. It is normally selected based on
quote(tt( rsync -av --link-dest=$PWD/prior_dir host:src_dir/ new_dir/))
+If file's aren't linking, double-check their attributes. Also check if some
+attributes are getting forced outside of rsync's control, such a mount option
+that squishes root to a single user, or mounts a removable drive with generic
+ownership (such as OS X's "Ignore ownership on this volume" option).
+
Beginning in version 2.6.4, multiple bf(--link-dest) directories may be
provided, which will cause rsync to search the list in the order specified
for an exact match.
Simple character-class matching is supported: each must consist of a list
of letters inside the square brackets (e.g. no special classes, such as
-"[:alpha:]", are supported).
+"[:alpha:]", are supported, and '-' has no special meaning).
The characters asterisk (*) and question-mark (?) have no special meaning.
verb( --skip-compress=gz/jpg/mp[34]/7z/bz2)
-The default list of suffixes that will not be compressed is this (several
-of these are newly added for 3.0.0):
-
-verb( gz/zip/z/rpm/deb/iso/bz2/t[gb]z/7z/mp[34]/mov/avi/ogg/jpg/jpeg)
+The default list of suffixes that will not be compressed is this (in this
+version of rsync):
+
+bf(7z)
+bf(ace)
+bf(avi)
+bf(bz2)
+bf(deb)
+bf(gpg)
+bf(gz)
+bf(iso)
+bf(jpeg)
+bf(jpg)
+bf(lzma)
+bf(lzo)
+bf(mov)
+bf(mp3)
+bf(mp4)
+bf(ogg)
+bf(rar)
+bf(rpm)
+bf(rzip)
+bf(tbz)
+bf(tgz)
+bf(z)
+bf(zip)
This list will be replaced by your bf(--skip-compress) list in all but one
situation: a copy from a daemon rsync will add your skipped suffixes to
the chroot setting affects rsync's ability to look up the names of the
users and groups and what you can do about it.
+dit(bf(--usermap=STRING, --groupmap=STRING)) These options allow you to
+specify users and groups that should be mapped to other values by the
+receiving side. The bf(STRING) is one or more bf(FROM):bf(TO) pairs of
+values separated by commas. Any matching bf(FROM) value from the sender is
+replaced with a bf(TO) value from the receiver. You may specify usernames
+or user IDs for the bf(FROM) and bf(TO) values, and the bf(FROM) value may
+also be a wild-card string, which will be matched against the sender's
+names (wild-cards do NOT match against ID numbers, though see below for
+why a '*' matches everything). You may instead specify a range of ID
+numbers via an inclusive range: LOW-HIGH. For example:
+
+verb( --usermap=0-99:nobody,wayne:admin,*:normal --groupmap=usr:1,1:usr)
+
+The first match in the list is the one that is used. You should specify
+all your user mappings using a single bf(--usermap) option, and/or all
+your group mappings using a single bf(--groupmap) option.
+
+Note that the sender's name for the 0 user and group are not transmitted
+to the receiver, so you should either match these values using a 0, or use
+the names in effect on the receiving side (typically "root"). All other
+bf(FROM) names match those in use on the sending side. All bf(TO) names
+match those in use on the receiving side.
+
+Any IDs that do not have a name on the sending side are treated as having an
+empty name for the purpose of matching. This allows them to be matched via
+a "*" or using an empty name. For instance:
+
+verb( --usermap=:nobody --groupmap=*:nobody)
+
+When the bf(--numeric-ids) option is used, the sender does not send any
+names, so all the IDs are treated as having an empty name. This means that
+you will need to specify numeric bf(FROM) values if you want to map these
+nameless IDs to different values.
+
+For the bf(--usermap) option to have any effect, the bf(-o) (bf(--owner))
+option must be used (or implied), and the receiver will need to be running
+as a super-user (see also the bf(--fake-super) option). For the bf(--groupmap)
+option to have any effect, the bf(-g) (bf(--groups)) option must be used
+(or implied), and the receiver will need to have permissions to set that
+group.
+
+dit(bf(--chown=USER:GROUP)) This option forces all files to be owned by USER
+with group GROUP. This is a simpler interface than using bf(--usermap) and
+bf(--groupmap) directly, but it is implemented using those options internally,
+so you cannot mix them. If either the USER or GROUP is empty, no mapping for
+the omitted user/group will occur. If GROUP is empty, the trailing colon may
+be omitted, but if USER is empty, a leading colon must be supplied.
+
+If you specify "--chown=foo:bar, this is exactly the same as specifying
+"--usermap=*:foo --groupmap=*:bar", only easier.
+
dit(bf(--timeout=TIMEOUT)) This option allows you to set a maximum I/O
timeout in seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time
then rsync will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout.
For a list of the possible escape characters, see the "log format" setting
in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
+The default FORMAT used if bf(--log-file) is specified and this option is not
+is '%i %n%L'.
+
dit(bf(--stats)) This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics
on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective rsync's delta-transfer
algorithm is for your data. This option is equivalent to bf(--info=stats2)
escaped unless it is followed by a hash and 3 digits (0-9).
dit(bf(-h, --human-readable)) Output numbers in a more human-readable format.
-This makes big numbers output using larger units, with a K, M, or G suffix. If
-this option was specified once, these units are K (1000), M (1000*1000), and
-G (1000*1000*1000); if the option is repeated, the units are powers of 1024
-instead of 1000.
+There are 3 possible levels: (1) output numbers with a separator between each
+set of 3 digits (either a comma or a period, depending on if the decimal point
+is represented by a period or a comma); (2) output numbers in units of 1000
+(with a character suffix for larger units -- see below); (3) output numbers in
+units of 1024.
+
+The default is human-readable level 1. Each bf(-h) option increases the level
+by one. You can take the level down to 0 (to output numbers as pure digits) by
+specifing the bf(--no-human-readable) (bf(--no-h)) option.
+
+The unit letters that are appended in levels 2 and 3 are: K (kilo), M (mega),
+G (giga), or T (tera). For example, a 1234567-byte file would output as 1.23M
+in level-2 (assuming that a period is your local decimal point).
+
+Backward compatibility note: versions of rsync prior to 3.1.0 do not support
+human-readable level 1, and they default to level 0. Thus, specifying one or
+two bf(-h) options behaves the same in old and new versions as long as you
+didn't specify a bf(--no-h) option prior to one or more bf(-h) options.
dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
recursively scanning a hierarchy of files using include/exclude/filter
rules.
+Note that the use of transfer rules, such as the bf(--min-size) option, does
+not affect what goes into the file list, and thus does not leave directories
+empty, even if none of the files in a directory match the transfer rule.
+
Because the file-list is actually being pruned, this option also affects
what directories get deleted when a delete is active. However, keep in
mind that excluded files and directories can prevent existing items from
-being deleted (because an exclude hides source files and protects
-destination files).
+being deleted due to an exclude both hiding source files and protecting
+destination files. See the perishable filter-rule option for how to avoid
+this.
You can prevent the pruning of certain empty directories from the file-list
by using a global "protect" filter. For instance, this option would ensure
When the file transfer finishes, rsync replaces the progress line with a
summary line that looks like this:
-verb( 1238099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (xfer#5, to-check=169/396))
+verb( 1,238,099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (xfr#5, to-chk=169/396))
-In this example, the file was 1238099 bytes long in total, the average rate
+In this example, the file was 1,238,099 bytes long in total, the average rate
of transfer for the whole file was 146.38 kilobytes per second over the 8
seconds that it took to complete, it was the 5th transfer of a regular file
during the current rsync session, and there are 169 more files for the
receiver to check (to see if they are up-to-date or not) remaining out of
the 396 total files in the file-list.
+In an incremental recursion scan, rsync won't know the total number of files
+in the file-list until it reaches the ends of the scan, but since it starts to
+transfer files during the scan, it will display a line with the text "ir-chk"
+(for incremental recursion check) instead of "to-chk" until the point that it
+knows the full size of the list, at which point it will switch to using
+"to-chk". Thus, seeing "ir-chk" lets you know that the total count of files
+in the file list is still going to increase (and each time it does, the count
+of files left to check will increase by the number of the files added to the
+list).
+
dit(bf(-P)) The bf(-P) option is equivalent to bf(--partial) bf(--progress). Its
purpose is to make it much easier to specify these two options for a long
transfer that may be interrupted.
dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password in a
file for accessing an rsync daemon. The file must not be world readable.
-It should contain just the password as a single line.
+It should contain just the password as the first line of the file (all
+other lines are ignored).
This option does not supply a password to a remote shell transport such as
ssh; to learn how to do that, consult the remote shell's documentation.
will have no effect. The bf(--version) output will tell you if this
is the case.
-dit(bf(--checksum-seed=NUM)) Set the MD4 checksum seed to the integer
+dit(bf(--checksum-seed=NUM)) Set the checksum seed to the integer
NUM. This 4 byte checksum seed is included in each block and file
-MD4 checksum calculation. By default the checksum seed is generated
+checksum calculation. By default the checksum seed is generated
by the server and defaults to the current code(time()). This option
is used to set a specific checksum seed, which is useful for
applications that want repeatable block and file checksums, or
it() rsync chooses between doing a simple string match and wildcard
matching by checking if the pattern contains one of these three wildcard
characters: '*', '?', and '[' .
- it() a '*' matches any non-empty path component (it stops at slashes).
+ it() a '*' matches any path component, but it stops at slashes.
it() use '**' to match anything, including slashes.
it() a '?' matches any character except a slash (/).
it() a '[' introduces a character class, such as [a-z] or [[:alpha:]].
explicitly included or it would be excluded by the "*")
)
+The following modifiers are accepted after a "+" or "-":
+
+itemization(
+ it() A bf(/) specifies that the include/exclude rule should be matched
+ against the absolute pathname of the current item. For example,
+ "-/ /etc/passwd" would exclude the passwd file any time the transfer
+ was sending files from the "/etc" directory, and "-/ subdir/foo"
+ would always exclude "foo" when it is in a dir named "subdir", even
+ if "foo" is at the root of the current transfer.
+ it() A bf(!) specifies that the include/exclude should take effect if
+ the pattern fails to match. For instance, "-! */" would exclude all
+ non-directories.
+ it() A bf(C) is used to indicate that all the global CVS-exclude rules
+ should be inserted as excludes in place of the "-C". No arg should
+ follow.
+ it() An bf(s) is used to indicate that the rule applies to the sending
+ side. When a rule affects the sending side, it prevents files from
+ being transferred. The default is for a rule to affect both sides
+ unless bf(--delete-excluded) was specified, in which case default rules
+ become sender-side only. See also the hide (H) and show (S) rules,
+ which are an alternate way to specify sending-side includes/excludes.
+ it() An bf(r) is used to indicate that the rule applies to the receiving
+ side. When a rule affects the receiving side, it prevents files from
+ being deleted. See the bf(s) modifier for more info. See also the
+ protect (P) and risk (R) rules, which are an alternate way to
+ specify receiver-side includes/excludes.
+ it() A bf(p) indicates that a rule is perishable, meaning that it is
+ ignored in directories that are being deleted. For instance, the bf(-C)
+ option's default rules that exclude things like "CVS" and "*.o" are
+ marked as perishable, and will not prevent a directory that was removed
+ on the source from being deleted on the destination.
+)
+
manpagesection(MERGE-FILE FILTER RULES)
You can merge whole files into your filter rules by specifying either a
"- foo + bar" is parsed as two rules (assuming that prefix-parsing wasn't
also disabled).
it() You may also specify any of the modifiers for the "+" or "-" rules
- (below) in order to have the rules that are read in from the file
- default to having that modifier set. For instance, "merge,-/ .excl" would
+ (above) in order to have the rules that are read in from the file
+ default to having that modifier set (except for the bf(!) modifier, which
+ would not be useful). For instance, "merge,-/ .excl" would
treat the contents of .excl as absolute-path excludes,
while "dir-merge,s .filt" and ":sC" would each make all their
- per-directory rules apply only on the sending side.
-)
-
-The following modifiers are accepted after a "+" or "-":
-
-itemization(
- it() A bf(/) specifies that the include/exclude rule should be matched
- against the absolute pathname of the current item. For example,
- "-/ /etc/passwd" would exclude the passwd file any time the transfer
- was sending files from the "/etc" directory, and "-/ subdir/foo"
- would always exclude "foo" when it is in a dir named "subdir", even
- if "foo" is at the root of the current transfer.
- it() A bf(!) specifies that the include/exclude should take effect if
- the pattern fails to match. For instance, "-! */" would exclude all
- non-directories.
- it() A bf(C) is used to indicate that all the global CVS-exclude rules
- should be inserted as excludes in place of the "-C". No arg should
- follow.
- it() An bf(s) is used to indicate that the rule applies to the sending
- side. When a rule affects the sending side, it prevents files from
- being transferred. The default is for a rule to affect both sides
- unless bf(--delete-excluded) was specified, in which case default rules
- become sender-side only. See also the hide (H) and show (S) rules,
- which are an alternate way to specify sending-side includes/excludes.
- it() An bf(r) is used to indicate that the rule applies to the receiving
- side. When a rule affects the receiving side, it prevents files from
- being deleted. See the bf(s) modifier for more info. See also the
- protect (P) and risk (R) rules, which are an alternate way to
- specify receiver-side includes/excludes.
- it() A bf(p) indicates that a rule is perishable, meaning that it is
- ignored in directories that are being deleted. For instance, the bf(-C)
- option's default rules that exclude things like "CVS" and "*.o" are
- marked as perishable, and will not prevent a directory that was removed
- on the source from being deleted on the destination.
+ per-directory rules apply only on the sending side. If the merge rule
+ specifies sides to affect (via the bf(s) or bf(r) modifier or both),
+ then the rules in the file must not specify sides (via a modifier or
+ a rule prefix such as bf(hide)).
)
Per-directory rules are inherited in all subdirectories of the directory
client to store in a "batch file" all the information needed to repeat
this operation against other, identical destination trees.
-To apply the recorded changes to another destination tree, run rsync
-with the read-batch option, specifying the name of the same batch
-file, and the destination tree. Rsync updates the destination tree
-using the information stored in the batch file.
-
-For convenience, one additional file is creating when the write-batch
-option is used. This file's name is created by appending
-".sh" to the batch filename. The .sh file contains
-a command-line suitable for updating a destination tree using that
-batch file. It can be executed using a Bourne (or Bourne-like) shell,
-optionally
-passing in an alternate destination tree pathname which is then used
-instead of the original path. This is useful when the destination tree
-path differs from the original destination tree path.
-
Generating the batch file once saves having to perform the file
status, checksum, and data block generation more than once when
updating multiple destination trees. Multicast transport protocols can
be used to transfer the batch update files in parallel to many hosts
at once, instead of sending the same data to every host individually.
+To apply the recorded changes to another destination tree, run rsync
+with the read-batch option, specifying the name of the same batch
+file, and the destination tree. Rsync updates the destination tree
+using the information stored in the batch file.
+
+For your convenience, a script file is also created when the write-batch
+option is used: it will be named the same as the batch file with ".sh"
+appended. This script file contains a command-line suitable for updating a
+destination tree using the associated batch file. It can be executed using
+a Bourne (or Bourne-like) shell, optionally passing in an alternate
+destination tree pathname which is then used instead of the original
+destination path. This is useful when the destination tree path on the
+current host differs from the one used to create the batch file.
+
Examples:
quote(
Matt McCutchen's Web Site / rsync / rsync.git / blobdiff