incremental scan that uses much less memory than before and begins the
transfer after the scanning of the first few directories have been
completed. This incremental scan only affects our recursion algorithm, and
-does not change a non-recursive transfer (e.g. when using a fully-specified
-bf(--files-from) list). It is also only possible when both ends of the
+does not change a non-recursive transfer.
+It is also only possible when both ends of the
transfer are at least version 3.0.0.
Some options require rsync to know the full file list, so these options
side. If that is not true, the file will fail the checksum test, and the
resend will do a normal bf(--inplace) update to correct the mismatched data.
Only files on the receiving side that are shorter than the corresponding
-file on the sending side (as well as new files) are sent.
+file on the sending side (as well as new files) are transferred.
Implies bf(--inplace), but does not conflict with bf(--sparse) (though the
bf(--sparse) option will be auto-disabled if a resend of the already-existing
data is required).
dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers,
instead it will just report the actions it would have taken.
-dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm
+dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the delta transfer algorithm
is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. The transfer may be
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
bf(--recursive) option was also enabled.
dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM
-files or directories.
-Beginning with version 3.0.0, you may specify bf(--max-delete=0) to
-be warned about any extraneous files in the destination, but be very
-careful to never specify a 0 value to an older rsync client, or the
-option will be silently ignored. (A 3.0.0 client will die with an
-error if the remote rsync is not new enough to handle the situation.)
-This is useful when mirroring very large trees to prevent disasters.
+files or directories. If that limit is exceeded, a warning is output
+and rsync exits with an error code of 25 (new for 3.0.0).
+
+Also new for version 3.0.0, you may specify bf(--max-delete=0) to be warned
+about any extraneous files in the destination without removing any of them.
+Older clients interpreted this as "unlimited", so if you don't know what
+version the client is, you can use the less obvious bf(--max-delete=-1) as
+a backward-compatible way to specify that no deletions be allowed (though
+older versions didn't warn when the limit was exceeded).
dit(bf(--max-size=SIZE)) This tells rsync to avoid transferring any
file that is larger than the specified SIZE. The SIZE value can be
Note that if bf(--whole-file) is specified (or implied), any partial-dir
file that is found for a file that is being updated will simply be removed
(since
-rsync is sending files without using the incremental rsync algorithm).
+rsync is sending files without using the delta transfer algorithm).
Rsync will create the em(DIR) if it is missing (just the last dir -- not
the whole path). This makes it easy to use a relative path (such as
per second, and the transfer will finish in 4 seconds if the current rate
is maintained until the end.
-These statistics can be misleading if the incremental transfer algorithm is
+These statistics can be misleading if the delta transfer algorithm is
in use. For example, if the sender's file consists of the basis file
followed by additional data, the reported rate will probably drop
dramatically when the receiver gets to the literal data, and the transfer
Matt McCutchen's Web Site / rsync / rsync.git / blobdiff