Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer
to the detailed description below for a complete description. verb(
-v, --verbose increase verbosity
+ --info=FLAGS fine-grained informational verbosity
+ --debug=FLAGS fine-grained debug verbosity
-q, --quiet suppress non-error messages
--no-motd suppress daemon-mode MOTD (see caveat)
-c, --checksum skip based on checksum, not mod-time & size
dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you
are given during the transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A
single bf(-v) will give you information about what files are being
-transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two bf(-v) flags will give you
+transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two bf(-v) options will give you
information on what files are being skipped and slightly more
-information at the end. More than two bf(-v) flags should only be used if
+information at the end. More than two bf(-v) options should only be used if
you are debugging rsync.
-Note that the names of the transferred files that are output are done using
-a default bf(--out-format) of "%n%L", which tells you just the name of the
-file and, if the item is a link, where it points. At the single bf(-v)
-level of verbosity, this does not mention when a file gets its attributes
-changed. If you ask for an itemized list of changed attributes (either
-bf(--itemize-changes) or adding "%i" to the bf(--out-format) setting), the
-output (on the client) increases to mention all items that are changed in
-any way. See the bf(--out-format) option for more details.
+In a modern rsync, the bf(-v) option is equivalent to the setting of groups
+of bf(--info) and bf(--debug) options. You can choose to use these newer
+options in addition to, or in place of using bf(--verbose), as any
+fine-grained settings override the implied settings of bf(-v). Both
+bf(--info) and bf(--debug) have a way to ask for help that tells you
+exactly what flags are set for each increase in verbosity.
+
+dit(bf(--info=FLAGS))
+This option lets you have fine-grained control over the
+information
+output you want to see. An individual flag name may be followed by a level
+number, with 0 meaning to silence that output, 1 being the default output
+level, and higher numbers increasing the output of that flag (for those
+that support higher levels). Use
+bf(--info=help)
+to see all the available flag names, what they output, and what flag names
+are added for each increase in the verbose level. Some examples:
+
+verb( rsync -a --info=progress2 src/ dest/
+ rsync -avv --info=stats2,misc1,flist0 src/ dest/ )
+
+Note that bf(--info=name)'s output is affected by the bf(--out-format) and
+bf(--itemize-changes) (bf(-i)) options. See those options for more
+information on what is output and when.
+
+This option was added to 3.1.0, so an older rsync on the server side might
+reject your attempts at fine-grained control (if one or more flags needed
+to be send to the server and the server was too old to understand them).
+
+dit(bf(--debug=FLAGS))
+This option lets you have fine-grained control over the
+debug
+output you want to see. An individual flag name may be followed by a level
+number, with 0 meaning to silence that output, 1 being the default output
+level, and higher numbers increasing the output of that flag (for those
+that support higher levels). Use
+bf(--debug=help)
+to see all the available flag names, what they output, and what flag names
+are added for each increase in the verbose level. Some examples:
+
+verb( rsync -avvv --debug=none src/ dest/
+ rsync -avA --del --debug=del2,acl src/ dest/ )
+
+This option was added to 3.1.0, so an older rsync on the server side might
+reject your attempts at fine-grained control (if one or more flags needed
+to be send to the server and the server was too old to understand them).
dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) This option decreases the amount of information you
are given during the transfer, notably suppressing information messages
-from the remote server. This flag is useful when invoking rsync from
+from the remote server. This option name is useful when invoking rsync from
cron.
dit(bf(--no-motd)) This option affects the information that is output
outputting them as a verbose message).
dit(bf(--out-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
-rsync client outputs to the user on a per-update basis. The format is a text
-string containing embedded single-character escape sequences prefixed with
-a percent (%) character. For a list of the possible escape characters, see
-the "log format" setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
-
-Specifying this option will mention each file, dir, etc. that gets updated
-in a significant way (a transferred file, a recreated symlink/device, or a
-touched directory). In addition, if the itemize-changes escape (%i) is
-included in the string, the logging of names increases to mention any
-item that is changed in any way (as long as the receiving side is at least
-2.6.4). See the bf(--itemize-changes) option for a description of the
-output of "%i".
-
-The bf(--verbose) option implies a format of "%n%L", but you can use
-bf(--out-format) without bf(--verbose) if you like, or you can override
-the format of its per-file output using this option.
+rsync client outputs to the user on a per-update basis. The format is a
+text string containing embedded single-character escape sequences prefixed
+with a percent (%) character. A default format of "%n%L" is assumed if
+either bf(--info=name) or bf(-v) is specified (this tells you just the name
+of the file and, if the item is a link, where it points). For a full list
+of the possible escape characters, see the "log format" setting in the
+rsyncd.conf manpage.
+
+Specifying the bf(--out-format) option implies the bf(--info=name) option,
+which will mention each file, dir, etc. that gets updated in a significant
+way (a transferred file, a recreated symlink/device, or a touched
+directory). In addition, if the itemize-changes escape (%i) is included in
+the string (e.g. if the bf(--itemize-changes) option was used), the logging
+of names increases to mention any item that is changed in any way (as long
+as the receiving side is at least 2.6.4). See the bf(--itemize-changes)
+option for a description of the output of "%i".
Rsync will output the out-format string prior to a file's transfer unless
one of the transfer-statistic escapes is requested, in which case the
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.
+algorithm is for your data. This option is equivalent to bf(--info=stats2)
+if combined with 0 or 1 bf(-v) options, or bf(--info=stats3) if combined
+with 2 or more bf(-v) options.
The current statistics are as follows: quote(itemization(
it() bf(Number of files) is the count of all "files" (in the generic
dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information
showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user
something to watch.
-Implies bf(--verbose) if it wasn't already specified.
+With a modern rsync this is the same as specifying
+bf(--info=flist2,name,progress), but any user-supplied settings for those
+info flags takes precedence (e.g. "--info=flist0 --progress").
While rsync is transferring a regular file, it updates a progress line that
looks like this:
purpose is to make it much easier to specify these two options for a long
transfer that may be interrupted.
+There is also a bf(--info=progress2) option that outputs statistics based
+on the whole transfer, rather than individual files. Use this flag without
+outputting a filename (e.g. avoid bf(-v) or specify bf(--info=name0) if you
+want to see how the transfer is doing without scrolling the screen with a
+lot of names. (You don't need to specify the bf(--progress) option in
+order to use bf(--info=progress2).)
+
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.
is used to set a specific checksum seed, which is useful for
applications that want repeatable block and file checksums, or
in the case where the user wants a more random checksum seed.
-Note that setting NUM to 0 causes rsync to use the default of code(time())
+Setting NUM to 0 causes rsync to use the default of code(time())
for checksum seed.
enddit()