mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
-manpage(rsync)(1)(28 Jul 2005)()()
+manpage(rsync)(1)(6 Nov 2006)()()
manpagename(rsync)(faster, flexible replacement for rcp)
manpagesynopsis()
rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/DEST
+rsync [OPTION]... SRC
+
rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC [DEST]
rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST]
Some of the additional features of rsync are:
-itemize(
+itemization(
it() support for copying links, devices, owners, groups, and permissions
it() exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar
it() a CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore
it() can use any transparent remote shell, including ssh or rsh
- it() does not require root privileges
+ it() does not require super-user privileges
it() pipelining of file transfers to minimize latency costs
it() support for anonymous or authenticated rsync daemons (ideal for
mirroring)
"USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION" section for
an exception to this latter rule).
-As a special case, if a remote source is specified without a destination,
-the remote files are listed in an output format similar to "ls -l".
+As a special case, if a single source arg is specified without a
+destination, the files are listed in an output format similar to "ls -l".
As expected, if neither the source or destination path specify a remote
host, the copy occurs locally (see also the bf(--list-only) option).
Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except
that:
-itemize(
+itemization(
it() you either use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to
separate the hostname from the path, or you use an rsync:// URL.
it() the first word of the "path" is actually a module name.
If you need to specify a different remote-shell user, keep in mind that the
user@ prefix in front of the host is specifying the rsync-user value (for a
module that requires user-based authentication). This means that you must
-give the '-l user' option to ssh when specifying the remote-shell:
+give the '-l user' option to ssh when specifying the remote-shell, as in
+this example that uses the short version of the bf(--rsh) option:
verb( rsync -av -e "ssh -l ssh-user" rsync-user@host::module /dest)
daemon already running (or it needs to have configured something like inetd
to spawn an rsync daemon for incoming connections on a particular port).
For full information on how to start a daemon that will handling incoming
-socket connections, see the rsyncd.conf(5) man page -- that is the config
+socket connections, see the bf(rsyncd.conf)(5) man page -- that is the config
file for the daemon, and it contains the full details for how to run the
daemon (including stand-alone and inetd configurations).
to the detailed description below for a complete description. verb(
-v, --verbose increase 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
- -a, --archive archive mode; same as -rlptgoD (no -H)
+ -a, --archive archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X)
--no-OPTION turn off an implied OPTION (e.g. --no-D)
-r, --recursive recurse into directories
-R, --relative use relative path names
-L, --copy-links transform symlink into referent file/dir
--copy-unsafe-links only "unsafe" symlinks are transformed
--safe-links ignore symlinks that point outside the tree
- -H, --hard-links preserve hard links
+ -k, --copy-dirlinks transform symlink to dir into referent dir
-K, --keep-dirlinks treat symlinked dir on receiver as dir
+ -H, --hard-links preserve hard links
-p, --perms preserve permissions
- -o, --owner preserve owner (root only)
+ -E, --executability preserve executability
+ --chmod=CHMOD affect file and/or directory permissions
+ -A, --acls preserve ACLs (implies -p)
+ -X, --xattrs preserve extended attrs (implies -p)
+ -o, --owner preserve owner (super-user only)
-g, --group preserve group
- -D, --devices preserve devices (root only)
+ --devices preserve device files (super-user only)
+ --specials preserve special files
+ -D same as --devices --specials
-t, --times preserve times
-O, --omit-dir-times omit directories when preserving times
- --chmod=CHMOD change destination permissions
+ --super receiver attempts super-user activities
-S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently
-n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
-W, --whole-file copy files whole (without rsync algorithm)
-B, --block-size=SIZE force a fixed checksum block-size
-e, --rsh=COMMAND specify the remote shell to use
--rsync-path=PROGRAM specify the rsync to run on remote machine
- --existing ignore non-existing files on receiving side
- --ignore-existing ignore files that already exist on receiver
- --remove-sent-files sent files/symlinks are removed from sender
+ --existing skip creating new files on receiver
+ --ignore-existing skip updating files that exist on receiver
+ --remove-source-files sender removes synchronized files (non-dir)
--del an alias for --delete-during
- --delete delete files that don't exist on sender
+ --delete delete extraneous files from dest dirs
--delete-before receiver deletes before transfer (default)
--delete-during receiver deletes during xfer, not before
+ --delete-delay find deletions during, delete after
--delete-after receiver deletes after transfer, not before
- --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on receiver
+ --delete-excluded also delete excluded files from dest dirs
--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
--partial keep partially transferred files
--partial-dir=DIR put a partially transferred file into DIR
--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
--timeout=TIME set I/O timeout in seconds
-I, --ignore-times don't skip files that match size and time
-0, --from0 all *from/filter files are delimited by 0s
--address=ADDRESS bind address for outgoing socket to daemon
--port=PORT specify double-colon alternate port number
+ --sockopts=OPTIONS specify custom TCP options
--blocking-io use blocking I/O for the remote shell
--stats give some file-transfer stats
+ -8, --8-bit-output leave high-bit chars unescaped in output
-h, --human-readable output numbers in a human-readable format
- --si like human-readable, but use powers of 1000
--progress show progress during transfer
-P same as --partial --progress
-i, --itemize-changes output a change-summary for all updates
- --log-format=FORMAT output filenames using the specified format
- --password-file=FILE read password from FILE
+ --out-format=FORMAT output updates using the specified FORMAT
+ --log-file=FILE log what we're doing to the specified FILE
+ --log-file-format=FMT log updates using the specified FMT
+ --password-file=FILE read daemon-access password from FILE
--list-only list the files instead of copying them
--bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second
--write-batch=FILE write a batched update to FILE
-4, --ipv4 prefer IPv4
-6, --ipv6 prefer IPv6
--version print version number
- --help show this help screen)
+(-h) --help show this help (see below for -h comment))
Rsync can also be run as a daemon, in which case the following options are
accepted: verb(
--config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
--no-detach do not detach from the parent
--port=PORT listen on alternate port number
+ --log-file=FILE override the "log file" setting
+ --log-file-format=FMT override the "log format" setting
+ --sockopts=OPTIONS specify custom TCP options
-v, --verbose increase verbosity
-4, --ipv4 prefer IPv4
-6, --ipv6 prefer IPv6
- --help show this help screen)
+ -h, --help show this help (if used after --daemon))
manpageoptions()
startdit()
dit(bf(--help)) Print a short help page describing the options
available in rsync and exit. For backward-compatibility with older
-versions of rsync, the same help output can also be requested by using
-the bf(-h) option without any other args.
+versions of rsync, the help will also be output if you use the bf(-h)
+option without any other args.
dit(bf(--version)) print the rsync version number and exit.
you are debugging rsync.
Note that the names of the transferred files that are output are done using
-a default bf(--log-format) of "%n%L", which tells you just the name of the
+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(--log-format) setting), the
+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(--log-format) option for more details.
+any way. See the bf(--out-format) option for more details.
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
cron.
+dit(bf(--no-motd)) This option affects the information that is output
+by the client at the start of a daemon transfer. This suppresses the
+message-of-the-day (MOTD) text, but it also affects the list of modules
+that the daemon sends in response to the "rsync host::" request (due to
+a limitation in the rsync protocol), so omit this option if you want to
+request the list of modules from the daemon.
+
dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp.
-This option turns off this "quick check" behavior.
+This option turns off this "quick check" behavior, causing all files to
+be updated.
dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will not transfer any files that are
already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp. With the
times with a 2-second resolution), bf(--modify-window=1) is useful
(allowing times to differ by up to 1 second).
-dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using
-a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then
-explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name
-which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
-receiver are not transferred. This option can be quite slow.
+dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum em(every)
+regular file using a 128-bit MD4 checksum. It does this during the initial
+file-system scan as it builds the list of all available files. The receiver
+then checksums its version of each file (if it exists and it has the same
+size as its sender-side counterpart) in order to decide which files need to
+be updated: files with either a changed size or a changed checksum are
+selected for transfer. Since this whole-file checksumming of all files on
+both sides of the connection occurs in addition to the automatic checksum
+verifications that occur during a file's transfer, this option can be quite
+slow.
+
+Note that rsync always verifies that each em(transferred) file was correctly
+reconstructed on the receiving side by checking its whole-file checksum, but
+that automatic after-the-transfer verification has nothing to do with this
+option's before-the-transfer "Does this file need to be updated?" check.
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
The order of the options is important: if you specify bf(--no-r -a), the
bf(-r) option would end up being turned on, the opposite of bf(-a --no-r).
Note also that the side-effects of the bf(--files-from) option are NOT
-positional, as it affects the default state of several options and sligntly
+positional, as it affects the default state of several options and slightly
changes the meaning of bf(-a) (see the bf(--files-from) option for more
details).
dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories
recursively. See also bf(--dirs) (bf(-d)).
+Beginning with rsync 3.0.0, the recursive algorithm used is now an
+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
+transfer are at least version 3.0.0.
+
+Some options require rsync to know the full file list, so these options
+disable the incremental recursion mode. These include: bf(--delete-before),
+bf(--delete-after), bf(--prune-empty-dirs), bf(--delay-updates), and bf(--hard-links).
+Because of this, the default delete mode when you specify bf(--delete) is now
+bf(--delete-during) when both ends of the connection are at least 3.0.0
+(use bf(--del) or bf(--delete-during) to request this improved deletion mode
+explicitly). See also the bf(--delete-delay) option that is a better choice
+than using bf(--delete-after).
+
dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path
names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than
just the last parts of the filenames. This is particularly useful when
quote(tt( rsync -av /foo/bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/))
-... this would create a file called baz.c in /tmp/ on the remote
+... this would create a file named baz.c in /tmp/ on the remote
machine. If instead you used
quote(tt( rsync -avR /foo/bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/))
-then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/baz.c would be created on the remote
+then a file named /tmp/foo/bar/baz.c would be created on the remote
machine -- the full path name is preserved. To limit the amount of
path information that is sent, you have a couple options: (1) With
a modern rsync on the sending side (beginning with 2.6.7), you can
-insert a dot dir into the source path, like this:
+insert a dot and a slash into the source path, like this:
quote(tt( rsync -avR /foo/./bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/))
That would create /tmp/bar/baz.c on the remote machine. (Note that the
-dot dir must followed by a slash, so "/foo/." would not be abbreviated.)
+dot must be followed by a slash, so "/foo/." would not be abbreviated.)
(2) For older rsync versions, you would need to use a chdir to limit the
source path. For example, when pushing files:
tt( remote:bar/baz.c /tmp/)
)
-dit(bf(--no-implied-dirs)) When combined with the bf(--relative) option, the
-implied directories in each path are not explicitly duplicated as part
-of the transfer. This makes the transfer more optimal and also allows
-the two sides to have non-matching symlinks in the implied part of the
-path. For instance, if you transfer the file "/path/foo/file" with bf(-R),
-the default is for rsync to ensure that "/path" and "/path/foo" on the
-destination exactly match the directories/symlinks of the source. Using
-the bf(--no-implied-dirs) option would omit both of these implied dirs,
-which means that if "/path" was a real directory on one machine and a
-symlink of the other machine, rsync would not try to change this.
+dit(bf(--no-implied-dirs)) This option affects the default behavior of the
+bf(--relative) option. When it is specified, the attributes of the implied
+directories from the source names are not included in the transfer. This
+means that the corresponding path elements on the destination system are
+left unchanged if they exist, and any missing implied directories are
+created with default attributes. This even allows these implied path
+elements to have big differences, such as being a symlink to a directory on
+one side of the transfer, and a real directory on the other side.
+
+For instance, if a command-line arg or a files-from entry told rsync to
+transfer the file "path/foo/file", the directories "path" and "path/foo"
+are implied when bf(--relative) is used. If "path/foo" is a symlink to
+"bar" on the destination system, the receiving rsync would ordinarily
+delete "path/foo", recreate it as a directory, and receive the file into
+the new directory. With bf(--no-implied-dirs), the receiving rsync updates
+"path/foo/file" using the existing path elements, which means that the file
+ends up being created in "path/bar". Another way to accomplish this link
+preservation is to use the bf(--keep-dirlinks) option (which will also
+affect symlinks to directories in the rest of the transfer).
+
+In a similar but opposite scenario, if the transfer of "path/foo/file" is
+requested and "path/foo" is a symlink on the sending side, running without
+bf(--no-implied-dirs) would cause rsync to transform "path/foo" on the
+receiving side into an identical symlink, and then attempt to transfer
+"path/foo/file", which might fail if the duplicated symlink did not point
+to a directory on the receiving side. Another way to avoid this sending of
+a symlink as an implied directory is to use bf(--copy-unsafe-links), or
+bf(--copy-dirlinks) (both of which also affect symlinks in the rest of the
+transfer -- see their descriptions for full details).
dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option, preexisting destination files are
renamed as each file is transferred or deleted. You can control where the
Note that if you don't specify bf(--backup-dir), (1) the
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
+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. -f "P *~"). This will prevent previously backed-up files from being
+(e.g. bf(-f "Pp *~")). 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
rule would never be reached).
dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the bf(--backup) option, this
-tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
-very useful for incremental backups. You can additionally
+tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory on the receiving
+side. This can be used for incremental backups. You can additionally
specify a backup suffix using the bf(--suffix) option
(otherwise the files backed up in the specified directory
will keep their original filenames).
dit(bf(-d, --dirs)) Tell the sending side to include any directories that
are encountered. Unlike bf(--recursive), a directory's contents are not copied
-unless the directory was specified on the command-line as either "." or a
-name with a trailing slash (e.g. "foo/"). Without this option or the
+unless the directory name specified is "." or ends with a trailing slash
+(e.g. ".", "dir/.", "dir/", etc.). Without this option or the
bf(--recursive) option, rsync will skip all directories it encounters (and
output a message to that effect for each one). If you specify both
-bf(--dirs) and bf(--recursive), the latter takes precedence.
+bf(--dirs) and bf(--recursive), bf(--recursive) takes precedence.
dit(bf(-l, --links)) When symlinks are encountered, recreate the
symlink on the destination.
-dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) When symlinks are encountered, the file that
+dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) When symlinks are encountered, the item that
they point to (the referent) is copied, rather than the symlink. In older
versions of rsync, this option also had the side-effect of telling the
receiving side to follow symlinks, such as symlinks to directories. In a
dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to copy the referent of
symbolic links that point outside the copied tree. Absolute symlinks
are also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the
-source path itself when bf(--relative) is used.
+source path itself when bf(--relative) is used. This option has no
+additional effect if bf(--copy-links) was also specified.
dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links
which point outside the copied tree. All absolute symlinks are
also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with bf(--relative) may
give unexpected results.
-dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on
-the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
-option hard links are treated like regular files.
+dit(bf(-k, --copy-dirlinks)) This option causes the sending side to treat
+a symlink to a directory as though it were a real directory. This is
+useful if you don't want symlinks to non-directories to be affected, as
+they would be using bf(--copy-links).
+
+Without this option, if the sending side has replaced a directory with a
+symlink to a directory, the receiving side will delete anything that is in
+the way of the new symlink, including a directory hierarchy (as long as
+bf(--force) or bf(--delete) is in effect).
+
+See also bf(--keep-dirlinks) for an analogous option for the receiving
+side.
+
+dit(bf(-K, --keep-dirlinks)) This option causes the receiving side to treat
+a symlink to a directory as though it were a real directory, but only if it
+matches a real directory from the sender. Without this option, the
+receiver's symlink would be deleted and replaced with a real directory.
+
+For example, suppose you transfer a directory "foo" that contains a file
+"file", but "foo" is a symlink to directory "bar" on the receiver. Without
+bf(--keep-dirlinks), the receiver deletes symlink "foo", recreates it as a
+directory, and receives the file into the new directory. With
+bf(--keep-dirlinks), the receiver keeps the symlink and "file" ends up in
+"bar".
+
+See also bf(--copy-dirlinks) for an analogous option for the sending side.
+
+dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to look for hard-linked files in
+the transfer and link together the corresponding files on the receiving
+side. Without this option, hard-linked files in the transfer are treated
+as though they were separate files.
Note that rsync can only detect hard links if both parts of the link
are in the list of files being sent.
-This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it.
+dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes the receiving rsync to set the
+destination permissions to be the same as the source permissions. (See
+also the bf(--chmod) option for a way to modify what rsync considers to
+be the source permissions.)
+
+When this option is em(off), permissions are set as follows:
+
+quote(itemization(
+ it() Existing files (including updated files) retain their existing
+ permissions, though the bf(--executability) option might change just
+ the execute permission for the file.
+ it() New files get their "normal" permission bits set to the source
+ file's permissions masked with the receiving directory's default
+ permissions (either the receiving process's umask, or the permissions
+ specified via the destination directory's default ACL), and
+ their special permission bits disabled except in the case where a new
+ directory inherits a setgid bit from its parent directory.
+))
-dit(bf(-K, --keep-dirlinks)) On the receiving side, if a symlink is
-pointing to a directory, it will be treated as matching a directory
-from the sender.
+Thus, when bf(--perms) and bf(--executability) are both disabled,
+rsync's behavior is the same as that of other file-copy utilities,
+such as bf(cp)(1) and bf(tar)(1).
+
+In summary: to give destination files (both old and new) the source
+permissions, use bf(--perms). To give new files the destination-default
+permissions (while leaving existing files unchanged), make sure that the
+bf(--perms) option is off and use bf(--chmod=ugo=rwX) (which ensures that
+all non-masked bits get enabled). If you'd care to make this latter
+behavior easier to type, you could define a popt alias for it, such as
+putting this line in the file ~/.popt (this defines the bf(-s) option,
+and includes --no-g to use the default group of the destination dir):
+
+quote(tt( rsync alias -s --no-p --no-g --chmod=ugo=rwX))
+
+You could then use this new option in a command such as this one:
+
+quote(tt( rsync -asv src/ dest/))
+
+(Caveat: make sure that bf(-a) does not follow bf(-s), or it will re-enable
+the "--no-*" options.)
+
+The preservation of the destination's setgid bit on newly-created
+directories when bf(--perms) is off was added in rsync 2.6.7. Older rsync
+versions erroneously preserved the three special permission bits for
+newly-created files when bf(--perms) was off, while overriding the
+destination's setgid bit setting on a newly-created directory. Default ACL
+observance was added to the ACL patch for rsync 2.6.7, so older (or
+non-ACL-enabled) rsyncs use the umask even if default ACLs are present.
+(Keep in mind that it is the version of the receiving rsync that affects
+these behaviors.)
+
+dit(bf(-E, --executability)) This option causes rsync to preserve the
+executability (or non-executability) of regular files when bf(--perms) is
+not enabled. A regular file is considered to be executable if at least one
+'x' is turned on in its permissions. When an existing destination file's
+executability differs from that of the corresponding source file, rsync
+modifies the destination file's permissions as follows:
+
+quote(itemization(
+ it() To make a file non-executable, rsync turns off all its 'x'
+ permissions.
+ it() To make a file executable, rsync turns on each 'x' permission that
+ has a corresponding 'r' permission enabled.
+))
-dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync 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
-"disk" is actually a networked filesystem). This is the default when both
-the source and destination are specified as local paths.
+If bf(--perms) is enabled, this option is ignored.
+
+dit(bf(-A, --acls)) This option causes rsync to update the destination
+ACLs to be the same as the source ACLs. This nonstandard option only
+works if the remote rsync also supports it. bf(--acls) implies bf(--perms).
-dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to set the destination
-permissions to be the same as the source permissions.
+dit(bf(-X, --xattrs)) This option causes rsync to update the remote
+extended attributes to be the same as the local ones. This will work
+only if the remote machine's rsync supports this option also. This is
+a non-standard option.
-Without this option, all existing files (including updated files) retain
-their existing permissions, while each new file gets its permissions set
-based on the source file's permissions, but masked by the receiving end's
-umask setting
-(which is the same behavior as other file-copy utilities, such as cp).
+dit(bf(--chmod)) This option tells rsync to apply one or more
+comma-separated "chmod" strings to the permission of the files in the
+transfer. The resulting value is treated as though it was the permissions
+that the sending side supplied for the file, which means that this option
+can seem to have no effect on existing files if bf(--perms) is not enabled.
+
+In addition to the normal parsing rules specified in the bf(chmod)(1)
+manpage, you can specify an item that should only apply to a directory by
+prefixing it with a 'D', or specify an item that should only apply to a
+file by prefixing it with a 'F'. For example:
+
+quote(--chmod=Dg+s,ug+w,Fo-w,+X)
+
+It is also legal to specify multiple bf(--chmod) options, as each
+additional option is just appended to the list of changes to make.
+
+See the bf(--perms) and bf(--executability) options for how the resulting
+permission value can be applied to the files in the transfer.
dit(bf(-o, --owner)) This option causes rsync to set the owner of the
-destination file to be the same as the source file. On most systems,
-only the super-user can set file ownership. By default, the preservation
-is done by name, but may fall back to using the ID number in some
-circumstances. See the bf(--numeric-ids) option for a full discussion.
+destination file to be the same as the source file, but only if the
+receiving rsync is being run as the super-user (see also the bf(--super)
+option to force rsync to attempt super-user activities).
+Without this option, the owner is set to the invoking user on the
+receiving side.
+
+The preservation of ownership will associate matching names by default, but
+may fall back to using the ID number in some circumstances (see also the
+bf(--numeric-ids) option for a full discussion).
dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to set the group of the
destination file to be the same as the source file. If the receiving
-program is not running as the super-user, only groups that the
-receiver is a member of will be preserved. By default, the preservation
-is done by name, but may fall back to using the ID number in some
-circumstances. See the bf(--numeric-ids) option for a full discussion.
+program is not running as the super-user (or if bf(--no-super) was
+specified), only groups that the invoking user on the receiving side
+is a member of will be preserved.
+Without this option, the group is set to the default group of the invoking
+user on the receiving side.
+
+The preservation of group information will associate matching names by
+default, but may fall back to using the ID number in some circumstances
+(see also the bf(--numeric-ids) option for a full discussion).
+
+dit(bf(--devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
+block device files to the remote system to recreate these devices.
+This option has no effect if the receiving rsync is not run as the
+super-user and bf(--super) is not specified.
-dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
-block device information to the remote system to recreate these
-devices. This option is only available to the super-user.
+dit(bf(--specials)) This option causes rsync to transfer special files
+such as named sockets and fifos.
+
+dit(bf(-D)) The bf(-D) option is equivalent to bf(--devices) bf(--specials).
dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along
with the files and update them on the remote system. Note that if this
the directories on the receiving side, it is a good idea to use bf(-O).
This option is inferred if you use bf(--backup) without bf(--backup-dir).
-dit(bf(--chmod)) This options tells rsync to apply the listed "chmod" pattern
-to the permission of the files on the destination. In addition to the normal
-parsing rules specified in the chmod manpage, you can specify an item that
-should only apply to a directory by prefixing it with a 'D', or specify an
-item that should only apply to a file by prefixing it with a 'F'. For example:
-
-quote(--chmod=Dg+s,ug+w,Fo-w,+X)
-
-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(--super)) This tells the receiving side to attempt super-user
+activities even if the receiving rsync wasn't run by the super-user. These
+activities include: preserving users via the bf(--owner) option, preserving
+all groups (not just the current user's groups) via the bf(--groups)
+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
+super-user can use bf(--no-super).
dit(bf(-S, --sparse)) Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take
up less space on the destination. Conflicts with bf(--inplace) because it's
filesystem. It doesn't seem to handle seeks over null regions
correctly and ends up corrupting the files.
-dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync not to cross filesystem
-boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the
-contents of only one filesystem.
+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
+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
+"disk" is actually a networked filesystem). This is the default when both
+the source and destination are specified as local paths.
+
+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
+to specify items to copy from multiple filesystems, just rsync's recursion
+through the hierarchy of each directory that the user specified, and also
+the analogous recursion on the receiving side during deletion. Also keep
+in mind that rsync treats a "bind" mount to the same device as being on the
+same filesystem.
+
+If this option is repeated, rsync omits all mount-point directories from
+the copy. Otherwise, it includes an empty directory at each mount-point it
+encounters (using the attributes of the mounted directory because those of
+the underlying mount-point directory are inaccessible).
+
+If rsync has been told to collapse symlinks (via bf(--copy-links) or
+bf(--copy-unsafe-links)), a symlink to a directory on another device is
+treated like a mount-point. Symlinks to non-directories are unaffected
+by this option.
dit(bf(--existing, --ignore-non-existing)) This tells rsync to skip
-updating files that do not exist yet on the destination. If this option is
+creating files (including directories) that do not exist
+yet on the destination. If this option is
combined with the bf(--ignore-existing) option, no files will be updated
-(which can be useful if all you want to do is to delete missing files).
+(which can be useful if all you want to do is to delete extraneous files).
dit(bf(--ignore-existing)) This tells rsync to skip updating files that
-already exist on the destination. See also bf(--ignore-non-existing).
+already exist on the destination (this does em(not) ignore existing
+directories, or nothing would get done). See also bf(--existing).
-dit(bf(--remove-sent-files)) This tells rsync to remove from the sending
-side the files and/or symlinks that are newly created or whose content is
-updated on the receiving side. Directories and devices are not removed,
-nor are files/symlinks whose attributes are merely changed.
+dit(bf(--remove-source-files)) This tells rsync to remove from the sending
+side the files (meaning non-directories) that are a part of the transfer
+and have been successfully duplicated on the receiving side.
dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete extraneous files from the
receiving side (ones that aren't on the sending side), but only for the
include/exclude modifiers in the FILTER RULES section).
Prior to rsync 2.6.7, this option would have no effect unless bf(--recursive)
-was in effect. Beginning with 2.6.7, deletions will also occur when bf(--dirs)
-is specified, but only for directories whose contents are being copied.
+was enabled. Beginning with 2.6.7, deletions will also occur when bf(--dirs)
+(bf(-d)) is enabled, but only for directories whose contents are being copied.
This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea
to run first using the bf(--dry-run) option (bf(-n)) to see what files would be
The bf(--delete) option may be combined with one of the --delete-WHEN options
without conflict, as well as bf(--delete-excluded). However, if none of the
---delete-WHEN options are specified, rsync will currently choose the
-bf(--delete-before) algorithm. A future version may change this to choose the
-bf(--delete-during) algorithm. See also bf(--delete-after).
+--delete-WHEN options are specified, rsync will choose the
+bf(--delete-during) algorithm when talking to an rsync 3.0.0 or newer, and
+the bf(--delete-before) algorithm when talking to an older rsync. See also
+bf(--delete-delay) and bf(--delete-after).
dit(bf(--delete-before)) Request that the file-deletions on the receiving
-side be done before the transfer starts. This is the default if bf(--delete)
-or bf(--delete-excluded) is specified without one of the --delete-WHEN options.
+side be done before the transfer starts.
See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
Deleting before the transfer is helpful if the filesystem is tight for space
and removing extraneous files would help to make the transfer possible.
However, it does introduce a delay before the start of the transfer,
and this delay might cause the transfer to timeout (if bf(--timeout) was
-specified).
+specified). It also forces rsync to use the old, non-incremental recursion
+algorithm that requires rsync to scan all the files in the transfer into
+memory at once (see bf(--recursive)).
dit(bf(--delete-during, --del)) Request that the file-deletions on the
receiving side be done incrementally as the transfer happens. This is
but it is only supported beginning with rsync version 2.6.4.
See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
+dit(bf(--delete-delay)) Request that the file-deletions on the receiving
+side be computed during the transfer, and then removed after the transfer
+completes. If the number of removed files overflows an internal buffer, a
+temporary file will be created on the receiving side to hold the names (it
+is removed while open, so you shouldn't see it during the transfer). If
+the creation of the temporary file fails, rsync will try to fall back to
+using bf(--delete-after) (which it cannot do if bf(--recursive) is doing an
+incremental scan).
+
dit(bf(--delete-after)) Request that the file-deletions on the receiving
side be done after the transfer has completed. This is useful if you
are sending new per-directory merge files as a part of the transfer and
you want their exclusions to take effect for the delete phase of the
-current transfer.
+current transfer. It also forces rsync to use the old, non-incremental
+recursion algorithm that requires rsync to scan all the files in the
+transfer into memory at once (see bf(--recursive)).
See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the
dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells bf(--delete) to go ahead and delete files
even when there are I/O errors.
-dit(bf(--force)) This options tells rsync to delete directories even if
-they are not empty when they are to be replaced by non-directories. This
-is only relevant without bf(--delete) because deletions are now done depth-first.
-Requires the bf(--recursive) option (which is implied by bf(-a)) to have any effect.
+dit(bf(--force)) This option tells rsync to delete a non-empty directory
+when it is to be replaced by a non-directory. This is only relevant if
+deletions are not active (see bf(--delete) for details).
+
+Note for older rsync versions: bf(--force) used to still be required when
+using bf(--delete-after), and it used to be non-functional unless the
+bf(--recursive) option was also enabled.
dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM
-files or directories (NUM must be non-zero).
+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.
dit(bf(--max-size=SIZE)) This tells rsync to avoid transferring any
One tricky example is to set a different default directory on the remote
machine for use with the bf(--relative) option. For instance:
-quote(tt( rsync -avR --rsync-path="cd /a/b && rsync" hst:c/d /e/))
+quote(tt( rsync -avR --rsync-path="cd /a/b && rsync" host:c/d /e/))
dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a
broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between
-systems. It uses the same algorithm that CVS uses to determine if
+systems. It uses a similar algorithm to CVS to determine if
a file should be ignored.
-The exclude list is initialized to:
+The exclude list is initialized to exclude the following items (these
+initial items are marked as perishable -- see the FILTER RULES section):
quote(quote(tt(RCS SCCS CVS CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state
.nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* _$* *$ *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej
-.del-* *.a *.olb *.o *.obj *.so *.exe *.Z *.elc *.ln core .svn/)))
+.del-* *.a *.olb *.o *.obj *.so *.exe *.Z *.elc *.ln core .svn/ .bzr/)))
-then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
+then, files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (all cvsignore names
are delimited by whitespace).
Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a
.cvsignore file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. Unlike
rsync's filter/exclude files, these patterns are split on whitespace.
-See the bf(cvs(1)) manual for more information.
+See the bf(cvs)(1) manual for more information.
If you're combining bf(-C) with your own bf(--filter) rules, you should
note that these CVS excludes are appended at the end of your own rules,
for standard input). It also tweaks the default behavior of rsync to make
transferring just the specified files and directories easier:
-quote(itemize(
+quote(itemization(
it() The bf(--relative) (bf(-R)) option is implied, which preserves the path
information that is specified for each item in the file (use
bf(--no-relative) or bf(--no-R) if you want to turn that off).
file are split on whitespace).
dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a
-scratch directory when creating temporary copies of the files
-transferred on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create
-the temporary files in the receiving directory.
+scratch directory when creating temporary copies of the files transferred
+on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create each temporary
+file in the same directory as the associated destination file.
+
+This option is most often used when the receiving disk partition does not
+have enough free space to hold a copy of the largest file in the transfer.
+In this case (i.e. when the scratch directory in on a different disk
+partition), rsync will not be able to rename each received temporary file
+over the top of the associated destination file, but instead must copy it
+into place. Rsync does this by copying the file over the top of the
+destination file, which means that the destination file will contain
+truncated data during this copy. If this were not done this way (even if
+the destination file were first removed, the data locally copied to a
+temporary file in the destination directory, and then renamed into place)
+it would be possible for the old file to continue taking up disk space (if
+someone had it open), and thus there might not be enough room to fit the
+new version on the disk at the same time.
+
+If you are using this option for reasons other than a shortage of disk
+space, you may wish to combine it with the bf(--delay-updates) option,
+which will ensure that all copied files get put into subdirectories in the
+destination hierarchy, awaiting the end of the transfer. If you don't
+have enough room to duplicate all the arriving files on the destination
+partition, another way to tell rsync that you aren't overly concerned
+about disk space is to use the bf(--partial-dir) option with a relative
+path; because this tells rsync that it is OK to stash off a copy of a
+single file in a subdir in the destination hierarchy, rsync will use the
+partial-dir as a staging area to bring over the copied file, and then
+rename it into place from there. (Specifying a bf(--partial-dir) with
+an absolute path does not have this side-effect.)
dit(bf(-y, --fuzzy)) This option tells rsync that it should look for a
basis file for any destination file that is missing. The current algorithm
If a match is not found, a basis file from one of the em(DIR)s will be
selected to try to speed up the transfer.
+This option works best when copying into an empty destination hierarchy, as
+rsync treats existing files as definitive (so it never looks in the link-dest
+dirs when a destination file already exists), and as malleable (so it might
+change the attributes of a destination file, which affects all the hard-linked
+versions).
+
+Note that if you combine this option with bf(--ignore-times), rsync will not
+link any files together because it only links identical files together as a
+substitute for transferring the file, never as an additional check after the
+file is updated.
+
If em(DIR) is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
See also bf(--compare-dest) and bf(--copy-dest).
Note that rsync versions prior to 2.6.1 had a bug that could prevent
-bf(--link-dest) from working properly for a non-root user when bf(-o) was specified
-(or implied by bf(-a)). You can work-around this bug by avoiding the bf(-o) option
-when sending to an old rsync.
+bf(--link-dest) from working properly for a non-super-user when bf(-o) was
+specified (or implied by bf(-a)). You can work-around this bug by avoiding
+the bf(-o) option when sending to an old rsync.
dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses the file data
as it is sent to the destination machine, which reduces the amount of data
being transmitted -- something that is useful over a slow connection.
-Note this this option typically achieves better compression ratios that can
+Note that this option typically achieves better compression ratios than can
be achieved by using a compressing remote shell or a compressing transport
because it takes advantage of the implicit information in the matching data
blocks that are not explicitly sent over the connection.
syntax has a way to specify the port as a part of the URL). See also this
option in the bf(--daemon) mode section.
+dit(bf(--sockopts)) This option can provide endless fun for people
+who like to tune their systems to the utmost degree. You can set all
+sorts of socket options which may make transfers faster (or
+slower!). Read the man page for the code(setsockopt()) system call for
+details on some of the options you may be able to set. By default no
+special socket options are set. This only affects direct socket
+connections to a remote rsync daemon. This option also exists in the
+bf(--daemon) mode section.
+
dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This tells rsync to use blocking I/O when launching
a remote shell transport. If the remote shell is either rsh or remsh,
rsync defaults to using
dit(bf(-i, --itemize-changes)) Requests a simple itemized list of the
changes that are being made to each file, including attribute changes.
-This is exactly the same as specifying bf(--log-format='%i %n%L').
-
-The "%i" escape has a cryptic output that is 9 letters long. The general
-format is like the string bf(UXcstpoga)), where bf(U) is replaced by the
-kind of update being done, bf(X) is replaced by the file-type, and the
+This is exactly the same as specifying bf(--out-format='%i %n%L').
+If you repeat the option, unchanged files will also be output, but only
+if the receiving rsync is at least version 2.6.7 (you can use bf(-vv)
+with older versions of rsync, but that also turns on the output of other
+verbose messages).
+
+The "%i" escape has a cryptic output that is 11 letters long. The general
+format is like the string bf(YXcstpoguax), where bf(Y) is replaced by the
+type of update being done, bf(X) is replaced by the file-type, and the
other letters represent attributes that may be output if they are being
modified.
-The update types that replace the bf(U) are as follows:
+The update types that replace the bf(Y) are as follows:
-quote(itemize(
+quote(itemization(
it() A bf(<) means that a file is being transferred to the remote host
(sent).
it() A bf(>) means that a file is being transferred to the local host
(received).
it() A bf(c) means that a local change/creation is occurring for the item
(such as the creation of a directory or the changing of a symlink, etc.).
- it() A bf(h) means that the item is a hard-link to another item (requires
+ it() A bf(h) means that the item is a hard link to another item (requires
bf(--hard-links)).
it() A bf(.) means that the item is not being updated (though it might
have attributes that are being modified).
))
The file-types that replace the bf(X) are: bf(f) for a file, a bf(d) for a
-directory, an bf(L) for a symlink, and a bf(D) for a device.
+directory, an bf(L) for a symlink, a bf(D) for a device, and a bf(S) for a
+special file (e.g. named sockets and fifos).
The other letters in the string above are the actual letters that
will be output if the associated attribute for the item is being updated or
The attribute that is associated with each letter is as follows:
-quote(itemize(
+quote(itemization(
it() A bf(c) means the checksum of the file is different and will be
updated by the file transfer (requires bf(--checksum)).
it() A bf(s) means the size of the file is different and will be updated
it() A bf(p) means the permissions are different and are being updated to
the sender's value (requires bf(--perms)).
it() An bf(o) means the owner is different and is being updated to the
- sender's value (requires bf(--owner) and root privileges).
+ sender's value (requires bf(--owner) and super-user privileges).
it() A bf(g) means the group is different and is being updated to the
sender's value (requires bf(--group) and the authority to set the group).
- it() The bf(a) is reserved for a future enhanced version that supports
- extended file attributes, such as ACLs.
+ it() The bf(u) slot is reserved for reporting update (access) time changes
+ (a feature that is not yet released).
+ it() The bf(a) means that the ACL information changed.
+ it() The bf(x) slot is reserved for reporting extended attribute changes
+ (a feature that is not yet released).
))
One other output is possible: when deleting files, the "%i" will output
you are talking to a recent enough rsync that it logs deletions instead of
outputting them as a verbose message).
-dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
-rsync client outputs to the user on a per-file basis. The format is a text
+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. (Note that this
-option does not affect what a daemon logs to its logfile.)
+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) unless the itemized-changes escape (%i) is included in
-the string, in which case the logging of names increases to mention any
+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(--log-format) without bv(--verbose) if you like, or you can override
+bf(--out-format) without bf(--verbose) if you like, or you can override
the format of its per-file output using this option.
-Rsync will output the log-format string prior to a file's transfer unless
+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
logging is done at the end of the file's transfer. When this late logging
is in effect and bf(--progress) is also specified, rsync will also output
the name of the file being transferred prior to its progress information
-(followed, of course, by the log-format output).
+(followed, of course, by the out-format output).
+
+dit(bf(--log-file=FILE)) This option causes rsync to log what it is doing
+to a file. This is similar to the logging that a daemon does, but can be
+requested for the client side and/or the server side of a non-daemon
+transfer. If specified as a client option, transfer logging will be
+enabled with a default format of "%i %n%L". See the bf(--log-file-format)
+option if you wish to override this.
+
+Here's a example command that requests the remote side to log what is
+happening:
+
+verb( rsync -av --rsync-path="rsync --log-file=/tmp/rlog" src/ dest/)
+
+This is very useful if you need to debug why a connection is closing
+unexpectedly.
+
+dit(bf(--log-file-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what
+per-update logging is put into the file specified by the bf(--log-file) option
+(which must also be specified for this option to have any effect). If you
+specify an empty string, updated files will not be mentioned in the log file.
+For a list of the possible escape characters, see the "log format" setting
+in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
dit(bf(--stats)) This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics
on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync
algorithm is for your data.
-dit(bf(-h, --human-readable)) Output numbers in a more human-readable format.
-Large numbers may be output in larger units, with a K (1024), M (1024*1024),
-or G (1024*1024*1024) suffix.
+The current statistics are as follows: quote(itemization(
+ it() bf(Number of files) is the count of all "files" (in the generic
+ sense), which includes directories, symlinks, etc.
+ it() bf(Number of files transferred) is the count of normal files that
+ were updated via the rsync algorithm, which does not include created
+ dirs, symlinks, etc.
+ it() bf(Total file size) is the total sum of all file sizes in the transfer.
+ This does not count any size for directories or special files, but does
+ include the size of symlinks.
+ it() bf(Total transferred file size) is the total sum of all files sizes
+ for just the transferred files.
+ it() bf(Literal data) is how much unmatched file-update data we had to
+ send to the receiver for it to recreate the updated files.
+ it() bf(Matched data) is how much data the receiver got locally when
+ recreating the updated files.
+ it() bf(File list size) is how big the file-list data was when the sender
+ sent it to the receiver. This is smaller than the in-memory size for the
+ file list due to some compressing of duplicated data when rsync sends the
+ list.
+ it() bf(File list generation time) is the number of seconds that the
+ sender spent creating the file list. This requires a modern rsync on the
+ sending side for this to be present.
+ it() bf(File list transfer time) is the number of seconds that the sender
+ spent sending the file list to the receiver.
+ it() bf(Total bytes sent) is the count of all the bytes that rsync sent
+ from the client side to the server side.
+ it() bf(Total bytes received) is the count of all non-message bytes that
+ rsync received by the client side from the server side. "Non-message"
+ bytes means that we don't count the bytes for a verbose message that the
+ server sent to us, which makes the stats more consistent.
+))
-dit(bf(--si)) Similar to the bf(--human-readable) option, but using powers
-of 1000 instead of 1024.
+dit(bf(-8, --8-bit-output)) This tells rsync to leave all high-bit characters
+unescaped in the output instead of trying to test them to see if they're
+valid in the current locale and escaping the invalid ones. All control
+characters (but never tabs) are always escaped, regardless of this option's
+setting.
+
+The escape idiom that started in 2.6.7 is to output a literal backslash (\)
+and a hash (#), followed by exactly 3 octal digits. For example, a newline
+would output as "\#012". A literal backslash that is in a filename is not
+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.
dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
bf(--partial) option is to specify a em(DIR) that will be used to hold the
partial data (instead of writing it out to the destination file).
On the next transfer, rsync will use a file found in this
-dir as data to speed up the resumption of the transfer and then deletes it
+dir as data to speed up the resumption of the transfer and then delete it
after it has served its purpose.
+
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
partial-directory in the destination file's directory when needed, and then
remove it again when the partial file is deleted.
-If the partial-dir value is not an absolute path, rsync will also add a directory
-bf(--exclude) of this value at the end of all your existing excludes. This
-will prevent partial-dir files from being transferred and also prevent the
-untimely deletion of partial-dir items on the receiving side. An example:
-the above bf(--partial-dir) option would add an "bf(--exclude=.rsync-partial/)"
-rule at the end of any other filter rules. Note that if you are
-supplying your own exclude 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 your rules specify
-a trailing inclusion/exclusion of '*', the auto-added rule would never be
-reached).
+If the partial-dir value is not an absolute path, rsync will add an exclude
+rule at the end of all your existing excludes. This will prevent the
+sending of any partial-dir files that may exist on the sending side, and
+will also prevent the untimely deletion of partial-dir items on the
+receiving side. An example: the above bf(--partial-dir) option would add
+the equivalent of "bf(-f '-p .rsync-partial/')" at the end of any other
+filter rules.
+
+If you are supplying your own exclude rules, you may need to add your own
+exclude/hide/protect rule for the partial-dir because (1) the auto-added
+rule may be ineffective at the end of your other rules, or (2) you may wish
+to override rsync's exclude choice. For instance, if you want to make
+rsync clean-up any left-over partial-dirs that may be lying around, you
+should specify bf(--delete-after) and add a "risk" filter rule, e.g.
+bf(-f 'R .rsync-partial/'). (Avoid using bf(--delete-before) or
+bf(--delete-during) unless you don't need rsync to use any of the
+left-over partial-dir data during the current run.)
IMPORTANT: the bf(--partial-dir) should not be writable by other users or it
is a security risk. E.g. AVOID "/tmp".
You can also set the partial-dir value the RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR environment
variable. Setting this in the environment does not force bf(--partial) to be
-enabled, but rather it effects where partial files go when bf(--partial) is
+enabled, but rather it affects where partial files go when bf(--partial) is
specified. For instance, instead of using bf(--partial-dir=.rsync-tmp)
along with bf(--progress), you could set RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR=.rsync-tmp in your
environment and then just use the bf(-P) option to turn on the use of the
-.rsync-tmp dir for partial transfers. The only time that the bf(--partial)
-option does not look for this environment value is (1) when bf(--inplace) was
-specified (since bf(--inplace) conflicts with bf(--partial-dir)), or (2) when
+.rsync-tmp dir for partial transfers. The only times that the bf(--partial)
+option does not look for this environment value are (1) when bf(--inplace) was
+specified (since bf(--inplace) conflicts with bf(--partial-dir)), and (2) when
bf(--delay-updates) was specified (see below).
For the purposes of the daemon-config's "refuse options" setting,
succession. This attempts to make the updating of the files a little more
atomic. By default the files are placed into a directory named ".~tmp~" in
each file's destination directory, but if you've specified the
-bf(--partial-dir) option, that directory will be used instead.
+bf(--partial-dir) option, that directory will be used instead. See the
+comments in the bf(--partial-dir) section for a discussion of how this
+".~tmp~" dir will be excluded from the transfer, and what you can do if
+you want rsync to cleanup old ".~tmp~" dirs that might be lying around.
Conflicts with bf(--inplace) and bf(--append).
This option uses more memory on the receiving side (one bit per file
update algorithm that is even more atomic (it uses bf(--link-dest) and a
parallel hierarchy of files).
+dit(bf(-m, --prune-empty-dirs)) This option tells the receiving rsync to get
+rid of empty directories from the file-list, including nested directories
+that have no non-directory children. This is useful for avoiding the
+creation of a bunch of useless directories when the sending rsync is
+recursively scanning a hierarchy of files using include/exclude/filter
+rules.
+
+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).
+
+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
+that the directory "emptydir" was kept in the file-list:
+
+quote( --filter 'protect emptydir/')
+
+Here's an example that copies all .pdf files in a hierarchy, only creating
+the necessary destination directories to hold the .pdf files, and ensures
+that any superfluous files and directories in the destination are removed
+(note the hide filter of non-directories being used instead of an exclude):
+
+quote( rsync -avm --del --include='*.pdf' -f 'hide,! */' src/ dest)
+
+If you didn't want to remove superfluous destination files, the more
+time-honored options of "bf(--include='*/' --exclude='*')" would work fine
+in place of the hide-filter (if that is more natural to you).
+
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.
-When the file is transferring, the data looks like this:
+While rsync is transferring a regular file, it updates a progress line that
+looks like this:
verb( 782448 63% 110.64kB/s 0:00:04)
-This tells you the current file size, the percentage of the transfer that
-is complete, the current calculated file-completion rate (including both
-data over the wire and data being matched locally), and the estimated time
-remaining in this transfer.
+In this example, the receiver has reconstructed 782448 bytes or 63% of the
+sender's file, which is being reconstructed at a rate of 110.64 kilobytes
+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
+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
+will probably take much longer to finish than the receiver estimated as it
+was finishing the matched part of the file.
-After a file is complete, the data looks like this:
+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 (5, 57.1% of 396))
+verb( 1238099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (xfer#5, to-check=169/396))
-This tells you the final file size, that it's 100% complete, the final
-transfer rate for the file, the amount of elapsed time it took to transfer
-the file, and the addition of a total-transfer summary in parentheses.
-These additional numbers tell you how many files have been updated, and
-what percent of the total number of files has been scanned.
+In this example, the file was 1238099 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.
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 a remote rsync daemon. Note that this option
-is only useful when accessing an rsync daemon using the built in
-transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file
-must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a
-single line.
+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.
+
+When accessing an rsync daemon using a remote shell as the transport, this
+option only comes into effect after the remote shell finishes its
+authentication (i.e. if you have also specified a password in the daemon's
+config file).
dit(bf(--list-only)) This option will cause the source files to be listed
-instead of transferred. This option is inferred if there is no destination
-specified, so you don't usually need to use it explicitly. However, it can
-come in handy for a user that wants to avoid the "bf(-r --exclude='/*/*')"
-options that rsync might use as a compatibility kluge when generating a
-non-recursive listing, or to list the files that are involved in a local
-copy (since the destination path is not optional for a local copy, you
-must specify this option explicitly and still include a destination).
+instead of transferred. This option is inferred if there is a single source
+arg and no destination specified, so its main uses are: (1) to turn a copy
+command that includes a
+destination arg into a file-listing command, (2) to be able to specify more
+than one local source arg (note: be sure to include the destination), or
+(3) to avoid the automatically added "bf(-r --exclude='/*/*')" options that
+rsync usually uses as a compatibility kluge when generating a non-recursive
+listing. Caution: keep in mind that a source arg with a wild-card is expanded
+by the shell into multiple args, so it is never safe to try to list such an arg
+without using this option. For example:
+
+verb( rsync -av --list-only foo* dest/)
dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
transfer rate in kilobytes per second. This option is most effective when
dit(bf(--checksum-seed=NUM)) Set the MD4 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
-by the server and defaults to the current time(). This option
+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
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 time()
+Note that setting NUM to 0 causes rsync to use the default of code(time())
for checksum seed.
enddit()
run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and
become a background daemon. The daemon will read the config file
(rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and respond to
-requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
+requests accordingly. See the bf(rsyncd.conf)(5) man page for more
details.
dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address when
dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
the default. This is only relevant when bf(--daemon) is specified.
The default is /etc/rsyncd.conf unless the daemon is running over
-a remote shell program and the remote user is not root; in that case
+a remote shell program and the remote user is not the super-user; in that case
the default is rsyncd.conf in the current directory (typically $HOME).
dit(bf(--no-detach)) When running as a daemon, this option instructs
daemon to listen on rather than the default of 873. See also the "port"
global option in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
+dit(bf(--log-file=FILE)) This option tells the rsync daemon to use the
+given log-file name instead of using the "log file" setting in the config
+file.
+
+dit(bf(--log-file-format=FORMAT)) This option tells the rsync daemon to use the
+given FORMAT string instead of using the "log format" setting in the config
+file. It also enables "transfer logging" unless the string is empty, in which
+case transfer logging is turned off.
+
+dit(bf(--sockopts)) This overrides the bf(socket options) setting in the
+rsyncd.conf file and has the same syntax.
+
dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information the
daemon logs during its startup phase. After the client connects, the
daemon's verbosity level will be controlled by the options that the client
the names of the files that are going to be transferred. These patterns
can take several forms:
-itemize(
+itemization(
it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is anchored to a
particular spot in the hierarchy of files, otherwise it is matched
against the end of the pathname. This is similar to a leading ^ in
regular expressions.
- Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at either the "root of the
+ Thus "/foo" would match a file named "foo" at either the "root of the
transfer" (for a global rule) or in the merge-file's directory (for a
per-directory rule).
An unqualified "foo" would match any file or directory named "foo"
of the transfer.
it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
directory, not a file, link, or device.
-
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 '[' .
(Remember that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename"
can actually be any portion of a path from the starting directory on
down.)
+ it() a trailing "dir_name/***" will match both the directory (as if
+ "dir_name/" had been specified) and all the files in the directory
+ (as if "dir_name/**" had been specified). This behavior was added in
+ version 2.6.7.
)
Note that, when using the bf(--recursive) (bf(-r)) option (which is implied by
rule, so rsync never visits any of the files in the "some" or "some/path"
directories. One solution is to ask for all directories in the hierarchy
to be included by using a single rule: "+ */" (put it somewhere before the
-"- *" rule). Another solution is to add specific include rules for all
+"- *" rule), and perhaps use the bf(--prune-empty-dirs) option. Another
+solution is to add specific include rules for all
the parent dirs that need to be visited. For instance, this set of rules
works fine:
Here are some examples of exclude/include matching:
-itemize(
+itemization(
it() "- *.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o
- it() "- /foo" would exclude a file called foo in the transfer-root directory
- it() "- foo/" would exclude any directory called foo
- it() "- /foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
- levels below a directory called foo in the transfer-root directory
- it() "- /foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
- or more levels below a directory called foo in the transfer-root directory
+ it() "- /foo" would exclude a file (or directory) named foo in the
+ transfer-root directory
+ it() "- foo/" would exclude any directory named foo
+ it() "- /foo/*/bar" would exclude any file named bar which is at two
+ levels below a directory named foo in the transfer-root directory
+ it() "- /foo/**/bar" would exclude any file named bar two
+ or more levels below a directory named foo in the transfer-root directory
it() The combination of "+ */", "+ *.c", and "- *" would include all
- directories and C source files but nothing else.
+ directories and C source files but nothing else (see also the
+ bf(--prune-empty-dirs) option)
it() The combination of "+ foo/", "+ foo/bar.c", and "- *" would include
only the foo directory and foo/bar.c (the foo directory must be
explicitly included or it would be excluded by the "*")
The following modifiers are accepted after a merge or dir-merge rule:
-itemize(
+itemization(
it() A bf(-) specifies that the file should consist of only exclude
patterns, with no other rule-parsing except for in-file comments.
it() A bf(+) specifies that the file should consist of only include
"- 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
+ (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
treat the contents of .excl as absolute-path excludes,
while "dir-merge,s .filt" and ":sC" would each make all their
The following modifiers are accepted after a "+" or "-":
-itemize(
- it() A "/" specifies that the include/exclude rule should be matched
+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 "!" specifies that the include/exclude should take effect if
+ 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
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 are inherited in all subdirectories of the directory
This will merge the contents of the /home/user/.global-filter file at the
start of the list and also turns the ".rules" filename into a per-directory
-filter file. All rules read-in prior to the start of the directory scan
+filter file. All rules read in prior to the start of the directory scan
follow the global anchoring rules (i.e. a leading slash matches at the root
of the transfer).
affect the other CVS exclude rules (i.e. the default list of exclusions,
the contents of $HOME/.cvsignore, and the value of $CVSIGNORE) you should
omit the bf(-C) command-line option and instead insert a "-C" rule into
-your filter rules; e.g. "--filter=-C".
+your filter rules; e.g. "bf(--filter=-C)".
manpagesection(LIST-CLEARING FILTER RULE)
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(-like) shell, optionally
+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.
into the directory /bdest/dir. The differences between the two examples
reveals some of the flexibility you have in how you deal with batches:
-itemize(
+itemization(
it() The first example shows that the initial copy doesn't have to be
local -- you can push or pull data to/from a remote host using either the
remote-shell syntax or rsync daemon syntax, as desired.
bf(--links) for bf(--safe-links) to have any effect.)
Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks
-(start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough bf("..")
+(start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough ".."
components to ascend from the directory being copied.
Here's a summary of how the symlink options are interpreted. The list is
dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) Turn all unsafe symlinks into files, noisily
skip all safe symlinks.
-dit(bf(--links --safe-links)) Duplicate safe symlinks and skip unsafe
+dit(bf(--links --safe-links)) Duplicate safe symlinks and skip unsafe
ones.
dit(bf(--links)) Duplicate all symlinks.
dit(bf(13)) Errors with program diagnostics
dit(bf(14)) Error in IPC code
dit(bf(20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
-dit(bf(21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
+dit(bf(21)) Some error returned by code(waitpid())
dit(bf(22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
dit(bf(23)) Partial transfer due to error
dit(bf(24)) Partial transfer due to vanished source files
manpageseealso()
-rsyncd.conf(5)
+bf(rsyncd.conf)(5)
manpagebugs()
-times are transferred as unix time_t values
+times are transferred as *nix time_t values
When transferring to FAT filesystems rsync may re-sync
unmodified files.
manpagesection(VERSION)
-This man page is current for version 2.6.6 of rsync.
+This man page is current for version 2.6.9 of rsync.
+
+manpagesection(INTERNAL OPTIONS)
+
+The options bf(--server) and bf(--sender) are used internally by rsync,
+and should never be typed by a user under normal circumstances. Some
+awareness of these options may be needed in certain scenarios, such as
+when setting up a login that can only run an rsync command. For instance,
+the support directory of the rsync distribution has an example script
+named rrsync (for restricted rsync) that can be used with a restricted
+ssh login.
manpagesection(CREDITS)
Matt McCutchen's Web Site / rsync / rsync.git / blobdiff