to the detailed description below for a complete description.
verb(
-Usage: rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST:DEST
- or rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC DEST
- or rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... DEST
- or rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST]
- or rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST::DEST
- or rsync [OPTION]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC [DEST]
-SRC on single-colon remote HOST will be expanded by remote shell
-SRC on server remote HOST may contain shell wildcards or multiple
- sources separated by space as long as they have same top-level
-
-Options
-v, --verbose increase verbosity
-q, --quiet decrease verbosity
-c, --checksum always checksum
-r, --recursive recurse into directories
-R, --relative use relative path names
-b, --backup make backups (default ~ suffix)
+ --backup-dir=DIR put backups in the specified directory
--suffix=SUFFIX override backup suffix
-u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files)
-l, --links preserve soft links
-e, --rsh=COMMAND specify rsh replacement
--rsync-path=PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine
-C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does
+ --existing only update files that already exist
--delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side
--delete-excluded also delete excluded files on the receiving side
+ --delete-after delete after transferring, not before
+ --ignore-errors delete even if there are IO errors
+ --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
--partial keep partially transferred files
--force force deletion of directories even if not empty
--numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
receiver are skipped. This option can be quite slow.
-dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptg. It is a quick way
+dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptgoD. It is a quick way
of saying you want recursion and want to preserve everything.
-Note: if the user launching rsync is root then the -o (preserve
-uid) and -D (preserve devices) options are also implied.
-
dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories
recursively. If you don't specify this then rsync won't copy
directories at all.
renamed with a ~ extension as each file is transferred. You can
control the backup suffix using the --suffix option.
+dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the --backup option, this
+tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
+very useful for incremental backups.
+
dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
backup suffix used with the -b option. The default is a ~.
boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the
contents of only one filesystem.
+dit(bf(--existing)) This tells rsync not to create any new files -
+only update files that already exist on the destination.
+
+dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM
+files or directories. This is useful when mirroring very large trees
+to prevent disasters.
+
dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving
side that aren't on the sending side. Files that are excluded from
transfer are excluded from being deleted unless you use --delete-excluded.
details.
dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address
-when run as a daemon with the --daemon option. The --address option
-allows you to specify a specific IP address (or hostname) to bind
-to. This makes virtual hosting possible in conjunction with the
---config option.
+when run as a daemon with the --daemon option or when connecting to a
+rsync server. The --address option allows you to specify a specific IP
+address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting possible
+in conjunction with the --config option.
dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
the default /etc/rsyncd.conf. This is only relevant when --daemon is
in a file for accessing a remote rsync server. Note that this option
is only useful when accessing a rsync server using the built in
transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file
-must not be world readable.
+must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a
+single line.
enddit()
skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the
filename is not skipped.
-Note that the --include and --exclude options take one pattern
+Note that when used with -r (which is implied by -a), every subcomponent of
+every path is visited from top down, so include/exclude patterns get
+applied recursively to each subcomponent.
+
+Note also that the --include and --exclude options take one pattern
each. To add multiple patterns use the --include-from and
--exclude-from options or multiple --include and --exclude options.
itemize(
it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is matched against the
start of the filename, otherwise it is matched against the end of
- the filename. Thus /foo would match a file called foo
- at the base of the tree whereas foo would match any file
- called foo anywhere in the tree.
+ the filename. Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at the base of
+ the tree. On the other hand, "foo" would match any file called "foo"
+ anywhere in the tree because the algorithm is applied recursively from
+ top down; it behaves as if each path component gets a turn at being the
+ end of the file name.
it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
directory, not a file, link or device.
*?[ then expression matching is applied using the shell filename
matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used.
+ it() if the pattern includes a double asterisk "**" then all wildcards in
+ the pattern will match slashes, otherwise they will stop at slashes.
+
it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) then it
is matched against the full filename, including any leading
directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a / then it is matched
- only against the final component of the filename. Furthermore, if
- the pattern includes a double asterisk "**" then all wildcards in
- the pattern will match slashes, otherwise they will stop at slashes.
+ only against the final component of the filename. Again, remember
+ that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename" can
+ actually be any portion of a path.
it() if the pattern starts with "+ " (a plus followed by a space)
then it is always considered an include pattern, even if specified as
The +/- rules are most useful in exclude lists, allowing you to have a
single exclude list that contains both include and exclude options.
-Here are some examples:
+If you end an exclude list with --exclude '*', note that since the
+algorithm is applied recursively that unless you explicitly include
+parent directories of files you want to include then the algorithm
+will stop at the parent directories and never see the files below
+them. To include all directories, use --include '*/' before the
+--exclude '*'.
+
+Here are some exclude/include examples:
itemize(
it() --exclude "*.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o