--files-from=FILE read FILE for list of source-file names
-0 --from0 all file lists are delimited by nulls
--version print version number
+ --port=PORT specify double-colon alternate port number
--blocking-io use blocking I/O for the remote shell
--no-blocking-io turn off --blocking-io
--stats give some file transfer stats
--bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth, KBytes per second
--config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
--no-detach do not detach from the parent
- --port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number
+ --port=PORT listen on alternate port number
-4 --ipv4 prefer IPv4
-6 --ipv6 prefer IPv6
-h, --help show this help screen
you want to send several different directories at the same time. For
example, if you used the command
-verb(rsync foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
+verb(rsync /foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
then this would create a file called foo.c in /tmp/ on the remote
machine. If instead you used
-verb(rsync -R foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
+verb(rsync -R /foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/foo.c would be created on the remote
-machine -- the full path name is preserved.
+machine -- the full path name is preserved. To limit the amount of
+path information that is sent, do something like this:
+
+verb(cd /foo
+rsync -R bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
+
+That would create /tmp/bar/foo.c on the remote machine.
dit(bf(--no-relative)) Turn off the --relative option. This is only
needed if you want to use --files-from without its implied --relative
backup suffix used with the --backup (-b) option. The default suffix is a ~
if no --backup-dir was specified, otherwise it is an empty string.
-dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files for which the
-destination file already exists and has a date later than the source
-file.
+dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files which exist on
+the destination and have a modified time that is newer than the source
+file. (If an existing destination file has a modify time equal to the
+source file's, it will be updated if the sizes are different.)
-In the currently implementation, a difference of file format is always
+In the current implementation of --update, a difference of file format
+between the sender and receiver is always
considered to be important enough for an update, no matter what date
is on the objects. In other words, if the source has a directory or a
symlink where the destination has a file, the transfer would occur
The option implies --partial (since an interrupted transfer does not delete
the file), but conflicts with --partial-dir, --compare-dest, --copy-dest, and
--link-dest (a future rsync version will hopefully update the protocol to
-remove these restrictions).
+remove some of these restrictions).
WARNING: The file's data will be in an inconsistent state during the
transfer (and possibly afterward if the transfer gets interrupted), so you
suffixed with a letter to indicate a size multiplier (K, M, or G) and
may be a fractional value (e.g. "--max-size=1.5m").
-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.
+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
+directories that are being synchronized. You must have asked rsync to
+send the whole directory (e.g. "dir" or "dir/") without using a wildcard
+for the directory's contents (e.g. "dir/*") since the wildcard is expanded
+by the shell and rsync thus gets a request to transfer those files, not
+the files' parent directory. Files that are excluded from transfer are
+excluded from being deleted unless you use --delete-excluded.
This option has no effect if directory recursion is not selected.
This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea
-to run first using the dry run option (-n) to see what files would be
+to run first using the --dry-run option (-n) to see what files would be
deleted to make sure important files aren't listed.
-If the sending side detects any I/O errors then the deletion of any
+If the sending side detects any I/O errors, then the deletion of any
files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to
prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the
sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the
sufficient space on the receiving filesystem. If you want to delete
after transferring, use the --delete-after switch. Implies --delete.
+One reason to use --delete-after is to avoid a delay before the start of
+the transfer (while the receiving side is scanned for deletions) as this
+delay might cause the transfer to timeout.
+
dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files
even when there are I/O errors.
the temporary files in the receiving directory.
dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use em(DIR) on
-the destination machine as an additional directory to compare destination
-files against when doing transfers if the files are missing in the
-destination directory. Files that are identical to one of the specified
-directories are not transferred. This is useful for creating a sparse
-backup into a new hierarchy. If em(DIR) is a relative path, it is relative
-to the destination directory. See also --copy-dest and --link-dest.
+the destination machine as an additional hierarchy to compare destination
+files against doing transfers (if the files are missing in the destination
+directory). If a file is found in em(DIR) that is identical to the
+sender's file, the file will NOT be transferred to the destination
+directory. This is useful for creating a sparse backup of just files that
+have changed from an earlier backup.
+
+Beginning in version 2.6.4, multiple --compare-dest directories may be
+provided and rsync will search the list in the order specified until it
+finds an existing file. That first discovery is used as the basis file,
+and also determines if the transfer needs to happen.
+
+If em(DIR) is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
+See also --copy-dest and --link-dest.
dit(bf(--copy-dest=DIR)) This option behaves like bf(--compare-dest), but
rsync will also copy unchanged files found in em(DIR) to the destination
directory (using the data in the em(DIR) for an efficient copy). This is
useful for doing transfers to a new destination while leaving existing
files intact, and then doing a flash-cutover when all files have been
-successfully transferred. If em(DIR) is a relative path, it is relative to
-the destination directory. See also --compare-dest and --link-dest.
+successfully transferred.
+
+If em(DIR) is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
+See also --compare-dest and --link-dest.
dit(bf(--link-dest=DIR)) This option behaves like bf(--copy-dest), but
-unchanged files are hard linked from em(DIR) to the destination directory
-(The files must be identical in ownership and permissions--if those items
-are being preserved--in order for the files to be linked together. If
-em(DIR) is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
+unchanged files are hard linked from em(DIR) to the destination directory.
+The files must be identical in all preserved attributes (e.g. permissions,
+possibly ownership) in order for the files to be linked together.
An example:
verb(
rsync -av --link-dest=$PWD/prior_dir host:src_dir/ new_dir/
)
-If more than one --link-dest option is specified, rsync will try to find an
-exact match to link with (searching the list in the order specified), and
-if not found, a basis file from one of the em(DIR)s will be selected to try
-to speed up the transfer. See also --compare-dest and --copy-dest.
+Beginning with version 2.6.4, if more than one --link-dest option is
+specified, rsync will try to find an exact match to link with (searching
+the list in the order specified), and if not found, a basis file from one
+of the em(DIR)s will be selected to try to speed up the transfer.
+
+If em(DIR) is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
+See also --compare-dest and --copy-dest.
Note that rsync versions prior to 2.6.1 had a bug that could prevent
--link-dest from working properly for a non-root user when -o was specified
timeout in seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time
then rsync will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout.
+dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
+rather than the default of 873. This is only needed if you are using the
+double-colon (::) syntax to connect with an rsync daemon (since the URL
+syntax has a way to specify the port as a part of the URL). See also this
+option in the --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
data over the wire and data being matched locally), and the estimated time
remaining in this transfer.
-After the a file is complete, it the data looks like this:
+After a file is complete, the data looks like this:
verb(
1238099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (5, 57.1% of 396)
dit(bf(-4, --ipv4) or bf(-6, --ipv6)) Tells rsync to prefer IPv4/IPv6
when creating sockets. This only affects sockets that rsync has direct
control over, such as the outgoing socket when directly contacting an
-rsync daemon (see also these options in the --daemon mode section).
+rsync daemon. See also these options in the --daemon mode section.
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
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.
+in conjunction with the --config option. See also the "address" global
+option in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
transfer rate in kilobytes per second for the data the daemon sends.
debugger. This option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or
sshd.
-dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
-rather than the default port 873.
+dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number for the
+daemon to listen on rather than the default of 873. See also the "port"
+global option in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
dit(bf(-4, --ipv4) or bf(-6, --ipv6)) Tells rsync to prefer IPv4/IPv6
when creating the incoming sockets that the rsync daemon will use to
Matt McCutchen's Web Site / rsync / rsync.git / blobdiff