manpagesection(GENERAL)
-There are six different ways of using rsync. They are:
+There are eight different ways of using rsync. They are:
itemize(
it() for copying local files. This is invoked when neither
server. This is invoked when the destination path contains a ::
separator.
+ it() for copying from a remote machine using a remote shell
+ program as the transport, using rsync server on the remote
+ machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
+ separator and the --rsh=COMMAND (aka "-e COMMAND") option is
+ also provided.
+
+ it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine
+ using a remote shell program as the transport, using rsync
+ server on the remote machine. This is invoked when the
+ destination path contains a :: separator and the
+ --rsh=COMMMAND option is also provided.
+
it() for listing files on a remote machine. This is done the
same way as rsync transfers except that you leave off the
local destination.
See the file README for installation instructions.
-Once installed you can use rsync to any machine that you can use rsh
-to. rsync uses rsh for its communications, unless both the source and
-destination are local.
+Once installed, you can use rsync to any machine that you can access via
+a remote shell (as well as some that you can access using the rsync
+daemon-mode protocol). For remote transfers, rsync typically uses rsh
+for its communications, but it may have been configured to use a
+different remote shell by default, such as ssh.
-You can also specify an alternative to rsh, either by using the -e
+You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the -e
command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable.
One common substitute is to use ssh, which offers a high degree of
manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER)
-It is also possible to use rsync without using rsh or ssh as the
+It is also possible to use rsync without a remote shell as the
transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server
running on TCP port 873.
your web proxy. Note that your web proxy's configuration must allow
proxying to port 873.
-Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with rsh or ssh except
+Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except
that:
itemize(
WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all
users. On those systems using --password-file is recommended.
+manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
+
+It is sometimes useful to be able to set up file transfers using rsync
+server capabilities on the remote machine, while still using rsh or
+ssh for transport. This is especially useful when you want to connect
+to a remote machine via ssh (for encryption or to get through a
+firewall), but you still want to have access to the rsync server
+features (see RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM,
+below).
+
+From the user's perspective, using rsync in this way is the same as
+using it to connect to an rsync server, except that you must
+explicitly set the remote shell program on the command line with
+--rsh=COMMAND. (Setting RSYNC_RSH in the environment will not turn on
+this functionality.)
+
+In order to distinguish between the remote-shell user and the rsync
+server user, you can use '-l user' on your remote-shell command:
+
+quote(rsync -av --rsh="ssh -l ssh-user" rsync-user@host::module[/path] local-path)
+
+The "ssh-user" will be used at the ssh level; the "rsync-user" will be
+used to check against the rsyncd.conf on the remote host.
+
manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER)
An rsync server is configured using a config file which by default is
called /etc/rsyncd.conf. Please see the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
information.
+manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
+
+See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for full information on the rsync
+server configuration file.
+
+Several configuration options will not be available unless the remote
+user is root (e.g. chroot, setuid/setgid, etc.). There is no need to
+configure inetd or the services map to include the rsync server port
+if you run an rsync server only via a remote shell program.
+
+To run an rsync server out of a single-use ssh key, use the
+"command=em(COMMAND)" syntax in the remote user's
+authorized_keys entry, where command would be
+
+quote(rsync --server --daemon .)
+
+NOTE: rsync's argument parsing expects the trailing ".", so make sure
+that it's there. If you want to use a rsyncd.conf(5)-style
+configuration file other than /etc/rsyncd.conf, you can added a
+--config-file option to the em(command):
+
+quote(rsync --server --daemon --config-file=em(file) .)
+
manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
Here are some examples of how I use rsync.
-R, --relative use relative path names
-b, --backup make backups (default ~ suffix)
--backup-dir make backups into this directory
- --suffix=SUFFIX override backup suffix
+ --suffix=SUFFIX define backup suffix
-u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files)
-l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks
-L, --copy-links copy the referent of symlinks
-S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently
-n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
-W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks
+ --no-whole-file turn off --whole-file
-x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
-B, --block-size=SIZE checksum blocking size (default 700)
- -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify rsh replacement
+ -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify the remote shell to use
--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
--config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
--port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number
--blocking-io use blocking IO for the remote shell
+ --no-blocking-io turn off --blocking-io
--stats give some file transfer stats
--progress show progress during transfer
--log-format=FORMAT log file transfers using specified format
--password-file=FILE get password from FILE
--bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth, KBytes per second
- --read-batch=FILE read batch file
- --write-batch write batch file
+ --read-batch=PREFIX read batch fileset starting with PREFIX
+ --write-batch=PREFIX write batch fileset starting with PREFIX
-h, --help show this help screen
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.
+very useful for incremental backups. You can additionally
+specify a backup suffix using the --suffix option
+(otherwise the files backed up in the specified directory
+will keep their original filenames).
dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
backup suffix used with the -b option. The default is a ~.
+If --backup-dir and --suffix are both specified,
+the SUFFIX is appended to the filename even in the backup directory.
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
"disk" is actually a networked file system). This is the default when both
the source and target are on the local machine.
+dit(bf(--no-whole-file)) Turn off --whole-file, for use when it is the
+default.
+
dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to update the remote
permissions to be the same as the local permissions.
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.
+only the super-user can set file ownership. Note that if the remote system
+is a daemon using chroot, the --numeric-ids option is implied because the
+remote system cannot get access to the usernames from /etc/passwd.
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
dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the
receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also
delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see --exclude).
+Implies --delete.
dit(bf(--delete-after)) By default rsync does file deletions before
transferring files to try to ensure that there is sufficient space on
the receiving filesystem. If you want to delete after transferring
-then use the --delete-after switch.
+then use the --delete-after switch. Implies --delete.
dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files
even when there are IO errors.
dit(bf(-e, --rsh=COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative
remote shell program to use for communication between the local and
-remote copies of rsync. By default, rsync will use rsh, but you may
-like to instead use ssh because of its high security.
+remote copies of rsync. Typically, rsync is configured to use rsh by
+default, but you may prefer to use ssh because of its high security.
+
+If this option is used with bf([user@]host::module/path), then the
+remote shell em(COMMMAND) will be used to run an rsync server on the
+remote host, and all data will be transmitted through that remote
+shell connection, rather than through a direct socket connection to a
+running rsync server on the remote host. See the section "CONNECTING
+TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM" above.
+
+Command-line arguments are permitted in COMMAND provided that COMMAND is
+presented to rsync as a single argument. For example:
+
+quote(-e "ssh -p 2234")
+
+(Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect
+options in their .ssh/config file.)
You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
-environment variable.
+environment variable, which accepts the same range of values as -e.
See also the --blocking-io option which is affected by this option.
a remote shell transport. If -e or --rsh are not specified or are set to
the default "rsh", this defaults to blocking IO, otherwise it defaults to
non-blocking IO. You may find the --blocking-io option is needed for some
-remote shells that can't handle non-blocking IO. Ssh prefers blocking IO.
+remote shells that can't handle non-blocking IO. (Note that ssh prefers
+non-blocking IO.)
+
+dit(bf(--no-blocking-io)) Turn off --blocking-io, for use when it is the
+default.
dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
rsync client logs to stdout on a per-file basis. The log format is
result is an average transfer rate equalling the specified limit. A value
of zero specifies no limit.
-dit(bf(--read-batch)) Apply a previously generated change batch.
+dit(bf(--write-batch=PREFIX)) Generate a set of files that can be
+transferred as a batch update. Each filename in the set starts with
+PREFIX. See the "BATCH MODE" section for details.
-dit(bf(--write-batch)) Generate a set of files that can be transferred
-as a batch update.
+dit(bf(--read-batch=PREFIX)) Apply a previously generated change batch,
+using the fileset whose filenames start with PREFIX. See the "BATCH
+MODE" section for details.
enddit()
manpagesection(BATCH MODE)
bf(Note:) Batch mode should be considered experimental in this version
-of rsync. The interface or behaviour may change before it stabilizes.
-
-The following call generates 4 files that encapsulate the information
-for synchronizing the contents of bf(target_dir) with the updates found in
-bf(src_dir)
+of rsync. The interface or behaviour may change before it stabilizes.
+
+Batch mode can be used to apply the same set of updates to many
+identical systems. Suppose one has a tree which is replicated on a
+number of hosts. Now suppose some changes have been made to this
+source tree and those changes need to be propagated to the other
+hosts. In order to do this using batch mode, rsync is run with the
+write-batch option to apply the changes made to the source tree to one
+of the destination trees. The write-batch option causes the rsync
+client to store the information needed to repeat this operation against
+other destination trees in a batch update fileset (see below). The
+filename of each file in the fileset starts with a prefix specified by
+the user as an argument to the write-batch option. This fileset is
+then copied to each remote host, where rsync is run with the read-batch
+option, again specifying the same prefix, and the destination tree.
+Rsync updates the destination tree using the information stored in the
+batch update fileset.
+
+The fileset consists of 4 files:
-quote(
-$ rsync --write-batch [other rsync options here] \nl()
- /somewhere/src_dir /somewhere/target_dir
+itemize(
+it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_argvs) command-line arguments
+it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_flist) rsync internal file metadata
+it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_csums) rsync checksums
+it() bf(<prefix>.rsync_delta) data blocks for file update & change
)
-The generated files are labeled with a common timestamp:
+The .rsync_argvs file contains a command-line suitable for updating a
+destination tree using that batch update fileset. It can be executed
+using a 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.
-itemize(
-it() bf(rsync_argvs.<timestamp>) command-line arguments
-it() bf(rsync_flist.<timestamp>) rsync internal file metadata
-it() bf(rsync_csums.<timestamp>) rsync checksums
-it() bf(rsync_delta.<timestamp>) data blocks for file update & change
+Generating the batch update fileset once saves having to perform the
+file status, checksum and data block generation more than once when
+updating multiple destination trees. Multicast transport protocols can
+be used to transfer the batch update files in parallel to many hosts at
+once, instead of sending the same data to every host individually.
+
+Example:
+
+verb(
+$ rsync --write_batch=pfx -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/
+$ rcp pfx.rsync_* remote:
+$ rsh remote rsync --read_batch=pfx -a /bdest/dir/
+# or alternatively
+$ rsh remote ./pfx.rsync_argvs /bdest/dir/
)
+In this example, rsync is used to update /adest/dir/ with /source/dir/
+and the information to repeat this operation is stored in the files
+pfx.rsync_*. These files are then copied to the machine named "remote".
+Rsync is then invoked on "remote" to update /bdest/dir/ the same way as
+/adest/dir/. The last line shows the rsync_argvs file being used to
+invoke rsync.
+
+Caveats:
+
+The read-batch option expects the destination tree it is meant to update
+to be identical to the destination tree that was used to create the
+batch update fileset. When a difference between the destination trees
+is encountered the update will fail at that point, leaving the
+destination tree in a partially updated state. In that case, rsync can
+be used in its regular (non-batch) mode of operation to fix up the
+destination tree.
+
+The rsync version used on all destinations should be identical to the
+one used on the original destination.
+
+The -z/--compress option does not work in batch mode and yields a usage
+error. A separate compression tool can be used instead to reduce the
+size of the batch update files for transport to the destination.
+
+The -n/--dryrun option does not work in batch mode and yields a runtime
+error.
+
See bf(http://www.ils.unc.edu/i2dsi/unc_rsync+.html) for papers and technical
reports.
they point to on the destination. Using bf(--safe-links) will cause
unsafe links to be ommitted altogether.
+Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks
+(start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough bf("..")
+components to ascend from the directory being copied.
+
manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS)
rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
more details.
dit(bf(RSYNC_RSH)) The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to
-override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. This can
-be used instead of the -e option.
+override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. Command line
+options are permitted after the command name, just as in the -e option.
dit(bf(RSYNC_PROXY)) The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to
redirect your rsync client to use a web proxy when connecting to a
Matt McCutchen's Web Site / rsync / rsync.git / blobdiff