mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
-manpage(rsync)(1)(9 Feb 1999)()()
+manpage(rsync)(1)(1 Mar 1999)()()
manpagename(rsync)(faster, flexible replacement for rcp)
manpagesynopsis()
-rsync [options] [user@]host:path path
+rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST:DEST
-rsync [options] path [user@]host:path
+rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC DEST
-rsync [options] path path
+rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... DEST
-rsync [options] [user@]host::module[/path] path
+rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST]
-rsync [options] path [user@]host::module[/path]
+rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST::DEST
-rsync [options] rsync://[user@]host[:port]/module/path path
+rsync [OPTION]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC [DEST]
manpagedescription()
transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server
running on TCP port 873.
+You may establish the connetcion via a web proxy by setting the
+environment variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to
+your web proxy. Note that your web proxy must allow proxying to port
+873, this must be configured in your proxy servers ruleset.
+
Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with rsh or ssh except
that:
to the detailed description below for a complete description.
verb(
-Usage: rsync [OPTION]... SRC [USER@]HOST:DEST
- or rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC DEST
- or rsync [OPTION]... SRC DEST
- or rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST]
- or rsync [OPTION]... SRC [USER@]HOST::DEST
- or rsync [OPTION]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC [DEST]
-
-Options
-v, --verbose increase verbosity
-q, --quiet decrease verbosity
-c, --checksum always checksum
-a, --archive archive mode
-r, --recursive recurse into directories
-R, --relative use relative path names
- -b, --backup make backups (default ~ extension)
+ -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
-L, --copy-links treat soft links like regular files
+ --copy-unsafe-links copy links outside the source tree
--safe-links ignore links outside the destination tree
-H, --hard-links preserve hard links
-p, --perms preserve permissions
-n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
-W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks
-x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
- -B, --block-size=SIZE checksum blocking size
+ -B, --block-size=SIZE checksum blocking size (default 700)
-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
--timeout=TIME set IO timeout in seconds
-I, --ignore-times don't exclude files that match length and time
+ --size-only only use file size when determining if a file should be transferred
-T --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
--compare-dest=DIR also compare destination files relative to DIR
+ -P equivalent to --partial --progress
-z, --compress compress file data
--exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
- --exclude-from=FILE exclude files listed in FILE
+ --exclude-from=FILE exclude patterns listed in FILE
--include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN
- --include-from=FILE don't exclude files listed in FILE
- --suffix=SUFFIX override backup suffix
+ --include-from=FILE don't exclude patterns listed in FILE
--version print version number
--daemon run as a rsync daemon
+ --address bind to the specified address
--config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
--port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number
+ --blocking-io use blocking IO for the remote shell
--stats give some file transfer stats
--progress show progress during transfer
- --password-file=FILE get password from FILE
--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
-h, --help show this help screen
)
rsync uses the GNU long options package. Many of the command line
options have two variants, one short and one long. These are shown
below, separated by commas. Some options only have a long variant.
+The '=' for options that take a parameter is optional; whitespace
+can be used instead.
startdit()
dit(bf(-h, --help)) Print a short help page describing the options
already the same length and have the same time-stamp. This option turns
off this behavior.
+dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
+already the same length and have the same time-stamp. With the
+--size-only option files will be skipped if they have the same size,
+regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync
+after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
+exactly.
+
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 skipped. This option can be quite slow.
-dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptDg. 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 option (preserve
-uid) is also implied.
-
-dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories recursively.
+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.
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
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 ~.
+
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.
option, all symbolic links are skipped.
dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) This tells rsync to treat symbolic links just
-like ordinary files.
+like ordinary files.
+
+dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to treat symbolic links that
+point outside the source tree like ordinary files. Absolute symlinks are
+also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the source
+path itself when --relative is used.
dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links
which point outside the destination tree. All absolute symlinks are
is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. This may be
useful when using rsync with a local machine.
-dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
-transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
-it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the
---partial option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should
-make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster.
-
dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to update the remote
permissions to be the same as the local permissions.
access to the usernames.
dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to update the remote group
-of the file to be the same as the local group. Note that if the source
-system is a daemon using chroot, the --numeric-ids option is implied because
-the source system cannot get access to the group names.
+of the file to be the same as the local group. If the receving system is
+not running as the super-user, only groups that the receiver is a member of
+will be preserved (by group name, not group id number).
dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
block device information to the remote system to recreate these
boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the
contents of only one filesystem.
-dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving
-side that aren't on the sending side. This option can be dangerous if
-used incorrectly!
+dit(bf(--existing)) This tells rsync not to create any new files -
+only update files that already exist on the destination.
-It is a very good idea to run first using the dry run option (-n) to
-see what files would be deleted to make sure important files aren't
-listed.
+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.
-rsync 1.6.4 changed the behavior of --delete to make it less
-dangerous. rsync now only scans directories on the receiving side
-that are explicitly transferred from the sending side. Only files in
-these directories are deleted.
+This option has no effect if directory recursion is not selected.
-Still, it is probably easy to get burnt with this option. The moral
-of the story is to use the -n option until you get used to the
-behavior of --delete.
+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
+deleted to make sure important files aren't listed.
If the sending side detects any IO errors then the deletion of any
files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to
sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the
destination.
+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).
+
+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.
+
dit(bf(--force)) This options tells rsync to delete directories even if
they are not empty. This applies to both the --delete option and to
cases where rsync tries to copy a normal file but the destination
-contains a directory of the same name. Normally rsync will refuse to
-do a recursive directory deletion in such cases, by using --force
-the recursive deletion will be done.
+contains a directory of the same name.
-Use this option with caution!
+Since this option was added, deletions were reordered to be done depth-first
+so it is hardly ever needed anymore except in very obscure cases.
-dit(bf(-B , --block_size BLOCKSIZE)) This controls the block size used in
+dit(bf(-B , --block_size=BLOCKSIZE)) This controls the block size used in
the rsync algorithm. See the technical report for details.
-dit(bf(-e, --rsh COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative
+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.
You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
environment variable.
-dit(bf(--rsync-path PATH)) Use this to specify the path to the copy of
-rsync on the remote machine. Useful when it's not in your path.
+dit(bf(--rsync-path=PATH)) Use this to specify the path to the copy of
+rsync on the remote machine. Useful when it's not in your path. Note
+that this is the full path to the binary, not just the directory that
+the binary is in.
-dit(bf(--exclude pattern)) This option allows you to selectively exclude
+dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option allows you to selectively exclude
certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is most
useful in combination with a recursive transfer.
See the section on exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
this option.
-dit(bf(--exclude-from FILE)) This option is similar to the --exclude
+dit(bf(--exclude-from=FILE)) This option is similar to the --exclude
option, but instead it adds all filenames listed in the file FILE to
-the exclude list.
+the exclude list. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with ';' or '#'
+are ignored.
-dit(bf(--include pattern)) This option tells rsync to not exclude the
+dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option tells rsync to not exclude the
specified pattern of filenames. This is useful as it allows you to
build up quite complex exclude/include rules.
See the section of exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
this option.
-dit(bf(--include-from FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns
+dit(bf(--include-from=FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns
from a file.
dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a
Finally in each directory any files listed in the .cvsignore file in
that directory are added to the list.
-dit(bf(--suffix SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
-backup suffix used with the -b option. The default is a ~.
-
-dit(bf(--csum-length LENGTH)) By default the primary checksum used in
+dit(bf(--csum-length=LENGTH)) By default the primary checksum used in
rsync is a very strong 16 byte MD4 checksum. In most cases you will
find that a truncated version of this checksum is quite efficient, and
this will decrease the size of the checksum data sent over the link,
if a 2nd pass is required with a longer block checksum. Only use this
option if you have read the source code and know what you are doing.
-dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a
+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.
-dit(bf(--compare-dest DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as an
+dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as an
additional directory to compare destination files against when doing
transfers. This is useful for doing transfers to a new destination while
leaving existing files intact, and then doing a flash-cutover when all
respond to requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
details.
-dit(bf(--config FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
+dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address
+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
specified.
-dit(bf(--port PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
+dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
rather than the default port 873.
+dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This specifies whether rsync will use blocking
+IO when launching a remote shell transport. You may find this is
+needed for some remote shells that can't handle the default
+non-blocking IO.
+
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
specified using the same format conventions as the log format option in
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. This option only works in conjunction with
-the -v (verbose) option.
+algorithm is for your data.
+
+dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
+transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
+it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the
+--partial option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should
+make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster.
dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information
showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user
something to watch.
+This option is normally combined with -v. Using this option without
+the -v option will produce weird results on your display.
+
+dit(bf(-P)) The -P option is equivalent to --partial --progress. I
+found myself typing that combination quite often so I created an
+option to make it easier.
+
dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password
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.
+
+dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
+transfer rate in kilobytes per second. This option is most effective when
+using rsync with large files (several megabytes and up). Due to the nature
+of rsync transfers, blocks of data are sent, then if rsync determines the
+transfer was too fast, it will wait before sending the next data block. The
+result is an average transfer rate equalling the specified limit. A value
+of zero specifies no limit.
enddit()
skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the
filename is not skipped.
+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.
+
The patterns can take several forms. The rules are:
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.
it() if the pattern contains a wildcard character from the set
- *?[ then regular expression matching is applied using the
- normal shell filename matching rules. Otherwise a simple string
- match is used.
+ *?[ 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.
+ 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
it() --exclude "/foo" would exclude a file in the base directory called foo
it() --exclude "foo/" would exclude any directory called foo
+ it() --exclude "/foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
+ levels below a base directory called foo
+ it() --exclude "/foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
+ or more levels below a base directory called foo
it() --include "*/" --include "*.c" --exclude "*" would include all
directories and C source files
it() --include "foo/" --include "foo/bar.c" --exclude "*" would include
override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. This can
be used instead of 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
+rsync daemon. You should set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair.
+
dit(bf(RSYNC_PASSWORD)) Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required
password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to a rsync
daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a
Matt McCutchen's Web Site / rsync / rsync.git / blobdiff