mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
-manpage(rsync)(1)(1 Mar 1999)()()
+manpage(rsync)(1)(25 Jan 2002)()()
manpagename(rsync)(faster, flexible replacement for rcp)
manpagesynopsis()
rsync is a program that behaves in much the same way that rcp does,
but has many more options and uses the rsync remote-update protocol to
-greatly speedup file transfers when the destination file already
+greatly speed up file transfers when the destination file already
exists.
The rsync remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the
to. rsync uses rsh for its communications, unless both the source and
destination are local.
-You can also specify an alternative to rsh, by either using the -e
+You can also specify an alternative to rsh, 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
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
+You may establish the connection 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.
+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
that:
-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
+ --backup-dir make backups into this 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
+ -l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks
+ -L, --copy-links copy the referent of symlinks
--copy-unsafe-links copy links outside the source tree
--safe-links ignore links outside the destination tree
-H, --hard-links preserve hard links
-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
--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
+ --ignore-existing ignore files that already exist on the receiving side
--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
--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
+ --modify-window=NUM Timestamp window (seconds) for file match (default=0)
-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
--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
+ --no-detach do not detach from the parent
+ --address=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
+ --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=PREFIX read batch fileset starting with PREFIX
+ --write-batch=PREFIX write batch fileset starting with PREFIX
-h, --help show this help screen
+
+
)
manpageoptions()
after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
exactly.
+dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps rsync treats
+the timestamps as being equal if they are within the value of
+modify_window. This is normally zero, but you may find it useful to
+set this to a larger value in some situations. In particular, when
+transferring to/from FAT filesystems which cannot represent times with
+a 1 second resolution this option is useful.
+
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 -rlptgoD. It is a quick way
-of saying you want recursion and want to preserve everything.
+dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptgoD. It is a quick
+way of saying you want recursion and want to preserve almost
+everything.
+
+Note however that bf(-a) bf(does not preserve hardlinks), because
+finding multiply-linked files is expensive. You must separately
+specify bf(-H).
dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories
recursively. If you don't specify this then rsync won't copy
destination file already exists and has a date later than the source
file.
-dit(bf(-l, --links)) This tells rsync to recreate symbolic links on the
-remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
-option, all symbolic links are skipped.
+dit(bf(-l, --links)) When symlinks are encountered, recreate the
+symlink on the destination.
-dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) This tells rsync to treat symbolic links just
-like ordinary files.
+dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) When symlinks are encountered, the file that
+they point to is copied, rather than the symlink.
-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(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to copy the referent of
+symbolic links that point outside the source tree. 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
This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it.
dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm
-is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. This may be
-useful when using rsync with a local machine.
+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
+target machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the
+"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 update the remote owner
-of the file to be the same as the local owner. This is only available
-to the super-user. 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 usernames.
+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.
-dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to update the remote group
-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(-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 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
dit(bf(--existing)) This tells rsync not to create any new files -
only update files that already exist on the destination.
+dit(bf(--ignore-existing))
+This tells rsync not to 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.
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
-destination.
+destination. You can override this with the --ignore-errors option.
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
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.
+dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files
+even when there are IO errors.
-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(--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 --delete because deletions are now done depth-first.
+Requires the --recursive option (which is implied by -a) to have any effect.
-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
You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
environment variable.
+See also the --blocking-io option which is affected by this option.
+
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
this option.
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. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with ';' or '#'
-are ignored.
+option, but instead it adds all exclude patterns listed in the file
+FILE to 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
specified pattern of filenames. This is useful as it allows you to
then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (space delimited).
-Finally in each directory any files listed in the .cvsignore file in
-that directory are added to the list.
+Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a
+.cvsignore file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. See
+the bf(cvs(1)) manual for more information.
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
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
-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
-files have been successfully transferred (for example by moving directories
-around and removing the old directory, although this requires also doing
-the transfer with -I to avoid skipping files that haven't changed). This
-option increases the usefulness of --partial because partially transferred
-files will remain in the new temporary destination until they have a chance
-to be completed. If DIR is a relative path, it is relative to the
-destination directory.
+dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR on
+the destination machine 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 files have been successfully transferred (for
+example by moving directories around and removing the old directory,
+although this requires also doing the transfer with -I to avoid skipping
+files that haven't changed). This option increases the usefulness of
+--partial because partially transferred files will remain in the new
+temporary destination until they have a chance to be completed. If DIR is
+a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses any data from
-the source file(s) which it sends to the destination machine. This
+the files that it sends to the destination machine. This
option is useful on slow links. The compression method used is the
same method that gzip uses.
0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the --numeric-ids
option is not specified.
-If the source system is a daemon using chroot, or if a user or group name
-does not exist on the destination system, then the numeric id from the
-source system is used instead.
+If the source system is a daemon using chroot, or if a user or group
+name does not exist on the destination system, then the numeric id
+from the source system is used instead.
dit(bf(--timeout=TIMEOUT)) This option allows you to set a maximum IO
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(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a rsync
-daemon. If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it
-is being run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current
-terminal and become a background daemon. The daemon will read the
-config file (/etc/rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and
-respond to requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
-details.
+dit(bf(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The
+daemon may be accessed using the bf(host::module) or
+bf(rsync://host/module/) syntax.
+
+If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being
+run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and
+become a background daemon. The daemon will read the config file
+(/etc/rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and respond to
+requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
+details.
+
+dit(bf(--no-detach)) When running as a daemon, this option instructs
+rsync to not detach itself and become a background process. This
+option is required when running as a service on Cygwin, and may also
+be useful when rsync is supervised by a program such as
+bf(daemontools) or AIX's bf(System Resource Controller).
+bf(--no-detach) is also recommended when rsync is run under a
+debugger. This option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or
+sshd.
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
dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
rather than the default port 873.
+dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This tells rsync to use blocking IO when launching
+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.
+
+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
specified using the same format conventions as the log format option in
result is an average transfer rate equalling the specified limit. A value
of zero specifies no limit.
+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(--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(EXCLUDE PATTERNS)
The exclude and include patterns specified to rsync allow for flexible
selection of which files to transfer and which files to skip.
-rsync builds a ordered list of include/exclude options as specified on
+rsync builds an ordered list of include/exclude options as specified on
the command line. When a filename is encountered, rsync checks the
name against each exclude/include pattern in turn. The first matching
-pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern than that file is
+pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern, then that file is
skipped. If it is an include pattern then that filename is not
skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the
filename is not skipped.
part of an include option. The "- " part is discarded before matching.
it() if the pattern is a single exclamation mark ! then the current
- exclude list is reset, removing all previous exclude patterns.
+ include/exclude list is reset, removing all previously defined patterns.
)
The +/- rules are most useful in exclude lists, allowing you to have a
it would be excluded by the "*")
)
+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.
+
+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:
+
+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 .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.
+
+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.
+
+manpagesection(SYMBOLIC LINKS)
+
+Three basic behaviours are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic
+link in the source directory.
+
+By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message
+"skipping non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist.
+
+If bf(--links) is specified, then symlinks are recreated with the same
+target on the destination. Note that bf(--archive) implies
+bf(--links).
+
+If bf(--copy-links) is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by
+copying their referent, rather than the symlink.
+
+rsync also distinguishes "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An
+example where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes
+ensure the rsync module they copy does not include symbolic links to
+bf(/etc/passwd) in the public section of the site. Using
+bf(--copy-unsafe-links) will cause any links to be copied as the file
+they point to on the destination. Using bf(--safe-links) will cause
+unsafe links to be ommitted altogether.
+
manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS)
rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that contain output statements
for non-interactive logins.
+If you are having trouble debugging include and exclude patterns, then
+try specifying the -vv option. At this level of verbosity rsync will
+show why each individual file is included or excluded.
+
+manpagesection(EXIT VALUES)
+
+startdit()
+dit(bf(RERR_SYNTAX 1)) Syntax or usage error
+dit(bf(RERR_PROTOCOL 2)) Protocol incompatibility
+dit(bf(RERR_FILESELECT 3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
+
+dit(bf(RERR_UNSUPPORTED 4)) Requested action not supported: an attempt
+was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support
+them; or an option was speciifed that is supported by the client and
+not by the server.
+
+dit(bf(RERR_SOCKETIO 10)) Error in socket IO
+dit(bf(RERR_FILEIO 11)) Error in file IO
+dit(bf(RERR_STREAMIO 12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream
+dit(bf(RERR_MESSAGEIO 13)) Errors with program diagnostics
+dit(bf(RERR_IPC 14)) Error in IPC code
+dit(bf(RERR_SIGNAL 20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
+dit(bf(RERR_WAITCHILD 21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
+dit(bf(RERR_MALLOC 22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
+dit(bf(RERR_TIMEOUT 30)) Timeout in data send/receive
+enddit()
+
manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES)
startdit()
COPYING for details.
A WEB site is available at
-url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
+url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/). The site
+includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this
+manual page.
The primary ftp site for rsync is
url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
manpagesection(THANKS)
Thanks to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell
-and David Bell for helpful suggestions and testing of rsync. I've
-probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
+and David Bell for helpful suggestions, patches and testing of rsync.
+I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
+
+Especial thanks also to: David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer.
manpageauthor()
-rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras. They may be
-contacted via email at tridge@samba.org and
-Paul.Mackerras@cs.anu.edu.au
+rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell <tridge@samba.org> and Paul
+Mackerras.
+
+rsync is now maintained by Martin Pool <mbp@samba.org>.
+
+Mailing lists for support and development are available at
+url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)
+If you suspect you have found a security vulnerability in rsync,
+please send it directly to Martin Pool and Andrew Tridgell. For other
+enquiries, please use the mailing list.
Matt McCutchen's Web Site / rsync / rsync.git / blobdiff