itemize(
it() for copying local files. This is invoked when neither
source nor destination path contains a : separator
-
it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine using
a remote shell program as the transport (such as ssh or
rsh). This is invoked when the destination path contains a
single : separator.
-
it() for copying from a remote machine to the local machine
using a remote shell program. This is invoked when the source
contains a : separator.
-
it() for copying from a remote rsync server to the local
machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
separator or an rsync:// URL.
-
it() for copying from the local machine to a remote rsync
server. This is invoked when the destination path contains a ::
separator or an rsync:// URL.
-
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
+ separator and the bf(--rsh=COMMAND) (aka "bf(-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=COMMAND option is also provided.
-
+ bf(--rsh=COMMAND) 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.
+ local destination.
)
Note that in all cases (other than listing) at least one of the source
for its communications, but it may have been configured to use a
different remote shell by default, such as rsh or remsh.
-You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the -e
+You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the bf(-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
security.
Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination
-machines.
+machines.
manpagesection(USAGE)
Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is with some examples:
-quote(rsync -t *.c foo:src/)
+quote(tt(rsync -t *.c foo:src/))
This would transfer all files matching the pattern *.c from the
current directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of
remote-update protocol is used to update the file by sending only the
differences. See the tech report for details.
-quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp)
+quote(tt(rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp))
This would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the
machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The
in the transfer. Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the
size of data portions of the transfer.
-quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp)
+quote(tt(rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp))
A trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to avoid creating an
additional directory level at the destination. You can think of a trailing
files in the same way, including their setting of the attributes of
/dest/foo:
-quote(rsync -av /src/foo /dest)
-quote(rsync -av /src/foo/ /dest/foo)
+quote(
+tt(rsync -av /src/foo /dest)nl()
+tt(rsync -av /src/foo/ /dest/foo)nl()
+)
You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like
an improved copy command.
-quote(rsync somehost.mydomain.com::)
+quote(tt(rsync somehost.mydomain.com::))
This would list all the anonymous rsync modules available on the host
somehost.mydomain.com. (See the following section for more details.)
-
manpagesection(ADVANCED USAGE)
The syntax for requesting multiple files from a remote host involves using
quoted spaces in the SRC. Some examples:
-quote(rsync host::'modname/dir1/file1 modname/dir2/file2' /dest)
+quote(tt(rsync host::'modname/dir1/file1 modname/dir2/file2' /dest))
This would copy file1 and file2 into /dest from an rsync daemon. Each
additional arg must include the same "modname/" prefix as the first one,
and must be preceded by a single space. All other spaces are assumed
to be a part of the filenames.
-quote(rsync -av host:'dir1/file1 dir2/file2' /dest)
+quote(tt(rsync -av host:'dir1/file1 dir2/file2' /dest))
This would copy file1 and file2 into /dest using a remote shell. This
word-splitting is done by the remote shell, so if it doesn't work it means
whitespace in a way that the remote shell will understand, or use wildcards
in place of the spaces. Two examples of this are:
-quote(rsync -av host:'file\ name\ with\ spaces' /dest)
-quote(rsync -av host:file?name?with?spaces /dest)
+quote(
+tt(rsync -av host:'file\ name\ with\ spaces' /dest)nl()
+tt(rsync -av host:file?name?with?spaces /dest)nl()
+)
This latter example assumes that your shell passes through unmatched
wildcards. If it complains about "no match", put the name in quotes.
-
manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER)
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.
+running on TCP port 873.
You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the
environment variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to
itemize(
it() you use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to
separate the hostname from the path or an rsync:// URL.
-
it() the remote server may print a message of the day when you
connect.
-
it() if you specify no path name on the remote server then the
list of accessible paths on the server will be shown.
-
it() if you specify no local destination then a listing of the
specified files on the remote server is provided.
)
Some paths on the remote server may require authentication. If so then
you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the
password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to
-the password you want to use or using the --password-file option. This
+the password you want to use or using the bf(--password-file) option. This
may be useful when scripting rsync.
WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all
-users. On those systems using --password-file is recommended.
+users. On those systems using bf(--password-file) is recommended.
manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
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).
+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
+bf(--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)
+verb( 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 configuration file. Please see the
+An rsync server is configured using a configuration file. Please see the
rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more information. By default the configuration
file is called /etc/rsyncd.conf, unless rsync is running over a remote
shell program and is not running as root; in that case, the default name
-is rsyncd.conf in the current directory on the remote computer
+is rsyncd.conf in the current directory on the remote computer
(typically $HOME).
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.
+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
To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS Word
files and mail folders, I use a cron job that runs
-quote(rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup)
+quote(tt(rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup))
each night over a PPP connection to a duplicate directory on my machine
"arvidsjaur".
To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile
targets:
-quote( get:nl()
- rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ .
-
- put:nl()
- rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/
-
- sync: get put)
+verb( get:
+ rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ .
+ put:
+ rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/
+ sync: get put)
this allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the
connection. I then do CVS operations on the remote machine, which saves a
lot of time as the remote CVS protocol isn't very efficient.
I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the
-command
+command:
-quote(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba/ nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge/samba")
+tt(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge")
-this is launched from cron every few hours.
+This is launched from cron every few hours.
manpagesection(OPTIONS SUMMARY)
Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer
-to the detailed description below for a complete description.
-
-verb(
+to the detailed description below for a complete description. verb(
-v, --verbose increase verbosity
-q, --quiet suppress non-error messages
-c, --checksum always checksum
--password-file=FILE read password from FILE
--list-only list the files instead of copying them
--bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second
- --write-batch=FILE write a batched update to FILE
+ --write-batch=FILE write a batched update to FILE
--read-batch=FILE read a batched update from FILE
--checksum-seed=NUM set block/file checksum seed (advanced)
-4 --ipv4 prefer IPv4
-6 --ipv6 prefer IPv6
- -h, --help show this help screen
-)
-
-Rsync can also be run as a daemon, in which case the following options are accepted:
+ -h, --help show this help screen)
-verb(
+Rsync can also be run as a daemon, in which case the following options are
+accepted: verb(
--daemon run as an rsync daemon
--address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address
--bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second
-v, --verbose increase verbosity
-4 --ipv4 prefer IPv4
-6 --ipv6 prefer IPv6
- -h, --help show this help screen
-)
+ -h, --help show this help screen)
manpageoptions()
dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you
are given during the transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A
-single -v will give you information about what files are being
-transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two -v flags will give you
+single bf(-v) will give you information about what files are being
+transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two bf(-v) flags will give you
information on what files are being skipped and slightly more
-information at the end. More than two -v flags should only be used if
+information at the end. More than two bf(-v) flags should only be used if
you are debugging rsync.
dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) This option decreases the amount of information you
dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will not transfer any files that are
already the same size and have the same modification time-stamp. With the
---size-only option, files will not be transferred if they have the same size,
+bf(--size-only) option, files will not be transferred 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.
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 Windows FAT filesystems which cannot represent times
-with a 1 second resolution --modify-window=1 is useful.
+with a 1 second resolution bf(--modify-window=1) 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
which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
receiver are not transferred. This option can be quite slow.
-dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptgoD. It is a quick
+dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to bf(-rlptgoD). It is a quick
way of saying you want recursion and want to preserve almost
-everything.
+everything. The only exception to this is if bf(--files-from) was
+specified, in which case bf(-d) is implied instead of bf(-r).
-Note however that bf(-a) bf(does not preserve hardlinks), because
+Note 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. See also --dirs (-d).
+recursively. See also bf(--dirs) (bf(-d)).
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
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/)
+quote(tt( 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/)
+quote(tt( 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. To limit the amount of
path information that is sent, do something like this:
-verb(cd /foo
-rsync -R bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
+quote(
+tt( cd /foo)nl()
+tt( rsync -R bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)nl()
+)
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
+dit(bf(--no-relative)) Turn off the bf(--relative) option. This is only
+needed if you want to use bf(--files-from) without its implied bf(--relative)
file processing.
-dit(bf(--no-implied-dirs)) When combined with the --relative option, the
+dit(bf(--no-implied-dirs)) When combined with the bf(--relative) option, the
implied directories in each path are not explicitly duplicated as part
of the transfer. This makes the transfer more optimal and also allows
the two sides to have non-matching symlinks in the implied part of the
-path. For instance, if you transfer the file "/path/foo/file" with -R,
+path. For instance, if you transfer the file "/path/foo/file" with bf(-R),
the default is for rsync to ensure that "/path" and "/path/foo" on the
destination exactly match the directories/symlinks of the source. Using
-the --no-implied-dirs option would omit both of these implied dirs,
+the bf(--no-implied-dirs) option would omit both of these implied dirs,
which means that if "/path" was a real directory on one machine and a
symlink of the other machine, rsync would not try to change this.
dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option, preexisting destination files are
renamed as each file is transferred or deleted. You can control where the
backup file goes and what (if any) suffix gets appended using the
---backup-dir and --suffix options.
+bf(--backup-dir) and bf(--suffix) options.
-dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the --backup option, this
+dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the bf(--backup) option, this
tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
very useful for incremental backups. You can additionally
-specify a backup suffix using the --suffix option
+specify a backup suffix using the bf(--suffix) option
(otherwise the files backed up in the specified directory
will keep their original filenames).
If DIR is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory
(which changes in a recursive transfer).
dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
-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.
+backup suffix used with the bf(--backup) (bf(-b)) option. The default suffix is a ~
+if no -bf(-backup-dir) was specified, otherwise it is an empty string.
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 current implementation of --update, a difference of file format
+In the current implementation of bf(--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
file, meaning that the rsync algorithm can't accomplish the full amount of
network reduction it might be able to otherwise (since it does not yet try
to sort data matches). One exception to this is if you combine the option
-with --backup, since rsync is smart enough to use the backup file as the
+with bf(--backup), since rsync is smart enough to use the backup file as the
basis file for the transfer.
This option is useful for transfer of large files with block-based changes
or appended data, and also on systems that are disk bound, not network
bound.
-The option implies --partial (since an interrupted transfer does not delete
-the file), but conflicts with --partial-dir and --delay-updates.
-Prior to rsync 2.6.4 --inplace was also incompatible with --compare-dest,
---copy-dest, and --link-dest.
+The option implies bf(--partial) (since an interrupted transfer does not delete
+the file), but conflicts with bf(--partial-dir) and bf(--delay-updates).
+Prior to rsync 2.6.4 bf(--inplace) was also incompatible with bf(--compare-dest),
+bf(--copy-dest), and bf(--link-dest).
WARNING: The file's data will be in an inconsistent state during the
transfer (and possibly afterward if the transfer gets interrupted), so you
receiving user.
dit(bf(-d, --dirs)) Tell the sending side to include any directories that
-are encountered. Unlike --recursive, a directory's contents are not copied
+are encountered. Unlike bf(--recursive), a directory's contents are not copied
unless the directory was specified on the command-line as either "." or a
name with a trailing slash (e.g. "foo/"). Without this option or the
---recursive option, rsync will skip all directories it encounters (and
+bf(--recursive) option, rsync will skip all directories it encounters (and
output a message to that effect for each one).
dit(bf(-l, --links)) When symlinks are encountered, recreate the
they point to (the referent) is copied, rather than the symlink. In older
versions of rsync, this option also had the side-effect of telling the
receiving side to follow symlinks, such as symlinks to directories. In a
-modern rsync such as this one, you'll need to specify --keep-dirlinks (-K)
+modern rsync such as this one, you'll need to specify bf(--keep-dirlinks) (bf(-K))
to get this extra behavior. The only exception is when sending files to
-an rsync that is too old to understand -K -- in that case, the -L option
-will still have the side-effect of -K on that older receiving rsync.
+an rsync that is too old to understand bf(-K) -- in that case, the bf(-L) option
+will still have the side-effect of bf(-K) on that older receiving rsync.
dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to copy the referent of
symbolic links that point outside the copied tree. Absolute symlinks
are also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the
-source path itself when --relative is used.
+source path itself when bf(--relative) is used.
dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links
which point outside the copied tree. All absolute symlinks are
-also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with --relative may
-give unexpected results.
+also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with bf(--relative) may
+give unexpected results.
dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on
the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
"disk" is actually a networked filesystem). This is the default when both
the source and destination are specified as local paths.
-dit(bf(--no-whole-file)) Turn off --whole-file, for use when it is the
+dit(bf(--no-whole-file)) Turn off bf(--whole-file), for use when it is the
default.
dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to set the destination
destination file to be the same as the source file. On most systems,
only the super-user can set file ownership. By default, the preservation
is done by name, but may fall back to using the ID number in some
-circumstances. See the --numeric-ids option for a full discussion.
+circumstances. See the bf(--numeric-ids) option for a full discussion.
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 default, the preservation
is done by name, but may fall back to using the ID number in some
-circumstances. See the --numeric-ids option for a full discussion.
+circumstances. See the bf(--numeric-ids) option for a full discussion.
dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
block device information to the remote system to recreate these
dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along
with the files and update them on the remote system. Note that if this
option is not used, the optimization that excludes files that have not been
-modified cannot be effective; in other words, a missing -t or -a will
-cause the next transfer to behave as if it used -I, causing all files to be
+modified cannot be effective; in other words, a missing bf(-t) or bf(-a) will
+cause the next transfer to behave as if it used bf(-I), causing all files to be
updated (though the rsync algorithm will make the update fairly efficient
-if the files haven't actually changed, you're much better off using -t).
+if the files haven't actually changed, you're much better off using bf(-t)).
dit(bf(-O, --omit-dir-times)) This tells rsync to omit directories when
-it is preserving modification times (see --times). If NFS is sharing
-the directories on the receiving side, it is a good idea to use -O.
+it is preserving modification times (see bf(--times)). If NFS is sharing
+the directories on the receiving side, it is a good idea to use bf(-O).
dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers,
instead it will just report the actions it would have taken.
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 -
+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.
+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
dit(bf(--max-size=SIZE)) This tells rsync to avoid transferring any
file that is larger than the specified SIZE. The SIZE value can be
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").
+may be a fractional value (e.g. "bf(--max-size=1.5m)").
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
for the directory's contents (e.g. "dir/*") since the wildcard is expanded
by the shell and rsync thus gets a request to transfer individual files, not
the files' parent directory. Files that are excluded from transfer are
-excluded from being deleted unless you use --delete-excluded.
+excluded from being deleted unless you use bf(--delete-excluded).
This option has no effect unless directory recursion is enabled.
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 bf(--dry-run) option (bf(-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
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. You can override this with the --ignore-errors option.
+destination. You can override this with the bf(--ignore-errors) option.
-The --delete option may be combined with one of the --delete-WHEN options
-without conflict, as well as --delete-excluded. However, if none of the
+The bf(--delete) option may be combined with one of the --delete-WHEN options
+without conflict, as well as bf(--delete-excluded). However, if none of the
--delete-WHEN options are specified, rsync will currently choose the
---delete-before algorithm. A future version may change this to choose the
---delete-during algorithm. See also --delete-after.
+bf(--delete-before) algorithm. A future version may change this to choose the
+bf(--delete-during) algorithm. See also bf(--delete-after).
dit(bf(--delete-before)) Request that the file-deletions on the receiving
-side be done before the transfer starts. This is the default if --delete
-or --delete-excluded is specified without one of the --delete-WHEN options.
-See --delete (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
+side be done before the transfer starts. This is the default if bf(--delete)
+or bf(--delete-excluded) is specified without one of the --delete-WHEN options.
+See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
Deleting before the transfer is helpful if the filesystem is tight for space
and removing extraneous files would help to make the transfer possible.
However, it does introduce a delay before the start of the transfer,
-and this delay might cause the transfer to timeout (if --timeout was
+and this delay might cause the transfer to timeout (if bf(--timeout) was
specified).
dit(bf(--delete-during, --del)) Request that the file-deletions on the
receiving side be done incrementally as the transfer happens. This is
a faster method than choosing the before- or after-transfer algorithm,
but it is only supported beginning with rsync version 2.6.4.
-See --delete (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
+See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
dit(bf(--delete-after)) Request that the file-deletions on the receiving
side be done after the transfer has completed. This is useful if you
are sending new per-directory merge files as a part of the transfer and
you want their exclusions to take effect for the delete phase of the
current transfer.
-See --delete (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
+See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
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).
-See --delete (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
+delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see bf(--exclude)).
+See bf(--delete) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
-dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files
+dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells bf(--delete) to go ahead and delete files
even when there are I/O errors.
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.
+is only relevant without bf(--delete) because deletions are now done depth-first.
+Requires the bf(--recursive) option (which is implied by bf(-a)) to have any effect.
dit(bf(-B, --block-size=BLOCKSIZE)) This forces the block size used in
the rsync algorithm to a fixed value. It is normally selected based on
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")
+quote(tt( -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, which accepts the same range of values as -e.
+environment variable, which accepts the same range of values as bf(-e).
-See also the --blocking-io option which is affected by this option.
+See also the bf(--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
The exclude list is initialized to:
-quote(RCS SCCS CVS CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state
+quote(quote(tt(RCS SCCS CVS CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state
.nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* _$* *$ *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej
-.del-* *.a *.olb *.o *.obj *.so *.exe *.Z *.elc *.ln core .svn/)
+.del-* *.a *.olb *.o *.obj *.so *.exe *.Z *.elc *.ln core .svn/)))
then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (all cvsignore names
exclude certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is
most useful in combination with a recursive transfer.
-You may use as many --filter options on the command line as you like
+You may use as many bf(--filter) options on the command line as you like
to build up the list of files to exclude.
See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
-dit(bf(-F)) The -F option is a shorthand for adding two --filter rules to
+dit(bf(-F)) The bf(-F) option is a shorthand for adding two bf(--filter) rules to
your command. The first time it is used is a shorthand for this rule:
-verb(
- --filter=': /.rsync-filter'
-)
+quote(tt( --filter=': /.rsync-filter'))
This tells rsync to look for per-directory .rsync-filter files that have
been sprinkled through the hierarchy and use their rules to filter the
-files in the transfer. If -F is repeated, it is a shorthand for this
+files in the transfer. If bf(-F) is repeated, it is a shorthand for this
rule:
-verb(
- --filter='- .rsync-filter'
-)
+quote(tt( --filter='- .rsync-filter'))
This filters out the .rsync-filter files themselves from the transfer.
work.
dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option is a simplified form of the
---filter option that defaults to an exclude rule and does not allow
+bf(--filter) option that defaults to an exclude rule and does not allow
the full rule-parsing syntax of normal filter rules.
See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on 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 bf(--exclude)
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.
If em(FILE) is bf(-) the list will be read from standard input.
dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option is a simplified form of the
---filter option that defaults to an include rule and does not allow
+bf(--filter) option that defaults to an include rule and does not allow
the full rule-parsing syntax of normal filter rules.
See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
dit(bf(--files-from=FILE)) Using this option allows you to specify the
exact list of files to transfer (as read from the specified FILE or "-"
for standard input). It also tweaks the default behavior of rsync to make
-transferring just the specified files and directories easier. For
-instance, the --relative option is enabled by default when this option
-is used (use --no-relative if you want to turn that off), all
-directories specified in the list are created on the destination (rather
-than being noisily skipped without -r), and the -a (--archive) option's
-behavior does not imply -r (--recursive) -- specify it explicitly, if
-you want it.
+transferring just the specified files and directories easier:
+
+quote(itemize(
+ it() The bf(--relative) (bf(-R)) option is implied, which preserves the path
+ information that is specified for each item in the file (use
+ bf(--no-relative) if you want to turn that off).
+ it() The bf(--dirs) (bf(-d)) option is implied, which will create directories
+ specified in the list on the destination rather than noisily skipping
+ them.
+ it() The bf(--archive) (bf(-a)) option's behavior does not imply bf(--recursive)
+ (bf(-r)), so specify it explicitly, if you want it.
+))
The file names that are read from the FILE are all relative to the
source dir -- any leading slashes are removed and no ".." references are
allowed to go higher than the source dir. For example, take this
command:
-quote(rsync -a --files-from=/tmp/foo /usr remote:/backup)
+quote(tt( rsync -a --files-from=/tmp/foo /usr remote:/backup))
If /tmp/foo contains the string "bin" (or even "/bin"), the /usr/bin
directory will be created as /backup/bin on the remote host (but the
-contents of the /usr/bin dir would not be sent unless you specified -r
+contents of the /usr/bin dir would not be sent unless you specified bf(-r)
or the names were explicitly listed in /tmp/foo). Also keep in mind
-that the effect of the (enabled by default) --relative option is to
+that the effect of the (enabled by default) bf(--relative) option is to
duplicate only the path info that is read from the file -- it does not
force the duplication of the source-spec path (/usr in this case).
-In addition, the --files-from file can be read from the remote host
+In addition, the bf(--files-from) file can be read from the remote host
instead of the local host if you specify a "host:" in front of the file
(the host must match one end of the transfer). As a short-cut, you can
specify just a prefix of ":" to mean "use the remote end of the
transfer". For example:
-quote(rsync -a --files-from=:/path/file-list src:/ /tmp/copy)
+quote(tt( rsync -a --files-from=:/path/file-list src:/ /tmp/copy))
This would copy all the files specified in the /path/file-list file that
was located on the remote "src" host.
dit(bf(-0, --from0)) This tells rsync that the filenames it reads from a
file are terminated by a null ('\0') character, not a NL, CR, or CR+LF.
-This affects --exclude-from, --include-from, --files-from, and any
-merged files specified in a --filter rule.
-It does not affect --cvs-exclude (since all names read from a .cvsignore
+This affects bf(--exclude-from), bf(--include-from), bf(--files-from), and any
+merged files specified in a bf(--filter) rule.
+It does not affect bf(--cvs-exclude) (since all names read from a .cvsignore
file are split on whitespace).
dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a
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
+Beginning in version 2.6.4, multiple bf(--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.
+See also bf(--copy-dest) and bf(--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
successfully transferred.
If em(DIR) is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
-See also --compare-dest and --link-dest.
+See also bf(--compare-dest) and bf(--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.
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/
-)
+quote(tt( rsync -av --link-dest=$PWD/prior_dir host:src_dir/ new_dir/))
-Beginning with version 2.6.4, if more than one --link-dest option is
+Beginning with version 2.6.4, if more than one bf(--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.
+See also bf(--compare-dest) and bf(--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
-(or implied by -a). You can work-around this bug by avoiding the -o option
+bf(--link-dest) from working properly for a non-root user when bf(-o) was specified
+(or implied by bf(-a)). You can work-around this bug by avoiding the bf(-o) option
when sending to an old rsync.
dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses any data from
By default rsync will use the username and groupname to determine
what ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group
-0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the --numeric-ids
+0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the bf(--numeric-ids)
option is not specified.
If a user or group has no name on the source system or it has no match
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.
+option in the bf(--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,
blocking I/O, otherwise it defaults to using non-blocking I/O. (Note that
ssh prefers non-blocking I/O.)
-dit(bf(--no-blocking-io)) Turn off --blocking-io, for use when it is the
+dit(bf(--no-blocking-io)) Turn off bf(--blocking-io), for use when it is the
default.
dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
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
+bf(--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(--partial-dir=DIR)) Turns on --partial mode, but tells rsync to
+dit(bf(--partial-dir=DIR)) Turns on bf(--partial) mode, but tells rsync to
put a partially transferred file into em(DIR) instead of writing out the
file to the destination dir. Rsync will also use a file found in this
dir as data to speed up the transfer (i.e. when you redo the send after
rsync creates a partial file) and delete such a file after it has served
-its purpose. Note that if --whole-file is specified (or implied) that an
+its purpose. Note that if bf(--whole-file) is specified (or implied) that an
existing partial-dir file will not be used to speedup the transfer (since
rsync is sending files without using the incremental rsync algorithm).
Rsync will create the dir if it is missing (just the last dir -- not the
whole path). This makes it easy to use a relative path (such as
-"--partial-dir=.rsync-partial") to have rsync create the partial-directory
+"bf(--partial-dir=.rsync-partial)") to have rsync create the partial-directory
in the destination file's directory (rsync will also try to remove the em(DIR)
if a partial file was found to exist at the start of the transfer and the
DIR was specified as a relative path).
If the partial-dir value is not an absolute path, rsync will also add an
---exclude of this value at the end of all your existing excludes. This
+bf(--exclude) of this value at the end of all your existing excludes. This
will prevent partial-dir files from being transferred and also prevent the
untimely deletion of partial-dir items on the receiving side. An example:
-the above --partial-dir option would add an "--exclude=.rsync-partial/"
+the above bf(--partial-dir) option would add an "bf(--exclude=.rsync-partial/)"
rule at the end of any other filter rules. Note that if you are
supplying your own filter rules, you may need to manually insert a
rule for this directory exclusion somewhere higher up in the list so that
it has a high enough priority to be effective (e.g., if your rules specify
-a trailing --exclude=* rule, the auto-added rule will be ineffective).
+a trailing bf(--exclude='*') rule, the auto-added rule will be ineffective).
-IMPORTANT: the --partial-dir should not be writable by other users or it
+IMPORTANT: the bf(--partial-dir) should not be writable by other users or it
is a security risk. E.g. AVOID "/tmp".
You can also set the partial-dir value the RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR environment
-variable. Setting this in the environment does not force --partial to be
-enabled, but rather it effects where partial files go when --partial is
-specified. For instance, instead of using --partial-dir=.rsync-tmp
-along with --progress, you could set RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR=.rsync-tmp in your
-environment and then just use the -P option to turn on the use of the
-.rsync-tmp dir for partial transfers. The only time that the --partial
-option does not look for this environment value is (1) when --inplace was
-specified (since --inplace conflicts with --partial-dir), or (2) when
---delay-updates was specified (see below).
+variable. Setting this in the environment does not force bf(--partial) to be
+enabled, but rather it effects where partial files go when bf(--partial) is
+specified. For instance, instead of using bf(--partial-dir=.rsync-tmp)
+along with bf(--progress), you could set RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR=.rsync-tmp in your
+environment and then just use the bf(-P) option to turn on the use of the
+.rsync-tmp dir for partial transfers. The only time that the bf(--partial)
+option does not look for this environment value is (1) when bf(--inplace) was
+specified (since bf(--inplace) conflicts with bf(--partial-dir)), or (2) when
+bf(--delay-updates) was specified (see below).
dit(bf(--delay-updates)) This option puts the temporary file from each
updated file into the file's partial-dir (see above) until the end of the
transfer, at which time all the files are renamed into place in rapid
succession. This attempts to make the updating of the files a little more
-atomic. If you don't specify the --partial-dir option, this option will
+atomic. If you don't specify the bf(--partial-dir) option, this option will
cause it to default to ".~tmp~" (RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR is not consulted for
-this value). Conflicts with --inplace.
+this value). Conflicts with bf(--inplace).
This option uses more memory on the receiving side (one bit per file
transferred) and also requires enough free disk space on the receiving
side to hold an additional copy of all the updated files. Note also that
-you should not use an absolute path to --partial-dir unless there is no
+you should not use an absolute path to bf(--partial-dir) unless there is no
chance of any of the files in the transfer having the same name (since all
the updated files will be put into a single directory if the path is
absolute).
See also the "atomic-rsync" perl script in the "support" subdir for an
-update algorithm that is even more atomic (it uses --link-dest and a
+update algorithm that is even more atomic (it uses bf(--link-dest) and a
parallel hierarchy of files).
dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information
showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user
something to watch.
-Implies --verbose without incrementing verbosity.
+Implies bf(--verbose) without incrementing verbosity.
When the file is transferring, the data looks like this:
-verb(
- 782448 63% 110.64kB/s 0:00:04
-)
+verb( 782448 63% 110.64kB/s 0:00:04)
This tells you the current file size, the percentage of the transfer that
is complete, the current calculated file-completion rate (including both
After a file is complete, the data looks like this:
-verb(
- 1238099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (5, 57.1% of 396)
-)
+verb( 1238099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (5, 57.1% of 396))
This tells you the final file size, that it's 100% complete, the final
transfer rate for the file, the amount of elapsed time it took to transfer
These additional numbers tell you how many files have been updated, and
what percent of the total number of files has been scanned.
-dit(bf(-P)) The -P option is equivalent to --partial --progress. Its
+dit(bf(-P)) The bf(-P) option is equivalent to bf(--partial) bf(--progress). Its
purpose is to make it much easier to specify these two options for a long
transfer that may be interrupted.
dit(bf(--list-only)) This option will cause the source files to be listed
instead of transferred. This option is inferred if there is no destination
specified, so you don't usually need to use it explicitly. However, it can
-come in handy for a power user that wants to avoid the "-r --exclude="/*/*"
+come in handy for a power user that wants to avoid the "bf(-r --exclude='/*/*')"
options that rsync might use as a compatibility kluge when generating a
non-recursive listing.
of zero specifies no limit.
dit(bf(--write-batch=FILE)) Record a file that can later be applied to
-another identical destination with --read-batch. See the "BATCH MODE"
+another identical destination with bf(--read-batch). See the "BATCH MODE"
section for details.
dit(bf(--read-batch=FILE)) Apply all of the changes stored in FILE, a
-file previously generated by --write-batch.
+file previously generated by bf(--write-batch).
If em(FILE) is "-" the batch data will be read from standard input.
See the "BATCH MODE" section for details.
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 bf(--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
in the case where the user wants a more random checksum seed.
Note that setting NUM to 0 causes rsync to use the default of time()
for checksum seed.
-
enddit()
+manpagesection(DAEMON OPTIONS)
+
The options allowed when starting an rsync daemon are as follows:
startdit()
-
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.
details.
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
+when run as a daemon with the bf(--daemon) option or when connecting to a
+rsync server. The bf(--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. See also the "address" global
+in conjunction with the bf(--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.
-The client can still specify a smaller --bwlimit value, but their
+The client can still specify a smaller bf(--bwlimit) value, but their
requested value will be rounded down if they try to exceed it. See the
client version of this option (above) for some extra details.
dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
-the default. This is only relevant when --daemon is specified.
+the default. This is only relevant when bf(--daemon) is specified.
The default is /etc/rsyncd.conf unless the daemon is running over
a remote shell program and the remote user is not root; in that case
the default is rsyncd.conf in the current directory (typically $HOME).
listen for connections. One of these options may be required in older
versions of Linux to work around an IPv6 bug in the kernel (if you see
an "address already in use" error when nothing else is using the port,
-try specifying --ipv6 or --ipv4 when starting the daemon).
+try specifying bf(--ipv6) or bf(--ipv4) when starting the daemon).
-dit(bf(-h, --help)) When specified after --daemon, print a short help
+dit(bf(-h, --help)) When specified after bf(--daemon), print a short help
page describing the options available for starting an rsync daemon.
-
enddit()
manpagesection(FILTER RULES)
Rsync builds an ordered list of filter rules as specified on the
command-line. Filter rules have the following syntax:
-itemize(
- it() x RULE
- it() xMODIFIERS RULE
- it() !
+quote(
+tt(x [RULE])nl()
+tt(xMODIFIERS [RULE])nl()
)
The 'x' is a single-letter that specifies the kind of rule to create. It
can have trailing modifiers, and is separated from the RULE by either a
single space or an underscore (_). Here are the available rule prefixes:
-verb(
- - specifies an exclude pattern.
- + specifies an include pattern.
- . specifies a merge-file to read for more rules.
- : specifies a per-directory merge-file.
- ! clears the current include/exclude list
+quote(
+bf(-) specifies an exclude pattern. nl()
+bf(+) specifies an include pattern. nl()
+bf(.) specifies a merge-file to read for more rules. nl()
+bf(:) specifies a per-directory merge-file. nl()
+bf(!) clears the current include/exclude list (takes no RULE) nl()
)
-Note that the --include/--exclude command-line options do not allow the
+Note that the bf(--include)/bf(--exclude) command-line options do not allow the
full range of rule parsing as described above -- they only allow the
specification of include/exclude patterns and the "!" token (not to
mention the comment lines when reading rules from a file). If a pattern
does not begin with "- " (dash, space) or "+ " (plus, space), then the
rule will be interpreted as if "+ " (for an include option) or "- " (for
-an exclude option) were prefixed to the string. A --filter option, on
+an exclude option) were prefixed to the string. A bf(--filter) option, on
the other hand, must always contain one of the prefixes above.
-Note also that the --filter, --include, and --exclude options take one
+Note also that the bf(--filter), bf(--include), and bf(--exclude) options take one
rule/pattern each. To add multiple ones, you can repeat the options on
-the command-line, use the merge-file syntax of the --filter option, or
-the --include-from/--exclude-from options.
+the command-line, use the merge-file syntax of the bf(--filter) option, or
+the bf(--include-from)/bf(--exclude-from) options.
When rules are being read from a file, empty lines are ignored, as are
comment lines that start with a "#".
that are going to be transferred. These patterns can take several forms:
itemize(
-
it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is anchored to a
particular spot in the hierarchy of files, otherwise it is matched
against the end of the pathname. This is similar to a leading ^ in
named "sub". See the section on ANCHORING INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERNS for
a full discussion of how to specify a pattern that matches at the root
of the transfer.
-
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 expression matching is applied using the shell filename
matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used.
-
it() the double asterisk pattern "**" will match slashes while a
single asterisk pattern "*" will stop at slashes.
-
it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) or a "**"
then it is matched against the full pathname, including any leading
directories. If the pattern doesn't contain a / or a "**", then it is
(Remember that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename"
can actually be any portion of a path from the starting directory on
down.)
-
)
-Note that, when using the --recursive (-r) option (which is implied by
--a), every subcomponent of every path is visited from the top down, so
+Note that, when using the bf(--recursive) (bf(-r)) option (which is implied by
+bf(-a)), every subcomponent of every path is visited from the top down, so
include/exclude patterns get applied recursively to each subcomponent's
full name (e.g. to include "/foo/bar/baz" the subcomponents "/foo" and
"/foo/bar" must not be excluded).
hierarchy. This is particularly important when using a trailing '*' rule.
For instance, this won't work:
-verb(
- + /some/path/this-file-will-not-be-found
- + /file-is-included
- - *
+quote(
+tt(+ /some/path/this-file-will-not-be-found)nl()
+tt(+ /file-is-included)nl()
+tt(- *)nl()
)
This fails because the parent directory "some" is excluded by the '*'
the parent dirs that need to be visited. For instance, this set of rules
works fine:
-verb(
- + /some/
- + /some/path/
- + /some/path/this-file-is-found
- + /file-also-included
- - *
+quote(
+tt(+ /some/)nl()
+tt(+ /some/path/)nl()
+tt(+ /some/path/this-file-is-found)nl()
+tt(+ /file-also-included)nl()
+tt(- *)nl()
)
Here are some examples of exclude/include matching:
levels below a directory called foo in the transfer-root directory
it() "- /foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
or more levels below a directory called foo in the transfer-root directory
- it() The combination of "+ */", "+ *.c", and "- *" would include all
+ it() The combination of "+ */", "+ *.c", and "- *" would include all
directories and C source files but nothing else.
it() The combination of "+ foo/", "+ foo/bar.c", and "- *" would include
only the foo directory and foo/bar.c (the foo directory must be
Some examples:
-verb(
- . /etc/rsync/default.rules
- : .per-dir-filter
- :n- .non-inherited-per-dir-excludes
+quote(
+tt(. /etc/rsync/default.rules)nl()
+tt(: .per-dir-filter)nl()
+tt(:n- .non-inherited-per-dir-excludes)nl()
)
The following modifiers are accepted after a "." or ":":
it() A "-" specifies that the file should consist of only exclude
patterns, with no other rule-parsing except for the list-clearing
token ("!").
-
it() A "+" specifies that the file should consist of only include
patterns, with no other rule-parsing except for the list-clearing
token ("!").
-
it() A "C" is a shorthand for the modifiers "sn-", which makes the
parsing compatible with the way CVS parses their exclude files. If no
filename is specified, ".cvsignore" is assumed.
-
it() A "e" will exclude the merge-file from the transfer; e.g.
":e_.rules" is like ":_.rules" and "-_.rules".
-
it() An "n" specifies that the rules are not inherited by subdirectories.
-
it() An "s" specifies that the rules are split on all whitespace instead
of the normal line-splitting. This also turns off comments. Note: the
space that separates the prefix from the rule is treated specially, so
itemize(
it() A "/" specifies that the include/exclude should be treated as an
absolute path, relative to the root of the filesystem. For example,
- "-/ /etc/passwd" would exclude the passwd file any time the transfer
+ "-/_/etc/passwd" would exclude the passwd file any time the transfer
was sending files from the "/etc" directory.
)
would only match the file "foo" in the directory where the per-dir filter
file was found.
-Here's an example filter file which you'd specify via --filter=". file":
+Here's an example filter file which you'd specify via bf(--filter=". file":)
-verb(
- . /home/user/.global-filter
- - *.gz
- : .rules
- + *.[ch]
- - *.o
+quote(
+tt(. /home/user/.global-filter)nl()
+tt(- *.gz)nl()
+tt(: .rules)nl()
+tt(+ *.[ch])nl()
+tt(- *.o)nl()
)
This will merge the contents of the /home/user/.global-filter file at the
If a per-directory merge-file is specified with a path that is a parent
directory of the first transfer directory, rsync will scan all the parent
dirs from that starting point to the transfer directory for the indicated
-per-directory file. For instance, here is a common filter (see -F):
+per-directory file. For instance, here is a common filter (see bf(-F)):
-verb(
- --filter=': /.rsync-filter'
-)
+quote(tt(--filter=': /.rsync-filter'))
That rule tells rsync to scan for the file .rsync-filter in all
directories from the root down through the parent directory of the
Some examples of this pre-scanning for per-directory files:
-verb(
- rsync -avF /src/path/ /dest/dir
- rsync -av --filter=': ../../.rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir
- rsync -av --filter=': .rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir
+quote(
+tt(rsync -avF /src/path/ /dest/dir)nl()
+tt(rsync -av --filter=': ../../.rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir)nl()
+tt(rsync -av --filter=': .rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir)nl()
)
The first two commands above will look for ".rsync-filter" in "/" and
you should use the rule ":C" -- this is a short-hand for the rule
":sn-_.cvsignore", and ensures that the .cvsignore file's contents are
interpreted according to the same parsing rules that CVS uses. You can
-use this to affect where the --cvs-exclude (-C) option's inclusion of the
+use this to affect where the bf(--cvs-exclude) (bf(-C)) option's inclusion of the
per-directory .cvsignore file gets placed into your rules by putting a
":C" wherever you like in your filter rules. Without this, rsync would
add the per-dir rule for the .cvsignore file at the end of all your other
rules (giving it a lower priority than your command-line rules). For
example:
-verb(
- cat <<EOT | rsync -avC --filter='. -' a/ b
- + foo.o
- :C
- - *.old
- EOT
-
- rsync -avC --include=foo.o -f :C --exclude='*.old' a/ b
+quote(
+tt(cat <<EOT | rsync -avC --filter='. -' a/ b)nl()
+tt(+ foo.o)nl()
+tt(:C)nl()
+tt(- *.old)nl()
+tt(EOT)nl()
+tt(rsync -avC --include=foo.o -f :C --exclude='*.old' a/ b)nl()
)
Both of the above rsync commands are identical. Each one will merge all
directory. This root governs where patterns that start with a / match.
Because the matching is relative to the transfer-root, changing the
-trailing slash on a source path or changing your use of the --relative
+trailing slash on a source path or changing your use of the bf(--relative)
option affects the path you need to use in your matching (in addition to
changing how much of the file tree is duplicated on the destination
host). The following examples demonstrate this.
path of "/home/me/foo/bar", and one with a path of "/home/you/bar/baz".
Here is how the various command choices differ for a 2-source transfer:
-verb(
- Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me /home/you /dest
- +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar
- +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz
- Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar
- Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz
-
- Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me/ /home/you/ /dest
- +/- pattern: /foo/bar (note missing "me")
- +/- pattern: /bar/baz (note missing "you")
- Target file: /dest/foo/bar
- Target file: /dest/bar/baz
-
- Example cmd: rsync -a --relative /home/me/ /home/you /dest
- +/- pattern: /home/me/foo/bar (note full path)
- +/- pattern: /home/you/bar/baz (ditto)
- Target file: /dest/home/me/foo/bar
- Target file: /dest/home/you/bar/baz
-
- Example cmd: cd /home; rsync -a --relative me/foo you/ /dest
- +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar (starts at specified path)
- +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz (ditto)
- Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar
- Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz
+quote(
+ Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me /home/you /dest nl()
+ +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar nl()
+ +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz nl()
+ Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar nl()
+ Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz nl()
+)
+
+quote(
+ Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me/ /home/you/ /dest nl()
+ +/- pattern: /foo/bar (note missing "me") nl()
+ +/- pattern: /bar/baz (note missing "you") nl()
+ Target file: /dest/foo/bar nl()
+ Target file: /dest/bar/baz nl()
+)
+
+quote(
+ Example cmd: rsync -a --relative /home/me/ /home/you /dest nl()
+ +/- pattern: /home/me/foo/bar (note full path) nl()
+ +/- pattern: /home/you/bar/baz (ditto) nl()
+ Target file: /dest/home/me/foo/bar nl()
+ Target file: /dest/home/you/bar/baz nl()
+)
+
+quote(
+ Example cmd: cd /home; rsync -a --relative me/foo you/ /dest nl()
+ +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar (starts at specified path) nl()
+ +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz (ditto) nl()
+ Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar nl()
+ Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz nl()
)
The easiest way to see what name you should filter is to just
-look at the output when using --verbose and put a / in front of the name
-(use the --dry-run option if you're not yet ready to copy any files).
+look at the output when using bf(--verbose) and put a / in front of the name
+(use the bf(--dry-run) option if you're not yet ready to copy any files).
manpagesection(PER-DIRECTORY RULES AND DELETE)
without affecting the transfer. To make this easy, the 'e' modifier adds
this exclude for you, as seen in these two equivalent commands:
-verb(
- rsync -av --filter=': .excl' --exclude=.excl host:src/dir /dest
- rsync -av --filter=':e .excl' host:src/dir /dest
+quote(
+tt(rsync -av --filter=': .excl' --exclude=.excl host:src/dir /dest)nl()
+tt(rsync -av --filter=':e .excl' host:src/dir /dest)nl()
)
However, if you want to do a delete on the receiving side AND you want some
files to be excluded from being deleted, you'll need to be sure that the
receiving side knows what files to exclude. The easiest way is to include
-the per-directory merge files in the transfer and use --delete-after,
+the per-directory merge files in the transfer and use bf(--delete-after),
because this ensures that the receiving side gets all the same exclude
rules as the sending side before it tries to delete anything:
-verb(
- rsync -avF --delete-after host:src/dir /dest
-)
+quote(tt(rsync -avF --delete-after host:src/dir /dest))
However, if the merge files are not a part of the transfer, you'll need to
either specify some global exclude rules (i.e. specified on the command
the receiving side. An example of the first is this (assume that the
remote .rules files exclude themselves):
-verb(
- rsync -av --filter=': .rules' --filter='. /my/extra.rules'
- --delete host:src/dir /dest
-)
+verb(rsync -av --filter=': .rules' --filter='. /my/extra.rules'
+ --delete host:src/dir /dest)
In the above example the extra.rules file can affect both sides of the
transfer, but (on the sending side) the rules are subservient to the rules
deleted) and then put rules into the local files to control what else
should not get deleted. Like one of these commands:
-verb(
- rsync -av --filter=':e /.rsync-filter' --delete host:src/dir /dest
- rsync -avFF --delete host:src/dir /dest
-)
+verb( rsync -av --filter=':e /.rsync-filter' --delete \
+ host:src/dir /dest
+ rsync -avFF --delete host:src/dir /dest)
manpagesection(BATCH MODE)
-bf(Note:) Batch mode should be considered experimental in this version
-of rsync. The interface and behavior have now stabilized, though, so
-feel free to try this out.
-
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
Examples:
-verb(
- $ rsync --write-batch=foo -a host:/source/dir/ /adest/dir/
- $ scp foo* remote:
- $ ssh remote ./foo.sh /bdest/dir/
+quote(
+tt($ rsync --write-batch=foo -a host:/source/dir/ /adest/dir/)nl()
+tt($ scp foo* remote:)nl()
+tt($ ssh remote ./foo.sh /bdest/dir/)nl()
)
-verb(
- $ rsync --write-batch=foo -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/
- $ ssh remote rsync --read-batch=- -a /bdest/dir/ <foo
+quote(
+tt($ rsync --write-batch=foo -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/)nl()
+tt($ ssh remote rsync --read-batch=- -a /bdest/dir/ <foo)nl()
)
In these examples, rsync is used to update /adest/dir/ from /source/dir/
reveals some of the flexibility you have in how you deal with batches:
itemize(
-
it() The first example shows that the initial copy doesn't have to be
local -- you can push or pull data to/from a remote host using either the
remote-shell syntax or rsync daemon syntax, as desired.
-
it() The first example uses the created "foo.sh" file to get the right
rsync options when running the read-batch command on the remote host.
-
it() The second example reads the batch data via standard input so that
the batch file doesn't need to be copied to the remote machine first.
This example avoids the foo.sh script because it needed to use a modified
- --read-batch option, but you could edit the script file if you wished to
+ bf(--read-batch) option, but you could edit the script file if you wished to
make use of it (just be sure that no other option is trying to use
- standard input, such as the "--exclude-from=-" option).
-
+ standard input, such as the "bf(--exclude-from=-)" option).
)
Caveats:
and then, if the file fails to verify, the update discarded with an
error. This means that it should be safe to re-run a read-batch operation
if the command got interrupted. If you wish to force the batched-update to
-always be attempted regardless of the file's size and date, use the -I
+always be attempted regardless of the file's size and date, use the bf(-I)
option (when reading the batch).
If an error occurs, the destination tree will probably be in a
partially updated state. In that case, rsync can
protocol version in the batch file is too new for the batch-reading rsync
to handle.
-The --dry-run (-n) option does not work in batch mode and yields a runtime
+The bf(--dry-run) (bf(-n)) option does not work in batch mode and yields a runtime
error.
When reading a batch file, rsync will force the value of certain options
to match the data in the batch file if you didn't set them to the same
as the batch-writing command. Other options can (and should) be changed.
For instance
---write-batch changes to --read-batch, --files-from is dropped, and the
---include/--exclude options are not needed unless --delete is specified
-without --delete-excluded.
+bf(--write-batch) changes to bf(--read-batch), bf(--files-from) is dropped, and the
+bf(--filter)/bf(--include)/bf(--exclude) options are not needed unless one of the
+bf(--delete) options is specified without bf(--delete-excluded).
-The code that creates the BATCH.sh file transforms any include/exclude
+The code that creates the BATCH.sh file transforms any filter/include/exclude
options into a single list that is appended as a "here" document to the
shell script file. An advanced user can use this to modify the exclude
-list if a change in what gets deleted by --delete is desired. A normal
+list if a change in what gets deleted by bf(--delete) is desired. A normal
user can ignore this detail and just use the shell script as an easy way
-to run the appropriate --read-batch command for the batched data.
+to run the appropriate bf(--read-batch) command for the batched data.
The original batch mode in rsync was based on "rsync+", but the latest
version uses a new implementation.
(start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough bf("..")
components to ascend from the directory being copied.
-manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS)
+manpagediagnostics()
rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
cryptic. The one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol
-version mismatch - is your shell clean?".
+version mismatch -- is your shell clean?".
This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell
facility producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using
for its transport. The way to diagnose this problem is to run your
remote shell like this:
-verb(
- ssh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat
-)
-
+quote(tt(ssh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat))
+
then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat
should be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from
rsync then you will probably find that out.dat contains some text or
for non-interactive logins.
If you are having trouble debugging filter patterns, then
-try specifying the -vv option. At this level of verbosity rsync will
+try specifying the bf(-vv) option. At this level of verbosity rsync will
show why each individual file is included or excluded.
manpagesection(EXIT VALUES)
startdit()
dit(bf(0)) Success
-dit(bf(1)) Syntax or usage error
-dit(bf(2)) Protocol incompatibility
+dit(bf(1)) Syntax or usage error
+dit(bf(2)) Protocol incompatibility
dit(bf(3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
dit(bf(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 specified that is supported by the client and
not by the server.
dit(bf(5)) Error starting client-server protocol
-dit(bf(10)) Error in socket I/O
-dit(bf(11)) Error in file I/O
-dit(bf(12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream
-dit(bf(13)) Errors with program diagnostics
-dit(bf(14)) Error in IPC code
-dit(bf(20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
-dit(bf(21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
-dit(bf(22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
+dit(bf(10)) Error in socket I/O
+dit(bf(11)) Error in file I/O
+dit(bf(12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream
+dit(bf(13)) Errors with program diagnostics
+dit(bf(14)) Error in IPC code
+dit(bf(20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
+dit(bf(21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
+dit(bf(22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
dit(bf(23)) Partial transfer due to error
dit(bf(24)) Partial transfer due to vanished source files
-dit(bf(30)) Timeout in data send/receive
+dit(bf(30)) Timeout in data send/receive
enddit()
manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES)
startdit()
-
dit(bf(CVSIGNORE)) The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any
-ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the --cvs-exclude option for
+ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the bf(--cvs-exclude) option for
more details.
-
dit(bf(RSYNC_RSH)) The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to
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.
-
+options are permitted after the command name, just as in the bf(-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 an rsync
daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a
password to a shell transport such as ssh.
-
dit(bf(USER) or bf(LOGNAME)) The USER or LOGNAME environment variables
are used to determine the default username sent to an rsync server.
If neither is set, the username defaults to "nobody".
-
dit(bf(HOME)) The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's
default .cvsignore file.
-
enddit()
manpagefiles()
rsyncd.conf(5)
-manpagediagnostics()
-
manpagebugs()
times are transferred as unix time_t values
When transferring to FAT filesystems rsync may re-sync
unmodified files.
-See the comments on the --modify-window option.
+See the comments on the bf(--modify-window) option.
file permissions, devices, etc. are transferred as native numerical
values
-see also the comments on the --delete option
+see also the comments on the bf(--delete) option
Please report bugs! See the website at
url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
Many people have later contributed to it.
Mailing lists for support and development are available at
-url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)
+url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)
Matt McCutchen's Web Site / rsync / rsync.git / commitdiff