3 rsync - a fast, versatile, remote (and local) file-copying tool
9 rsync [OPTION...] SRC... [DEST]
11 Access via remote shell:
13 rsync [OPTION...] [USER@]HOST:SRC... [DEST]
15 rsync [OPTION...] SRC... [USER@]HOST:DEST
17 Access via rsync daemon:
19 rsync [OPTION...] [USER@]HOST::SRC... [DEST]
20 rsync [OPTION...] rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC... [DEST]
22 rsync [OPTION...] SRC... [USER@]HOST::DEST
23 rsync [OPTION...] SRC... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/DEST)
26 Usages with just one SRC arg and no DEST arg will list the source files instead
31 Rsync is a fast and extraordinarily versatile file copying tool. It can copy
32 locally, to/from another host over any remote shell, or to/from a remote rsync
33 daemon. It offers a large number of options that control every aspect of its
34 behavior and permit very flexible specification of the set of files to be
35 copied. It is famous for its delta-transfer algorithm, which reduces the
36 amount of data sent over the network by sending only the differences between
37 the source files and the existing files in the destination. Rsync is widely
38 used for backups and mirroring and as an improved copy command for everyday
41 Rsync finds files that need to be transferred using a "quick check" algorithm
42 (by default) that looks for files that have changed in size or in last-modified
43 time. Any changes in the other preserved attributes (as requested by options)
44 are made on the destination file directly when the quick check indicates that
45 the file's data does not need to be updated.
47 Some of the additional features of rsync are:
49 - support for copying links, devices, owners, groups, and permissions
50 - exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar
51 - a CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore
52 - can use any transparent remote shell, including ssh or rsh
53 - does not require super-user privileges
54 - pipelining of file transfers to minimize latency costs
55 - support for anonymous or authenticated rsync daemons (ideal for mirroring)
59 Rsync copies files either to or from a remote host, or locally on the current
60 host (it does not support copying files between two remote hosts).
62 There are two different ways for rsync to contact a remote system: using a
63 remote-shell program as the transport (such as ssh or rsh) or contacting an
64 rsync daemon directly via TCP. The remote-shell transport is used whenever the
65 source or destination path contains a single colon (:) separator after a host
66 specification. Contacting an rsync daemon directly happens when the source or
67 destination path contains a double colon (::) separator after a host
68 specification, OR when an rsync:// URL is specified (see also the "USING
69 RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION" section for an exception
72 As a special case, if a single source arg is specified without a destination,
73 the files are listed in an output format similar to "`ls -l`".
75 As expected, if neither the source or destination path specify a remote host,
76 the copy occurs locally (see also the `--list-only` option).
78 Rsync refers to the local side as the client and the remote side as the server.
79 Don't confuse server with an rsync daemon. A daemon is always a server, but a
80 server can be either a daemon or a remote-shell spawned process.
84 See the file README.md for installation instructions.
86 Once installed, you can use rsync to any machine that you can access via a
87 remote shell (as well as some that you can access using the rsync daemon-mode
88 protocol). For remote transfers, a modern rsync uses ssh for its
89 communications, but it may have been configured to use a different remote shell
90 by default, such as rsh or remsh.
92 You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the `-e`
93 command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable.
95 Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination machines.
99 You use rsync in the same way you use rcp. You must specify a source and a
100 destination, one of which may be remote.
102 Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is with some examples:
104 > rsync -t *.c foo:src/
106 This would transfer all files matching the pattern `*.c` from the current
107 directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of the files already
108 exist on the remote system then the rsync remote-update protocol is used to
109 update the file by sending only the differences in the data. Note that the
110 expansion of wildcards on the commandline (`*.c`) into a list of files is
111 handled by the shell before it runs rsync and not by rsync itself (exactly the
112 same as all other posix-style programs).
114 > rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp
116 This would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the
117 machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The files
118 are transferred in archive mode, which ensures that symbolic links, devices,
119 attributes, permissions, ownerships, etc. are preserved in the transfer.
120 Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the size of data portions of
123 > rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp
125 A trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to avoid creating an
126 additional directory level at the destination. You can think of a trailing /
127 on a source as meaning "copy the contents of this directory" as opposed to
128 "copy the directory by name", but in both cases the attributes of the
129 containing directory are transferred to the containing directory on the
130 destination. In other words, each of the following commands copies the files
131 in the same way, including their setting of the attributes of /dest/foo:
133 > rsync -av /src/foo /dest
134 > rsync -av /src/foo/ /dest/foo
136 Note also that host and module references don't require a trailing slash to
137 copy the contents of the default directory. For example, both of these copy
138 the remote directory's contents into "/dest":
140 > rsync -av host: /dest
141 > rsync -av host::module /dest
143 You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
144 destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like an
145 improved copy command.
147 Finally, you can list all the (listable) modules available from a particular
148 rsync daemon by leaving off the module name:
150 > rsync somehost.mydomain.com::
152 See the following section for more details.
156 The syntax for requesting multiple files from a remote host is done by
157 specifying additional remote-host args in the same style as the first, or with
158 the hostname omitted. For instance, all these work:
160 > rsync -av host:file1 :file2 host:file{3,4} /dest/
161 > rsync -av host::modname/file{1,2} host::modname/file3 /dest/
162 > rsync -av host::modname/file1 ::modname/file{3,4}
164 Older versions of rsync required using quoted spaces in the SRC, like these
167 > rsync -av host:'dir1/file1 dir2/file2' /dest
168 > rsync host::'modname/dir1/file1 modname/dir2/file2' /dest
170 This word-splitting still works (by default) in the latest rsync, but is not as
171 easy to use as the first method.
173 If you need to transfer a filename that contains whitespace, you can either
174 specify the `--protect-args` (`-s`) option, or you'll need to escape the
175 whitespace in a way that the remote shell will understand. For instance:
177 > rsync -av host:'file\ name\ with\ spaces' /dest
179 # CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC DAEMON
181 It is also possible to use rsync without a remote shell as the transport. In
182 this case you will directly connect to a remote rsync daemon, typically using
183 TCP port 873. (This obviously requires the daemon to be running on the remote
184 system, so refer to the STARTING AN RSYNC DAEMON TO ACCEPT CONNECTIONS section
185 below for information on that.)
187 Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except
190 - you either use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to separate the
191 hostname from the path, or you use an rsync:// URL.
192 - the first word of the "path" is actually a module name.
193 - the remote daemon may print a message of the day when you connect.
194 - if you specify no path name on the remote daemon then the list of accessible
195 paths on the daemon will be shown.
196 - if you specify no local destination then a listing of the specified files on
197 the remote daemon is provided.
198 - you must not specify the `--rsh` (`-e`) option (since that overrides the
199 daemon connection to use ssh -- see USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A
200 REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION below).
202 An example that copies all the files in a remote module named "src":
204 > rsync -av host::src /dest
206 Some modules on the remote daemon may require authentication. If so, you will
207 receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the password prompt
208 by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to the password you want to
209 use or using the `--password-file` option. This may be useful when scripting
212 WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all users. On
213 those systems using `--password-file` is recommended.
215 You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the environment
216 variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to your web proxy. Note
217 that your web proxy's configuration must support proxy connections to port 873.
219 You may also establish a daemon connection using a program as a proxy by
220 setting the environment variable RSYNC_CONNECT_PROG to the commands you wish to
221 run in place of making a direct socket connection. The string may contain the
222 escape "%H" to represent the hostname specified in the rsync command (so use
223 "%%" if you need a single "%" in your string). For example:
225 > export RSYNC_CONNECT_PROG='ssh proxyhost nc %H 873'
226 > rsync -av targethost1::module/src/ /dest/
227 > rsync -av rsync://targethost2/module/src/ /dest/
229 The command specified above uses ssh to run nc (netcat) on a proxyhost, which
230 forwards all data to port 873 (the rsync daemon) on the targethost (%H).
232 Note also that if the RSYNC_SHELL environment variable is set, that program
233 will be used to run the RSYNC_CONNECT_PROG command instead of using the default
234 shell of the **system()** call.
236 # USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION
238 It is sometimes useful to use various features of an rsync daemon (such as
239 named modules) without actually allowing any new socket connections into a
240 system (other than what is already required to allow remote-shell access).
241 Rsync supports connecting to a host using a remote shell and then spawning a
242 single-use "daemon" server that expects to read its config file in the home dir
243 of the remote user. This can be useful if you want to encrypt a daemon-style
244 transfer's data, but since the daemon is started up fresh by the remote user,
245 you may not be able to use features such as chroot or change the uid used by
246 the daemon. (For another way to encrypt a daemon transfer, consider using ssh
247 to tunnel a local port to a remote machine and configure a normal rsync daemon
248 on that remote host to only allow connections from "localhost".)
250 From the user's perspective, a daemon transfer via a remote-shell connection
251 uses nearly the same command-line syntax as a normal rsync-daemon transfer,
252 with the only exception being that you must explicitly set the remote shell
253 program on the command-line with the `--rsh=COMMAND` option. (Setting the
254 RSYNC_RSH in the environment will not turn on this functionality.) For example:
256 > rsync -av --rsh=ssh host::module /dest
258 If you need to specify a different remote-shell user, keep in mind that the
259 user@ prefix in front of the host is specifying the rsync-user value (for a
260 module that requires user-based authentication). This means that you must give
261 the '-l user' option to ssh when specifying the remote-shell, as in this
262 example that uses the short version of the `--rsh` option:
264 > rsync -av -e "ssh -l ssh-user" rsync-user@host::module /dest
266 The "ssh-user" will be used at the ssh level; the "rsync-user" will be used to
267 log-in to the "module".
269 # STARTING AN RSYNC DAEMON TO ACCEPT CONNECTIONS
271 In order to connect to an rsync daemon, the remote system needs to have a
272 daemon already running (or it needs to have configured something like inetd to
273 spawn an rsync daemon for incoming connections on a particular port). For full
274 information on how to start a daemon that will handling incoming socket
275 connections, see the **rsyncd.conf**(5) man page -- that is the config file for
276 the daemon, and it contains the full details for how to run the daemon
277 (including stand-alone and inetd configurations).
279 If you're using one of the remote-shell transports for the transfer, there is
280 no need to manually start an rsync daemon.
282 # SORTED TRANSFER ORDER
284 Rsync always sorts the specified filenames into its internal transfer list.
285 This handles the merging together of the contents of identically named
286 directories, makes it easy to remove duplicate filenames, and may confuse
287 someone when the files are transferred in a different order than what was given
290 If you need a particular file to be transferred prior to another, either
291 separate the files into different rsync calls, or consider using
292 `--delay-updates` (which doesn't affect the sorted transfer order, but does
293 make the final file-updating phase happen much more rapidly).
297 Here are some examples of how I use rsync.
299 To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS Word files and
300 mail folders, I use a cron job that runs
302 > rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup
304 each night over a PPP connection to a duplicate directory on my machine
307 To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile targets:
310 > rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ .
312 > rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/
315 This allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the connection.
316 I then do CVS operations on the remote machine, which saves a lot of time as
317 the remote CVS protocol isn't very efficient.
319 I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the command:
321 > rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge"
323 This is launched from cron every few hours.
327 Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer to the
328 detailed description below for a complete description.
330 [comment]: # (help-rsync.h)
331 [comment]: # (Keep these short enough that they'll be under 80 chars when indented by 8 chars.)
334 --verbose, -v increase verbosity
335 --info=FLAGS fine-grained informational verbosity
336 --debug=FLAGS fine-grained debug verbosity
337 --msgs2stderr output messages directly to stderr
338 --quiet, -q suppress non-error messages
339 --no-motd suppress daemon-mode MOTD
340 --checksum, -c skip based on checksum, not mod-time & size
341 --archive, -a archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X)
342 --no-OPTION turn off an implied OPTION (e.g. --no-D)
343 --recursive, -r recurse into directories
344 --relative, -R use relative path names
345 --no-implied-dirs don't send implied dirs with --relative
346 --backup, -b make backups (see --suffix & --backup-dir)
347 --backup-dir=DIR make backups into hierarchy based in DIR
348 --suffix=SUFFIX backup suffix (default ~ w/o --backup-dir)
349 --update, -u skip files that are newer on the receiver
350 --inplace update destination files in-place
351 --append append data onto shorter files
352 --append-verify --append w/old data in file checksum
353 --dirs, -d transfer directories without recursing
354 --links, -l copy symlinks as symlinks
355 --copy-links, -L transform symlink into referent file/dir
356 --copy-unsafe-links only "unsafe" symlinks are transformed
357 --safe-links ignore symlinks that point outside the tree
358 --munge-links munge symlinks to make them safe & unusable
359 --copy-dirlinks, -k transform symlink to dir into referent dir
360 --keep-dirlinks, -K treat symlinked dir on receiver as dir
361 --hard-links, -H preserve hard links
362 --perms, -p preserve permissions
363 --executability, -E preserve executability
364 --chmod=CHMOD affect file and/or directory permissions
365 --acls, -A preserve ACLs (implies --perms)
366 --xattrs, -X preserve extended attributes
367 --owner, -o preserve owner (super-user only)
368 --group, -g preserve group
369 --devices preserve device files (super-user only)
370 --specials preserve special files
371 -D same as --devices --specials
372 --times, -t preserve modification times
373 --atimes, -U preserve access (use) times
374 --open-noatime avoid changing the atime on opened files
375 --omit-dir-times, -O omit directories from --times
376 --omit-link-times, -J omit symlinks from --times
377 --super receiver attempts super-user activities
378 --fake-super store/recover privileged attrs using xattrs
379 --sparse, -S turn sequences of nulls into sparse blocks
380 --preallocate allocate dest files before writing them
381 --write-devices write to devices as files (implies --inplace)
382 --dry-run, -n perform a trial run with no changes made
383 --whole-file, -W copy files whole (w/o delta-xfer algorithm)
384 --checksum-choice=STR choose the checksum algorithm (aka --cc)
385 --one-file-system, -x don't cross filesystem boundaries
386 --block-size=SIZE, -B force a fixed checksum block-size
387 --rsh=COMMAND, -e specify the remote shell to use
388 --rsync-path=PROGRAM specify the rsync to run on remote machine
389 --existing skip creating new files on receiver
390 --ignore-existing skip updating files that exist on receiver
391 --remove-source-files sender removes synchronized files (non-dir)
392 --del an alias for --delete-during
393 --delete delete extraneous files from dest dirs
394 --delete-before receiver deletes before xfer, not during
395 --delete-during receiver deletes during the transfer
396 --delete-delay find deletions during, delete after
397 --delete-after receiver deletes after transfer, not during
398 --delete-excluded also delete excluded files from dest dirs
399 --ignore-missing-args ignore missing source args without error
400 --delete-missing-args delete missing source args from destination
401 --ignore-errors delete even if there are I/O errors
402 --force force deletion of dirs even if not empty
403 --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
404 --max-size=SIZE don't transfer any file larger than SIZE
405 --min-size=SIZE don't transfer any file smaller than SIZE
406 --max-alloc=SIZE change a limit relating to memory alloc
407 --partial keep partially transferred files
408 --partial-dir=DIR put a partially transferred file into DIR
409 --delay-updates put all updated files into place at end
410 --prune-empty-dirs, -m prune empty directory chains from file-list
411 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
412 --usermap=STRING custom username mapping
413 --groupmap=STRING custom groupname mapping
414 --chown=USER:GROUP simple username/groupname mapping
415 --timeout=SECONDS set I/O timeout in seconds
416 --contimeout=SECONDS set daemon connection timeout in seconds
417 --ignore-times, -I don't skip files that match size and time
418 --size-only skip files that match in size
419 --modify-window=NUM, -@ set the accuracy for mod-time comparisons
420 --temp-dir=DIR, -T create temporary files in directory DIR
421 --fuzzy, -y find similar file for basis if no dest file
422 --compare-dest=DIR also compare destination files relative to DIR
423 --copy-dest=DIR ... and include copies of unchanged files
424 --link-dest=DIR hardlink to files in DIR when unchanged
425 --compress, -z compress file data during the transfer
426 --compress-choice=STR choose the compression algorithm (aka --zc)
427 --compress-level=NUM explicitly set compression level (aka --zl)
428 --skip-compress=LIST skip compressing files with suffix in LIST
429 --cvs-exclude, -C auto-ignore files in the same way CVS does
430 --filter=RULE, -f add a file-filtering RULE
431 -F same as --filter='dir-merge /.rsync-filter'
432 repeated: --filter='- .rsync-filter'
433 --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
434 --exclude-from=FILE read exclude patterns from FILE
435 --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN
436 --include-from=FILE read include patterns from FILE
437 --files-from=FILE read list of source-file names from FILE
438 --from0, -0 all *-from/filter files are delimited by 0s
439 --protect-args, -s no space-splitting; wildcard chars only
440 --copy-as=USER[:GROUP] specify user & optional group for the copy
441 --address=ADDRESS bind address for outgoing socket to daemon
442 --port=PORT specify double-colon alternate port number
443 --sockopts=OPTIONS specify custom TCP options
444 --blocking-io use blocking I/O for the remote shell
445 --outbuf=N|L|B set out buffering to None, Line, or Block
446 --stats give some file-transfer stats
447 --8-bit-output, -8 leave high-bit chars unescaped in output
448 --human-readable, -h output numbers in a human-readable format
449 --progress show progress during transfer
450 -P same as --partial --progress
451 --itemize-changes, -i output a change-summary for all updates
452 --remote-option=OPT, -M send OPTION to the remote side only
453 --out-format=FORMAT output updates using the specified FORMAT
454 --log-file=FILE log what we're doing to the specified FILE
455 --log-file-format=FMT log updates using the specified FMT
456 --password-file=FILE read daemon-access password from FILE
457 --early-input=FILE use FILE for daemon's early exec input
458 --list-only list the files instead of copying them
459 --bwlimit=RATE limit socket I/O bandwidth
460 --stop-after=MINS Stop rsync after MINS minutes have elapsed
461 --stop-at=y-m-dTh:m Stop rsync at the specified moment in time
462 --write-batch=FILE write a batched update to FILE
463 --only-write-batch=FILE like --write-batch but w/o updating dest
464 --read-batch=FILE read a batched update from FILE
465 --protocol=NUM force an older protocol version to be used
466 --iconv=CONVERT_SPEC request charset conversion of filenames
467 --checksum-seed=NUM set block/file checksum seed (advanced)
468 --ipv4, -4 prefer IPv4
469 --ipv6, -6 prefer IPv6
470 --version, -V print the version + other info and exit
471 --help, -h (*) show this help (* -h is help only on its own)
474 Rsync can also be run as a daemon, in which case the following options are
477 [comment]: # (help-rsyncd.h)
480 --daemon run as an rsync daemon
481 --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address
482 --bwlimit=RATE limit socket I/O bandwidth
483 --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
484 --dparam=OVERRIDE, -M override global daemon config parameter
485 --no-detach do not detach from the parent
486 --port=PORT listen on alternate port number
487 --log-file=FILE override the "log file" setting
488 --log-file-format=FMT override the "log format" setting
489 --sockopts=OPTIONS specify custom TCP options
490 --verbose, -v increase verbosity
491 --ipv4, -4 prefer IPv4
492 --ipv6, -6 prefer IPv6
493 --help, -h show this help (when used with --daemon)
498 Rsync accepts both long (double-dash + word) and short (single-dash + letter)
499 options. The full list of the available options are described below. If an
500 option can be specified in more than one way, the choices are comma-separated.
501 Some options only have a long variant, not a short. If the option takes a
502 parameter, the parameter is only listed after the long variant, even though it
503 must also be specified for the short. When specifying a parameter, you can
504 either use the form `--option=param` or replace the '=' with whitespace. The
505 parameter may need to be quoted in some manner for it to survive the shell's
506 command-line parsing. Keep in mind that a leading tilde (`~`) in a filename is
507 substituted by your shell, so `--option=~/foo` will not change the tilde into
508 your home directory (remove the '=' for that).
510 [comment]: # (An OL starting at 0 is converted into a DL by the parser.)
512 0. `--help`, `-h` `(*)`
514 Print a short help page describing the options available in rsync and exit.
515 (*) The `-h` short option will only invoke `--help` when used without other
516 options since it normally means `--human-readable`.
520 Print the rsync version plus other info and exit.
522 The output includes the default list of checksum algorithms, the default
523 list of compression algorithms, a list of compiled-in capabilities, a link
524 to the rsync web site, and some license/copyright info.
528 This option increases the amount of information you are given during the
529 transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A single `-v` will give you
530 information about what files are being transferred and a brief summary at
531 the end. Two `-v` options will give you information on what files are
532 being skipped and slightly more information at the end. More than two `-v`
533 options should only be used if you are debugging rsync.
535 In a modern rsync, the `-v` option is equivalent to the setting of groups
536 of `--info` and `--debug` options. You can choose to use these newer
537 options in addition to, or in place of using `--verbose`, as any
538 fine-grained settings override the implied settings of `-v`. Both `--info`
539 and `--debug` have a way to ask for help that tells you exactly what flags
540 are set for each increase in verbosity.
542 However, do keep in mind that a daemon's "`max verbosity`" setting will limit
543 how high of a level the various individual flags can be set on the daemon
544 side. For instance, if the max is 2, then any info and/or debug flag that
545 is set to a higher value than what would be set by `-vv` will be downgraded
546 to the `-vv` level in the daemon's logging.
550 This option lets you have fine-grained control over the information output
551 you want to see. An individual flag name may be followed by a level
552 number, with 0 meaning to silence that output, 1 being the default output
553 level, and higher numbers increasing the output of that flag (for those
554 that support higher levels). Use `--info=help` to see all the available
555 flag names, what they output, and what flag names are added for each
556 increase in the verbose level. Some examples:
558 > rsync -a --info=progress2 src/ dest/
559 > rsync -avv --info=stats2,misc1,flist0 src/ dest/
561 Note that `--info=name`'s output is affected by the `--out-format` and
562 `--itemize-changes` (`-i`) options. See those options for more information
563 on what is output and when.
565 This option was added to 3.1.0, so an older rsync on the server side might
566 reject your attempts at fine-grained control (if one or more flags needed
567 to be send to the server and the server was too old to understand them).
568 See also the "`max verbosity`" caveat above when dealing with a daemon.
572 This option lets you have fine-grained control over the debug output you
573 want to see. An individual flag name may be followed by a level number,
574 with 0 meaning to silence that output, 1 being the default output level,
575 and higher numbers increasing the output of that flag (for those that
576 support higher levels). Use `--debug=help` to see all the available flag
577 names, what they output, and what flag names are added for each increase in
578 the verbose level. Some examples:
580 > rsync -avvv --debug=none src/ dest/
581 > rsync -avA --del --debug=del2,acl src/ dest/
583 Note that some debug messages will only be output when `--msgs2stderr` is
584 specified, especially those pertaining to I/O and buffer debugging.
586 Beginning in 3.2.0, this option is no longer auto-forwared to the server
587 side in order to allow you to specify different debug values for each side
588 of the transfer, as well as to specify a new debug option that is only
589 present in one of the rsync versions. If you want to duplicate the same
590 option on both sides, using brace expansion is an easy way to save you some
591 typing. This works in zsh and bash:
593 > rsync -aiv {-M,}--debug=del2 src/ dest/
597 This option changes rsync to send all its output directly to stderr rather
598 than to send messages to the client side via the protocol. The protocol
599 allows rsync to output normal messages via stdout and errors via stderr,
600 but it can delay messages behind a slew of data.
602 One case where this is helpful is when sending really large files, since
603 errors that happen on a remote receiver tend to get delayed until after the
604 file's data is fully sent. It is also helpful for debugging, since it
605 helps to avoid overpopulating the protocol data with extra message data.
607 The option does not affect the remote side of a transfer without using
608 `--remote-option`, e.g. `-M--msgs2stderr` or `{-M,}--msgs2stderr`.
610 Also keep in mind that connecting to a normal (non-remote-shell) daemon
611 does not have a stderr channel to send messages back to the client side, so
612 a modern rsync only allows the option on a remote-shell-run daemon.
614 This option has the side-effect of making stderr output get line-buffered
615 so that the merging of the output of 3 programs happens in a more readable
620 This option decreases the amount of information you are given during the
621 transfer, notably suppressing information messages from the remote server.
622 This option is useful when invoking rsync from cron.
626 This option affects the information that is output by the client at the
627 start of a daemon transfer. This suppresses the message-of-the-day (MOTD)
628 text, but it also affects the list of modules that the daemon sends in
629 response to the "rsync host::" request (due to a limitation in the rsync
630 protocol), so omit this option if you want to request the list of modules
633 0. `--ignore-times`, `-I`
635 Normally rsync will skip any files that are already the same size and have
636 the same modification timestamp. This option turns off this "quick check"
637 behavior, causing all files to be updated.
641 This modifies rsync's "quick check" algorithm for finding files that need
642 to be transferred, changing it from the default of transferring files with
643 either a changed size or a changed last-modified time to just looking for
644 files that have changed in size. This is useful when starting to use rsync
645 after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
648 0. `--modify-window=NUM`, `-@`
650 When comparing two timestamps, rsync treats the timestamps as being equal
651 if they differ by no more than the modify-window value. The default is 0,
652 which matches just integer seconds. If you specify a negative value (and
653 the receiver is at least version 3.1.3) then nanoseconds will also be taken
654 into account. Specifying 1 is useful for copies to/from MS Windows FAT
655 filesystems, because FAT represents times with a 2-second resolution
656 (allowing times to differ from the original by up to 1 second).
658 If you want all your transfers to default to comparing nanoseconds, you can
659 create a `~/.popt` file and put these lines in it:
661 > rsync alias -a -a@-1
662 > rsync alias -t -t@-1
664 With that as the default, you'd need to specify `--modify-window=0` (aka
665 `-@0`) to override it and ignore nanoseconds, e.g. if you're copying
666 between ext3 and ext4, or if the receiving rsync is older than 3.1.3.
668 0. `--checksum`, `-c`
670 This changes the way rsync checks if the files have been changed and are in
671 need of a transfer. Without this option, rsync uses a "quick check" that
672 (by default) checks if each file's size and time of last modification match
673 between the sender and receiver. This option changes this to compare a
674 128-bit checksum for each file that has a matching size. Generating the
675 checksums means that both sides will expend a lot of disk I/O reading all
676 the data in the files in the transfer, so this can slow things down
677 significantly (and this is prior to any reading that will be done to
678 transfer changed files)
680 The sending side generates its checksums while it is doing the file-system
681 scan that builds the list of the available files. The receiver generates
682 its checksums when it is scanning for changed files, and will checksum any
683 file that has the same size as the corresponding sender's file: files with
684 either a changed size or a changed checksum are selected for transfer.
686 Note that rsync always verifies that each _transferred_ file was correctly
687 reconstructed on the receiving side by checking a whole-file checksum that
688 is generated as the file is transferred, but that automatic
689 after-the-transfer verification has nothing to do with this option's
690 before-the-transfer "Does this file need to be updated?" check.
692 The checksum used is auto-negotiated between the client and the server, but
693 can be overridden using either the `--checksum-choice` (`--cc`) option or an
694 environment variable that is discussed in that option's section.
698 This is equivalent to `-rlptgoD`. It is a quick way of saying you want
699 recursion and want to preserve almost everything (with `-H` being a notable
700 omission). The only exception to the above equivalence is when
701 `--files-from` is specified, in which case `-r` is not implied.
703 Note that `-a` **does not preserve hardlinks**, because finding
704 multiply-linked files is expensive. You must separately specify `-H`.
708 You may turn off one or more implied options by prefixing the option name
709 with "no-". Not all options may be prefixed with a "no-": only options that
710 are implied by other options (e.g. `--no-D`, `--no-perms`) or have
711 different defaults in various circumstances (e.g. `--no-whole-file`,
712 `--no-blocking-io`, `--no-dirs`). You may specify either the short or the
713 long option name after the "no-" prefix (e.g. `--no-R` is the same as
716 For example: if you want to use `-a` (`--archive`) but don't want `-o`
717 (`--owner`), instead of converting `-a` into `-rlptgD`, you could specify
718 `-a --no-o` (or `-a --no-owner`).
720 The order of the options is important: if you specify `--no-r -a`, the
721 `-r` option would end up being turned on, the opposite of `-a --no-r`.
722 Note also that the side-effects of the `--files-from` option are NOT
723 positional, as it affects the default state of several options and slightly
724 changes the meaning of `-a` (see the `--files-from` option for more
727 0. `--recursive`, `-r`
729 This tells rsync to copy directories recursively. See also `--dirs` (`-d`).
731 Beginning with rsync 3.0.0, the recursive algorithm used is now an
732 incremental scan that uses much less memory than before and begins the
733 transfer after the scanning of the first few directories have been
734 completed. This incremental scan only affects our recursion algorithm, and
735 does not change a non-recursive transfer. It is also only possible when
736 both ends of the transfer are at least version 3.0.0.
738 Some options require rsync to know the full file list, so these options
739 disable the incremental recursion mode. These include: `--delete-before`,
740 `--delete-after`, `--prune-empty-dirs`, and `--delay-updates`. Because of
741 this, the default delete mode when you specify `--delete` is now
742 `--delete-during` when both ends of the connection are at least 3.0.0 (use
743 `--del` or `--delete-during` to request this improved deletion mode
744 explicitly). See also the `--delete-delay` option that is a better choice
745 than using `--delete-after`.
747 Incremental recursion can be disabled using the `--no-inc-recursive` option
748 or its shorter `--no-i-r` alias.
750 0. `--relative`, `-R`
752 Use relative paths. This means that the full path names specified on the
753 command line are sent to the server rather than just the last parts of the
754 filenames. This is particularly useful when you want to send several
755 different directories at the same time. For example, if you used this
758 > rsync -av /foo/bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/
760 would create a file named baz.c in /tmp/ on the remote machine. If instead
763 > rsync -avR /foo/bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/
765 then a file named /tmp/foo/bar/baz.c would be created on the remote
766 machine, preserving its full path. These extra path elements are called
767 "implied directories" (i.e. the "foo" and the "foo/bar" directories in the
770 Beginning with rsync 3.0.0, rsync always sends these implied directories as
771 real directories in the file list, even if a path element is really a
772 symlink on the sending side. This prevents some really unexpected behaviors
773 when copying the full path of a file that you didn't realize had a symlink
774 in its path. If you want to duplicate a server-side symlink, include both
775 the symlink via its path, and referent directory via its real path. If
776 you're dealing with an older rsync on the sending side, you may need to use
777 the `--no-implied-dirs` option.
779 It is also possible to limit the amount of path information that is sent as
780 implied directories for each path you specify. With a modern rsync on the
781 sending side (beginning with 2.6.7), you can insert a dot and a slash into
782 the source path, like this:
784 > rsync -avR /foo/./bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/
786 That would create /tmp/bar/baz.c on the remote machine. (Note that the dot
787 must be followed by a slash, so "/foo/." would not be abbreviated.) For
788 older rsync versions, you would need to use a chdir to limit the source
789 path. For example, when pushing files:
791 > (cd /foo; rsync -avR bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/)
793 (Note that the parens put the two commands into a sub-shell, so that the
794 "cd" command doesn't remain in effect for future commands.) If you're
795 pulling files from an older rsync, use this idiom (but only for a
796 non-daemon transfer):
798 > rsync -avR --rsync-path="cd /foo; rsync" \
799 > remote:bar/baz.c /tmp/
801 0. `--no-implied-dirs`
803 This option affects the default behavior of the `--relative` option. When
804 it is specified, the attributes of the implied directories from the source
805 names are not included in the transfer. This means that the corresponding
806 path elements on the destination system are left unchanged if they exist,
807 and any missing implied directories are created with default attributes.
808 This even allows these implied path elements to have big differences, such
809 as being a symlink to a directory on the receiving side.
811 For instance, if a command-line arg or a files-from entry told rsync to
812 transfer the file "path/foo/file", the directories "path" and "path/foo"
813 are implied when `--relative` is used. If "path/foo" is a symlink to "bar"
814 on the destination system, the receiving rsync would ordinarily delete
815 "path/foo", recreate it as a directory, and receive the file into the new
816 directory. With `--no-implied-dirs`, the receiving rsync updates
817 "path/foo/file" using the existing path elements, which means that the file
818 ends up being created in "path/bar". Another way to accomplish this link
819 preservation is to use the `--keep-dirlinks` option (which will also affect
820 symlinks to directories in the rest of the transfer).
822 When pulling files from an rsync older than 3.0.0, you may need to use this
823 option if the sending side has a symlink in the path you request and you
824 wish the implied directories to be transferred as normal directories.
828 With this option, preexisting destination files are renamed as each file is
829 transferred or deleted. You can control where the backup file goes and
830 what (if any) suffix gets appended using the `--backup-dir` and `--suffix`
833 Note that if you don't specify `--backup-dir`, (1) the `--omit-dir-times`
834 option will be forced on, and (2) if `--delete` is also in effect (without
835 `--delete-excluded`), rsync will add a "protect" filter-rule for the backup
836 suffix to the end of all your existing excludes (e.g. `-f "P *~"`). This
837 will prevent previously backed-up files from being deleted. Note that if
838 you are supplying your own filter rules, you may need to manually insert
839 your own exclude/protect rule somewhere higher up in the list so that it
840 has a high enough priority to be effective (e.g., if your rules specify a
841 trailing inclusion/exclusion of `*`, the auto-added rule would never be
844 0. `--backup-dir=DIR`
846 This implies the `--backup` option, and tells rsync to store all
847 backups in the specified directory on the receiving side. This can be used
848 for incremental backups. You can additionally specify a backup suffix
849 using the `--suffix` option (otherwise the files backed up in the specified
850 directory will keep their original filenames).
852 Note that if you specify a relative path, the backup directory will be
853 relative to the destination directory, so you probably want to specify
854 either an absolute path or a path that starts with "../". If an rsync
855 daemon is the receiver, the backup dir cannot go outside the module's path
856 hierarchy, so take extra care not to delete it or copy into it.
860 This option allows you to override the default backup suffix used with the
861 `--backup` (`-b`) option. The default suffix is a `~` if no `--backup-dir`
862 was specified, otherwise it is an empty string.
866 This forces rsync to skip any files which exist on the destination and have
867 a modified time that is newer than the source file. (If an existing
868 destination file has a modification time equal to the source file's, it
869 will be updated if the sizes are different.)
871 Note that this does not affect the copying of dirs, symlinks, or other
872 special files. Also, a difference of file format between the sender and
873 receiver is always considered to be important enough for an update, no
874 matter what date is on the objects. In other words, if the source has a
875 directory where the destination has a file, the transfer would occur
876 regardless of the timestamps.
878 This option is a transfer rule, not an exclude, so it doesn't affect the
879 data that goes into the file-lists, and thus it doesn't affect deletions.
880 It just limits the files that the receiver requests to be transferred.
884 This option changes how rsync transfers a file when its data needs to be
885 updated: instead of the default method of creating a new copy of the file
886 and moving it into place when it is complete, rsync instead writes the
887 updated data directly to the destination file.
889 This has several effects:
891 - Hard links are not broken. This means the new data will be visible
892 through other hard links to the destination file. Moreover, attempts to
893 copy differing source files onto a multiply-linked destination file will
894 result in a "tug of war" with the destination data changing back and
896 - In-use binaries cannot be updated (either the OS will prevent this from
897 happening, or binaries that attempt to swap-in their data will misbehave
899 - The file's data will be in an inconsistent state during the transfer and
900 will be left that way if the transfer is interrupted or if an update
902 - A file that rsync cannot write to cannot be updated. While a super user
903 can update any file, a normal user needs to be granted write permission
904 for the open of the file for writing to be successful.
905 - The efficiency of rsync's delta-transfer algorithm may be reduced if some
906 data in the destination file is overwritten before it can be copied to a
907 position later in the file. This does not apply if you use `--backup`,
908 since rsync is smart enough to use the backup file as the basis file for
911 WARNING: you should not use this option to update files that are being
912 accessed by others, so be careful when choosing to use this for a copy.
914 This option is useful for transferring large files with block-based changes
915 or appended data, and also on systems that are disk bound, not network
916 bound. It can also help keep a copy-on-write filesystem snapshot from
917 diverging the entire contents of a file that only has minor changes.
919 The option implies `--partial` (since an interrupted transfer does not
920 delete the file), but conflicts with `--partial-dir` and `--delay-updates`.
921 Prior to rsync 2.6.4 `--inplace` was also incompatible with
922 `--compare-dest` and `--link-dest`.
926 This causes rsync to update a file by appending data onto the end of the
927 file, which presumes that the data that already exists on the receiving
928 side is identical with the start of the file on the sending side. If a
929 file needs to be transferred and its size on the receiver is the same or
930 longer than the size on the sender, the file is skipped. This does not
931 interfere with the updating of a file's non-content attributes (e.g.
932 permissions, ownership, etc.) when the file does not need to be
933 transferred, nor does it affect the updating of any non-regular files.
936 The use of `--append` can be dangerous if you aren't 100% sure that the
937 files that are longer have only grown by the appending of data onto the
938 end. You should thus use include/exclude/filter rules to ensure that such
939 a transfer is only affecting files that you know to be growing via appended
944 This works just like the `--append` option, but the existing data on the
945 receiving side is included in the full-file checksum verification step,
946 which will cause a file to be resent if the final verification step fails
947 (rsync uses a normal, non-appending `--inplace` transfer for the resend).
948 It otherwise has the exact same caveats for files that have not grown
949 larger, so don't use this for a general copy.
951 Note: prior to rsync 3.0.0, the `--append` option worked like
952 `--append-verify`, so if you are interacting with an older rsync (or the
953 transfer is using a protocol prior to 30), specifying either append option
954 will initiate an `--append-verify` transfer.
958 Tell the sending side to include any directories that are encountered.
959 Unlike `--recursive`, a directory's contents are not copied unless the
960 directory name specified is "." or ends with a trailing slash (e.g. ".",
961 "dir/.", "dir/", etc.). Without this option or the `--recursive` option,
962 rsync will skip all directories it encounters (and output a message to that
963 effect for each one). If you specify both `--dirs` and `--recursive`,
964 `--recursive` takes precedence.
966 The `--dirs` option is implied by the `--files-from` option or the
967 `--list-only` option (including an implied `--list-only` usage) if
968 `--recursive` wasn't specified (so that directories are seen in the
969 listing). Specify `--no-dirs` (or `--no-d`) if you want to turn this off.
971 There is also a backward-compatibility helper option, `--old-dirs` (or
972 `--old-d`) that tells rsync to use a hack of `-r --exclude='/*/*'` to get
973 an older rsync to list a single directory without recursing.
977 When symlinks are encountered, recreate the symlink on the destination.
979 0. `--copy-links`, `-L`
981 When symlinks are encountered, the item that they point to (the referent)
982 is copied, rather than the symlink. In older versions of rsync, this
983 option also had the side-effect of telling the receiving side to follow
984 symlinks, such as symlinks to directories. In a modern rsync such as this
985 one, you'll need to specify `--keep-dirlinks` (`-K`) to get this extra
986 behavior. The only exception is when sending files to an rsync that is too
987 old to understand `-K` -- in that case, the `-L` option will still have the
988 side-effect of `-K` on that older receiving rsync.
990 0. `--copy-unsafe-links`
992 This tells rsync to copy the referent of symbolic links that point outside
993 the copied tree. Absolute symlinks are also treated like ordinary files,
994 and so are any symlinks in the source path itself when `--relative` is
995 used. This option has no additional effect if `--copy-links` was also
998 Note that the cut-off point is the top of the transfer, which is the part
999 of the path that rsync isn't mentioning in the verbose output. If you copy
1000 "/src/subdir" to "/dest/" then the "subdir" directory is a name inside the
1001 transfer tree, not the top of the transfer (which is /src) so it is legal
1002 for created relative symlinks to refer to other names inside the /src and
1003 /dest directories. If you instead copy "/src/subdir/" (with a trailing
1004 slash) to "/dest/subdir" that would not allow symlinks to any files outside
1009 This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links which point outside the
1010 copied tree. All absolute symlinks are also ignored. Using this option in
1011 conjunction with `--relative` may give unexpected results.
1015 This option tells rsync to (1) modify all symlinks on the receiving side in
1016 a way that makes them unusable but recoverable (see below), or (2) to
1017 unmunge symlinks on the sending side that had been stored in a munged
1018 state. This is useful if you don't quite trust the source of the data to
1019 not try to slip in a symlink to a unexpected place.
1021 The way rsync disables the use of symlinks is to prefix each one with the
1022 string "/rsyncd-munged/". This prevents the links from being used as long
1023 as that directory does not exist. When this option is enabled, rsync will
1024 refuse to run if that path is a directory or a symlink to a directory.
1026 The option only affects the client side of the transfer, so if you need it
1027 to affect the server, specify it via `--remote-option`. (Note that in a
1028 local transfer, the client side is the sender.)
1030 This option has no affect on a daemon, since the daemon configures whether
1031 it wants munged symlinks via its "`munge symlinks`" parameter. See also the
1032 "munge-symlinks" perl script in the support directory of the source code.
1034 0. `--copy-dirlinks`, `-k`
1036 This option causes the sending side to treat a symlink to a directory as
1037 though it were a real directory. This is useful if you don't want symlinks
1038 to non-directories to be affected, as they would be using `--copy-links`.
1040 Without this option, if the sending side has replaced a directory with a
1041 symlink to a directory, the receiving side will delete anything that is in
1042 the way of the new symlink, including a directory hierarchy (as long as
1043 `--force` or `--delete` is in effect).
1045 See also `--keep-dirlinks` for an analogous option for the receiving side.
1047 `--copy-dirlinks` applies to all symlinks to directories in the source. If
1048 you want to follow only a few specified symlinks, a trick you can use is to
1049 pass them as additional source args with a trailing slash, using
1050 `--relative` to make the paths match up right. For example:
1052 > rsync -r --relative src/./ src/./follow-me/ dest/
1054 This works because rsync calls **lstat**(2) on the source arg as given, and
1055 the trailing slash makes **lstat**(2) follow the symlink, giving rise to a
1056 directory in the file-list which overrides the symlink found during the
1059 0. `--keep-dirlinks`, `-K`
1061 This option causes the receiving side to treat a symlink to a directory as
1062 though it were a real directory, but only if it matches a real directory
1063 from the sender. Without this option, the receiver's symlink would be
1064 deleted and replaced with a real directory.
1066 For example, suppose you transfer a directory "foo" that contains a file
1067 "file", but "foo" is a symlink to directory "bar" on the receiver. Without
1068 `--keep-dirlinks`, the receiver deletes symlink "foo", recreates it as a
1069 directory, and receives the file into the new directory. With
1070 `--keep-dirlinks`, the receiver keeps the symlink and "file" ends up in
1073 One note of caution: if you use `--keep-dirlinks`, you must trust all the
1074 symlinks in the copy! If it is possible for an untrusted user to create
1075 their own symlink to any directory, the user could then (on a subsequent
1076 copy) replace the symlink with a real directory and affect the content of
1077 whatever directory the symlink references. For backup copies, you are
1078 better off using something like a bind mount instead of a symlink to modify
1079 your receiving hierarchy.
1081 See also `--copy-dirlinks` for an analogous option for the sending side.
1083 0. `--hard-links`, `-H`
1085 This tells rsync to look for hard-linked files in the source and link
1086 together the corresponding files on the destination. Without this option,
1087 hard-linked files in the source are treated as though they were separate
1090 This option does NOT necessarily ensure that the pattern of hard links on
1091 the destination exactly matches that on the source. Cases in which the
1092 destination may end up with extra hard links include the following:
1094 - If the destination contains extraneous hard-links (more linking than what
1095 is present in the source file list), the copying algorithm will not break
1096 them explicitly. However, if one or more of the paths have content
1097 differences, the normal file-update process will break those extra links
1098 (unless you are using the `--inplace` option).
1099 - If you specify a `--link-dest` directory that contains hard links, the
1100 linking of the destination files against the `--link-dest` files can
1101 cause some paths in the destination to become linked together due to the
1102 `--link-dest` associations.
1104 Note that rsync can only detect hard links between files that are inside
1105 the transfer set. If rsync updates a file that has extra hard-link
1106 connections to files outside the transfer, that linkage will be broken. If
1107 you are tempted to use the `--inplace` option to avoid this breakage, be
1108 very careful that you know how your files are being updated so that you are
1109 certain that no unintended changes happen due to lingering hard links (and
1110 see the `--inplace` option for more caveats).
1112 If incremental recursion is active (see `--recursive`), rsync may transfer
1113 a missing hard-linked file before it finds that another link for that
1114 contents exists elsewhere in the hierarchy. This does not affect the
1115 accuracy of the transfer (i.e. which files are hard-linked together), just
1116 its efficiency (i.e. copying the data for a new, early copy of a
1117 hard-linked file that could have been found later in the transfer in
1118 another member of the hard-linked set of files). One way to avoid this
1119 inefficiency is to disable incremental recursion using the
1120 `--no-inc-recursive` option.
1124 This option causes the receiving rsync to set the destination permissions
1125 to be the same as the source permissions. (See also the `--chmod` option
1126 for a way to modify what rsync considers to be the source permissions.)
1128 When this option is _off_, permissions are set as follows:
1130 - Existing files (including updated files) retain their existing
1131 permissions, though the `--executability` option might change just the
1132 execute permission for the file.
1133 - New files get their "normal" permission bits set to the source file's
1134 permissions masked with the receiving directory's default permissions
1135 (either the receiving process's umask, or the permissions specified via
1136 the destination directory's default ACL), and their special permission
1137 bits disabled except in the case where a new directory inherits a setgid
1138 bit from its parent directory.
1140 Thus, when `--perms` and `--executability` are both disabled, rsync's
1141 behavior is the same as that of other file-copy utilities, such as **cp**(1)
1144 In summary: to give destination files (both old and new) the source
1145 permissions, use `--perms`. To give new files the destination-default
1146 permissions (while leaving existing files unchanged), make sure that the
1147 `--perms` option is off and use `--chmod=ugo=rwX` (which ensures that all
1148 non-masked bits get enabled). If you'd care to make this latter behavior
1149 easier to type, you could define a popt alias for it, such as putting this
1150 line in the file `~/.popt` (the following defines the `-Z` option, and
1151 includes `--no-g` to use the default group of the destination dir):
1153 > rsync alias -Z --no-p --no-g --chmod=ugo=rwX
1155 You could then use this new option in a command such as this one:
1157 > rsync -avZ src/ dest/
1159 (Caveat: make sure that `-a` does not follow `-Z`, or it will re-enable the
1160 two `--no-*` options mentioned above.)
1162 The preservation of the destination's setgid bit on newly-created
1163 directories when `--perms` is off was added in rsync 2.6.7. Older rsync
1164 versions erroneously preserved the three special permission bits for
1165 newly-created files when `--perms` was off, while overriding the
1166 destination's setgid bit setting on a newly-created directory. Default ACL
1167 observance was added to the ACL patch for rsync 2.6.7, so older (or
1168 non-ACL-enabled) rsyncs use the umask even if default ACLs are present.
1169 (Keep in mind that it is the version of the receiving rsync that affects
1172 0. `--executability`, `-E`
1174 This option causes rsync to preserve the executability (or
1175 non-executability) of regular files when `--perms` is not enabled. A
1176 regular file is considered to be executable if at least one 'x' is turned
1177 on in its permissions. When an existing destination file's executability
1178 differs from that of the corresponding source file, rsync modifies the
1179 destination file's permissions as follows:
1181 - To make a file non-executable, rsync turns off all its 'x' permissions.
1182 - To make a file executable, rsync turns on each 'x' permission that has a
1183 corresponding 'r' permission enabled.
1185 If `--perms` is enabled, this option is ignored.
1189 This option causes rsync to update the destination ACLs to be the same as
1190 the source ACLs. The option also implies `--perms`.
1192 The source and destination systems must have compatible ACL entries for
1193 this option to work properly. See the `--fake-super` option for a way to
1194 backup and restore ACLs that are not compatible.
1198 This option causes rsync to update the destination extended attributes to
1199 be the same as the source ones.
1201 For systems that support extended-attribute namespaces, a copy being done
1202 by a super-user copies all namespaces except system.\*. A normal user only
1203 copies the user.\* namespace. To be able to backup and restore non-user
1204 namespaces as a normal user, see the `--fake-super` option.
1206 The above name filtering can be overridden by using one or more filter
1207 options with the **x** modifier. When you specify an xattr-affecting
1208 filter rule, rsync requires that you do your own system/user filtering, as
1209 well as any additional filtering for what xattr names are copied and what
1210 names are allowed to be deleted. For example, to skip the system
1211 namespace, you could specify:
1213 > --filter='-x system.*'
1215 To skip all namespaces except the user namespace, you could specify a
1218 > --filter='-x! user.*'
1220 To prevent any attributes from being deleted, you could specify a
1221 receiver-only rule that excludes all names:
1225 Note that the `-X` option does not copy rsync's special xattr values (e.g.
1226 those used by `--fake-super`) unless you repeat the option (e.g. `-XX`).
1227 This "copy all xattrs" mode cannot be used with `--fake-super`.
1231 This option tells rsync to apply one or more comma-separated "chmod" modes
1232 to the permission of the files in the transfer. The resulting value is
1233 treated as though it were the permissions that the sending side supplied
1234 for the file, which means that this option can seem to have no effect on
1235 existing files if `--perms` is not enabled.
1237 In addition to the normal parsing rules specified in the **chmod**(1)
1238 manpage, you can specify an item that should only apply to a directory by
1239 prefixing it with a 'D', or specify an item that should only apply to a
1240 file by prefixing it with a 'F'. For example, the following will ensure
1241 that all directories get marked set-gid, that no files are other-writable,
1242 that both are user-writable and group-writable, and that both have
1243 consistent executability across all bits:
1245 > --chmod=Dg+s,ug+w,Fo-w,+X
1247 Using octal mode numbers is also allowed:
1249 > --chmod=D2775,F664
1251 It is also legal to specify multiple `--chmod` options, as each additional
1252 option is just appended to the list of changes to make.
1254 See the `--perms` and `--executability` options for how the resulting
1255 permission value can be applied to the files in the transfer.
1259 This option causes rsync to set the owner of the destination file to be the
1260 same as the source file, but only if the receiving rsync is being run as
1261 the super-user (see also the `--super` and `--fake-super` options). Without
1262 this option, the owner of new and/or transferred files are set to the
1263 invoking user on the receiving side.
1265 The preservation of ownership will associate matching names by default, but
1266 may fall back to using the ID number in some circumstances (see also the
1267 `--numeric-ids` option for a full discussion).
1271 This option causes rsync to set the group of the destination file to be the
1272 same as the source file. If the receiving program is not running as the
1273 super-user (or if `--no-super` was specified), only groups that the
1274 invoking user on the receiving side is a member of will be preserved.
1275 Without this option, the group is set to the default group of the invoking
1276 user on the receiving side.
1278 The preservation of group information will associate matching names by
1279 default, but may fall back to using the ID number in some circumstances
1280 (see also the `--numeric-ids` option for a full discussion).
1284 This option causes rsync to transfer character and block device files to
1285 the remote system to recreate these devices. This option has no effect if
1286 the receiving rsync is not run as the super-user (see also the `--super`
1287 and `--fake-super` options).
1291 This option causes rsync to transfer special files such as named sockets
1296 The `-D` option is equivalent to `--devices --specials`.
1298 0. `--write-devices`
1300 This tells rsync to treat a device on the receiving side as a regular file,
1301 allowing the writing of file data into a device.
1303 This option implies the `--inplace` option.
1305 Be careful using this, as you should know what devices are present on the
1306 receiving side of the transfer, especially if running rsync as root.
1308 This option is refused by an rsync daemon.
1312 This tells rsync to transfer modification times along with the files and
1313 update them on the remote system. Note that if this option is not used,
1314 the optimization that excludes files that have not been modified cannot be
1315 effective; in other words, a missing `-t` or `-a` will cause the next
1316 transfer to behave as if it used `-I`, causing all files to be updated
1317 (though rsync's delta-transfer algorithm will make the update fairly
1318 efficient if the files haven't actually changed, you're much better off
1323 This tells rsync to set the access (use) times of the destination files to
1324 the same value as the source files.
1326 If repeated, it also sets the `--open-noatime` option, which can help you
1327 to make the sending and receiving systems have the same access times on the
1328 transferred files without needing to run rsync an extra time after a file
1331 Note that some older rsync versions (prior to 3.2.0) may have been built
1332 with a pre-release `--atimes` patch that does not imply `--open-noatime`
1333 when this option is repeated.
1337 This tells rsync to open files with the O_NOATIME flag (on systems that
1338 support it) to avoid changing the access time of the files that are being
1339 transferred. If your OS does not support the O_NOATIME flag then rsync
1340 will silently ignore this option. Note also that some filesystems are
1341 mounted to avoid updating the atime on read access even without the
1342 O_NOATIME flag being set.
1344 0. `--omit-dir-times`, `-O`
1346 This tells rsync to omit directories when it is preserving modification
1347 times (see `--times`). If NFS is sharing the directories on the receiving
1348 side, it is a good idea to use `-O`. This option is inferred if you use
1349 `--backup` without `--backup-dir`.
1351 This option also has the side-effect of avoiding early creation of
1352 directories in incremental recursion copies. The default `--inc-recursive`
1353 copying normally does an early-create pass of all the sub-directories in a
1354 parent directory in order for it to be able to then set the modify time of
1355 the parent directory right away (without having to delay that until a bunch
1356 of recursive copying has finished). This early-create idiom is not
1357 necessary if directory modify times are not being preserved, so it is
1358 skipped. Since early-create directories don't have accurate mode, mtime,
1359 or ownership, the use of this option can help when someone wants to avoid
1360 these partially-finished directories.
1362 0. `--omit-link-times`, `-J`
1364 This tells rsync to omit symlinks when it is preserving modification times
1369 This tells the receiving side to attempt super-user activities even if the
1370 receiving rsync wasn't run by the super-user. These activities include:
1371 preserving users via the `--owner` option, preserving all groups (not just
1372 the current user's groups) via the `--groups` option, and copying devices
1373 via the `--devices` option. This is useful for systems that allow such
1374 activities without being the super-user, and also for ensuring that you
1375 will get errors if the receiving side isn't being run as the super-user.
1376 To turn off super-user activities, the super-user can use `--no-super`.
1380 When this option is enabled, rsync simulates super-user activities by
1381 saving/restoring the privileged attributes via special extended attributes
1382 that are attached to each file (as needed). This includes the file's owner
1383 and group (if it is not the default), the file's device info (device &
1384 special files are created as empty text files), and any permission bits
1385 that we won't allow to be set on the real file (e.g. the real file gets
1386 u-s,g-s,o-t for safety) or that would limit the owner's access (since the
1387 real super-user can always access/change a file, the files we create can
1388 always be accessed/changed by the creating user). This option also handles
1389 ACLs (if `--acls` was specified) and non-user extended attributes (if
1390 `--xattrs` was specified).
1392 This is a good way to backup data without using a super-user, and to store
1393 ACLs from incompatible systems.
1395 The `--fake-super` option only affects the side where the option is used.
1396 To affect the remote side of a remote-shell connection, use the
1397 `--remote-option` (`-M`) option:
1399 > rsync -av -M--fake-super /src/ host:/dest/
1401 For a local copy, this option affects both the source and the destination.
1402 If you wish a local copy to enable this option just for the destination
1403 files, specify `-M--fake-super`. If you wish a local copy to enable this
1404 option just for the source files, combine `--fake-super` with `-M--super`.
1406 This option is overridden by both `--super` and `--no-super`.
1408 See also the "`fake super`" setting in the daemon's rsyncd.conf file.
1412 Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take up less space on the
1413 destination. If combined with `--inplace` the file created might not end
1414 up with sparse blocks with some combinations of kernel version and/or
1415 filesystem type. If `--whole-file` is in effect (e.g. for a local copy)
1416 then it will always work because rsync truncates the file prior to writing
1417 out the updated version.
1419 Note that versions of rsync older than 3.1.3 will reject the combination of
1420 `--sparse` and `--inplace`.
1424 This tells the receiver to allocate each destination file to its eventual
1425 size before writing data to the file. Rsync will only use the real
1426 filesystem-level preallocation support provided by Linux's **fallocate**(2)
1427 system call or Cygwin's **posix_fallocate**(3), not the slow glibc
1428 implementation that writes a null byte into each block.
1430 Without this option, larger files may not be entirely contiguous on the
1431 filesystem, but with this option rsync will probably copy more slowly. If
1432 the destination is not an extent-supporting filesystem (such as ext4, xfs,
1433 NTFS, etc.), this option may have no positive effect at all.
1435 If combined with `--sparse`, the file will only have sparse blocks (as
1436 opposed to allocated sequences of null bytes) if the kernel version and
1437 filesystem type support creating holes in the allocated data.
1439 0. `--dry-run`, `-n`
1441 This makes rsync perform a trial run that doesn't make any changes (and
1442 produces mostly the same output as a real run). It is most commonly used
1443 in combination with the `--verbose`, `-v` and/or `--itemize-changes`, `-i`
1444 options to see what an rsync command is going to do before one actually
1447 The output of `--itemize-changes` is supposed to be exactly the same on a
1448 dry run and a subsequent real run (barring intentional trickery and system
1449 call failures); if it isn't, that's a bug. Other output should be mostly
1450 unchanged, but may differ in some areas. Notably, a dry run does not send
1451 the actual data for file transfers, so `--progress` has no effect, the
1452 "bytes sent", "bytes received", "literal data", and "matched data"
1453 statistics are too small, and the "speedup" value is equivalent to a run
1454 where no file transfers were needed.
1456 0. `--whole-file`, `-W`
1458 This option disables rsync's delta-transfer algorithm, which causes all
1459 transferred files to be sent whole. The transfer may be faster if this
1460 option is used when the bandwidth between the source and destination
1461 machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the "disk"
1462 is actually a networked filesystem). This is the default when both the
1463 source and destination are specified as local paths, but only if no
1464 batch-writing option is in effect.
1466 0. `--checksum-choice=STR`, `--cc=STR`
1468 This option overrides the checksum algorithms. If one algorithm name is
1469 specified, it is used for both the transfer checksums and (assuming
1470 `--checksum` is specified) the pre-transfer checksums. If two
1471 comma-separated names are supplied, the first name affects the transfer
1472 checksums, and the second name affects the pre-transfer checksums (`-c`).
1474 The checksum options that you may be able to use are:
1476 - `auto` (the default automatic choice)
1479 - `xxh64` (aka `xxhash`)
1484 Run `rsync --version` to see the default checksum list compiled into your
1485 version (which may differ from the list above).
1487 If "none" is specified for the first (or only) name, the `--whole-file`
1488 option is forced on and no checksum verification is performed on the
1489 transferred data. If "none" is specified for the second (or only) name,
1490 the `--checksum` option cannot be used.
1492 The "auto" option is the default, where rsync bases its algorithm choice on
1493 a negotiation between the client and the server as follows:
1495 When both sides of the transfer are at least 3.2.0, rsync chooses the first
1496 algorithm in the client's list of choices that is also in the server's list
1497 of choices. If no common checksum choice is found, rsync exits with
1498 an error. If the remote rsync is too old to support checksum negotiation,
1499 a value is chosen based on the protocol version (which chooses between MD5
1500 and various flavors of MD4 based on protocol age).
1502 The default order can be customized by setting the environment variable
1503 RSYNC_CHECKSUM_LIST to a space-separated list of acceptable checksum names.
1504 If the string contains a "`&`" character, it is separated into the "client
1505 string & server string", otherwise the same string
1506 applies to both. If the string (or string portion) contains no
1507 non-whitespace characters, the default checksum list is used. This method
1508 does not allow you to specify the transfer checksum separately from the
1509 pre-transfer checksum, and it discards "auto" and all unknown checksum
1510 names. A list with only invalid names results in a failed negotiation.
1512 The use of the `--checksum-choice` option overrides this environment list.
1514 0. `--one-file-system`, `-x`
1516 This tells rsync to avoid crossing a filesystem boundary when recursing.
1517 This does not limit the user's ability to specify items to copy from
1518 multiple filesystems, just rsync's recursion through the hierarchy of each
1519 directory that the user specified, and also the analogous recursion on the
1520 receiving side during deletion. Also keep in mind that rsync treats a
1521 "bind" mount to the same device as being on the same filesystem.
1523 If this option is repeated, rsync omits all mount-point directories from
1524 the copy. Otherwise, it includes an empty directory at each mount-point it
1525 encounters (using the attributes of the mounted directory because those of
1526 the underlying mount-point directory are inaccessible).
1528 If rsync has been told to collapse symlinks (via `--copy-links` or
1529 `--copy-unsafe-links`), a symlink to a directory on another device is
1530 treated like a mount-point. Symlinks to non-directories are unaffected by
1533 0. `--existing`, `--ignore-non-existing`
1535 This tells rsync to skip creating files (including directories) that do not
1536 exist yet on the destination. If this option is combined with the
1537 `--ignore-existing` option, no files will be updated (which can be useful
1538 if all you want to do is delete extraneous files).
1540 This option is a transfer rule, not an exclude, so it doesn't affect the
1541 data that goes into the file-lists, and thus it doesn't affect deletions.
1542 It just limits the files that the receiver requests to be transferred.
1544 0. `--ignore-existing`
1546 This tells rsync to skip updating files that already exist on the
1547 destination (this does _not_ ignore existing directories, or nothing would
1548 get done). See also `--existing`.
1550 This option is a transfer rule, not an exclude, so it doesn't affect the
1551 data that goes into the file-lists, and thus it doesn't affect deletions.
1552 It just limits the files that the receiver requests to be transferred.
1554 This option can be useful for those doing backups using the `--link-dest`
1555 option when they need to continue a backup run that got interrupted. Since
1556 a `--link-dest` run is copied into a new directory hierarchy (when it is
1557 used properly), using `--ignore-existing` will ensure that the
1558 already-handled files don't get tweaked (which avoids a change in
1559 permissions on the hard-linked files). This does mean that this option is
1560 only looking at the existing files in the destination hierarchy itself.
1562 0. `--remove-source-files`
1564 This tells rsync to remove from the sending side the files (meaning
1565 non-directories) that are a part of the transfer and have been successfully
1566 duplicated on the receiving side.
1568 Note that you should only use this option on source files that are
1569 quiescent. If you are using this to move files that show up in a
1570 particular directory over to another host, make sure that the finished
1571 files get renamed into the source directory, not directly written into it,
1572 so that rsync can't possibly transfer a file that is not yet fully written.
1573 If you can't first write the files into a different directory, you should
1574 use a naming idiom that lets rsync avoid transferring files that are not
1575 yet finished (e.g. name the file "foo.new" when it is written, rename it to
1576 "foo" when it is done, and then use the option `--exclude='*.new'` for the
1579 Starting with 3.1.0, rsync will skip the sender-side removal (and output an
1580 error) if the file's size or modify time has not stayed unchanged.
1584 This tells rsync to delete extraneous files from the receiving side (ones
1585 that aren't on the sending side), but only for the directories that are
1586 being synchronized. You must have asked rsync to send the whole directory
1587 (e.g. "`dir`" or "`dir/`") without using a wildcard for the directory's
1588 contents (e.g. "`dir/*`") since the wildcard is expanded by the shell and
1589 rsync thus gets a request to transfer individual files, not the files'
1590 parent directory. Files that are excluded from the transfer are also
1591 excluded from being deleted unless you use the `--delete-excluded` option
1592 or mark the rules as only matching on the sending side (see the
1593 include/exclude modifiers in the FILTER RULES section).
1595 Prior to rsync 2.6.7, this option would have no effect unless `--recursive`
1596 was enabled. Beginning with 2.6.7, deletions will also occur when `--dirs`
1597 (`-d`) is enabled, but only for directories whose contents are being
1600 This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea to
1601 first try a run using the `--dry-run` option (`-n`) to see what files are
1602 going to be deleted.
1604 If the sending side detects any I/O errors, then the deletion of any files
1605 at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to prevent
1606 temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the sending side from
1607 causing a massive deletion of files on the destination. You can override
1608 this with the `--ignore-errors` option.
1610 The `--delete` option may be combined with one of the --delete-WHEN options
1611 without conflict, as well as `--delete-excluded`. However, if none of the
1612 `--delete-WHEN` options are specified, rsync will choose the
1613 `--delete-during` algorithm when talking to rsync 3.0.0 or newer, and the
1614 `--delete-before` algorithm when talking to an older rsync. See also
1615 `--delete-delay` and `--delete-after`.
1617 0. `--delete-before`
1619 Request that the file-deletions on the receiving side be done before the
1620 transfer starts. See `--delete` (which is implied) for more details on
1623 Deleting before the transfer is helpful if the filesystem is tight for
1624 space and removing extraneous files would help to make the transfer
1625 possible. However, it does introduce a delay before the start of the
1626 transfer, and this delay might cause the transfer to timeout (if
1627 `--timeout` was specified). It also forces rsync to use the old,
1628 non-incremental recursion algorithm that requires rsync to scan all the
1629 files in the transfer into memory at once (see `--recursive`).
1631 0. `--delete-during`, `--del`
1633 Request that the file-deletions on the receiving side be done incrementally
1634 as the transfer happens. The per-directory delete scan is done right
1635 before each directory is checked for updates, so it behaves like a more
1636 efficient `--delete-before`, including doing the deletions prior to any
1637 per-directory filter files being updated. This option was first added in
1638 rsync version 2.6.4. See `--delete` (which is implied) for more details on
1643 Request that the file-deletions on the receiving side be computed during
1644 the transfer (like `--delete-during`), and then removed after the transfer
1645 completes. This is useful when combined with `--delay-updates` and/or
1646 `--fuzzy`, and is more efficient than using `--delete-after` (but can
1647 behave differently, since `--delete-after` computes the deletions in a
1648 separate pass after all updates are done). If the number of removed files
1649 overflows an internal buffer, a temporary file will be created on the
1650 receiving side to hold the names (it is removed while open, so you
1651 shouldn't see it during the transfer). If the creation of the temporary
1652 file fails, rsync will try to fall back to using `--delete-after` (which it
1653 cannot do if `--recursive` is doing an incremental scan). See `--delete`
1654 (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
1658 Request that the file-deletions on the receiving side be done after the
1659 transfer has completed. This is useful if you are sending new
1660 per-directory merge files as a part of the transfer and you want their
1661 exclusions to take effect for the delete phase of the current transfer. It
1662 also forces rsync to use the old, non-incremental recursion algorithm that
1663 requires rsync to scan all the files in the transfer into memory at once
1664 (see `--recursive`). See `--delete` (which is implied) for more details on
1667 0. `--delete-excluded`
1669 In addition to deleting the files on the receiving side that are not on the
1670 sending side, this tells rsync to also delete any files on the receiving
1671 side that are excluded (see `--exclude`). See the FILTER RULES section for
1672 a way to make individual exclusions behave this way on the receiver, and
1673 for a way to protect files from `--delete-excluded`. See `--delete` (which
1674 is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
1676 0. `--ignore-missing-args`
1678 When rsync is first processing the explicitly requested source files (e.g.
1679 command-line arguments or `--files-from` entries), it is normally an error
1680 if the file cannot be found. This option suppresses that error, and does
1681 not try to transfer the file. This does not affect subsequent
1682 vanished-file errors if a file was initially found to be present and later
1685 0. `--delete-missing-args`
1687 This option takes the behavior of (the implied) `--ignore-missing-args`
1688 option a step farther: each missing arg will become a deletion request of
1689 the corresponding destination file on the receiving side (should it exist).
1690 If the destination file is a non-empty directory, it will only be
1691 successfully deleted if `--force` or `--delete` are in effect. Other than
1692 that, this option is independent of any other type of delete processing.
1694 The missing source files are represented by special file-list entries which
1695 display as a "`*missing`" entry in the `--list-only` output.
1697 0. `--ignore-errors`
1699 Tells `--delete` to go ahead and delete files even when there are I/O
1704 This option tells rsync to delete a non-empty directory when it is to be
1705 replaced by a non-directory. This is only relevant if deletions are not
1706 active (see `--delete` for details).
1708 Note for older rsync versions: `--force` used to still be required when
1709 using `--delete-after`, and it used to be non-functional unless the
1710 `--recursive` option was also enabled.
1712 0. `--max-delete=NUM`
1714 This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM files or directories. If that
1715 limit is exceeded, all further deletions are skipped through the end of the
1716 transfer. At the end, rsync outputs a warning (including a count of the
1717 skipped deletions) and exits with an error code of 25 (unless some more
1718 important error condition also occurred).
1720 Beginning with version 3.0.0, you may specify `--max-delete=0` to be warned
1721 about any extraneous files in the destination without removing any of them.
1722 Older clients interpreted this as "unlimited", so if you don't know what
1723 version the client is, you can use the less obvious `--max-delete=-1` as a
1724 backward-compatible way to specify that no deletions be allowed (though
1725 really old versions didn't warn when the limit was exceeded).
1727 0. `--max-size=SIZE`
1729 This tells rsync to avoid transferring any file that is larger than the
1730 specified SIZE. A numeric value can be suffixed with a string to indicate
1731 the numeric units or left unqualified to specify bytes. Feel free to use a
1732 fractional value along with the units, such as `--max-size=1.5m`.
1734 This option is a transfer rule, not an exclude, so it doesn't affect the
1735 data that goes into the file-lists, and thus it doesn't affect deletions.
1736 It just limits the files that the receiver requests to be transferred.
1738 The first letter of a units string can be `B` (bytes), `K` (kilo), `M`
1739 (mega), `G` (giga), `T` (tera), or `P` (peta). If the string is a single
1740 char or has "ib" added to it (e.g. "G" or "GiB") then the units are
1741 multiples of 1024. If you use a two-letter suffix that ends with a "B"
1742 (e.g. "kb") then you get units that are multiples of 1000. The string's
1743 letters can be any mix of upper and lower-case that you want to use.
1745 Finally, if the string ends with either "+1" or "-1", it is offset by one
1746 byte in the indicated direction. The largest possible value is usually
1749 Examples: `--max-size=1.5mb-1` is 1499999 bytes, and `--max-size=2g+1` is
1752 Note that rsync versions prior to 3.1.0 did not allow `--max-size=0`.
1754 0. `--min-size=SIZE`
1756 This tells rsync to avoid transferring any file that is smaller than the
1757 specified SIZE, which can help in not transferring small, junk files. See
1758 the `--max-size` option for a description of SIZE and other information.
1760 Note that rsync versions prior to 3.1.0 did not allow `--min-size=0`.
1762 0. `--max-alloc=SIZE`
1764 By default rsync limits an individual malloc/realloc to about 1GB in size.
1765 For most people this limit works just fine and prevents a protocol error
1766 causing rsync to request massive amounts of memory. However, if you have
1767 many millions of files in a transfer, a large amount of server memory, and
1768 you don't want to split up your transfer into multiple parts, you can
1769 increase the per-allocation limit to something larger and rsync will
1770 consume more memory.
1772 Keep in mind that this is not a limit on the total size of allocated
1773 memory. It is a sanity-check value for each individual allocation.
1775 See the `--max-size` option for a description of how SIZE can be specified.
1776 The default suffix if none is given is bytes.
1778 Beginning in 3.2.3, a value of 0 specifies no limit.
1780 You can set a default value using the environment variable RSYNC_MAX_ALLOC
1781 using the same SIZE values as supported by this option. If the remote
1782 rsync doesn't understand the `--max-alloc` option, you can override an
1783 environmental value by specifying `--max-alloc=1g`, which will make rsync
1784 avoid sending the option to the remote side (because "1G" is the default).
1786 0. `--block-size=SIZE`, `-B`
1788 This forces the block size used in rsync's delta-transfer algorithm to a
1789 fixed value. It is normally selected based on the size of each file being
1790 updated. See the technical report for details.
1792 Beginning in 3.2.3 the SIZE can be specified with a suffix as detailed in
1793 the `--max-size` option. Older versions only accepted a byte count.
1795 0. `--rsh=COMMAND`, `-e`
1797 This option allows you to choose an alternative remote shell program to use
1798 for communication between the local and remote copies of rsync. Typically,
1799 rsync is configured to use ssh by default, but you may prefer to use rsh on
1802 If this option is used with `[user@]host::module/path`, then the remote
1803 shell _COMMAND_ will be used to run an rsync daemon on the remote host, and
1804 all data will be transmitted through that remote shell connection, rather
1805 than through a direct socket connection to a running rsync daemon on the
1806 remote host. See the section "USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A
1807 REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION" above.
1809 Beginning with rsync 3.2.0, the RSYNC_PORT environment variable will be set
1810 when a daemon connection is being made via a remote-shell connection. It
1811 is set to 0 if the default daemon port is being assumed, or it is set to
1812 the value of the rsync port that was specified via either the `--port`
1813 option or a non-empty port value in an rsync:// URL. This allows the
1814 script to discern if a non-default port is being requested, allowing for
1815 things such as an SSL or stunnel helper script to connect to a default or
1818 Command-line arguments are permitted in COMMAND provided that COMMAND is
1819 presented to rsync as a single argument. You must use spaces (not tabs or
1820 other whitespace) to separate the command and args from each other, and you
1821 can use single- and/or double-quotes to preserve spaces in an argument (but
1822 not backslashes). Note that doubling a single-quote inside a single-quoted
1823 string gives you a single-quote; likewise for double-quotes (though you
1824 need to pay attention to which quotes your shell is parsing and which
1825 quotes rsync is parsing). Some examples:
1828 > -e 'ssh -o "ProxyCommand nohup ssh firewall nc -w1 %h %p"'
1830 (Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect
1831 options in their .ssh/config file.)
1833 You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
1834 environment variable, which accepts the same range of values as `-e`.
1836 See also the `--blocking-io` option which is affected by this option.
1838 0. `--rsync-path=PROGRAM`
1840 Use this to specify what program is to be run on the remote machine to
1841 start-up rsync. Often used when rsync is not in the default remote-shell's
1842 path (e.g. `--rsync-path=/usr/local/bin/rsync`). Note that PROGRAM is run
1843 with the help of a shell, so it can be any program, script, or command
1844 sequence you'd care to run, so long as it does not corrupt the standard-in
1845 & standard-out that rsync is using to communicate.
1847 One tricky example is to set a different default directory on the remote
1848 machine for use with the `--relative` option. For instance:
1850 > rsync -avR --rsync-path="cd /a/b && rsync" host:c/d /e/
1852 0. `--remote-option=OPTION`, `-M`
1854 This option is used for more advanced situations where you want certain
1855 effects to be limited to one side of the transfer only. For instance, if
1856 you want to pass `--log-file=FILE` and `--fake-super` to the remote system,
1857 specify it like this:
1859 > rsync -av -M --log-file=foo -M--fake-super src/ dest/
1861 If you want to have an option affect only the local side of a transfer when
1862 it normally affects both sides, send its negation to the remote side. Like
1865 > rsync -av -x -M--no-x src/ dest/
1867 Be cautious using this, as it is possible to toggle an option that will
1868 cause rsync to have a different idea about what data to expect next over
1869 the socket, and that will make it fail in a cryptic fashion.
1871 Note that it is best to use a separate `--remote-option` for each option
1872 you want to pass. This makes your usage compatible with the
1873 `--protect-args` option. If that option is off, any spaces in your remote
1874 options will be split by the remote shell unless you take steps to protect
1877 When performing a local transfer, the "local" side is the sender and the
1878 "remote" side is the receiver.
1880 Note some versions of the popt option-parsing library have a bug in them
1881 that prevents you from using an adjacent arg with an equal in it next to a
1882 short option letter (e.g. `-M--log-file=/tmp/foo`). If this bug affects
1883 your version of popt, you can use the version of popt that is included with
1886 0. `--cvs-exclude`, `-C`
1888 This is a useful shorthand for excluding a broad range of files that you
1889 often don't want to transfer between systems. It uses a similar algorithm
1890 to CVS to determine if a file should be ignored.
1892 The exclude list is initialized to exclude the following items (these
1893 initial items are marked as perishable -- see the FILTER RULES section):
1895 [comment]: # (This list gets used for the default-cvsignore.h file.)
1934 then, files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
1935 files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (all cvsignore names are
1936 delimited by whitespace).
1938 Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a .cvsignore
1939 file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. Unlike rsync's
1940 filter/exclude files, these patterns are split on whitespace. See the
1941 **cvs**(1) manual for more information.
1943 If you're combining `-C` with your own `--filter` rules, you should note
1944 that these CVS excludes are appended at the end of your own rules,
1945 regardless of where the `-C` was placed on the command-line. This makes
1946 them a lower priority than any rules you specified explicitly. If you want
1947 to control where these CVS excludes get inserted into your filter rules,
1948 you should omit the `-C` as a command-line option and use a combination of
1949 `--filter=:C` and `--filter=-C` (either on your command-line or by putting
1950 the ":C" and "-C" rules into a filter file with your other rules). The
1951 first option turns on the per-directory scanning for the .cvsignore file.
1952 The second option does a one-time import of the CVS excludes mentioned
1955 0. `--filter=RULE`, `-f`
1957 This option allows you to add rules to selectively exclude certain files
1958 from the list of files to be transferred. This is most useful in
1959 combination with a recursive transfer.
1961 You may use as many `--filter` options on the command line as you like to
1962 build up the list of files to exclude. If the filter contains whitespace,
1963 be sure to quote it so that the shell gives the rule to rsync as a single
1964 argument. The text below also mentions that you can use an underscore to
1965 replace the space that separates a rule from its arg.
1967 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
1971 The `-F` option is a shorthand for adding two `--filter` rules to your
1972 command. The first time it is used is a shorthand for this rule:
1974 > --filter='dir-merge /.rsync-filter'
1976 This tells rsync to look for per-directory .rsync-filter files that have
1977 been sprinkled through the hierarchy and use their rules to filter the
1978 files in the transfer. If `-F` is repeated, it is a shorthand for this
1981 > --filter='exclude .rsync-filter'
1983 This filters out the .rsync-filter files themselves from the transfer.
1985 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on how these options
1988 0. `--exclude=PATTERN`
1990 This option is a simplified form of the `--filter` option that defaults to
1991 an exclude rule and does not allow the full rule-parsing syntax of normal
1994 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
1996 0. `--exclude-from=FILE`
1998 This option is related to the `--exclude` option, but it specifies a FILE
1999 that contains exclude patterns (one per line). Blank lines in the file and
2000 lines starting with '`;`' or '`#`' are ignored. If _FILE_ is '`-`', the
2001 list will be read from standard input.
2003 0. `--include=PATTERN`
2005 This option is a simplified form of the `--filter` option that defaults to
2006 an include rule and does not allow the full rule-parsing syntax of normal
2009 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
2011 0. `--include-from=FILE`
2013 This option is related to the `--include` option, but it specifies a FILE
2014 that contains include patterns (one per line). Blank lines in the file and
2015 lines starting with '`;`' or '`#`' are ignored. If _FILE_ is '`-`', the
2016 list will be read from standard input.
2018 0. `--files-from=FILE`
2020 Using this option allows you to specify the exact list of files to transfer
2021 (as read from the specified FILE or '`-`' for standard input). It also
2022 tweaks the default behavior of rsync to make transferring just the
2023 specified files and directories easier:
2025 - The `--relative` (`-R`) option is implied, which preserves the path
2026 information that is specified for each item in the file (use
2027 `--no-relative` or `--no-R` if you want to turn that off).
2028 - The `--dirs` (`-d`) option is implied, which will create directories
2029 specified in the list on the destination rather than noisily skipping
2030 them (use `--no-dirs` or `--no-d` if you want to turn that off).
2031 - The `--archive` (`-a`) option's behavior does not imply `--recursive`
2032 (`-r`), so specify it explicitly, if you want it.
2033 - These side-effects change the default state of rsync, so the position of
2034 the `--files-from` option on the command-line has no bearing on how other
2035 options are parsed (e.g. `-a` works the same before or after
2036 `--files-from`, as does `--no-R` and all other options).
2038 The filenames that are read from the FILE are all relative to the source
2039 dir -- any leading slashes are removed and no ".." references are allowed
2040 to go higher than the source dir. For example, take this command:
2042 > rsync -a --files-from=/tmp/foo /usr remote:/backup
2044 If /tmp/foo contains the string "bin" (or even "/bin"), the /usr/bin
2045 directory will be created as /backup/bin on the remote host. If it
2046 contains "bin/" (note the trailing slash), the immediate contents of the
2047 directory would also be sent (without needing to be explicitly mentioned in
2048 the file -- this began in version 2.6.4). In both cases, if the `-r`
2049 option was enabled, that dir's entire hierarchy would also be transferred
2050 (keep in mind that `-r` needs to be specified explicitly with
2051 `--files-from`, since it is not implied by `-a`). Also note that the
2052 effect of the (enabled by default) `--relative` option is to duplicate only
2053 the path info that is read from the file -- it does not force the
2054 duplication of the source-spec path (/usr in this case).
2056 In addition, the `--files-from` file can be read from the remote host
2057 instead of the local host if you specify a "host:" in front of the file
2058 (the host must match one end of the transfer). As a short-cut, you can
2059 specify just a prefix of ":" to mean "use the remote end of the transfer".
2062 > rsync -a --files-from=:/path/file-list src:/ /tmp/copy
2064 This would copy all the files specified in the /path/file-list file that
2065 was located on the remote "src" host.
2067 If the `--iconv` and `--protect-args` options are specified and the
2068 `--files-from` filenames are being sent from one host to another, the
2069 filenames will be translated from the sending host's charset to the
2070 receiving host's charset.
2072 NOTE: sorting the list of files in the `--files-from` input helps rsync to
2073 be more efficient, as it will avoid re-visiting the path elements that are
2074 shared between adjacent entries. If the input is not sorted, some path
2075 elements (implied directories) may end up being scanned multiple times, and
2076 rsync will eventually unduplicate them after they get turned into file-list
2081 This tells rsync that the rules/filenames it reads from a file are
2082 terminated by a null ('\\0') character, not a NL, CR, or CR+LF. This
2083 affects `--exclude-from`, `--include-from`, `--files-from`, and any merged
2084 files specified in a `--filter` rule. It does not affect `--cvs-exclude`
2085 (since all names read from a .cvsignore file are split on whitespace).
2087 0. `--protect-args`, `-s`
2089 This option sends all filenames and most options to the remote rsync
2090 without allowing the remote shell to interpret them. This means that
2091 spaces are not split in names, and any non-wildcard special characters are
2092 not translated (such as `~`, `$`, `;`, `&`, etc.). Wildcards are expanded
2093 on the remote host by rsync (instead of the shell doing it).
2095 If you use this option with `--iconv`, the args related to the remote side
2096 will also be translated from the local to the remote character-set. The
2097 translation happens before wild-cards are expanded. See also the
2098 `--files-from` option.
2100 You may also control this option via the RSYNC_PROTECT_ARGS environment
2101 variable. If this variable has a non-zero value, this option will be
2102 enabled by default, otherwise it will be disabled by default. Either state
2103 is overridden by a manually specified positive or negative version of this
2104 option (note that `--no-s` and `--no-protect-args` are the negative
2105 versions). Since this option was first introduced in 3.0.0, you'll need to
2106 make sure it's disabled if you ever need to interact with a remote rsync
2107 that is older than that.
2109 Rsync can also be configured (at build time) to have this option enabled by
2110 default (with is overridden by both the environment and the command-line).
2111 Run `rsync --version` to check if this is the case, as it will display
2112 "default protect-args" or "optional protect-args" depending on how it was
2115 This option will eventually become a new default setting at some
2116 as-yet-undetermined point in the future.
2118 0. `--copy-as=USER[:GROUP]`
2120 This option instructs rsync to use the USER and (if specified after a
2121 colon) the GROUP for the copy operations. This only works if the user that
2122 is running rsync has the ability to change users. If the group is not
2123 specified then the user's default groups are used.
2125 This option can help to reduce the risk of an rsync being run as root into
2126 or out of a directory that might have live changes happening to it and you
2127 want to make sure that root-level read or write actions of system files are
2128 not possible. While you could alternatively run all of rsync as the
2129 specified user, sometimes you need the root-level host-access credentials
2130 to be used, so this allows rsync to drop root for the copying part of the
2131 operation after the remote-shell or daemon connection is established.
2133 The option only affects one side of the transfer unless the transfer is
2134 local, in which case it affects both sides. Use the `--remote-option` to
2135 affect the remote side, such as `-M--copy-as=joe`. For a local transfer,
2136 the lsh (or lsh.sh) support file provides a local-shell helper script that
2137 can be used to allow a "localhost:" or "lh:" host-spec to be specified
2138 without needing to setup any remote shells, allowing you to specify remote
2139 options that affect the side of the transfer that is using the host-spec
2140 (and using hostname "lh" avoids the overriding of the remote directory to
2141 the user's home dir).
2143 For example, the following rsync writes the local files as user "joe":
2145 > sudo rsync -aiv --copy-as=joe host1:backups/joe/ /home/joe/
2147 This makes all files owned by user "joe", limits the groups to those that
2148 are available to that user, and makes it impossible for the joe user to do
2149 a timed exploit of the path to induce a change to a file that the joe user
2150 has no permissions to change.
2152 The following command does a local copy into the "dest/" dir as user "joe"
2153 (assumimg you've installed support/lsh into a dir on your $PATH):
2155 > sudo rsync -aive lsh -M--copy-as=joe src/ lh:dest/
2157 0. `--temp-dir=DIR`, `-T`
2159 This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a scratch directory when creating
2160 temporary copies of the files transferred on the receiving side. The
2161 default behavior is to create each temporary file in the same directory as
2162 the associated destination file. Beginning with rsync 3.1.1, the temp-file
2163 names inside the specified DIR will not be prefixed with an extra dot
2164 (though they will still have a random suffix added).
2166 This option is most often used when the receiving disk partition does not
2167 have enough free space to hold a copy of the largest file in the transfer.
2168 In this case (i.e. when the scratch directory is on a different disk
2169 partition), rsync will not be able to rename each received temporary file
2170 over the top of the associated destination file, but instead must copy it
2171 into place. Rsync does this by copying the file over the top of the
2172 destination file, which means that the destination file will contain
2173 truncated data during this copy. If this were not done this way (even if
2174 the destination file were first removed, the data locally copied to a
2175 temporary file in the destination directory, and then renamed into place)
2176 it would be possible for the old file to continue taking up disk space (if
2177 someone had it open), and thus there might not be enough room to fit the
2178 new version on the disk at the same time.
2180 If you are using this option for reasons other than a shortage of disk
2181 space, you may wish to combine it with the `--delay-updates` option, which
2182 will ensure that all copied files get put into subdirectories in the
2183 destination hierarchy, awaiting the end of the transfer. If you don't have
2184 enough room to duplicate all the arriving files on the destination
2185 partition, another way to tell rsync that you aren't overly concerned about
2186 disk space is to use the `--partial-dir` option with a relative path;
2187 because this tells rsync that it is OK to stash off a copy of a single file
2188 in a subdir in the destination hierarchy, rsync will use the partial-dir as
2189 a staging area to bring over the copied file, and then rename it into place
2190 from there. (Specifying a `--partial-dir` with an absolute path does not
2191 have this side-effect.)
2195 This option tells rsync that it should look for a basis file for any
2196 destination file that is missing. The current algorithm looks in the same
2197 directory as the destination file for either a file that has an identical
2198 size and modified-time, or a similarly-named file. If found, rsync uses
2199 the fuzzy basis file to try to speed up the transfer.
2201 If the option is repeated, the fuzzy scan will also be done in any matching
2202 alternate destination directories that are specified via `--compare-dest`,
2203 `--copy-dest`, or `--link-dest`.
2205 Note that the use of the `--delete` option might get rid of any potential
2206 fuzzy-match files, so either use `--delete-after` or specify some filename
2207 exclusions if you need to prevent this.
2209 0. `--compare-dest=DIR`
2211 This option instructs rsync to use _DIR_ on the destination machine as an
2212 additional hierarchy to compare destination files against doing transfers
2213 (if the files are missing in the destination directory). If a file is
2214 found in _DIR_ that is identical to the sender's file, the file will NOT be
2215 transferred to the destination directory. This is useful for creating a
2216 sparse backup of just files that have changed from an earlier backup. This
2217 option is typically used to copy into an empty (or newly created)
2220 Beginning in version 2.6.4, multiple `--compare-dest` directories may be
2221 provided, which will cause rsync to search the list in the order specified
2222 for an exact match. If a match is found that differs only in attributes, a
2223 local copy is made and the attributes updated. If a match is not found, a
2224 basis file from one of the _DIRs_ will be selected to try to speed up the
2227 If _DIR_ is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
2228 See also `--copy-dest` and `--link-dest`.
2230 NOTE: beginning with version 3.1.0, rsync will remove a file from a
2231 non-empty destination hierarchy if an exact match is found in one of the
2232 compare-dest hierarchies (making the end result more closely match a fresh
2235 0. `--copy-dest=DIR`
2237 This option behaves like `--compare-dest`, but rsync will also copy
2238 unchanged files found in _DIR_ to the destination directory using a local
2239 copy. This is useful for doing transfers to a new destination while
2240 leaving existing files intact, and then doing a flash-cutover when all
2241 files have been successfully transferred.
2243 Multiple `--copy-dest` directories may be provided, which will cause rsync
2244 to search the list in the order specified for an unchanged file. If a
2245 match is not found, a basis file from one of the _DIRs_ will be selected to
2246 try to speed up the transfer.
2248 If _DIR_ is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
2249 See also `--compare-dest` and `--link-dest`.
2251 0. `--link-dest=DIR`
2253 This option behaves like `--copy-dest`, but unchanged files are hard linked
2254 from _DIR_ to the destination directory. The files must be identical in
2255 all preserved attributes (e.g. permissions, possibly ownership) in order
2256 for the files to be linked together. An example:
2258 > rsync -av --link-dest=$PWD/prior_dir host:src_dir/ new_dir/
2260 If file's aren't linking, double-check their attributes. Also check if
2261 some attributes are getting forced outside of rsync's control, such a mount
2262 option that squishes root to a single user, or mounts a removable drive
2263 with generic ownership (such as OS X's "Ignore ownership on this volume"
2266 Beginning in version 2.6.4, multiple `--link-dest` directories may be
2267 provided, which will cause rsync to search the list in the order specified
2268 for an exact match (there is a limit of 20 such directories). If a match
2269 is found that differs only in attributes, a local copy is made and the
2270 attributes updated. If a match is not found, a basis file from one of the
2271 _DIRs_ will be selected to try to speed up the transfer.
2273 This option works best when copying into an empty destination hierarchy, as
2274 existing files may get their attributes tweaked, and that can affect
2275 alternate destination files via hard-links. Also, itemizing of changes can
2276 get a bit muddled. Note that prior to version 3.1.0, an
2277 alternate-directory exact match would never be found (nor linked into the
2278 destination) when a destination file already exists.
2280 Note that if you combine this option with `--ignore-times`, rsync will not
2281 link any files together because it only links identical files together as a
2282 substitute for transferring the file, never as an additional check after
2283 the file is updated.
2285 If _DIR_ is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
2286 See also `--compare-dest` and `--copy-dest`.
2288 Note that rsync versions prior to 2.6.1 had a bug that could prevent
2289 `--link-dest` from working properly for a non-super-user when `-o` was
2290 specified (or implied by `-a`). You can work-around this bug by avoiding
2291 the `-o` option when sending to an old rsync.
2293 0. `--compress`, `-z`
2295 With this option, rsync compresses the file data as it is sent to the
2296 destination machine, which reduces the amount of data being transmitted --
2297 something that is useful over a slow connection.
2299 Rsync supports multiple compression methods and will choose one for you
2300 unless you force the choice using the `--compress-choice` (`--zc`) option.
2302 Run `rsync --version` to see the default compress list compiled into your
2305 When both sides of the transfer are at least 3.2.0, rsync chooses the first
2306 algorithm in the client's list of choices that is also in the server's list
2307 of choices. If no common compress choice is found, rsync exits with
2308 an error. If the remote rsync is too old to support checksum negotiation,
2309 its list is assumed to be "zlib".
2311 The default order can be customized by setting the environment variable
2312 RSYNC_COMPRESS_LIST to a space-separated list of acceptable compression
2313 names. If the string contains a "`&`" character, it is separated into the
2314 "client string & server string", otherwise the same string applies to both.
2315 If the string (or string portion) contains no
2316 non-whitespace characters, the default compress list is used. Any unknown
2317 compression names are discarded from the list, but a list with only invalid
2318 names results in a failed negotiation.
2320 There are some older rsync versions that were configured to reject a `-z`
2321 option and require the use of `-zz` because their compression library was
2322 not compatible with the default zlib compression method. You can usually
2323 ignore this weirdness unless the rsync server complains and tells you to
2326 See also the `--skip-compress` option for the default list of file suffixes
2327 that will trasnferred with no (or minimal) compression.
2329 0. `--compress-choice=STR`, `--zc=STR`
2331 This option can be used to override the automatic negotiation of the
2332 compression algorithm that occurs when `--compress` is used. The option
2333 implies `--compress` unless "none" was specified, which instead implies
2336 The compression options that you may be able to use are:
2344 Run `rsync --version` to see the default compress list compiled into your
2345 version (which may differ from the list above).
2347 Note that if you see an error about an option named `--old-compress` or
2348 `--new-compress`, this is rsync trying to send the `--compress-choice=zlib`
2349 or `--compress-choice=zlibx` option in a backward-compatible manner that
2350 more rsync versions understand. This error indicates that the older rsync
2351 version on the server will not allow you to force the compression type.
2353 Note that the "zlibx" compression algorithm is just the "zlib" algorithm
2354 with matched data excluded from the compression stream (to try to make it
2355 more compatible with an external zlib implementation).
2357 0. `--compress-level=NUM`, `--zl=NUM`
2359 Explicitly set the compression level to use (see `--compress`, `-z`)
2360 instead of letting it default. The `--compress` option is implied as long
2361 as the level chosen is not a "don't compress" level for the compression
2362 algorithm that is in effect (e.g. zlib compression treats level 0 as
2365 The level values vary depending on the checksum in effect. Because rsync
2366 will negotiate a checksum choice by default (when the remote rsync is new
2367 enough), it can be good to combine this option with a `--compress-choice`
2368 (`--zc`) option unless you're sure of the choice in effect. For example:
2370 > rsync -aiv --zc=zstd --zl=22 host:src/ dest/
2372 For zlib & zlibx compression the valid values are from 1 to 9 with 6 being
2373 the default. Specifying 0 turns compression off, and specifying -1 chooses
2376 For zstd compression the valid values are from -131072 to 22 with 3 being
2377 the default. Specifying 0 chooses the default of 3.
2379 For lz4 compression there are no levels, so the value is always 0.
2381 If you specify a too-large or too-small value, the number is silently
2382 limited to a valid value. This allows you to specify something like
2383 `--zl=999999999` and be assured that you'll end up with the maximum
2384 compression level no matter what algorithm was chosen.
2386 If you want to know the compression level that is in effect, specify
2387 `--debug=nstr` to see the "negotiated string" results. This will report
2388 something like "`Client compress: zstd (level 3)`" (along with the checksum
2391 0. `--skip-compress=LIST`
2393 Override the list of file suffixes that will be compressed as little as
2394 possible. Rsync sets the compression level on a per-file basis based on
2395 the file's suffix. If the compression algorithm has an "off" level (such
2396 as zlib/zlibx) then no compression occurs for those files. Other
2397 algorithms that support changing the streaming level on-the-fly will have
2398 the level minimized to reduces the CPU usage as much as possible for a
2399 matching file. At this time, only zlib & zlibx compression support this
2400 changing of levels on a per-file basis.
2402 The **LIST** should be one or more file suffixes (without the dot) separated
2403 by slashes (`/`). You may specify an empty string to indicate that no files
2406 Simple character-class matching is supported: each must consist of a list
2407 of letters inside the square brackets (e.g. no special classes, such as
2408 "[:alpha:]", are supported, and '-' has no special meaning).
2410 The characters asterisk (`*`) and question-mark (`?`) have no special meaning.
2412 Here's an example that specifies 6 suffixes to skip (since 1 of the 5 rules
2413 matches 2 suffixes):
2415 > --skip-compress=gz/jpg/mp[34]/7z/bz2
2417 The default file suffixes in the skip-compress list in this version of
2420 [comment]: # (This list gets used for the default-dont-compress.h file.)
2483 This list will be replaced by your `--skip-compress` list in all but one
2484 situation: a copy from a daemon rsync will add your skipped suffixes to its
2485 list of non-compressing files (and its list may be configured to a
2490 With this option rsync will transfer numeric group and user IDs rather than
2491 using user and group names and mapping them at both ends.
2493 By default rsync will use the username and groupname to determine what
2494 ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group 0 are
2495 never mapped via user/group names even if the `--numeric-ids` option is not
2498 If a user or group has no name on the source system or it has no match on
2499 the destination system, then the numeric ID from the source system is used
2500 instead. See also the comments on the "`use chroot`" setting in the
2501 rsyncd.conf manpage for information on how the chroot setting affects
2502 rsync's ability to look up the names of the users and groups and what you
2505 0. `--usermap=STRING`, `--groupmap=STRING`
2507 These options allow you to specify users and groups that should be mapped
2508 to other values by the receiving side. The **STRING** is one or more
2509 **FROM**:**TO** pairs of values separated by commas. Any matching **FROM**
2510 value from the sender is replaced with a **TO** value from the receiver.
2511 You may specify usernames or user IDs for the **FROM** and **TO** values,
2512 and the **FROM** value may also be a wild-card string, which will be
2513 matched against the sender's names (wild-cards do NOT match against ID
2514 numbers, though see below for why a '`*`' matches everything). You may
2515 instead specify a range of ID numbers via an inclusive range: LOW-HIGH.
2518 > --usermap=0-99:nobody,wayne:admin,*:normal --groupmap=usr:1,1:usr
2520 The first match in the list is the one that is used. You should specify
2521 all your user mappings using a single `--usermap` option, and/or all your
2522 group mappings using a single `--groupmap` option.
2524 Note that the sender's name for the 0 user and group are not transmitted to
2525 the receiver, so you should either match these values using a 0, or use the
2526 names in effect on the receiving side (typically "root"). All other
2527 **FROM** names match those in use on the sending side. All **TO** names
2528 match those in use on the receiving side.
2530 Any IDs that do not have a name on the sending side are treated as having
2531 an empty name for the purpose of matching. This allows them to be matched
2532 via a "`*`" or using an empty name. For instance:
2534 > --usermap=:nobody --groupmap=*:nobody
2536 When the `--numeric-ids` option is used, the sender does not send any
2537 names, so all the IDs are treated as having an empty name. This means that
2538 you will need to specify numeric **FROM** values if you want to map these
2539 nameless IDs to different values.
2541 For the `--usermap` option to have any effect, the `-o` (`--owner`) option
2542 must be used (or implied), and the receiver will need to be running as a
2543 super-user (see also the `--fake-super` option). For the `--groupmap`
2544 option to have any effect, the `-g` (`--groups`) option must be used (or
2545 implied), and the receiver will need to have permissions to set that group.
2547 0. `--chown=USER:GROUP`
2549 This option forces all files to be owned by USER with group GROUP. This is
2550 a simpler interface than using `--usermap` and `--groupmap` directly, but
2551 it is implemented using those options internally, so you cannot mix them.
2552 If either the USER or GROUP is empty, no mapping for the omitted user/group
2553 will occur. If GROUP is empty, the trailing colon may be omitted, but if
2554 USER is empty, a leading colon must be supplied.
2556 If you specify "`--chown=foo:bar`", this is exactly the same as specifying
2557 "`--usermap=*:foo --groupmap=*:bar`", only easier.
2559 0. `--timeout=SECONDS`
2561 This option allows you to set a maximum I/O timeout in seconds. If no data
2562 is transferred for the specified time then rsync will exit. The default is
2563 0, which means no timeout.
2565 0. `--contimeout=SECONDS`
2567 This option allows you to set the amount of time that rsync will wait for
2568 its connection to an rsync daemon to succeed. If the timeout is reached,
2569 rsync exits with an error.
2571 0. `--address=ADDRESS`
2573 By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address when connecting to an
2574 rsync daemon. The `--address` option allows you to specify a specific IP
2575 address (or hostname) to bind to. See also this option in the `--daemon`
2580 This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use rather than the default
2581 of 873. This is only needed if you are using the double-colon (::) syntax
2582 to connect with an rsync daemon (since the URL syntax has a way to specify
2583 the port as a part of the URL). See also this option in the `--daemon`
2586 0. `--sockopts=OPTIONS`
2588 This option can provide endless fun for people who like to tune their
2589 systems to the utmost degree. You can set all sorts of socket options
2590 which may make transfers faster (or slower!). Read the man page for the
2591 `setsockopt()` system call for details on some of the options you may be
2592 able to set. By default no special socket options are set. This only
2593 affects direct socket connections to a remote rsync daemon.
2595 This option also exists in the `--daemon` mode section.
2599 This tells rsync to use blocking I/O when launching a remote shell
2600 transport. If the remote shell is either rsh or remsh, rsync defaults to
2601 using blocking I/O, otherwise it defaults to using non-blocking I/O. (Note
2602 that ssh prefers non-blocking I/O.)
2606 This sets the output buffering mode. The mode can be None (aka
2607 Unbuffered), Line, or Block (aka Full). You may specify as little as a
2608 single letter for the mode, and use upper or lower case.
2610 The main use of this option is to change Full buffering to Line buffering
2611 when rsync's output is going to a file or pipe.
2613 0. `--itemize-changes`, `-i`
2615 Requests a simple itemized list of the changes that are being made to each
2616 file, including attribute changes. This is exactly the same as specifying
2617 `--out-format='%i %n%L'`. If you repeat the option, unchanged files will
2618 also be output, but only if the receiving rsync is at least version 2.6.7
2619 (you can use `-vv` with older versions of rsync, but that also turns on the
2620 output of other verbose messages).
2622 The "%i" escape has a cryptic output that is 11 letters long. The general
2623 format is like the string `YXcstpoguax`, where **Y** is replaced by the type
2624 of update being done, **X** is replaced by the file-type, and the other
2625 letters represent attributes that may be output if they are being modified.
2627 The update types that replace the **Y** are as follows:
2629 - A `<` means that a file is being transferred to the remote host (sent).
2630 - A `>` means that a file is being transferred to the local host
2632 - A `c` means that a local change/creation is occurring for the item (such
2633 as the creation of a directory or the changing of a symlink, etc.).
2634 - A `h` means that the item is a hard link to another item (requires
2636 - A `.` means that the item is not being updated (though it might have
2637 attributes that are being modified).
2638 - A `*` means that the rest of the itemized-output area contains a message
2641 The file-types that replace the **X** are: `f` for a file, a `d` for a
2642 directory, an `L` for a symlink, a `D` for a device, and a `S` for a
2643 special file (e.g. named sockets and fifos).
2645 The other letters in the string above are the actual letters that will be
2646 output if the associated attribute for the item is being updated or a "."
2647 for no change. Three exceptions to this are: (1) a newly created item
2648 replaces each letter with a "+", (2) an identical item replaces the dots
2649 with spaces, and (3) an unknown attribute replaces each letter with a "?"
2650 (this can happen when talking to an older rsync).
2652 The attribute that is associated with each letter is as follows:
2654 - A `c` means either that a regular file has a different checksum (requires
2655 `--checksum`) or that a symlink, device, or special file has a changed
2656 value. Note that if you are sending files to an rsync prior to 3.0.1,
2657 this change flag will be present only for checksum-differing regular
2659 - A `s` means the size of a regular file is different and will be updated
2660 by the file transfer.
2661 - A `t` means the modification time is different and is being updated to
2662 the sender's value (requires `--times`). An alternate value of `T` means
2663 that the modification time will be set to the transfer time, which
2664 happens when a file/symlink/device is updated without `--times` and when
2665 a symlink is changed and the receiver can't set its time. (Note: when
2666 using an rsync 3.0.0 client, you might see the `s` flag combined with `t`
2667 instead of the proper `T` flag for this time-setting failure.)
2668 - A `p` means the permissions are different and are being updated to the
2669 sender's value (requires `--perms`).
2670 - An `o` means the owner is different and is being updated to the sender's
2671 value (requires `--owner` and super-user privileges).
2672 - A `g` means the group is different and is being updated to the sender's
2673 value (requires `--group` and the authority to set the group).
2674 - A `u` means the access (use) time is different and is being updated to
2675 the sender's value (requires `--atimes`). An alternate value of `U`
2676 means that the access time will be set to the transfer time, which
2677 happens when a symlink or directory is updated.
2678 - The `a` means that the ACL information changed.
2679 - The `x` means that the extended attribute information changed.
2681 One other output is possible: when deleting files, the "%i" will output the
2682 string "`*deleting`" for each item that is being removed (assuming that you
2683 are talking to a recent enough rsync that it logs deletions instead of
2684 outputting them as a verbose message).
2686 0. `--out-format=FORMAT`
2688 This allows you to specify exactly what the rsync client outputs to the
2689 user on a per-update basis. The format is a text string containing
2690 embedded single-character escape sequences prefixed with a percent (%)
2691 character. A default format of "%n%L" is assumed if either `--info=name`
2692 or `-v` is specified (this tells you just the name of the file and, if the
2693 item is a link, where it points). For a full list of the possible escape
2694 characters, see the "`log format`" setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
2696 Specifying the `--out-format` option implies the `--info=name` option,
2697 which will mention each file, dir, etc. that gets updated in a significant
2698 way (a transferred file, a recreated symlink/device, or a touched
2699 directory). In addition, if the itemize-changes escape (%i) is included in
2700 the string (e.g. if the `--itemize-changes` option was used), the logging
2701 of names increases to mention any item that is changed in any way (as long
2702 as the receiving side is at least 2.6.4). See the `--itemize-changes`
2703 option for a description of the output of "%i".
2705 Rsync will output the out-format string prior to a file's transfer unless
2706 one of the transfer-statistic escapes is requested, in which case the
2707 logging is done at the end of the file's transfer. When this late logging
2708 is in effect and `--progress` is also specified, rsync will also output the
2709 name of the file being transferred prior to its progress information
2710 (followed, of course, by the out-format output).
2712 0. `--log-file=FILE`
2714 This option causes rsync to log what it is doing to a file. This is
2715 similar to the logging that a daemon does, but can be requested for the
2716 client side and/or the server side of a non-daemon transfer. If specified
2717 as a client option, transfer logging will be enabled with a default format
2718 of "%i %n%L". See the `--log-file-format` option if you wish to override
2721 Here's a example command that requests the remote side to log what is
2724 > rsync -av --remote-option=--log-file=/tmp/rlog src/ dest/
2726 This is very useful if you need to debug why a connection is closing
2729 0. `--log-file-format=FORMAT`
2731 This allows you to specify exactly what per-update logging is put into the
2732 file specified by the `--log-file` option (which must also be specified for
2733 this option to have any effect). If you specify an empty string, updated
2734 files will not be mentioned in the log file. For a list of the possible
2735 escape characters, see the "`log format`" setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
2737 The default FORMAT used if `--log-file` is specified and this option is not
2742 This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics on the file transfer,
2743 allowing you to tell how effective rsync's delta-transfer algorithm is for
2744 your data. This option is equivalent to `--info=stats2` if combined with 0
2745 or 1 `-v` options, or `--info=stats3` if combined with 2 or more `-v`
2748 The current statistics are as follows:
2750 - `Number of files` is the count of all "files" (in the generic sense),
2751 which includes directories, symlinks, etc. The total count will be
2752 followed by a list of counts by filetype (if the total is non-zero). For
2753 example: "(reg: 5, dir: 3, link: 2, dev: 1, special: 1)" lists the totals
2754 for regular files, directories, symlinks, devices, and special files. If
2755 any of value is 0, it is completely omitted from the list.
2756 - `Number of created files` is the count of how many "files" (generic
2757 sense) were created (as opposed to updated). The total count will be
2758 followed by a list of counts by filetype (if the total is non-zero).
2759 - `Number of deleted files` is the count of how many "files" (generic
2760 sense) were created (as opposed to updated). The total count will be
2761 followed by a list of counts by filetype (if the total is non-zero).
2762 Note that this line is only output if deletions are in effect, and only
2763 if protocol 31 is being used (the default for rsync 3.1.x).
2764 - `Number of regular files transferred` is the count of normal files that
2765 were updated via rsync's delta-transfer algorithm, which does not include
2766 dirs, symlinks, etc. Note that rsync 3.1.0 added the word "regular" into
2768 - `Total file size` is the total sum of all file sizes in the transfer.
2769 This does not count any size for directories or special files, but does
2770 include the size of symlinks.
2771 - `Total transferred file size` is the total sum of all files sizes for
2772 just the transferred files.
2773 - `Literal data` is how much unmatched file-update data we had to send to
2774 the receiver for it to recreate the updated files.
2775 - `Matched data` is how much data the receiver got locally when recreating
2777 - `File list size` is how big the file-list data was when the sender sent
2778 it to the receiver. This is smaller than the in-memory size for the file
2779 list due to some compressing of duplicated data when rsync sends the
2781 - `File list generation time` is the number of seconds that the sender
2782 spent creating the file list. This requires a modern rsync on the
2783 sending side for this to be present.
2784 - `File list transfer time` is the number of seconds that the sender spent
2785 sending the file list to the receiver.
2786 - `Total bytes sent` is the count of all the bytes that rsync sent from the
2787 client side to the server side.
2788 - `Total bytes received` is the count of all non-message bytes that rsync
2789 received by the client side from the server side. "Non-message" bytes
2790 means that we don't count the bytes for a verbose message that the server
2791 sent to us, which makes the stats more consistent.
2793 0. `--8-bit-output`, `-8`
2795 This tells rsync to leave all high-bit characters unescaped in the output
2796 instead of trying to test them to see if they're valid in the current
2797 locale and escaping the invalid ones. All control characters (but never
2798 tabs) are always escaped, regardless of this option's setting.
2800 The escape idiom that started in 2.6.7 is to output a literal backslash
2801 (`\`) and a hash (`#`), followed by exactly 3 octal digits. For example, a
2802 newline would output as "`\#012`". A literal backslash that is in a
2803 filename is not escaped unless it is followed by a hash and 3 digits (0-9).
2805 0. `--human-readable`, `-h`
2807 Output numbers in a more human-readable format. There are 3 possible
2808 levels: (1) output numbers with a separator between each set of 3 digits
2809 (either a comma or a period, depending on if the decimal point is
2810 represented by a period or a comma); (2) output numbers in units of 1000
2811 (with a character suffix for larger units -- see below); (3) output
2812 numbers in units of 1024.
2814 The default is human-readable level 1. Each `-h` option increases the
2815 level by one. You can take the level down to 0 (to output numbers as pure
2816 digits) by specifying the `--no-human-readable` (`--no-h`) option.
2818 The unit letters that are appended in levels 2 and 3 are: `K` (kilo), `M`
2819 (mega), `G` (giga), `T` (tera), or `P` (peta). For example, a 1234567-byte
2820 file would output as 1.23M in level-2 (assuming that a period is your local
2823 Backward compatibility note: versions of rsync prior to 3.1.0 do not
2824 support human-readable level 1, and they default to level 0. Thus,
2825 specifying one or two `-h` options will behave in a comparable manner in
2826 old and new versions as long as you didn't specify a `--no-h` option prior
2827 to one or more `-h` options. See the `--list-only` option for one
2832 By default, rsync will delete any partially transferred file if the
2833 transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances it is more desirable to
2834 keep partially transferred files. Using the `--partial` option tells rsync
2835 to keep the partial file which should make a subsequent transfer of the
2836 rest of the file much faster.
2838 0. `--partial-dir=DIR`
2840 A better way to keep partial files than the `--partial` option is to
2841 specify a _DIR_ that will be used to hold the partial data (instead of
2842 writing it out to the destination file). On the next transfer, rsync will
2843 use a file found in this dir as data to speed up the resumption of the
2844 transfer and then delete it after it has served its purpose.
2846 Note that if `--whole-file` is specified (or implied), any partial-dir file
2847 that is found for a file that is being updated will simply be removed
2848 (since rsync is sending files without using rsync's delta-transfer
2851 Rsync will create the _DIR_ if it is missing (just the last dir -- not the
2852 whole path). This makes it easy to use a relative path (such as
2853 "`--partial-dir=.rsync-partial`") to have rsync create the
2854 partial-directory in the destination file's directory when needed, and then
2855 remove it again when the partial file is deleted. Note that the directory
2856 is only removed if it is a relative pathname, as it is expected that an
2857 absolute path is to a directory that is reserved for partial-dir work.
2859 If the partial-dir value is not an absolute path, rsync will add an exclude
2860 rule at the end of all your existing excludes. This will prevent the
2861 sending of any partial-dir files that may exist on the sending side, and
2862 will also prevent the untimely deletion of partial-dir items on the
2863 receiving side. An example: the above `--partial-dir` option would add the
2864 equivalent of "`-f '-p .rsync-partial/'`" at the end of any other filter
2867 If you are supplying your own exclude rules, you may need to add your own
2868 exclude/hide/protect rule for the partial-dir because (1) the auto-added
2869 rule may be ineffective at the end of your other rules, or (2) you may wish
2870 to override rsync's exclude choice. For instance, if you want to make
2871 rsync clean-up any left-over partial-dirs that may be lying around, you
2872 should specify `--delete-after` and add a "risk" filter rule, e.g.
2873 `-f 'R .rsync-partial/'`. (Avoid using `--delete-before` or
2874 `--delete-during` unless you don't need rsync to use any of the left-over
2875 partial-dir data during the current run.)
2877 IMPORTANT: the `--partial-dir` should not be writable by other users or it
2878 is a security risk. E.g. AVOID "/tmp".
2880 You can also set the partial-dir value the RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR environment
2881 variable. Setting this in the environment does not force `--partial` to be
2882 enabled, but rather it affects where partial files go when `--partial` is
2883 specified. For instance, instead of using `--partial-dir=.rsync-tmp` along
2884 with `--progress`, you could set RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR=.rsync-tmp in your
2885 environment and then just use the `-P` option to turn on the use of the
2886 .rsync-tmp dir for partial transfers. The only times that the `--partial`
2887 option does not look for this environment value are (1) when `--inplace`
2888 was specified (since `--inplace` conflicts with `--partial-dir`), and (2)
2889 when `--delay-updates` was specified (see below).
2891 When a modern rsync resumes the transfer of a file in the partial-dir, that
2892 partial file is now updated in-place instead of creating yet another
2893 tmp-file copy (so it maxes out at dest + tmp instead of dest + partial +
2894 tmp). This requires both ends of the transfer to be at least version
2897 For the purposes of the daemon-config's "`refuse options`" setting,
2898 `--partial-dir` does _not_ imply `--partial`. This is so that a refusal of
2899 the `--partial` option can be used to disallow the overwriting of
2900 destination files with a partial transfer, while still allowing the safer
2901 idiom provided by `--partial-dir`.
2903 0. `--delay-updates`
2905 This option puts the temporary file from each updated file into a holding
2906 directory until the end of the transfer, at which time all the files are
2907 renamed into place in rapid succession. This attempts to make the updating
2908 of the files a little more atomic. By default the files are placed into a
2909 directory named `.~tmp~` in each file's destination directory, but if
2910 you've specified the `--partial-dir` option, that directory will be used
2911 instead. See the comments in the `--partial-dir` section for a discussion
2912 of how this `.~tmp~` dir will be excluded from the transfer, and what you
2913 can do if you want rsync to cleanup old `.~tmp~` dirs that might be lying
2914 around. Conflicts with `--inplace` and `--append`.
2916 This option uses more memory on the receiving side (one bit per file
2917 transferred) and also requires enough free disk space on the receiving side
2918 to hold an additional copy of all the updated files. Note also that you
2919 should not use an absolute path to `--partial-dir` unless (1) there is no
2920 chance of any of the files in the transfer having the same name (since all
2921 the updated files will be put into a single directory if the path is
2922 absolute) and (2) there are no mount points in the hierarchy (since the
2923 delayed updates will fail if they can't be renamed into place).
2925 See also the "atomic-rsync" perl script in the "support" subdir for an
2926 update algorithm that is even more atomic (it uses `--link-dest` and a
2927 parallel hierarchy of files).
2929 0. `--prune-empty-dirs`, `-m`
2931 This option tells the receiving rsync to get rid of empty directories from
2932 the file-list, including nested directories that have no non-directory
2933 children. This is useful for avoiding the creation of a bunch of useless
2934 directories when the sending rsync is recursively scanning a hierarchy of
2935 files using include/exclude/filter rules.
2937 Note that the use of transfer rules, such as the `--min-size` option, does
2938 not affect what goes into the file list, and thus does not leave
2939 directories empty, even if none of the files in a directory match the
2942 Because the file-list is actually being pruned, this option also affects
2943 what directories get deleted when a delete is active. However, keep in
2944 mind that excluded files and directories can prevent existing items from
2945 being deleted due to an exclude both hiding source files and protecting
2946 destination files. See the perishable filter-rule option for how to avoid
2949 You can prevent the pruning of certain empty directories from the file-list
2950 by using a global "protect" filter. For instance, this option would ensure
2951 that the directory "emptydir" was kept in the file-list:
2953 > --filter 'protect emptydir/'
2955 Here's an example that copies all .pdf files in a hierarchy, only creating
2956 the necessary destination directories to hold the .pdf files, and ensures
2957 that any superfluous files and directories in the destination are removed
2958 (note the hide filter of non-directories being used instead of an exclude):
2960 > rsync -avm --del --include='*.pdf' -f 'hide,! */' src/ dest
2962 If you didn't want to remove superfluous destination files, the more
2963 time-honored options of `--include='*/' --exclude='*'` would work
2964 fine in place of the hide-filter (if that is more natural to you).
2968 This option tells rsync to print information showing the progress of the
2969 transfer. This gives a bored user something to watch. With a modern rsync
2970 this is the same as specifying `--info=flist2,name,progress`, but any
2971 user-supplied settings for those info flags takes precedence (e.g.
2972 "`--info=flist0 --progress`").
2974 While rsync is transferring a regular file, it updates a progress line that
2977 > 782448 63% 110.64kB/s 0:00:04
2979 In this example, the receiver has reconstructed 782448 bytes or 63% of the
2980 sender's file, which is being reconstructed at a rate of 110.64 kilobytes
2981 per second, and the transfer will finish in 4 seconds if the current rate
2982 is maintained until the end.
2984 These statistics can be misleading if rsync's delta-transfer algorithm is
2985 in use. For example, if the sender's file consists of the basis file
2986 followed by additional data, the reported rate will probably drop
2987 dramatically when the receiver gets to the literal data, and the transfer
2988 will probably take much longer to finish than the receiver estimated as it
2989 was finishing the matched part of the file.
2991 When the file transfer finishes, rsync replaces the progress line with a
2992 summary line that looks like this:
2994 > 1,238,099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (xfr#5, to-chk=169/396)
2996 In this example, the file was 1,238,099 bytes long in total, the average
2997 rate of transfer for the whole file was 146.38 kilobytes per second over
2998 the 8 seconds that it took to complete, it was the 5th transfer of a
2999 regular file during the current rsync session, and there are 169 more files
3000 for the receiver to check (to see if they are up-to-date or not) remaining
3001 out of the 396 total files in the file-list.
3003 In an incremental recursion scan, rsync won't know the total number of
3004 files in the file-list until it reaches the ends of the scan, but since it
3005 starts to transfer files during the scan, it will display a line with the
3006 text "ir-chk" (for incremental recursion check) instead of "to-chk" until
3007 the point that it knows the full size of the list, at which point it will
3008 switch to using "to-chk". Thus, seeing "ir-chk" lets you know that the
3009 total count of files in the file list is still going to increase (and each
3010 time it does, the count of files left to check will increase by the number
3011 of the files added to the list).
3015 The `-P` option is equivalent to `--partial --progress`. Its purpose is
3016 to make it much easier to specify these two options for a long transfer
3017 that may be interrupted.
3019 There is also a `--info=progress2` option that outputs statistics based on
3020 the whole transfer, rather than individual files. Use this flag without
3021 outputting a filename (e.g. avoid `-v` or specify `--info=name0`) if you
3022 want to see how the transfer is doing without scrolling the screen with a
3023 lot of names. (You don't need to specify the `--progress` option in order
3024 to use `--info=progress2`.)
3026 Finally, you can get an instant progress report by sending rsync a signal
3027 of either SIGINFO or SIGVTALRM. On BSD systems, a SIGINFO is generated by
3028 typing a Ctrl+T (Linux doesn't currently support a SIGINFO signal). When
3029 the client-side process receives one of those signals, it sets a flag to
3030 output a single progress report which is output when the current file
3031 transfer finishes (so it may take a little time if a big file is being
3032 handled when the signal arrives). A filename is output (if needed)
3033 followed by the `--info=progress2` format of progress info. If you don't
3034 know which of the 3 rsync processes is the client process, it's OK to
3035 signal all of them (since the non-client processes ignore the signal).
3037 CAUTION: sending SIGVTALRM to an older rsync (pre-3.2.0) will kill it.
3039 0. `--password-file=FILE`
3041 This option allows you to provide a password for accessing an rsync daemon
3042 via a file or via standard input if **FILE** is `-`. The file should
3043 contain just the password on the first line (all other lines are ignored).
3044 Rsync will exit with an error if **FILE** is world readable or if a
3045 root-run rsync command finds a non-root-owned file.
3047 This option does not supply a password to a remote shell transport such as
3048 ssh; to learn how to do that, consult the remote shell's documentation.
3049 When accessing an rsync daemon using a remote shell as the transport, this
3050 option only comes into effect after the remote shell finishes its
3051 authentication (i.e. if you have also specified a password in the daemon's
3054 0. `--early-input=FILE`
3056 This option allows rsync to send up to 5K of data to the "early exec"
3057 script on its stdin. One possible use of this data is to give the script a
3058 secret that can be used to mount an encrypted filesystem (which you should
3059 unmount in the the "post-xfer exec" script).
3061 The daemon must be at least version 3.2.1.
3065 This option will cause the source files to be listed instead of
3066 transferred. This option is inferred if there is a single source arg and
3067 no destination specified, so its main uses are: (1) to turn a copy command
3068 that includes a destination arg into a file-listing command, or (2) to be
3069 able to specify more than one source arg (note: be sure to include the
3070 destination). Caution: keep in mind that a source arg with a wild-card is
3071 expanded by the shell into multiple args, so it is never safe to try to
3072 list such an arg without using this option. For example:
3074 > rsync -av --list-only foo* dest/
3076 Starting with rsync 3.1.0, the sizes output by `--list-only` are affected
3077 by the `--human-readable` option. By default they will contain digit
3078 separators, but higher levels of readability will output the sizes with
3079 unit suffixes. Note also that the column width for the size output has
3080 increased from 11 to 14 characters for all human-readable levels. Use
3081 `--no-h` if you want just digits in the sizes, and the old column width of
3084 Compatibility note: when requesting a remote listing of files from an rsync
3085 that is version 2.6.3 or older, you may encounter an error if you ask for a
3086 non-recursive listing. This is because a file listing implies the `--dirs`
3087 option w/o `--recursive`, and older rsyncs don't have that option. To
3088 avoid this problem, either specify the `--no-dirs` option (if you don't
3089 need to expand a directory's content), or turn on recursion and exclude the
3090 content of subdirectories: `-r --exclude='/*/*'`.
3094 This option allows you to specify the maximum transfer rate for the data
3095 sent over the socket, specified in units per second. The RATE value can be
3096 suffixed with a string to indicate a size multiplier, and may be a
3097 fractional value (e.g. "`--bwlimit=1.5m`"). If no suffix is specified, the
3098 value will be assumed to be in units of 1024 bytes (as if "K" or "KiB" had
3099 been appended). See the `--max-size` option for a description of all the
3100 available suffixes. A value of 0 specifies no limit.
3102 For backward-compatibility reasons, the rate limit will be rounded to the
3103 nearest KiB unit, so no rate smaller than 1024 bytes per second is
3106 Rsync writes data over the socket in blocks, and this option both limits
3107 the size of the blocks that rsync writes, and tries to keep the average
3108 transfer rate at the requested limit. Some burstiness may be seen where
3109 rsync writes out a block of data and then sleeps to bring the average rate
3112 Due to the internal buffering of data, the `--progress` option may not be
3113 an accurate reflection on how fast the data is being sent. This is because
3114 some files can show up as being rapidly sent when the data is quickly
3115 buffered, while other can show up as very slow when the flushing of the
3116 output buffer occurs. This may be fixed in a future version.
3118 0. `--stop-after=MINS
3120 This option tells rsync to stop copying when the specified number of
3121 minutes has elapsed.
3123 Rsync also accepts an earlier version of this option: `--time-limit=MINS`.
3125 For maximal flexibility, rsync does not communicate this option to the
3126 remote rsync since it is usually enough that one side of the connection
3127 quits as specified. This allows the option's use even when only one side
3128 of the connection supports it. You can tell the remote side about the time
3129 limit using `--remote-option` (`-M`), should the need arise.
3131 0. `--stop-at=y-m-dTh:m
3133 This option tells rsync to stop copying when the specified point in time
3134 has been reached. The date & time can be fully specified in a numeric
3135 format of year-month-dayThour:minute (e.g. 2000-12-31T23:59) in the local
3136 timezone. You may choose to separate the date numbers using slashes
3139 The value can also be abbreviated in a variety of ways, such as specifying
3140 a 2-digit year and/or leaving off various values. In all cases, the value
3141 will be taken to be the next possible future moment where the supplied
3142 information matches. If the value specifies the current time or a past
3143 time, rsync exits with an error.
3145 For example, "1-30" specifies the next January 30th (at midnight local
3146 time), "14:00" specifies the next 2 P.M., "1" specifies the next 1st of the
3147 month at midnight, and ":59" specifies the next 59th minute after the hour.
3149 For maximal flexibility, rsync does not communicate this option to the
3150 remote rsync since it is usually enough that one side of the connection
3151 quits as specified. This allows the option's use even when only one side
3152 of the connection supports it. You can tell the remote side about the time
3153 limit using `--remote-option` (`-M`), should the need arise. Do keep in
3154 mind that the remote host may have a different default timezone than your
3157 0. `--write-batch=FILE`
3159 Record a file that can later be applied to another identical destination
3160 with `--read-batch`. See the "BATCH MODE" section for details, and also
3161 the `--only-write-batch` option.
3163 This option overrides the negotiated checksum & compress lists and always
3164 negotiates a choice based on old-school md5/md4/zlib choices. If you want
3165 a more modern choice, use the `--checksum-choice` (`--cc`) and/or
3166 `--compress-choice` (`--zc`) options.
3168 0. `--only-write-batch=FILE`
3170 Works like `--write-batch`, except that no updates are made on the
3171 destination system when creating the batch. This lets you transport the
3172 changes to the destination system via some other means and then apply the
3173 changes via `--read-batch`.
3175 Note that you can feel free to write the batch directly to some portable
3176 media: if this media fills to capacity before the end of the transfer, you
3177 can just apply that partial transfer to the destination and repeat the
3178 whole process to get the rest of the changes (as long as you don't mind a
3179 partially updated destination system while the multi-update cycle is
3182 Also note that you only save bandwidth when pushing changes to a remote
3183 system because this allows the batched data to be diverted from the sender
3184 into the batch file without having to flow over the wire to the receiver
3185 (when pulling, the sender is remote, and thus can't write the batch).
3187 0. `--read-batch=FILE`
3189 Apply all of the changes stored in FILE, a file previously generated by
3190 `--write-batch`. If _FILE_ is `-`, the batch data will be read from
3191 standard input. See the "BATCH MODE" section for details.
3195 Force an older protocol version to be used. This is useful for creating a
3196 batch file that is compatible with an older version of rsync. For
3197 instance, if rsync 2.6.4 is being used with the `--write-batch` option, but
3198 rsync 2.6.3 is what will be used to run the `--read-batch` option, you
3199 should use "--protocol=28" when creating the batch file to force the older
3200 protocol version to be used in the batch file (assuming you can't upgrade
3201 the rsync on the reading system).
3203 0. `--iconv=CONVERT_SPEC`
3205 Rsync can convert filenames between character sets using this option.
3206 Using a CONVERT_SPEC of "." tells rsync to look up the default
3207 character-set via the locale setting. Alternately, you can fully specify
3208 what conversion to do by giving a local and a remote charset separated by a
3209 comma in the order `--iconv=LOCAL,REMOTE`, e.g. `--iconv=utf8,iso88591`.
3210 This order ensures that the option will stay the same whether you're
3211 pushing or pulling files. Finally, you can specify either `--no-iconv` or
3212 a CONVERT_SPEC of "-" to turn off any conversion. The default setting of
3213 this option is site-specific, and can also be affected via the RSYNC_ICONV
3214 environment variable.
3216 For a list of what charset names your local iconv library supports, you can
3217 run "`iconv --list`".
3219 If you specify the `--protect-args` option (`-s`), rsync will translate the
3220 filenames you specify on the command-line that are being sent to the remote
3221 host. See also the `--files-from` option.
3223 Note that rsync does not do any conversion of names in filter files
3224 (including include/exclude files). It is up to you to ensure that you're
3225 specifying matching rules that can match on both sides of the transfer.
3226 For instance, you can specify extra include/exclude rules if there are
3227 filename differences on the two sides that need to be accounted for.
3229 When you pass an `--iconv` option to an rsync daemon that allows it, the
3230 daemon uses the charset specified in its "charset" configuration parameter
3231 regardless of the remote charset you actually pass. Thus, you may feel
3232 free to specify just the local charset for a daemon transfer (e.g.
3235 0. `--ipv4`, `-4` or `--ipv6`, `-6`
3237 Tells rsync to prefer IPv4/IPv6 when creating sockets or running ssh. This
3238 affects sockets that rsync has direct control over, such as the outgoing
3239 socket when directly contacting an rsync daemon, as well as the forwarding
3240 of the `-4` or `-6` option to ssh when rsync can deduce that ssh is being
3241 used as the remote shell. For other remote shells you'll need to specify
3242 the "`--rsh SHELL -4`" option directly (or whatever ipv4/ipv6 hint options
3245 These options also exist in the `--daemon` mode section.
3247 If rsync was complied without support for IPv6, the `--ipv6` option will
3248 have no effect. The `rsync --version` output will contain "`no IPv6`" if
3251 0. `--checksum-seed=NUM`
3253 Set the checksum seed to the integer NUM. This 4 byte checksum seed is
3254 included in each block and MD4 file checksum calculation (the more modern
3255 MD5 file checksums don't use a seed). By default the checksum seed is
3256 generated by the server and defaults to the current **time**(). This
3257 option is used to set a specific checksum seed, which is useful for
3258 applications that want repeatable block checksums, or in the case where the
3259 user wants a more random checksum seed. Setting NUM to 0 causes rsync to
3260 use the default of **time**() for checksum seed.
3264 The options allowed when starting an rsync daemon are as follows:
3268 This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The daemon you start
3269 running may be accessed using an rsync client using the `host::module` or
3270 `rsync://host/module/` syntax.
3272 If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being run
3273 via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and become a
3274 background daemon. The daemon will read the config file (rsyncd.conf) on
3275 each connect made by a client and respond to requests accordingly. See the
3276 **rsyncd.conf**(5) man page for more details.
3278 0. `--address=ADDRESS`
3280 By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address when run as a daemon
3281 with the `--daemon` option. The `--address` option allows you to specify a
3282 specific IP address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting
3283 possible in conjunction with the `--config` option. See also the "address"
3284 global option in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
3288 This option allows you to specify the maximum transfer rate for the data
3289 the daemon sends over the socket. The client can still specify a smaller
3290 `--bwlimit` value, but no larger value will be allowed. See the client
3291 version of this option (above) for some extra details.
3295 This specifies an alternate config file than the default. This is only
3296 relevant when `--daemon` is specified. The default is /etc/rsyncd.conf
3297 unless the daemon is running over a remote shell program and the remote
3298 user is not the super-user; in that case the default is rsyncd.conf in the
3299 current directory (typically $HOME).
3301 0. `--dparam=OVERRIDE`, `-M`
3303 This option can be used to set a daemon-config parameter when starting up
3304 rsync in daemon mode. It is equivalent to adding the parameter at the end
3305 of the global settings prior to the first module's definition. The
3306 parameter names can be specified without spaces, if you so desire. For
3309 > rsync --daemon -M pidfile=/path/rsync.pid
3313 When running as a daemon, this option instructs rsync to not detach itself
3314 and become a background process. This option is required when running as a
3315 service on Cygwin, and may also be useful when rsync is supervised by a
3316 program such as `daemontools` or AIX's `System Resource Controller`.
3317 `--no-detach` is also recommended when rsync is run under a debugger. This
3318 option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or sshd.
3322 This specifies an alternate TCP port number for the daemon to listen on
3323 rather than the default of 873. See also the "port" global option in the
3324 rsyncd.conf manpage.
3326 0. `--log-file=FILE`
3328 This option tells the rsync daemon to use the given log-file name instead
3329 of using the "`log file`" setting in the config file.
3331 0. `--log-file-format=FORMAT`
3333 This option tells the rsync daemon to use the given FORMAT string instead
3334 of using the "`log format`" setting in the config file. It also enables
3335 "`transfer logging`" unless the string is empty, in which case transfer
3336 logging is turned off.
3340 This overrides the `socket options` setting in the rsyncd.conf file and has
3343 0. `--verbose`, `-v`
3345 This option increases the amount of information the daemon logs during its
3346 startup phase. After the client connects, the daemon's verbosity level
3347 will be controlled by the options that the client used and the
3348 "`max verbosity`" setting in the module's config section.
3350 0. `--ipv4`, `-4` or `--ipv6`, `-6`
3352 Tells rsync to prefer IPv4/IPv6 when creating the incoming sockets that the
3353 rsync daemon will use to listen for connections. One of these options may
3354 be required in older versions of Linux to work around an IPv6 bug in the
3355 kernel (if you see an "address already in use" error when nothing else is
3356 using the port, try specifying `--ipv6` or `--ipv4` when starting the
3359 These options also exist in the regular rsync options section.
3361 If rsync was complied without support for IPv6, the `--ipv6` option will
3362 have no effect. The `rsync --version` output will contain "`no IPv6`" if
3367 When specified after `--daemon`, print a short help page describing the
3368 options available for starting an rsync daemon.
3372 The filter rules allow for flexible selection of which files to transfer
3373 (include) and which files to skip (exclude). The rules either directly specify
3374 include/exclude patterns or they specify a way to acquire more include/exclude
3375 patterns (e.g. to read them from a file).
3377 As the list of files/directories to transfer is built, rsync checks each name
3378 to be transferred against the list of include/exclude patterns in turn, and the
3379 first matching pattern is acted on: if it is an exclude pattern, then that file
3380 is skipped; if it is an include pattern then that filename is not skipped; if
3381 no matching pattern is found, then the filename is not skipped.
3383 Rsync builds an ordered list of filter rules as specified on the command-line.
3384 Filter rules have the following syntax:
3386 > RULE [PATTERN_OR_FILENAME]
3387 > RULE,MODIFIERS [PATTERN_OR_FILENAME]
3389 You have your choice of using either short or long RULE names, as described
3390 below. If you use a short-named rule, the ',' separating the RULE from the
3391 MODIFIERS is optional. The PATTERN or FILENAME that follows (when present)
3392 must come after either a single space or an underscore (\_). Here are the
3393 available rule prefixes:
3395 0. `exclude, '-'` specifies an exclude pattern.
3396 0. `include, '+'` specifies an include pattern.
3397 0. `merge, '.'` specifies a merge-file to read for more rules.
3398 0. `dir-merge, ':'` specifies a per-directory merge-file.
3399 0. `hide, 'H'` specifies a pattern for hiding files from the transfer.
3400 0. `show, 'S'` files that match the pattern are not hidden.
3401 0. `protect, 'P'` specifies a pattern for protecting files from deletion.
3402 0. `risk, 'R'` files that match the pattern are not protected.
3403 0. `clear, '!'` clears the current include/exclude list (takes no arg)
3405 When rules are being read from a file, empty lines are ignored, as are comment
3406 lines that start with a "#".
3408 [comment]: # (Remember that markdown strips spaces from start/end of ` ... ` sequences!)
3409 [comment]: # (Thus, the `x ` sequences below use a literal non-breakable space!)
3411 Note that the `--include` & `--exclude` command-line options do not allow the
3412 full range of rule parsing as described above -- they only allow the
3413 specification of include / exclude patterns plus a "`!`" token to clear the
3414 list (and the normal comment parsing when rules are read from a file). If a
3415 pattern does not begin with "`-Â `" (dash, space) or "`+Â `" (plus, space), then
3416 the rule will be interpreted as if "`+Â `" (for an include option) or "`-Â `"
3417 (for an exclude option) were prefixed to the string. A `--filter` option, on
3418 the other hand, must always contain either a short or long rule name at the
3421 Note also that the `--filter`, `--include`, and `--exclude` options take one
3422 rule/pattern each. To add multiple ones, you can repeat the options on the
3423 command-line, use the merge-file syntax of the `--filter` option, or the
3424 `--include-from` / `--exclude-from` options.
3426 # INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERN RULES
3428 You can include and exclude files by specifying patterns using the "+", "-",
3429 etc. filter rules (as introduced in the FILTER RULES section above). The
3430 include/exclude rules each specify a pattern that is matched against the names
3431 of the files that are going to be transferred. These patterns can take several
3434 - if the pattern starts with a `/` then it is anchored to a particular spot in
3435 the hierarchy of files, otherwise it is matched against the end of the
3436 pathname. This is similar to a leading `^` in regular expressions. Thus
3437 `/foo` would match a name of "foo" at either the "root of the transfer" (for
3438 a global rule) or in the merge-file's directory (for a per-directory rule).
3439 An unqualified `foo` would match a name of "foo" anywhere in the tree because
3440 the algorithm is applied recursively from the top down; it behaves as if each
3441 path component gets a turn at being the end of the filename. Even the
3442 unanchored "sub/foo" would match at any point in the hierarchy where a "foo"
3443 was found within a directory named "sub". See the section on ANCHORING
3444 INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERNS for a full discussion of how to specify a pattern
3445 that matches at the root of the transfer.
3446 - if the pattern ends with a `/` then it will only match a directory, not a
3447 regular file, symlink, or device.
3448 - rsync chooses between doing a simple string match and wildcard matching by
3449 checking if the pattern contains one of these three wildcard characters:
3450 '`*`', '`?`', and '`[`' .
3451 - a '`*`' matches any path component, but it stops at slashes.
3452 - use '`**`' to match anything, including slashes.
3453 - a '`?`' matches any character except a slash (`/`).
3454 - a '`[`' introduces a character class, such as `[a-z]` or `[[:alpha:]]`.
3455 - in a wildcard pattern, a backslash can be used to escape a wildcard
3456 character, but it is matched literally when no wildcards are present. This
3457 means that there is an extra level of backslash removal when a pattern
3458 contains wildcard characters compared to a pattern that has none. e.g. if
3459 you add a wildcard to "`foo\bar`" (which matches the backslash) you would
3460 need to use "`foo\\bar*`" to avoid the "`\b`" becoming just "b".
3461 - if the pattern contains a `/` (not counting a trailing /) or a "`**`", then it
3462 is matched against the full pathname, including any leading directories. If
3463 the pattern doesn't contain a `/` or a "`**`", then it is matched only against
3464 the final component of the filename. (Remember that the algorithm is applied
3465 recursively so "full filename" can actually be any portion of a path from the
3466 starting directory on down.)
3467 - a trailing "`dir_name/***`" will match both the directory (as if "dir_name/"
3468 had been specified) and everything in the directory (as if "`dir_name/**`"
3469 had been specified). This behavior was added in version 2.6.7.
3471 Note that, when using the `--recursive` (`-r`) option (which is implied by
3472 `-a`), every subdir component of every path is visited left to right, with each
3473 directory having a chance for exclusion before its content. In this way
3474 include/exclude patterns are applied recursively to the pathname of each node
3475 in the filesystem's tree (those inside the transfer). The exclude patterns
3476 short-circuit the directory traversal stage as rsync finds the files to send.
3478 For instance, to include "`/foo/bar/baz`", the directories "`/foo`" and "`/foo/bar`"
3479 must not be excluded. Excluding one of those parent directories prevents the
3480 examination of its content, cutting off rsync's recursion into those paths and
3481 rendering the include for "`/foo/bar/baz`" ineffectual (since rsync can't match
3482 something it never sees in the cut-off section of the directory hierarchy).
3484 The concept path exclusion is particularly important when using a trailing '`*`'
3485 rule. For instance, this won't work:
3487 > + /some/path/this-file-will-not-be-found
3488 > + /file-is-included
3491 This fails because the parent directory "some" is excluded by the '`*`' rule, so
3492 rsync never visits any of the files in the "some" or "some/path" directories.
3493 One solution is to ask for all directories in the hierarchy to be included by
3494 using a single rule: "`+ */`" (put it somewhere before the "`- *`" rule), and
3495 perhaps use the `--prune-empty-dirs` option. Another solution is to add
3496 specific include rules for all the parent dirs that need to be visited. For
3497 instance, this set of rules works fine:
3501 > + /some/path/this-file-is-found
3502 > + /file-also-included
3505 Here are some examples of exclude/include matching:
3507 - "`- *.o`" would exclude all names matching `*.o`
3508 - "`- /foo`" would exclude a file (or directory) named foo in the transfer-root
3510 - "`- foo/`" would exclude any directory named foo
3511 - "`- /foo/*/bar`" would exclude any file named bar which is at two levels
3512 below a directory named foo in the transfer-root directory
3513 - "`- /foo/**/bar`" would exclude any file named bar two or more levels below a
3514 directory named foo in the transfer-root directory
3515 - The combination of "`+ */`", "`+ *.c`", and "`- *`" would include all
3516 directories and C source files but nothing else (see also the
3517 `--prune-empty-dirs` option)
3518 - The combination of "`+ foo/`", "`+ foo/bar.c`", and "`- *`" would include
3519 only the foo directory and foo/bar.c (the foo directory must be explicitly
3520 included or it would be excluded by the "`*`")
3522 The following modifiers are accepted after a "`+`" or "`-`":
3524 - A `/` specifies that the include/exclude rule should be matched against the
3525 absolute pathname of the current item. For example, "`-/ /etc/passwd`" would
3526 exclude the passwd file any time the transfer was sending files from the
3527 "/etc" directory, and "-/ subdir/foo" would always exclude "foo" when it is
3528 in a dir named "subdir", even if "foo" is at the root of the current
3530 - A `!` specifies that the include/exclude should take effect if the pattern
3531 fails to match. For instance, "`-! */`" would exclude all non-directories.
3532 - A `C` is used to indicate that all the global CVS-exclude rules should be
3533 inserted as excludes in place of the "-C". No arg should follow.
3534 - An `s` is used to indicate that the rule applies to the sending side. When a
3535 rule affects the sending side, it prevents files from being transferred. The
3536 default is for a rule to affect both sides unless `--delete-excluded` was
3537 specified, in which case default rules become sender-side only. See also the
3538 hide (H) and show (S) rules, which are an alternate way to specify
3539 sending-side includes/excludes.
3540 - An `r` is used to indicate that the rule applies to the receiving side. When
3541 a rule affects the receiving side, it prevents files from being deleted. See
3542 the `s` modifier for more info. See also the protect (P) and risk (R) rules,
3543 which are an alternate way to specify receiver-side includes/excludes.
3544 - A `p` indicates that a rule is perishable, meaning that it is ignored in
3545 directories that are being deleted. For instance, the `-C` option's default
3546 rules that exclude things like "CVS" and "`*.o`" are marked as perishable,
3547 and will not prevent a directory that was removed on the source from being
3548 deleted on the destination.
3549 - An `x` indicates that a rule affects xattr names in xattr copy/delete
3550 operations (and is thus ignored when matching file/dir names). If no
3551 xattr-matching rules are specified, a default xattr filtering rule is used
3552 (see the `--xattrs` option).
3554 # MERGE-FILE FILTER RULES
3556 You can merge whole files into your filter rules by specifying either a merge
3557 (.) or a dir-merge (:) filter rule (as introduced in the FILTER RULES section
3560 There are two kinds of merged files -- single-instance ('.') and per-directory
3561 (':'). A single-instance merge file is read one time, and its rules are
3562 incorporated into the filter list in the place of the "." rule. For
3563 per-directory merge files, rsync will scan every directory that it traverses
3564 for the named file, merging its contents when the file exists into the current
3565 list of inherited rules. These per-directory rule files must be created on the
3566 sending side because it is the sending side that is being scanned for the
3567 available files to transfer. These rule files may also need to be transferred
3568 to the receiving side if you want them to affect what files don't get deleted
3569 (see PER-DIRECTORY RULES AND DELETE below).
3573 > merge /etc/rsync/default.rules
3574 > . /etc/rsync/default.rules
3575 > dir-merge .per-dir-filter
3576 > dir-merge,n- .non-inherited-per-dir-excludes
3577 > :n- .non-inherited-per-dir-excludes
3579 The following modifiers are accepted after a merge or dir-merge rule:
3581 - A `-` specifies that the file should consist of only exclude patterns, with
3582 no other rule-parsing except for in-file comments.
3583 - A `+` specifies that the file should consist of only include patterns, with
3584 no other rule-parsing except for in-file comments.
3585 - A `C` is a way to specify that the file should be read in a CVS-compatible
3586 manner. This turns on 'n', 'w', and '-', but also allows the list-clearing
3587 token (!) to be specified. If no filename is provided, ".cvsignore" is
3589 - A `e` will exclude the merge-file name from the transfer; e.g. "dir-merge,e
3590 .rules" is like "dir-merge .rules" and "- .rules".
3591 - An `n` specifies that the rules are not inherited by subdirectories.
3592 - A `w` specifies that the rules are word-split on whitespace instead of the
3593 normal line-splitting. This also turns off comments. Note: the space that
3594 separates the prefix from the rule is treated specially, so "- foo + bar" is
3595 parsed as two rules (assuming that prefix-parsing wasn't also disabled).
3596 - You may also specify any of the modifiers for the "+" or "-" rules (above) in
3597 order to have the rules that are read in from the file default to having that
3598 modifier set (except for the `!` modifier, which would not be useful). For
3599 instance, "merge,-/ .excl" would treat the contents of .excl as absolute-path
3600 excludes, while "dir-merge,s .filt" and ":sC" would each make all their
3601 per-directory rules apply only on the sending side. If the merge rule
3602 specifies sides to affect (via the `s` or `r` modifier or both), then the
3603 rules in the file must not specify sides (via a modifier or a rule prefix
3606 Per-directory rules are inherited in all subdirectories of the directory where
3607 the merge-file was found unless the 'n' modifier was used. Each subdirectory's
3608 rules are prefixed to the inherited per-directory rules from its parents, which
3609 gives the newest rules a higher priority than the inherited rules. The entire
3610 set of dir-merge rules are grouped together in the spot where the merge-file
3611 was specified, so it is possible to override dir-merge rules via a rule that
3612 got specified earlier in the list of global rules. When the list-clearing rule
3613 ("!") is read from a per-directory file, it only clears the inherited rules for
3614 the current merge file.
3616 Another way to prevent a single rule from a dir-merge file from being inherited
3617 is to anchor it with a leading slash. Anchored rules in a per-directory
3618 merge-file are relative to the merge-file's directory, so a pattern "/foo"
3619 would only match the file "foo" in the directory where the dir-merge filter
3622 Here's an example filter file which you'd specify via `--filter=". file":`
3624 > merge /home/user/.global-filter
3631 This will merge the contents of the /home/user/.global-filter file at the start
3632 of the list and also turns the ".rules" filename into a per-directory filter
3633 file. All rules read in prior to the start of the directory scan follow the
3634 global anchoring rules (i.e. a leading slash matches at the root of the
3637 If a per-directory merge-file is specified with a path that is a parent
3638 directory of the first transfer directory, rsync will scan all the parent dirs
3639 from that starting point to the transfer directory for the indicated
3640 per-directory file. For instance, here is a common filter (see `-F`):
3642 > --filter=': /.rsync-filter'
3644 That rule tells rsync to scan for the file .rsync-filter in all directories
3645 from the root down through the parent directory of the transfer prior to the
3646 start of the normal directory scan of the file in the directories that are sent
3647 as a part of the transfer. (Note: for an rsync daemon, the root is always the
3648 same as the module's "path".)
3650 Some examples of this pre-scanning for per-directory files:
3652 > rsync -avF /src/path/ /dest/dir
3653 > rsync -av --filter=': ../../.rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir
3654 > rsync -av --filter=': .rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir
3656 The first two commands above will look for ".rsync-filter" in "/" and "/src"
3657 before the normal scan begins looking for the file in "/src/path" and its
3658 subdirectories. The last command avoids the parent-dir scan and only looks for
3659 the ".rsync-filter" files in each directory that is a part of the transfer.
3661 If you want to include the contents of a ".cvsignore" in your patterns, you
3662 should use the rule ":C", which creates a dir-merge of the .cvsignore file, but
3663 parsed in a CVS-compatible manner. You can use this to affect where the
3664 `--cvs-exclude` (`-C`) option's inclusion of the per-directory .cvsignore file
3665 gets placed into your rules by putting the ":C" wherever you like in your
3666 filter rules. Without this, rsync would add the dir-merge rule for the
3667 .cvsignore file at the end of all your other rules (giving it a lower priority
3668 than your command-line rules). For example:
3671 > cat <<EOT | rsync -avC --filter='. -' a/ b
3676 > rsync -avC --include=foo.o -f :C --exclude='*.old' a/ b
3679 Both of the above rsync commands are identical. Each one will merge all the
3680 per-directory .cvsignore rules in the middle of the list rather than at the
3681 end. This allows their dir-specific rules to supersede the rules that follow
3682 the :C instead of being subservient to all your rules. To affect the other CVS
3683 exclude rules (i.e. the default list of exclusions, the contents of
3684 $HOME/.cvsignore, and the value of $CVSIGNORE) you should omit the `-C`
3685 command-line option and instead insert a "-C" rule into your filter rules; e.g.
3688 # LIST-CLEARING FILTER RULE
3690 You can clear the current include/exclude list by using the "!" filter rule (as
3691 introduced in the FILTER RULES section above). The "current" list is either
3692 the global list of rules (if the rule is encountered while parsing the filter
3693 options) or a set of per-directory rules (which are inherited in their own
3694 sub-list, so a subdirectory can use this to clear out the parent's rules).
3696 # ANCHORING INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERNS
3698 As mentioned earlier, global include/exclude patterns are anchored at the "root
3699 of the transfer" (as opposed to per-directory patterns, which are anchored at
3700 the merge-file's directory). If you think of the transfer as a subtree of
3701 names that are being sent from sender to receiver, the transfer-root is where
3702 the tree starts to be duplicated in the destination directory. This root
3703 governs where patterns that start with a / match.
3705 Because the matching is relative to the transfer-root, changing the trailing
3706 slash on a source path or changing your use of the `--relative` option affects
3707 the path you need to use in your matching (in addition to changing how much of
3708 the file tree is duplicated on the destination host). The following examples
3711 Let's say that we want to match two source files, one with an absolute
3712 path of "/home/me/foo/bar", and one with a path of "/home/you/bar/baz".
3713 Here is how the various command choices differ for a 2-source transfer:
3716 > Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me /home/you /dest
3717 > +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar
3718 > +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz
3719 > Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar
3720 > Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz
3724 > Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me/ /home/you/ /dest
3725 > +/- pattern: /foo/bar (note missing "me")
3726 > +/- pattern: /bar/baz (note missing "you")
3727 > Target file: /dest/foo/bar
3728 > Target file: /dest/bar/baz
3732 > Example cmd: rsync -a --relative /home/me/ /home/you /dest
3733 > +/- pattern: /home/me/foo/bar (note full path)
3734 > +/- pattern: /home/you/bar/baz (ditto)
3735 > Target file: /dest/home/me/foo/bar
3736 > Target file: /dest/home/you/bar/baz
3740 > Example cmd: cd /home; rsync -a --relative me/foo you/ /dest
3741 > +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar (starts at specified path)
3742 > +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz (ditto)
3743 > Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar
3744 > Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz
3747 The easiest way to see what name you should filter is to just
3748 look at the output when using `--verbose` and put a / in front of the name
3749 (use the `--dry-run` option if you're not yet ready to copy any files).
3751 # PER-DIRECTORY RULES AND DELETE
3753 Without a delete option, per-directory rules are only relevant on the sending
3754 side, so you can feel free to exclude the merge files themselves without
3755 affecting the transfer. To make this easy, the 'e' modifier adds this exclude
3756 for you, as seen in these two equivalent commands:
3758 > rsync -av --filter=': .excl' --exclude=.excl host:src/dir /dest
3759 > rsync -av --filter=':e .excl' host:src/dir /dest
3761 However, if you want to do a delete on the receiving side AND you want some
3762 files to be excluded from being deleted, you'll need to be sure that the
3763 receiving side knows what files to exclude. The easiest way is to include the
3764 per-directory merge files in the transfer and use `--delete-after`, because
3765 this ensures that the receiving side gets all the same exclude rules as the
3766 sending side before it tries to delete anything:
3768 > rsync -avF --delete-after host:src/dir /dest
3770 However, if the merge files are not a part of the transfer, you'll need to
3771 either specify some global exclude rules (i.e. specified on the command line),
3772 or you'll need to maintain your own per-directory merge files on the receiving
3773 side. An example of the first is this (assume that the remote .rules files
3774 exclude themselves):
3776 > rsync -av --filter=': .rules' --filter='. /my/extra.rules'
3777 > --delete host:src/dir /dest
3779 In the above example the extra.rules file can affect both sides of the
3780 transfer, but (on the sending side) the rules are subservient to the rules
3781 merged from the .rules files because they were specified after the
3782 per-directory merge rule.
3784 In one final example, the remote side is excluding the .rsync-filter files from
3785 the transfer, but we want to use our own .rsync-filter files to control what
3786 gets deleted on the receiving side. To do this we must specifically exclude
3787 the per-directory merge files (so that they don't get deleted) and then put
3788 rules into the local files to control what else should not get deleted. Like
3789 one of these commands:
3792 > rsync -av --filter=':e /.rsync-filter' --delete \
3793 > host:src/dir /dest
3794 > rsync -avFF --delete host:src/dir /dest
3799 Batch mode can be used to apply the same set of updates to many identical
3800 systems. Suppose one has a tree which is replicated on a number of hosts. Now
3801 suppose some changes have been made to this source tree and those changes need
3802 to be propagated to the other hosts. In order to do this using batch mode,
3803 rsync is run with the write-batch option to apply the changes made to the
3804 source tree to one of the destination trees. The write-batch option causes the
3805 rsync client to store in a "batch file" all the information needed to repeat
3806 this operation against other, identical destination trees.
3808 Generating the batch file once saves having to perform the file status,
3809 checksum, and data block generation more than once when updating multiple
3810 destination trees. Multicast transport protocols can be used to transfer the
3811 batch update files in parallel to many hosts at once, instead of sending the
3812 same data to every host individually.
3814 To apply the recorded changes to another destination tree, run rsync with the
3815 read-batch option, specifying the name of the same batch file, and the
3816 destination tree. Rsync updates the destination tree using the information
3817 stored in the batch file.
3819 For your convenience, a script file is also created when the write-batch option
3820 is used: it will be named the same as the batch file with ".sh" appended. This
3821 script file contains a command-line suitable for updating a destination tree
3822 using the associated batch file. It can be executed using a Bourne (or
3823 Bourne-like) shell, optionally passing in an alternate destination tree
3824 pathname which is then used instead of the original destination path. This is
3825 useful when the destination tree path on the current host differs from the one
3826 used to create the batch file.
3830 > $ rsync --write-batch=foo -a host:/source/dir/ /adest/dir/
3831 > $ scp foo* remote:
3832 > $ ssh remote ./foo.sh /bdest/dir/
3834 > $ rsync --write-batch=foo -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/
3835 > $ ssh remote rsync --read-batch=- -a /bdest/dir/ <foo
3837 In these examples, rsync is used to update /adest/dir/ from /source/dir/ and
3838 the information to repeat this operation is stored in "foo" and "foo.sh". The
3839 host "remote" is then updated with the batched data going into the directory
3840 /bdest/dir. The differences between the two examples reveals some of the
3841 flexibility you have in how you deal with batches:
3843 - The first example shows that the initial copy doesn't have to be local -- you
3844 can push or pull data to/from a remote host using either the remote-shell
3845 syntax or rsync daemon syntax, as desired.
3846 - The first example uses the created "foo.sh" file to get the right rsync
3847 options when running the read-batch command on the remote host.
3848 - The second example reads the batch data via standard input so that the batch
3849 file doesn't need to be copied to the remote machine first. This example
3850 avoids the foo.sh script because it needed to use a modified `--read-batch`
3851 option, but you could edit the script file if you wished to make use of it
3852 (just be sure that no other option is trying to use standard input, such as
3853 the "`--exclude-from=-`" option).
3857 The read-batch option expects the destination tree that it is updating to be
3858 identical to the destination tree that was used to create the batch update
3859 fileset. When a difference between the destination trees is encountered the
3860 update might be discarded with a warning (if the file appears to be up-to-date
3861 already) or the file-update may be attempted and then, if the file fails to
3862 verify, the update discarded with an error. This means that it should be safe
3863 to re-run a read-batch operation if the command got interrupted. If you wish
3864 to force the batched-update to always be attempted regardless of the file's
3865 size and date, use the `-I` option (when reading the batch). If an error
3866 occurs, the destination tree will probably be in a partially updated state. In
3867 that case, rsync can be used in its regular (non-batch) mode of operation to
3868 fix up the destination tree.
3870 The rsync version used on all destinations must be at least as new as the one
3871 used to generate the batch file. Rsync will die with an error if the protocol
3872 version in the batch file is too new for the batch-reading rsync to handle.
3873 See also the `--protocol` option for a way to have the creating rsync generate
3874 a batch file that an older rsync can understand. (Note that batch files
3875 changed format in version 2.6.3, so mixing versions older than that with newer
3876 versions will not work.)
3878 When reading a batch file, rsync will force the value of certain options to
3879 match the data in the batch file if you didn't set them to the same as the
3880 batch-writing command. Other options can (and should) be changed. For
3881 instance `--write-batch` changes to `--read-batch`, `--files-from` is dropped,
3882 and the `--filter` / `--include` / `--exclude` options are not needed unless
3883 one of the `--delete` options is specified.
3885 The code that creates the BATCH.sh file transforms any filter/include/exclude
3886 options into a single list that is appended as a "here" document to the shell
3887 script file. An advanced user can use this to modify the exclude list if a
3888 change in what gets deleted by `--delete` is desired. A normal user can ignore
3889 this detail and just use the shell script as an easy way to run the appropriate
3890 `--read-batch` command for the batched data.
3892 The original batch mode in rsync was based on "rsync+", but the latest
3893 version uses a new implementation.
3897 Three basic behaviors are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic
3898 link in the source directory.
3900 By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message "skipping
3901 non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist.
3903 If `--links` is specified, then symlinks are recreated with the same target on
3904 the destination. Note that `--archive` implies `--links`.
3906 If `--copy-links` is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by
3907 copying their referent, rather than the symlink.
3909 Rsync can also distinguish "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An example
3910 where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes to ensure that the
3911 rsync module that is copied does not include symbolic links to `/etc/passwd` in
3912 the public section of the site. Using `--copy-unsafe-links` will cause any
3913 links to be copied as the file they point to on the destination. Using
3914 `--safe-links` will cause unsafe links to be omitted altogether. (Note that you
3915 must specify `--links` for `--safe-links` to have any effect.)
3917 Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks
3918 (start with `/`), empty, or if they contain enough ".."
3919 components to ascend from the directory being copied.
3921 Here's a summary of how the symlink options are interpreted. The list is in
3922 order of precedence, so if your combination of options isn't mentioned, use the
3923 first line that is a complete subset of your options:
3925 0. `--copy-links` Turn all symlinks into normal files (leaving no symlinks for
3926 any other options to affect).
3927 0. `--links --copy-unsafe-links` Turn all unsafe symlinks into files and
3928 duplicate all safe symlinks.
3929 0. `--copy-unsafe-links` Turn all unsafe symlinks into files, noisily skip all
3931 0. `--links --safe-links` Duplicate safe symlinks and skip unsafe ones.
3932 0. `--links` Duplicate all symlinks.
3936 rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little cryptic. The
3937 one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol version mismatch -- is
3940 This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell facility
3941 producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using for its transport.
3942 The way to diagnose this problem is to run your remote shell like this:
3944 > ssh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat
3946 then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat should
3947 be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from rsync then you
3948 will probably find that out.dat contains some text or data. Look at the
3949 contents and try to work out what is producing it. The most common cause is
3950 incorrectly configured shell startup scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that
3951 contain output statements for non-interactive logins.
3953 If you are having trouble debugging filter patterns, then try specifying the
3954 `-vv` option. At this level of verbosity rsync will show why each individual
3955 file is included or excluded.
3960 0. **1** Syntax or usage error
3961 0. **2** Protocol incompatibility
3962 0. **3** Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
3963 0. **4** Requested action not supported: an attempt was made to manipulate
3964 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support them; or an option was
3965 specified that is supported by the client and not by the server.
3966 0. **5** Error starting client-server protocol
3967 0. **6** Daemon unable to append to log-file
3968 0. **10** Error in socket I/O
3969 0. **11** Error in file I/O
3970 0. **12** Error in rsync protocol data stream
3971 0. **13** Errors with program diagnostics
3972 0. **14** Error in IPC code
3973 0. **20** Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
3974 0. **21** Some error returned by **waitpid()**
3975 0. **22** Error allocating core memory buffers
3976 0. **23** Partial transfer due to error
3977 0. **24** Partial transfer due to vanished source files
3978 0. **25** The --max-delete limit stopped deletions
3979 0. **30** Timeout in data send/receive
3980 0. **35** Timeout waiting for daemon connection
3982 # ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
3986 The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any ignore patterns in
3987 .cvsignore files. See the `--cvs-exclude` option for more details.
3991 Specify a default `--iconv` setting using this environment variable. (First
3992 supported in 3.0.0.)
3994 0. `RSYNC_PROTECT_ARGS`
3996 Specify a non-zero numeric value if you want the `--protect-args` option to
3997 be enabled by default, or a zero value to make sure that it is disabled by
3998 default. (First supported in 3.1.0.)
4002 The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to override the default shell
4003 used as the transport for rsync. Command line options are permitted after
4004 the command name, just as in the `-e` option.
4008 The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to redirect your rsync
4009 client to use a web proxy when connecting to a rsync daemon. You should
4010 set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair.
4014 Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required password allows you to run
4015 authenticated rsync connections to an rsync daemon without user
4016 intervention. Note that this does not supply a password to a remote shell
4017 transport such as ssh; to learn how to do that, consult the remote shell's
4020 0. `USER` or `LOGNAME`
4022 The USER or LOGNAME environment variables are used to determine the default
4023 username sent to an rsync daemon. If neither is set, the username defaults
4028 The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's default .cvsignore
4033 /etc/rsyncd.conf or rsyncd.conf
4037 **rsync-ssl**(1), **rsyncd.conf**(5)
4041 times are transferred as \*nix time_t values
4043 When transferring to FAT filesystems rsync may re-sync
4045 See the comments on the `--modify-window` option.
4047 file permissions, devices, etc. are transferred as native numerical
4050 see also the comments on the `--delete` option
4052 Please report bugs! See the web site at <https://rsync.samba.org/>.
4056 This man page is current for version @VERSION@ of rsync.
4060 The options `--server` and `--sender` are used internally by rsync, and should
4061 never be typed by a user under normal circumstances. Some awareness of these
4062 options may be needed in certain scenarios, such as when setting up a login
4063 that can only run an rsync command. For instance, the support directory of the
4064 rsync distribution has an example script named rrsync (for restricted rsync)
4065 that can be used with a restricted ssh login.
4069 rsync is distributed under the GNU General Public License. See the file
4070 COPYING for details.
4072 A web site is available at <https://rsync.samba.org/>. The site includes an
4073 FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this manual page.
4075 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program. Please
4076 contact the mailing-list at <rsync@lists.samba.org>.
4078 This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by Jean-loup
4079 Gailly and Mark Adler.
4083 Special thanks go out to: John Van Essen, Matt McCutchen, Wesley W. Terpstra,
4084 David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer, Martin Pool, and our
4085 gone-but-not-forgotten compadre, J.W. Schultz.
4087 Thanks also to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell and
4088 David Bell. I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
4092 rsync was originally written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras. Many
4093 people have later contributed to it. It is currently maintained by Wayne
4096 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
4097 <https://lists.samba.org/>.