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
29 The online version of this manpage (that includes cross-linking of topics)
30 is available at <https://download.samba.org/pub/rsync/rsync.1>.
34 Rsync is a fast and extraordinarily versatile file copying tool. It can copy
35 locally, to/from another host over any remote shell, or to/from a remote rsync
36 daemon. It offers a large number of options that control every aspect of its
37 behavior and permit very flexible specification of the set of files to be
38 copied. It is famous for its delta-transfer algorithm, which reduces the
39 amount of data sent over the network by sending only the differences between
40 the source files and the existing files in the destination. Rsync is widely
41 used for backups and mirroring and as an improved copy command for everyday
44 Rsync finds files that need to be transferred using a "quick check" algorithm
45 (by default) that looks for files that have changed in size or in last-modified
46 time. Any changes in the other preserved attributes (as requested by options)
47 are made on the destination file directly when the quick check indicates that
48 the file's data does not need to be updated.
50 Some of the additional features of rsync are:
52 - support for copying links, devices, owners, groups, and permissions
53 - exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar
54 - a CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore
55 - can use any transparent remote shell, including ssh or rsh
56 - does not require super-user privileges
57 - pipelining of file transfers to minimize latency costs
58 - support for anonymous or authenticated rsync daemons (ideal for mirroring)
62 Rsync copies files either to or from a remote host, or locally on the current
63 host (it does not support copying files between two remote hosts).
65 There are two different ways for rsync to contact a remote system: using a
66 remote-shell program as the transport (such as ssh or rsh) or contacting an
67 rsync daemon directly via TCP. The remote-shell transport is used whenever the
68 source or destination path contains a single colon (:) separator after a host
69 specification. Contacting an rsync daemon directly happens when the source or
70 destination path contains a double colon (::) separator after a host
71 specification, OR when an rsync:// URL is specified (see also the [USING
72 RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION](#) section for an
73 exception to this latter rule).
75 As a special case, if a single source arg is specified without a destination,
76 the files are listed in an output format similar to "`ls -l`".
78 As expected, if neither the source or destination path specify a remote host,
79 the copy occurs locally (see also the [`--list-only`](#opt) option).
81 Rsync refers to the local side as the client and the remote side as the server.
82 Don't confuse server with an rsync daemon. A daemon is always a server, but a
83 server can be either a daemon or a remote-shell spawned process.
87 See the file README.md for installation instructions.
89 Once installed, you can use rsync to any machine that you can access via a
90 remote shell (as well as some that you can access using the rsync daemon-mode
91 protocol). For remote transfers, a modern rsync uses ssh for its
92 communications, but it may have been configured to use a different remote shell
93 by default, such as rsh or remsh.
95 You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the [`-e`](#opt)
96 command line option, or by setting the [`RSYNC_RSH`](#) environment variable.
98 Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination machines.
102 You use rsync in the same way you use rcp. You must specify a source and a
103 destination, one of which may be remote.
105 Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is with some examples:
107 > rsync -t *.c foo:src/
109 This would transfer all files matching the pattern `*.c` from the current
110 directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of the files already
111 exist on the remote system then the rsync remote-update protocol is used to
112 update the file by sending only the differences in the data. Note that the
113 expansion of wildcards on the command-line (`*.c`) into a list of files is
114 handled by the shell before it runs rsync and not by rsync itself (exactly the
115 same as all other Posix-style programs).
117 > rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp
119 This would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the
120 machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The files
121 are transferred in archive mode, which ensures that symbolic links, devices,
122 attributes, permissions, ownerships, etc. are preserved in the transfer.
123 Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the size of data portions of
126 > rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp
128 A trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to avoid creating an
129 additional directory level at the destination. You can think of a trailing /
130 on a source as meaning "copy the contents of this directory" as opposed to
131 "copy the directory by name", but in both cases the attributes of the
132 containing directory are transferred to the containing directory on the
133 destination. In other words, each of the following commands copies the files
134 in the same way, including their setting of the attributes of /dest/foo:
136 > rsync -av /src/foo /dest
137 > rsync -av /src/foo/ /dest/foo
139 Note also that host and module references don't require a trailing slash to
140 copy the contents of the default directory. For example, both of these copy
141 the remote directory's contents into "/dest":
143 > rsync -av host: /dest
144 > rsync -av host::module /dest
146 You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
147 destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like an
148 improved copy command.
150 Finally, you can list all the (listable) modules available from a particular
151 rsync daemon by leaving off the module name:
153 > rsync somehost.mydomain.com::
155 See the following section for more details.
157 ## SORTED TRANSFER ORDER
159 Rsync always sorts the specified filenames into its internal transfer list.
160 This handles the merging together of the contents of identically named
161 directories, makes it easy to remove duplicate filenames. It can, however,
162 confuse someone when the files are transferred in a different order than what
163 was given on the command-line.
165 If you need a particular file to be transferred prior to another, either
166 separate the files into different rsync calls, or consider using
167 [`--delay-updates`](#opt) (which doesn't affect the sorted transfer order, but
168 does make the final file-updating phase happen much more rapidly).
170 ## MULTI-HOST SECURITY
172 Rsync takes steps to ensure that the file requests that are shared in a
173 transfer are protected against various security issues. Most of the potential
174 problems arise on the receiving side where rsync takes steps to ensure that the
175 list of files being transferred remains within the bounds of what was
178 Toward this end, rsync 3.1.2 and later have aborted when a file list contains
179 an absolute or relative path that tries to escape out of the top of the
180 transfer. Also, beginning with version 3.2.5, rsync does two more safety
181 checks of the file list to (1) ensure that no extra source arguments were added
182 into the transfer other than those that the client requested and (2) ensure
183 that the file list obeys the exclude rules that were sent to the sender.
185 For those that don't yet have a 3.2.5 client rsync (or those that want to be
186 extra careful), it is safest to do a copy into a dedicated destination
187 directory for the remote files when you don't trust the remote host. For
188 example, instead of doing an rsync copy into your home directory:
190 > rsync -aiv host1:dir1 ~
192 Dedicate a "host1-files" dir to the remote content:
194 > rsync -aiv host1:dir1 ~/host1-files
196 See the [`--trust-sender`](#opt) option for additional details.
200 The syntax for requesting multiple files from a remote host is done by
201 specifying additional remote-host args in the same style as the first, or with
202 the hostname omitted. For instance, all these work:
204 > rsync -aiv host:file1 :file2 host:file{3,4} /dest/
205 > rsync -aiv host::modname/file{1,2} host::modname/extra /dest/
206 > rsync -aiv host::modname/first ::modname/extra{1,2} /dest/
208 Really old versions of rsync (2.6.9 and before) only allowed specifying one
209 remote-source arg, so some people have instead relied on the remote-shell
210 performing space splitting to break up an arg into multiple paths. Such
211 unintuitive behavior is no longer supported by default (though you can request
212 it, as described below).
214 Starting in 3.2.4, filenames are passed to a remote shell in such a way as to
215 preserve the characters you give it. Thus, if you ask for a file with spaces
216 in the name, that's what the remote rsync looks for:
218 > rsync -aiv host:'a simple file.pdf' /dest/
220 If you use scripts that have been written to manually apply extra quoting to
221 the remote rsync args (or to require remote arg splitting), you can ask rsync
222 to let your script handle the extra escaping. This is done by either adding
223 the [`--old-args`](#opt) option to the rsync runs in the script (which requires
224 a new rsync) or exporting [RSYNC_OLD_ARGS](#)=1 and [RSYNC_PROTECT_ARGS](#)=0
225 (which works with old or new rsync versions).
227 ## CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC DAEMON
229 It is also possible to use rsync without a remote shell as the transport. In
230 this case you will directly connect to a remote rsync daemon, typically using
231 TCP port 873. (This obviously requires the daemon to be running on the remote
232 system, so refer to the [STARTING AN RSYNC DAEMON TO ACCEPT CONNECTIONS](#)
233 section below for information on that.)
235 Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except
238 - you either use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to separate the
239 hostname from the path, or you use an rsync:// URL.
240 - the first word of the "path" is actually a module name.
241 - the remote daemon may print a message of the day when you connect.
242 - if you specify no path name on the remote daemon then the list of accessible
243 paths on the daemon will be shown.
244 - if you specify no local destination then a listing of the specified files on
245 the remote daemon is provided.
246 - you must not specify the [`--rsh`](#opt) (`-e`) option (since that overrides
247 the daemon connection to use ssh -- see [USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A
248 REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION](#) below).
250 An example that copies all the files in a remote module named "src":
252 > rsync -av host::src /dest
254 Some modules on the remote daemon may require authentication. If so, you will
255 receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the password prompt
256 by setting the environment variable [`RSYNC_PASSWORD`](#) to the password you
257 want to use or using the [`--password-file`](#opt) option. This may be useful
258 when scripting rsync.
260 WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all users. On
261 those systems using [`--password-file`](#opt) is recommended.
263 You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the environment
264 variable [`RSYNC_PROXY`](#) to a hostname:port pair pointing to your web proxy.
265 Note that your web proxy's configuration must support proxy connections to port
268 You may also establish a daemon connection using a program as a proxy by
269 setting the environment variable [`RSYNC_CONNECT_PROG`](#) to the commands you
270 wish to run in place of making a direct socket connection. The string may
271 contain the escape "%H" to represent the hostname specified in the rsync
272 command (so use "%%" if you need a single "%" in your string). For example:
274 > export RSYNC_CONNECT_PROG='ssh proxyhost nc %H 873'
275 > rsync -av targethost1::module/src/ /dest/
276 > rsync -av rsync://targethost2/module/src/ /dest/
278 The command specified above uses ssh to run nc (netcat) on a proxyhost, which
279 forwards all data to port 873 (the rsync daemon) on the targethost (%H).
281 Note also that if the [`RSYNC_SHELL`](#) environment variable is set, that
282 program will be used to run the `RSYNC_CONNECT_PROG` command instead of using
283 the default shell of the **system()** call.
285 ## USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION
287 It is sometimes useful to use various features of an rsync daemon (such as
288 named modules) without actually allowing any new socket connections into a
289 system (other than what is already required to allow remote-shell access).
290 Rsync supports connecting to a host using a remote shell and then spawning a
291 single-use "daemon" server that expects to read its config file in the home dir
292 of the remote user. This can be useful if you want to encrypt a daemon-style
293 transfer's data, but since the daemon is started up fresh by the remote user,
294 you may not be able to use features such as chroot or change the uid used by
295 the daemon. (For another way to encrypt a daemon transfer, consider using ssh
296 to tunnel a local port to a remote machine and configure a normal rsync daemon
297 on that remote host to only allow connections from "localhost".)
299 From the user's perspective, a daemon transfer via a remote-shell connection
300 uses nearly the same command-line syntax as a normal rsync-daemon transfer,
301 with the only exception being that you must explicitly set the remote shell
302 program on the command-line with the [`--rsh=COMMAND`](#opt) option. (Setting the
303 RSYNC_RSH in the environment will not turn on this functionality.) For example:
305 > rsync -av --rsh=ssh host::module /dest
307 If you need to specify a different remote-shell user, keep in mind that the
308 user@ prefix in front of the host is specifying the rsync-user value (for a
309 module that requires user-based authentication). This means that you must give
310 the '-l user' option to ssh when specifying the remote-shell, as in this
311 example that uses the short version of the [`--rsh`](#opt) option:
313 > rsync -av -e "ssh -l ssh-user" rsync-user@host::module /dest
315 The "ssh-user" will be used at the ssh level; the "rsync-user" will be used to
316 log-in to the "module".
318 In this setup, the daemon is started by the ssh command that is accessing the
319 system (which can be forced via the `~/.ssh/authorized_keys` file, if desired).
320 However, when accessing a daemon directly, it needs to be started beforehand.
322 ## STARTING AN RSYNC DAEMON TO ACCEPT CONNECTIONS
324 In order to connect to an rsync daemon, the remote system needs to have a
325 daemon already running (or it needs to have configured something like inetd to
326 spawn an rsync daemon for incoming connections on a particular port). For full
327 information on how to start a daemon that will handling incoming socket
328 connections, see the [**rsyncd.conf**(5)](rsyncd.conf.5) manpage -- that is
329 the config file for the daemon, and it contains the full details for how to run
330 the daemon (including stand-alone and inetd configurations).
332 If you're using one of the remote-shell transports for the transfer, there is
333 no need to manually start an rsync daemon.
337 Here are some examples of how rsync can be used.
339 To backup a home directory, which consists of large MS Word files and mail
340 folders, a per-user cron job can be used that runs this each day:
342 > rsync -aiz . bkhost:backup/joe/
344 To move some files from a remote host to the local host, you could run:
346 > rsync -aiv --remove-source-files rhost:/tmp/{file1,file2}.c ~/src/
350 Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Each option also
351 has its own detailed description later in this manpage.
353 [comment]: # (help-rsync.h)
354 [comment]: # (Keep these short enough that they'll be under 80 chars when indented by 7 chars.)
357 --verbose, -v increase verbosity
358 --info=FLAGS fine-grained informational verbosity
359 --debug=FLAGS fine-grained debug verbosity
360 --stderr=e|a|c change stderr output mode (default: errors)
361 --quiet, -q suppress non-error messages
362 --no-motd suppress daemon-mode MOTD
363 --checksum, -c skip based on checksum, not mod-time & size
364 --archive, -a archive mode is -rlptgoD (no -A,-X,-U,-N,-H)
365 --no-OPTION turn off an implied OPTION (e.g. --no-D)
366 --recursive, -r recurse into directories
367 --relative, -R use relative path names
368 --no-implied-dirs don't send implied dirs with --relative
369 --backup, -b make backups (see --suffix & --backup-dir)
370 --backup-dir=DIR make backups into hierarchy based in DIR
371 --suffix=SUFFIX backup suffix (default ~ w/o --backup-dir)
372 --update, -u skip files that are newer on the receiver
373 --inplace update destination files in-place
374 --append append data onto shorter files
375 --append-verify --append w/old data in file checksum
376 --dirs, -d transfer directories without recursing
377 --old-dirs, --old-d works like --dirs when talking to old rsync
378 --mkpath create the destination's path component
379 --links, -l copy symlinks as symlinks
380 --copy-links, -L transform symlink into referent file/dir
381 --copy-unsafe-links only "unsafe" symlinks are transformed
382 --safe-links ignore symlinks that point outside the tree
383 --munge-links munge symlinks to make them safe & unusable
384 --copy-dirlinks, -k transform symlink to dir into referent dir
385 --keep-dirlinks, -K treat symlinked dir on receiver as dir
386 --hard-links, -H preserve hard links
387 --perms, -p preserve permissions
388 --executability, -E preserve executability
389 --chmod=CHMOD affect file and/or directory permissions
390 --acls, -A preserve ACLs (implies --perms)
391 --xattrs, -X preserve extended attributes
392 --owner, -o preserve owner (super-user only)
393 --group, -g preserve group
394 --devices preserve device files (super-user only)
395 --copy-devices copy device contents as a regular file
396 --write-devices write to devices as files (implies --inplace)
397 --specials preserve special files
398 -D same as --devices --specials
399 --times, -t preserve modification times
400 --atimes, -U preserve access (use) times
401 --open-noatime avoid changing the atime on opened files
402 --crtimes, -N preserve create times (newness)
403 --omit-dir-times, -O omit directories from --times
404 --omit-link-times, -J omit symlinks from --times
405 --super receiver attempts super-user activities
406 --fake-super store/recover privileged attrs using xattrs
407 --sparse, -S turn sequences of nulls into sparse blocks
408 --preallocate allocate dest files before writing them
409 --dry-run, -n perform a trial run with no changes made
410 --whole-file, -W copy files whole (w/o delta-xfer algorithm)
411 --checksum-choice=STR choose the checksum algorithm (aka --cc)
412 --one-file-system, -x don't cross filesystem boundaries
413 --block-size=SIZE, -B force a fixed checksum block-size
414 --rsh=COMMAND, -e specify the remote shell to use
415 --rsync-path=PROGRAM specify the rsync to run on remote machine
416 --existing skip creating new files on receiver
417 --ignore-existing skip updating files that exist on receiver
418 --remove-source-files sender removes synchronized files (non-dir)
419 --del an alias for --delete-during
420 --delete delete extraneous files from dest dirs
421 --delete-before receiver deletes before xfer, not during
422 --delete-during receiver deletes during the transfer
423 --delete-delay find deletions during, delete after
424 --delete-after receiver deletes after transfer, not during
425 --delete-excluded also delete excluded files from dest dirs
426 --ignore-missing-args ignore missing source args without error
427 --delete-missing-args delete missing source args from destination
428 --ignore-errors delete even if there are I/O errors
429 --force force deletion of dirs even if not empty
430 --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
431 --max-size=SIZE don't transfer any file larger than SIZE
432 --min-size=SIZE don't transfer any file smaller than SIZE
433 --max-alloc=SIZE change a limit relating to memory alloc
434 --partial keep partially transferred files
435 --partial-dir=DIR put a partially transferred file into DIR
436 --delay-updates put all updated files into place at end
437 --prune-empty-dirs, -m prune empty directory chains from file-list
438 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
439 --usermap=STRING custom username mapping
440 --groupmap=STRING custom groupname mapping
441 --chown=USER:GROUP simple username/groupname mapping
442 --timeout=SECONDS set I/O timeout in seconds
443 --contimeout=SECONDS set daemon connection timeout in seconds
444 --ignore-times, -I don't skip files that match size and time
445 --size-only skip files that match in size
446 --modify-window=NUM, -@ set the accuracy for mod-time comparisons
447 --temp-dir=DIR, -T create temporary files in directory DIR
448 --fuzzy, -y find similar file for basis if no dest file
449 --compare-dest=DIR also compare destination files relative to DIR
450 --copy-dest=DIR ... and include copies of unchanged files
451 --link-dest=DIR hardlink to files in DIR when unchanged
452 --compress, -z compress file data during the transfer
453 --compress-choice=STR choose the compression algorithm (aka --zc)
454 --compress-level=NUM explicitly set compression level (aka --zl)
455 --skip-compress=LIST skip compressing files with suffix in LIST
456 --cvs-exclude, -C auto-ignore files in the same way CVS does
457 --filter=RULE, -f add a file-filtering RULE
458 -F same as --filter='dir-merge /.rsync-filter'
459 repeated: --filter='- .rsync-filter'
460 --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
461 --exclude-from=FILE read exclude patterns from FILE
462 --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN
463 --include-from=FILE read include patterns from FILE
464 --files-from=FILE read list of source-file names from FILE
465 --from0, -0 all *-from/filter files are delimited by 0s
466 --old-args disable the modern arg-protection idiom
467 --protect-args, -s no space-splitting; wildcard chars only
468 --trust-sender trust the remote sender's file list
469 --copy-as=USER[:GROUP] specify user & optional group for the copy
470 --address=ADDRESS bind address for outgoing socket to daemon
471 --port=PORT specify double-colon alternate port number
472 --sockopts=OPTIONS specify custom TCP options
473 --blocking-io use blocking I/O for the remote shell
474 --outbuf=N|L|B set out buffering to None, Line, or Block
475 --stats give some file-transfer stats
476 --8-bit-output, -8 leave high-bit chars unescaped in output
477 --human-readable, -h output numbers in a human-readable format
478 --progress show progress during transfer
479 -P same as --partial --progress
480 --itemize-changes, -i output a change-summary for all updates
481 --remote-option=OPT, -M send OPTION to the remote side only
482 --out-format=FORMAT output updates using the specified FORMAT
483 --log-file=FILE log what we're doing to the specified FILE
484 --log-file-format=FMT log updates using the specified FMT
485 --password-file=FILE read daemon-access password from FILE
486 --early-input=FILE use FILE for daemon's early exec input
487 --list-only list the files instead of copying them
488 --bwlimit=RATE limit socket I/O bandwidth
489 --stop-after=MINS Stop rsync after MINS minutes have elapsed
490 --stop-at=y-m-dTh:m Stop rsync at the specified point in time
491 --fsync fsync every written file
492 --write-batch=FILE write a batched update to FILE
493 --only-write-batch=FILE like --write-batch but w/o updating dest
494 --read-batch=FILE read a batched update from FILE
495 --protocol=NUM force an older protocol version to be used
496 --iconv=CONVERT_SPEC request charset conversion of filenames
497 --checksum-seed=NUM set block/file checksum seed (advanced)
498 --ipv4, -4 prefer IPv4
499 --ipv6, -6 prefer IPv6
500 --version, -V print the version + other info and exit
501 --help, -h (*) show this help (* -h is help only on its own)
504 Rsync can also be run as a daemon, in which case the following options are
507 [comment]: # (help-rsyncd.h)
510 --daemon run as an rsync daemon
511 --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address
512 --bwlimit=RATE limit socket I/O bandwidth
513 --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
514 --dparam=OVERRIDE, -M override global daemon config parameter
515 --no-detach do not detach from the parent
516 --port=PORT listen on alternate port number
517 --log-file=FILE override the "log file" setting
518 --log-file-format=FMT override the "log format" setting
519 --sockopts=OPTIONS specify custom TCP options
520 --verbose, -v increase verbosity
521 --ipv4, -4 prefer IPv4
522 --ipv6, -6 prefer IPv6
523 --help, -h show this help (when used with --daemon)
528 Rsync accepts both long (double-dash + word) and short (single-dash + letter)
529 options. The full list of the available options are described below. If an
530 option can be specified in more than one way, the choices are comma-separated.
531 Some options only have a long variant, not a short.
533 If the option takes a parameter, the parameter is only listed after the long
534 variant, even though it must also be specified for the short. When specifying
535 a parameter, you can either use the form `--option=param`, `--option param`,
536 `-o=param`, `-o param`, or `-oparam` (the latter choices assume that your
537 option has a short variant).
539 The parameter may need to be quoted in some manner for it to survive the
540 shell's command-line parsing. Also keep in mind that a leading tilde (`~`) in
541 a pathname is substituted by your shell, so make sure that you separate the
542 option name from the pathname using a space if you want the local shell to
545 [comment]: # (Some markup below uses a literal non-breakable space when a backtick string)
546 [comment]: # (needs to contain a space since markdown strips spaces from the start/end)
548 [comment]: # (An OL starting at 0 is converted into a DL by the parser.)
552 Print a short help page describing the options available in rsync and exit.
553 You can also use `-h` for `--help` when it is used without any other
554 options (since it normally means [`--human-readable`](#opt)).
558 Print the rsync version plus other info and exit.
560 The output includes the default list of checksum algorithms, the default
561 list of compression algorithms, a list of compiled-in capabilities, a link
562 to the rsync web site, and some license/copyright info.
566 This option increases the amount of information you are given during the
567 transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A single `-v` will give you
568 information about what files are being transferred and a brief summary at
569 the end. Two `-v` options will give you information on what files are
570 being skipped and slightly more information at the end. More than two `-v`
571 options should only be used if you are debugging rsync.
573 The end-of-run summary tells you the number of bytes sent to the remote
574 rsync (which is the receiving side on a local copy), the number of bytes
575 received from the remote host, and the average bytes per second of the
576 transferred data computed over the entire length of the rsync run. The
577 second line shows the total size (in bytes), which is the sum of all the
578 file sizes that rsync considered transferring. It also shows a "speedup"
579 value, which is a ratio of the total file size divided by the sum of the
580 sent and received bytes (which is really just a feel-good bigger-is-better
581 number). Note that these byte values can be made more (or less)
582 human-readable by using the [`--human-readable`](#opt) (or
583 `--no-human-readable`) options.
585 In a modern rsync, the `-v` option is equivalent to the setting of groups
586 of [`--info`](#opt) and [`--debug`](#opt) options. You can choose to use
587 these newer options in addition to, or in place of using `--verbose`, as
588 any fine-grained settings override the implied settings of `-v`. Both
589 [`--info`](#opt) and [`--debug`](#opt) have a way to ask for help that
590 tells you exactly what flags are set for each increase in verbosity.
592 However, do keep in mind that a daemon's "`max verbosity`" setting will limit
593 how high of a level the various individual flags can be set on the daemon
594 side. For instance, if the max is 2, then any info and/or debug flag that
595 is set to a higher value than what would be set by `-vv` will be downgraded
596 to the `-vv` level in the daemon's logging.
600 This option lets you have fine-grained control over the information output
601 you want to see. An individual flag name may be followed by a level
602 number, with 0 meaning to silence that output, 1 being the default output
603 level, and higher numbers increasing the output of that flag (for those
604 that support higher levels). Use `--info=help` to see all the available
605 flag names, what they output, and what flag names are added for each
606 increase in the verbose level. Some examples:
608 > rsync -a --info=progress2 src/ dest/
609 > rsync -avv --info=stats2,misc1,flist0 src/ dest/
611 Note that `--info=name`'s output is affected by the [`--out-format`](#opt)
612 and [`--itemize-changes`](#opt) (`-i`) options. See those options for more
613 information on what is output and when.
615 This option was added to 3.1.0, so an older rsync on the server side might
616 reject your attempts at fine-grained control (if one or more flags needed
617 to be send to the server and the server was too old to understand them).
618 See also the "`max verbosity`" caveat above when dealing with a daemon.
622 This option lets you have fine-grained control over the debug output you
623 want to see. An individual flag name may be followed by a level number,
624 with 0 meaning to silence that output, 1 being the default output level,
625 and higher numbers increasing the output of that flag (for those that
626 support higher levels). Use `--debug=help` to see all the available flag
627 names, what they output, and what flag names are added for each increase in
628 the verbose level. Some examples:
630 > rsync -avvv --debug=none src/ dest/
631 > rsync -avA --del --debug=del2,acl src/ dest/
633 Note that some debug messages will only be output when the [`--stderr=all`](#opt)
634 option is specified, especially those pertaining to I/O and buffer debugging.
636 Beginning in 3.2.0, this option is no longer auto-forwarded to the server
637 side in order to allow you to specify different debug values for each side
638 of the transfer, as well as to specify a new debug option that is only
639 present in one of the rsync versions. If you want to duplicate the same
640 option on both sides, using brace expansion is an easy way to save you some
641 typing. This works in zsh and bash:
643 > rsync -aiv {-M,}--debug=del2 src/ dest/
645 0. `--stderr=errors|all|client`
647 This option controls which processes output to stderr and if info messages
648 are also changed to stderr. The mode strings can be abbreviated, so feel
649 free to use a single letter value. The 3 possible choices are:
651 - `errors` - (the default) causes all the rsync processes to send an
652 error directly to stderr, even if the process is on the remote side of
653 the transfer. Info messages are sent to the client side via the protocol
654 stream. If stderr is not available (i.e. when directly connecting with a
655 daemon via a socket) errors fall back to being sent via the protocol
658 - `all` - causes all rsync messages (info and error) to get written
659 directly to stderr from all (possible) processes. This causes stderr to
660 become line-buffered (instead of raw) and eliminates the ability to
661 divide up the info and error messages by file handle. For those doing
662 debugging or using several levels of verbosity, this option can help to
663 avoid clogging up the transfer stream (which should prevent any chance of
664 a deadlock bug hanging things up). It also allows [`--debug`](#opt) to
665 enable some extra I/O related messages.
667 - `client` - causes all rsync messages to be sent to the client side
668 via the protocol stream. One client process outputs all messages, with
669 errors on stderr and info messages on stdout. This **was** the default
670 in older rsync versions, but can cause error delays when a lot of
671 transfer data is ahead of the messages. If you're pushing files to an
672 older rsync, you may want to use `--stderr=all` since that idiom has
673 been around for several releases.
675 This option was added in rsync 3.2.3. This version also began the
676 forwarding of a non-default setting to the remote side, though rsync uses
677 the backward-compatible options `--msgs2stderr` and `--no-msgs2stderr` to
678 represent the `all` and `client` settings, respectively. A newer rsync
679 will continue to accept these older option names to maintain compatibility.
683 This option decreases the amount of information you are given during the
684 transfer, notably suppressing information messages from the remote server.
685 This option is useful when invoking rsync from cron.
689 This option affects the information that is output by the client at the
690 start of a daemon transfer. This suppresses the message-of-the-day (MOTD)
691 text, but it also affects the list of modules that the daemon sends in
692 response to the "rsync host::" request (due to a limitation in the rsync
693 protocol), so omit this option if you want to request the list of modules
696 0. `--ignore-times`, `-I`
698 Normally rsync will skip any files that are already the same size and have
699 the same modification timestamp. This option turns off this "quick check"
700 behavior, causing all files to be updated.
702 This option can be confusing compared to [`--ignore-existing`](#opt) and
703 [`--ignore-non-existing`](#opt) in that that they cause rsync to transfer
704 fewer files, while this option causes rsync to transfer more files.
708 This modifies rsync's "quick check" algorithm for finding files that need
709 to be transferred, changing it from the default of transferring files with
710 either a changed size or a changed last-modified time to just looking for
711 files that have changed in size. This is useful when starting to use rsync
712 after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
715 0. `--modify-window=NUM`, `-@`
717 When comparing two timestamps, rsync treats the timestamps as being equal
718 if they differ by no more than the modify-window value. The default is 0,
719 which matches just integer seconds. If you specify a negative value (and
720 the receiver is at least version 3.1.3) then nanoseconds will also be taken
721 into account. Specifying 1 is useful for copies to/from MS Windows FAT
722 filesystems, because FAT represents times with a 2-second resolution
723 (allowing times to differ from the original by up to 1 second).
725 If you want all your transfers to default to comparing nanoseconds, you can
726 create a `~/.popt` file and put these lines in it:
728 > rsync alias -a -a@-1
729 > rsync alias -t -t@-1
731 With that as the default, you'd need to specify `--modify-window=0` (aka
732 `-@0`) to override it and ignore nanoseconds, e.g. if you're copying
733 between ext3 and ext4, or if the receiving rsync is older than 3.1.3.
735 0. `--checksum`, `-c`
737 This changes the way rsync checks if the files have been changed and are in
738 need of a transfer. Without this option, rsync uses a "quick check" that
739 (by default) checks if each file's size and time of last modification match
740 between the sender and receiver. This option changes this to compare a
741 128-bit checksum for each file that has a matching size. Generating the
742 checksums means that both sides will expend a lot of disk I/O reading all
743 the data in the files in the transfer, so this can slow things down
744 significantly (and this is prior to any reading that will be done to
745 transfer changed files)
747 The sending side generates its checksums while it is doing the file-system
748 scan that builds the list of the available files. The receiver generates
749 its checksums when it is scanning for changed files, and will checksum any
750 file that has the same size as the corresponding sender's file: files with
751 either a changed size or a changed checksum are selected for transfer.
753 Note that rsync always verifies that each _transferred_ file was correctly
754 reconstructed on the receiving side by checking a whole-file checksum that
755 is generated as the file is transferred, but that automatic
756 after-the-transfer verification has nothing to do with this option's
757 before-the-transfer "Does this file need to be updated?" check.
759 The checksum used is auto-negotiated between the client and the server, but
760 can be overridden using either the [`--checksum-choice`](#opt) (`--cc`)
761 option or an environment variable that is discussed in that option's
766 This is equivalent to `-rlptgoD`. It is a quick way of saying you want
767 recursion and want to preserve almost everything. Be aware that it does
768 **not** include preserving ACLs (`-A`), xattrs (`-X`), atimes (`-U`),
769 crtimes (`-N`), nor the finding and preserving of hardlinks (`-H`).
771 The only exception to the above equivalence is when [`--files-from`](#opt)
772 is specified, in which case [`-r`](#opt) is not implied.
776 You may turn off one or more implied options by prefixing the option name
777 with "no-". Not all positive options have a negated opposite, but a lot
778 do, including those that can be used to disable an implied option (e.g.
779 `--no-D`, `--no-perms`) or have different defaults in various circumstances
780 (e.g. [`--no-whole-file`](#opt), `--no-blocking-io`, `--no-dirs`). Every
781 valid negated option accepts both the short and the long option name after
782 the "no-" prefix (e.g. `--no-R` is the same as `--no-relative`).
784 As an example, if you want to use [`--archive`](#opt) (`-a`) but don't want
785 [`--owner`](#opt) (`-o`), instead of converting `-a` into `-rlptgD`, you
786 can specify `-a --no-o` (aka `--archive --no-owner`).
788 The order of the options is important: if you specify `--no-r -a`, the `-r`
789 option would end up being turned on, the opposite of `-a --no-r`. Note
790 also that the side-effects of the [`--files-from`](#opt) option are NOT
791 positional, as it affects the default state of several options and slightly
792 changes the meaning of [`-a`](#opt) (see the [`--files-from`](#opt) option
795 0. `--recursive`, `-r`
797 This tells rsync to copy directories recursively. See also
798 [`--dirs`](#opt) (`-d`) for an option that allows the scanning of a single
801 See the [`--inc-recursive`](#opt) option for a discussion of the
802 incremental recursion for creating the list of files to transfer.
804 0. `--inc-recursive`, `--i-r`
806 This option explicitly enables on incremental recursion when scanning for
807 files, which is enabled by default when using the [`--recursive`](#opt)
808 option and both sides of the transfer are running rsync 3.0.0 or newer.
810 Incremental recursion uses much less memory than non-incremental, while
811 also beginning the transfer more quickly (since it doesn't need to scan the
812 entire transfer hierarchy before it starts transferring files). If no
813 recursion is enabled in the source files, this option has no effect.
815 Some options require rsync to know the full file list, so these options
816 disable the incremental recursion mode. These include:
817 - [`--delete-before`](#opt) (the old default of [`--delete`](#opt))
818 - [`--delete-after`](#opt)
819 - [`--prune-empty-dirs`](#opt)
820 - [`--delay-updates`](#opt)
822 In order to make [`--delete`](#opt) compatible with incremental recursion,
823 rsync 3.0.0 made [`--delete-during`](#opt) the default delete mode (which
824 was first added in 2.6.4).
826 One side-effect of incremental recursion is that any missing
827 sub-directories inside a recursively-scanned directory are (by default)
828 created prior to recursing into the sub-dirs. This earlier creation point
829 (compared to a non-incremental recursion) allows rsync to then set the
830 modify time of the finished directory right away (without having to delay
831 that until a bunch of recursive copying has finished). However, these
832 early directories don't yet have their completed mode, mtime, or ownership
833 set -- they have more restrictive rights until the subdirectory's copying
834 actually begins. This early-creation idiom can be avoiding by using the
835 [`--omit-dir-times`](#opt) option.
837 Incremental recursion can be disabled using the
838 [`--no-inc-recursive`](#opt) (`--no-i-r`) option.
840 0. `--no-inc-recursive`, `--no-i-r`
842 Disables the new incremental recursion algorithm of the
843 [`--recursive`](#opt) option. This makes rsync scan the full file list
844 before it begins to transfer files. See [`--inc-recursive`](#opt) for more
847 0. `--relative`, `-R`
849 Use relative paths. This means that the full path names specified on the
850 command line are sent to the server rather than just the last parts of the
851 filenames. This is particularly useful when you want to send several
852 different directories at the same time. For example, if you used this
855 > rsync -av /foo/bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/
857 would create a file named baz.c in /tmp/ on the remote machine. If instead
860 > rsync -avR /foo/bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/
862 then a file named /tmp/foo/bar/baz.c would be created on the remote
863 machine, preserving its full path. These extra path elements are called
864 "implied directories" (i.e. the "foo" and the "foo/bar" directories in the
867 Beginning with rsync 3.0.0, rsync always sends these implied directories as
868 real directories in the file list, even if a path element is really a
869 symlink on the sending side. This prevents some really unexpected behaviors
870 when copying the full path of a file that you didn't realize had a symlink
871 in its path. If you want to duplicate a server-side symlink, include both
872 the symlink via its path, and referent directory via its real path. If
873 you're dealing with an older rsync on the sending side, you may need to use
874 the [`--no-implied-dirs`](#opt) option.
876 It is also possible to limit the amount of path information that is sent as
877 implied directories for each path you specify. With a modern rsync on the
878 sending side (beginning with 2.6.7), you can insert a dot and a slash into
879 the source path, like this:
881 > rsync -avR /foo/./bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/
883 That would create /tmp/bar/baz.c on the remote machine. (Note that the dot
884 must be followed by a slash, so "/foo/." would not be abbreviated.) For
885 older rsync versions, you would need to use a chdir to limit the source
886 path. For example, when pushing files:
888 > (cd /foo; rsync -avR bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/)
890 (Note that the parens put the two commands into a sub-shell, so that the
891 "cd" command doesn't remain in effect for future commands.) If you're
892 pulling files from an older rsync, use this idiom (but only for a
893 non-daemon transfer):
895 > rsync -avR --rsync-path="cd /foo; rsync" \
896 > remote:bar/baz.c /tmp/
898 0. `--no-implied-dirs`
900 This option affects the default behavior of the [`--relative`](#opt) option. When
901 it is specified, the attributes of the implied directories from the source
902 names are not included in the transfer. This means that the corresponding
903 path elements on the destination system are left unchanged if they exist,
904 and any missing implied directories are created with default attributes.
905 This even allows these implied path elements to have big differences, such
906 as being a symlink to a directory on the receiving side.
908 For instance, if a command-line arg or a files-from entry told rsync to
909 transfer the file "path/foo/file", the directories "path" and "path/foo"
910 are implied when [`--relative`](#opt) is used. If "path/foo" is a symlink to "bar"
911 on the destination system, the receiving rsync would ordinarily delete
912 "path/foo", recreate it as a directory, and receive the file into the new
913 directory. With `--no-implied-dirs`, the receiving rsync updates
914 "path/foo/file" using the existing path elements, which means that the file
915 ends up being created in "path/bar". Another way to accomplish this link
916 preservation is to use the [`--keep-dirlinks`](#opt) option (which will also affect
917 symlinks to directories in the rest of the transfer).
919 When pulling files from an rsync older than 3.0.0, you may need to use this
920 option if the sending side has a symlink in the path you request and you
921 wish the implied directories to be transferred as normal directories.
925 With this option, preexisting destination files are renamed as each file is
926 transferred or deleted. You can control where the backup file goes and
927 what (if any) suffix gets appended using the [`--backup-dir`](#opt) and
928 [`--suffix`](#opt) options.
930 If you don't specify [`--backup-dir`](#opt):
932 1. the [`--omit-dir-times`](#opt) option will be forced on
933 2. the use of [`--delete`](#opt) (without [`--delete-excluded`](#opt)),
934 causes rsync to add a "protect" [filter-rule](#FILTER_RULES) for the
935 backup suffix to the end of all your existing filters that looks like
936 this: `-f "P *~"`. This rule prevents previously backed-up files from
939 Note that if you are supplying your own filter rules, you may need to
940 manually insert your own exclude/protect rule somewhere higher up in the
941 list so that it has a high enough priority to be effective (e.g. if your
942 rules specify a trailing inclusion/exclusion of `*`, the auto-added rule
943 would never be reached).
945 0. `--backup-dir=DIR`
947 This implies the [`--backup`](#opt) option, and tells rsync to store all
948 backups in the specified directory on the receiving side. This can be used
949 for incremental backups. You can additionally specify a backup suffix
950 using the [`--suffix`](#opt) option (otherwise the files backed up in the
951 specified directory will keep their original filenames).
953 Note that if you specify a relative path, the backup directory will be
954 relative to the destination directory, so you probably want to specify
955 either an absolute path or a path that starts with "../". If an rsync
956 daemon is the receiver, the backup dir cannot go outside the module's path
957 hierarchy, so take extra care not to delete it or copy into it.
961 This option allows you to override the default backup suffix used with the
962 [`--backup`](#opt) (`-b`) option. The default suffix is a `~` if no
963 [`--backup-dir`](#opt) was specified, otherwise it is an empty string.
967 This forces rsync to skip any files which exist on the destination and have
968 a modified time that is newer than the source file. (If an existing
969 destination file has a modification time equal to the source file's, it
970 will be updated if the sizes are different.)
972 Note that this does not affect the copying of dirs, symlinks, or other
973 special files. Also, a difference of file format between the sender and
974 receiver is always considered to be important enough for an update, no
975 matter what date is on the objects. In other words, if the source has a
976 directory where the destination has a file, the transfer would occur
977 regardless of the timestamps.
979 This option is a [TRANSFER RULE](#TRANSFER_RULES), so don't expect any
980 exclude side effects.
982 A caution for those that choose to combine [`--inplace`](#opt) with
983 `--update`: an interrupted transfer will leave behind a partial file on the
984 receiving side that has a very recent modified time, so re-running the
985 transfer will probably **not** continue the interrupted file. As such, it
986 is usually best to avoid combining this with[ `--inplace`](#opt) unless you
987 have implemented manual steps to handle any interrupted in-progress files.
991 This option changes how rsync transfers a file when its data needs to be
992 updated: instead of the default method of creating a new copy of the file
993 and moving it into place when it is complete, rsync instead writes the
994 updated data directly to the destination file.
996 This has several effects:
998 - Hard links are not broken. This means the new data will be visible
999 through other hard links to the destination file. Moreover, attempts to
1000 copy differing source files onto a multiply-linked destination file will
1001 result in a "tug of war" with the destination data changing back and
1003 - In-use binaries cannot be updated (either the OS will prevent this from
1004 happening, or binaries that attempt to swap-in their data will misbehave
1006 - The file's data will be in an inconsistent state during the transfer and
1007 will be left that way if the transfer is interrupted or if an update
1009 - A file that rsync cannot write to cannot be updated. While a super user
1010 can update any file, a normal user needs to be granted write permission
1011 for the open of the file for writing to be successful.
1012 - The efficiency of rsync's delta-transfer algorithm may be reduced if some
1013 data in the destination file is overwritten before it can be copied to a
1014 position later in the file. This does not apply if you use [`--backup`](#opt),
1015 since rsync is smart enough to use the backup file as the basis file for
1018 WARNING: you should not use this option to update files that are being
1019 accessed by others, so be careful when choosing to use this for a copy.
1021 This option is useful for transferring large files with block-based changes
1022 or appended data, and also on systems that are disk bound, not network
1023 bound. It can also help keep a copy-on-write filesystem snapshot from
1024 diverging the entire contents of a file that only has minor changes.
1026 The option implies [`--partial`](#opt) (since an interrupted transfer does
1027 not delete the file), but conflicts with [`--partial-dir`](#opt) and
1028 [`--delay-updates`](#opt). Prior to rsync 2.6.4 `--inplace` was also
1029 incompatible with [`--compare-dest`](#opt) and [`--link-dest`](#opt).
1033 This special copy mode only works to efficiently update files that are
1034 known to be growing larger where any existing content on the receiving side
1035 is also known to be the same as the content on the sender. The use of
1036 `--append` **can be dangerous** if you aren't 100% sure that all the files
1037 in the transfer are shared, growing files. You should thus use filter
1038 rules to ensure that you weed out any files that do not fit this criteria.
1040 Rsync updates these growing file in-place without verifying any of the
1041 existing content in the file (it only verifies the content that it is
1042 appending). Rsync skips any files that exist on the receiving side that
1043 are not shorter than the associated file on the sending side (which means
1044 that new files are transferred). It also skips any files whose size on the
1045 sending side gets shorter during the send negotiations (rsync warns about a
1046 "diminished" file when this happens).
1048 This does not interfere with the updating of a file's non-content
1049 attributes (e.g. permissions, ownership, etc.) when the file does not need
1050 to be transferred, nor does it affect the updating of any directories or
1053 0. `--append-verify`
1055 This special copy mode works like [`--append`](#opt) except that all the
1056 data in the file is included in the checksum verification (making it less
1057 efficient but also potentially safer). This option **can be dangerous** if
1058 you aren't 100% sure that all the files in the transfer are shared, growing
1059 files. See the [`--append`](#opt) option for more details.
1061 Note: prior to rsync 3.0.0, the [`--append`](#opt) option worked like
1062 `--append-verify`, so if you are interacting with an older rsync (or the
1063 transfer is using a protocol prior to 30), specifying either append option
1064 will initiate an `--append-verify` transfer.
1068 Tell the sending side to include any directories that are encountered.
1069 Unlike [`--recursive`](#opt), a directory's contents are not copied unless
1070 the directory name specified is "." or ends with a trailing slash (e.g.
1071 ".", "dir/.", "dir/", etc.). Without this option or the
1072 [`--recursive`](#opt) option, rsync will skip all directories it encounters
1073 (and output a message to that effect for each one). If you specify both
1074 `--dirs` and [`--recursive`](#opt), `--recursive` takes precedence.
1076 The `--dirs` option is implied by the [`--files-from`](#opt) option or the
1077 [`--list-only`](#opt) option (including an implied [`--list-only`](#opt)
1078 usage) if [`--recursive`](#opt) wasn't specified (so that directories are
1079 seen in the listing). Specify `--no-dirs` (or `--no-d`) if you want to
1082 There is also a backward-compatibility helper option, `--old-dirs`
1083 (`--old-d`) that tells rsync to use a hack of `-r --exclude='/*/*'` to get
1084 an older rsync to list a single directory without recursing.
1088 Create a missing path component of the destination arg. This allows rsync
1089 to create multiple levels of missing destination dirs and to create a path
1090 in which to put a single renamed file. Keep in mind that you'll need to
1091 supply a trailing slash if you want the entire destination path to be
1092 treated as a directory when copying a single arg (making rsync behave the
1093 same way that it would if the path component of the destination had already
1096 For example, the following creates a copy of file foo as bar in the sub/dir
1097 directory, creating dirs "sub" and "sub/dir" if either do not yet exist:
1099 > rsync -ai --mkpath foo sub/dir/bar
1101 If you instead ran the following, it would have created file foo in the
1102 sub/dir/bar directory:
1104 > rsync -ai --mkpath foo sub/dir/bar/
1108 Add symlinks to the transferred files instead of noisily ignoring them with
1109 a "non-regular file" warning for each symlink encountered. You can
1110 alternately silence the warning by specifying [`--info=nonreg0`](#opt).
1112 The default handling of symlinks is to recreate each symlink's unchanged
1113 value on the receiving side.
1115 See the [SYMBOLIC LINKS](#) section for multi-option info.
1117 0. `--copy-links`, `-L`
1119 The sender transforms each symlink encountered in the transfer into the
1120 referent item, following the symlink chain to the file or directory that it
1121 references. If a symlink chain is broken, an error is output and the file
1122 is dropped from the transfer.
1124 This option supersedes any other options that affect symlinks in the
1125 transfer, since there are no symlinks left in the transfer.
1127 This option does not change the handling of existing symlinks on the
1128 receiving side, unlike versions of rsync prior to 2.6.3 which had the
1129 side-effect of telling the receiving side to also follow symlinks. A
1130 modern rsync won't forward this option to a remote receiver (since only the
1131 sender needs to know about it), so this caveat should only affect someone
1132 using an rsync client older than 2.6.7 (which is when `-L` stopped being
1133 forwarded to the receiver).
1135 See the [`--keep-dirlinks`](#opt) (`-K`) if you need a symlink to a
1136 directory to be treated as a real directory on the receiving side.
1138 See the [SYMBOLIC LINKS](#) section for multi-option info.
1140 0. `--copy-unsafe-links`
1142 This tells rsync to copy the referent of symbolic links that point outside
1143 the copied tree. Absolute symlinks are also treated like ordinary files,
1144 and so are any symlinks in the source path itself when [`--relative`](#opt)
1147 Note that the cut-off point is the top of the transfer, which is the part
1148 of the path that rsync isn't mentioning in the verbose output. If you copy
1149 "/src/subdir" to "/dest/" then the "subdir" directory is a name inside the
1150 transfer tree, not the top of the transfer (which is /src) so it is legal
1151 for created relative symlinks to refer to other names inside the /src and
1152 /dest directories. If you instead copy "/src/subdir/" (with a trailing
1153 slash) to "/dest/subdir" that would not allow symlinks to any files outside
1156 Note that safe symlinks are only copied if [`--links`](#opt) was also
1157 specified or implied. The `--copy-unsafe-links` option has no extra effect
1158 when combined with [`--copy-links`](#opt).
1160 See the [SYMBOLIC LINKS](#) section for multi-option info.
1164 This tells the receiving rsync to ignore any symbolic links in the transfer
1165 which point outside the copied tree. All absolute symlinks are also
1168 Since this ignoring is happening on the receiving side, it will still be
1169 effective even when the sending side has munged symlinks (when it is using
1170 [`--munge-links`](#opt)). It also affects deletions, since the file being
1171 present in the transfer prevents any matching file on the receiver from
1172 being deleted when the symlink is deemed to be unsafe and is skipped.
1174 This option must be combined with [`--links`](#opt) (or
1175 [`--archive`](#opt)) to have any symlinks in the transfer to conditionally
1176 ignore. Its effect is superseded by [`--copy-unsafe-links`](#opt).
1178 Using this option in conjunction with [`--relative`](#opt) may give
1181 See the [SYMBOLIC LINKS](#) section for multi-option info.
1185 This option affects just one side of the transfer and tells rsync to munge
1186 symlink values when it is receiving files or unmunge symlink values when it
1187 is sending files. The munged values make the symlinks unusable on disk but
1188 allows the original contents of the symlinks to be recovered.
1190 The server-side rsync often enables this option without the client's
1191 knowledge, such as in an rsync daemon's configuration file or by an option
1192 given to the rrsync (restricted rsync) script. When specified on the
1193 client side, specify the option normally if it is the client side that
1194 has/needs the munged symlinks, or use `-M--munge-links` to give the option
1195 to the server when it has/needs the munged symlinks. Note that on a local
1196 transfer, the client is the sender, so specifying the option directly
1197 unmunges symlinks while specifying it as a remote option munges symlinks.
1199 This option has no effect when sent to a daemon via [`--remote-option`](#opt)
1200 because the daemon configures whether it wants munged symlinks via its
1201 "`munge symlinks`" parameter.
1203 The symlink value is munged/unmunged once it is in the transfer, so any
1204 option that transforms symlinks into non-symlinks occurs prior to the
1205 munging/unmunging **except** for [`--safe-links`](#opt), which is a choice
1206 that the receiver makes, so it bases its decision on the munged/unmunged
1207 value. This does mean that if a receiver has munging enabled, that using
1208 [`--safe-links`](#opt) will cause all symlinks to be ignored (since they
1211 The method that rsync uses to munge the symlinks is to prefix each one's
1212 value with the string "/rsyncd-munged/". This prevents the links from
1213 being used as long as the directory does not exist. When this option is
1214 enabled, rsync will refuse to run if that path is a directory or a symlink
1215 to a directory (though it only checks at startup). See also the
1216 "munge-symlinks" python script in the support directory of the source code
1217 for a way to munge/unmunge one or more symlinks in-place.
1219 0. `--copy-dirlinks`, `-k`
1221 This option causes the sending side to treat a symlink to a directory as
1222 though it were a real directory. This is useful if you don't want symlinks
1223 to non-directories to be affected, as they would be using
1224 [`--copy-links`](#opt).
1226 Without this option, if the sending side has replaced a directory with a
1227 symlink to a directory, the receiving side will delete anything that is in
1228 the way of the new symlink, including a directory hierarchy (as long as
1229 [`--force`](#opt) or [`--delete`](#opt) is in effect).
1231 See also [`--keep-dirlinks`](#opt) for an analogous option for the
1234 `--copy-dirlinks` applies to all symlinks to directories in the source. If
1235 you want to follow only a few specified symlinks, a trick you can use is to
1236 pass them as additional source args with a trailing slash, using
1237 [`--relative`](#opt) to make the paths match up right. For example:
1239 > rsync -r --relative src/./ src/./follow-me/ dest/
1241 This works because rsync calls **lstat**(2) on the source arg as given, and
1242 the trailing slash makes **lstat**(2) follow the symlink, giving rise to a
1243 directory in the file-list which overrides the symlink found during the
1246 See the [SYMBOLIC LINKS](#) section for multi-option info.
1248 0. `--keep-dirlinks`, `-K`
1250 This option causes the receiving side to treat a symlink to a directory as
1251 though it were a real directory, but only if it matches a real directory
1252 from the sender. Without this option, the receiver's symlink would be
1253 deleted and replaced with a real directory.
1255 For example, suppose you transfer a directory "foo" that contains a file
1256 "file", but "foo" is a symlink to directory "bar" on the receiver. Without
1257 `--keep-dirlinks`, the receiver deletes symlink "foo", recreates it as a
1258 directory, and receives the file into the new directory. With
1259 `--keep-dirlinks`, the receiver keeps the symlink and "file" ends up in
1262 One note of caution: if you use `--keep-dirlinks`, you must trust all the
1263 symlinks in the copy or enable the [`--munge-links`](#opt) option on the
1264 receiving side! If it is possible for an untrusted user to create their
1265 own symlink to any real directory, the user could then (on a subsequent
1266 copy) replace the symlink with a real directory and affect the content of
1267 whatever directory the symlink references. For backup copies, you are
1268 better off using something like a bind mount instead of a symlink to modify
1269 your receiving hierarchy.
1271 See also [`--copy-dirlinks`](#opt) for an analogous option for the sending
1274 See the [SYMBOLIC LINKS](#) section for multi-option info.
1276 0. `--hard-links`, `-H`
1278 This tells rsync to look for hard-linked files in the source and link
1279 together the corresponding files on the destination. Without this option,
1280 hard-linked files in the source are treated as though they were separate
1283 This option does NOT necessarily ensure that the pattern of hard links on
1284 the destination exactly matches that on the source. Cases in which the
1285 destination may end up with extra hard links include the following:
1287 - If the destination contains extraneous hard-links (more linking than what
1288 is present in the source file list), the copying algorithm will not break
1289 them explicitly. However, if one or more of the paths have content
1290 differences, the normal file-update process will break those extra links
1291 (unless you are using the [`--inplace`](#opt) option).
1292 - If you specify a [`--link-dest`](#opt) directory that contains hard
1293 links, the linking of the destination files against the
1294 [`--link-dest`](#opt) files can cause some paths in the destination to
1295 become linked together due to the [`--link-dest`](#opt) associations.
1297 Note that rsync can only detect hard links between files that are inside
1298 the transfer set. If rsync updates a file that has extra hard-link
1299 connections to files outside the transfer, that linkage will be broken. If
1300 you are tempted to use the [`--inplace`](#opt) option to avoid this breakage, be
1301 very careful that you know how your files are being updated so that you are
1302 certain that no unintended changes happen due to lingering hard links (and
1303 see the [`--inplace`](#opt) option for more caveats).
1305 If incremental recursion is active (see [`--inc-recursive`](#opt)), rsync
1306 may transfer a missing hard-linked file before it finds that another link
1307 for that contents exists elsewhere in the hierarchy. This does not affect
1308 the accuracy of the transfer (i.e. which files are hard-linked together),
1309 just its efficiency (i.e. copying the data for a new, early copy of a
1310 hard-linked file that could have been found later in the transfer in
1311 another member of the hard-linked set of files). One way to avoid this
1312 inefficiency is to disable incremental recursion using the
1313 [`--no-inc-recursive`](#opt) option.
1317 This option causes the receiving rsync to set the destination permissions
1318 to be the same as the source permissions. (See also the [`--chmod`](#opt)
1319 option for a way to modify what rsync considers to be the source
1322 When this option is _off_, permissions are set as follows:
1324 - Existing files (including updated files) retain their existing
1325 permissions, though the [`--executability`](#opt) option might change
1326 just the execute permission for the file.
1327 - New files get their "normal" permission bits set to the source file's
1328 permissions masked with the receiving directory's default permissions
1329 (either the receiving process's umask, or the permissions specified via
1330 the destination directory's default ACL), and their special permission
1331 bits disabled except in the case where a new directory inherits a setgid
1332 bit from its parent directory.
1334 Thus, when `--perms` and [`--executability`](#opt) are both disabled, rsync's
1335 behavior is the same as that of other file-copy utilities, such as **cp**(1)
1338 In summary: to give destination files (both old and new) the source
1339 permissions, use `--perms`. To give new files the destination-default
1340 permissions (while leaving existing files unchanged), make sure that the
1341 `--perms` option is off and use [`--chmod=ugo=rwX`](#opt) (which ensures
1342 that all non-masked bits get enabled). If you'd care to make this latter
1343 behavior easier to type, you could define a popt alias for it, such as
1344 putting this line in the file `~/.popt` (the following defines the `-Z`
1345 option, and includes `--no-g` to use the default group of the destination
1348 > rsync alias -Z --no-p --no-g --chmod=ugo=rwX
1350 You could then use this new option in a command such as this one:
1352 > rsync -avZ src/ dest/
1354 (Caveat: make sure that `-a` does not follow `-Z`, or it will re-enable the
1355 two `--no-*` options mentioned above.)
1357 The preservation of the destination's setgid bit on newly-created
1358 directories when `--perms` is off was added in rsync 2.6.7. Older rsync
1359 versions erroneously preserved the three special permission bits for
1360 newly-created files when `--perms` was off, while overriding the
1361 destination's setgid bit setting on a newly-created directory. Default ACL
1362 observance was added to the ACL patch for rsync 2.6.7, so older (or
1363 non-ACL-enabled) rsyncs use the umask even if default ACLs are present.
1364 (Keep in mind that it is the version of the receiving rsync that affects
1367 0. `--executability`, `-E`
1369 This option causes rsync to preserve the executability (or
1370 non-executability) of regular files when [`--perms`](#opt) is not enabled.
1371 A regular file is considered to be executable if at least one 'x' is turned
1372 on in its permissions. When an existing destination file's executability
1373 differs from that of the corresponding source file, rsync modifies the
1374 destination file's permissions as follows:
1376 - To make a file non-executable, rsync turns off all its 'x' permissions.
1377 - To make a file executable, rsync turns on each 'x' permission that has a
1378 corresponding 'r' permission enabled.
1380 If [`--perms`](#opt) is enabled, this option is ignored.
1384 This option causes rsync to update the destination ACLs to be the same as
1385 the source ACLs. The option also implies [`--perms`](#opt).
1387 The source and destination systems must have compatible ACL entries for
1388 this option to work properly. See the [`--fake-super`](#opt) option for a
1389 way to backup and restore ACLs that are not compatible.
1393 This option causes rsync to update the destination extended attributes to
1394 be the same as the source ones.
1396 For systems that support extended-attribute namespaces, a copy being done
1397 by a super-user copies all namespaces except system.\*. A normal user only
1398 copies the user.\* namespace. To be able to backup and restore non-user
1399 namespaces as a normal user, see the [`--fake-super`](#opt) option.
1401 The above name filtering can be overridden by using one or more filter
1402 options with the **x** modifier. When you specify an xattr-affecting
1403 filter rule, rsync requires that you do your own system/user filtering, as
1404 well as any additional filtering for what xattr names are copied and what
1405 names are allowed to be deleted. For example, to skip the system
1406 namespace, you could specify:
1408 > --filter='-x system.*'
1410 To skip all namespaces except the user namespace, you could specify a
1413 > --filter='-x! user.*'
1415 To prevent any attributes from being deleted, you could specify a
1416 receiver-only rule that excludes all names:
1420 Note that the `-X` option does not copy rsync's special xattr values (e.g.
1421 those used by [`--fake-super`](#opt)) unless you repeat the option (e.g. `-XX`).
1422 This "copy all xattrs" mode cannot be used with [`--fake-super`](#opt).
1426 This option tells rsync to apply one or more comma-separated "chmod" modes
1427 to the permission of the files in the transfer. The resulting value is
1428 treated as though it were the permissions that the sending side supplied
1429 for the file, which means that this option can seem to have no effect on
1430 existing files if [`--perms`](#opt) is not enabled.
1432 In addition to the normal parsing rules specified in the **chmod**(1)
1433 manpage, you can specify an item that should only apply to a directory by
1434 prefixing it with a 'D', or specify an item that should only apply to a
1435 file by prefixing it with a 'F'. For example, the following will ensure
1436 that all directories get marked set-gid, that no files are other-writable,
1437 that both are user-writable and group-writable, and that both have
1438 consistent executability across all bits:
1440 > --chmod=Dg+s,ug+w,Fo-w,+X
1442 Using octal mode numbers is also allowed:
1444 > --chmod=D2775,F664
1446 It is also legal to specify multiple `--chmod` options, as each additional
1447 option is just appended to the list of changes to make.
1449 See the [`--perms`](#opt) and [`--executability`](#opt) options for how the
1450 resulting permission value can be applied to the files in the transfer.
1454 This option causes rsync to set the owner of the destination file to be the
1455 same as the source file, but only if the receiving rsync is being run as
1456 the super-user (see also the [`--super`](#opt) and [`--fake-super`](#opt)
1457 options). Without this option, the owner of new and/or transferred files
1458 are set to the invoking user on the receiving side.
1460 The preservation of ownership will associate matching names by default, but
1461 may fall back to using the ID number in some circumstances (see also the
1462 [`--numeric-ids`](#opt) option for a full discussion).
1466 This option causes rsync to set the group of the destination file to be the
1467 same as the source file. If the receiving program is not running as the
1468 super-user (or if `--no-super` was specified), only groups that the
1469 invoking user on the receiving side is a member of will be preserved.
1470 Without this option, the group is set to the default group of the invoking
1471 user on the receiving side.
1473 The preservation of group information will associate matching names by
1474 default, but may fall back to using the ID number in some circumstances
1475 (see also the [`--numeric-ids`](#opt) option for a full discussion).
1479 This option causes rsync to transfer character and block device files to
1480 the remote system to recreate these devices. If the receiving rsync is not
1481 being run as the super-user, rsync silently skips creating the device files
1482 (see also the [`--super`](#opt) and [`--fake-super`](#opt) options).
1484 By default, rsync generates a "non-regular file" warning for each device
1485 file encountered when this option is not set. You can silence the warning
1486 by specifying [`--info=nonreg0`](#opt).
1490 This option causes rsync to transfer special files, such as named sockets
1491 and fifos. If the receiving rsync is not being run as the super-user,
1492 rsync silently skips creating the special files (see also the
1493 [`--super`](#opt) and [`--fake-super`](#opt) options).
1495 By default, rsync generates a "non-regular file" warning for each special
1496 file encountered when this option is not set. You can silence the warning
1497 by specifying [`--info=nonreg0`](#opt).
1501 The `-D` option is equivalent to "[`--devices`](#opt)
1502 [`--specials`](#opt)".
1506 This tells rsync to treat a device on the sending side as a regular file,
1507 allowing it to be copied to a normal destination file (or another device
1508 if `--write-devices` was also specified).
1510 This option is refused by default by an rsync daemon.
1512 0. `--write-devices`
1514 This tells rsync to treat a device on the receiving side as a regular file,
1515 allowing the writing of file data into a device.
1517 This option implies the [`--inplace`](#opt) option.
1519 Be careful using this, as you should know what devices are present on the
1520 receiving side of the transfer, especially when running rsync as root.
1522 This option is refused by default by an rsync daemon.
1526 This tells rsync to transfer modification times along with the files and
1527 update them on the remote system. Note that if this option is not used,
1528 the optimization that excludes files that have not been modified cannot be
1529 effective; in other words, a missing `-t` (or [`-a`](#opt)) will cause the
1530 next transfer to behave as if it used [`--ignore-times`](#opt) (`-I`),
1531 causing all files to be updated (though rsync's delta-transfer algorithm
1532 will make the update fairly efficient if the files haven't actually
1533 changed, you're much better off using `-t`).
1537 This tells rsync to set the access (use) times of the destination files to
1538 the same value as the source files.
1540 If repeated, it also sets the [`--open-noatime`](#opt) option, which can help you
1541 to make the sending and receiving systems have the same access times on the
1542 transferred files without needing to run rsync an extra time after a file
1545 Note that some older rsync versions (prior to 3.2.0) may have been built
1546 with a pre-release `--atimes` patch that does not imply
1547 [`--open-noatime`](#opt) when this option is repeated.
1551 This tells rsync to open files with the O_NOATIME flag (on systems that
1552 support it) to avoid changing the access time of the files that are being
1553 transferred. If your OS does not support the O_NOATIME flag then rsync
1554 will silently ignore this option. Note also that some filesystems are
1555 mounted to avoid updating the atime on read access even without the
1556 O_NOATIME flag being set.
1558 0. `--crtimes`, `-N,`
1560 This tells rsync to set the create times (newness) of the destination
1561 files to the same value as the source files.
1563 0. `--omit-dir-times`, `-O`
1565 This tells rsync to omit directories when it is preserving modification,
1566 access, and create times. If NFS is sharing the directories on the receiving
1567 side, it is a good idea to use `-O`. This option is inferred if you use
1568 [`--backup`](#opt) without [`--backup-dir`](#opt).
1570 This option also has the side-effect of avoiding early creation of missing
1571 sub-directories when incremental recursion is enabled, as discussed in the
1572 [`--inc-recursive`](#opt) section.
1574 0. `--omit-link-times`, `-J`
1576 This tells rsync to omit symlinks when it is preserving modification,
1577 access, and create times.
1581 This tells the receiving side to attempt super-user activities even if the
1582 receiving rsync wasn't run by the super-user. These activities include:
1583 preserving users via the [`--owner`](#opt) option, preserving all groups
1584 (not just the current user's groups) via the [`--group`](#opt) option, and
1585 copying devices via the [`--devices`](#opt) option. This is useful for
1586 systems that allow such activities without being the super-user, and also
1587 for ensuring that you will get errors if the receiving side isn't being run
1588 as the super-user. To turn off super-user activities, the super-user can
1593 When this option is enabled, rsync simulates super-user activities by
1594 saving/restoring the privileged attributes via special extended attributes
1595 that are attached to each file (as needed). This includes the file's owner
1596 and group (if it is not the default), the file's device info (device &
1597 special files are created as empty text files), and any permission bits
1598 that we won't allow to be set on the real file (e.g. the real file gets
1599 u-s,g-s,o-t for safety) or that would limit the owner's access (since the
1600 real super-user can always access/change a file, the files we create can
1601 always be accessed/changed by the creating user). This option also handles
1602 ACLs (if [`--acls`](#opt) was specified) and non-user extended attributes
1603 (if [`--xattrs`](#opt) was specified).
1605 This is a good way to backup data without using a super-user, and to store
1606 ACLs from incompatible systems.
1608 The `--fake-super` option only affects the side where the option is used.
1609 To affect the remote side of a remote-shell connection, use the
1610 [`--remote-option`](#opt) (`-M`) option:
1612 > rsync -av -M--fake-super /src/ host:/dest/
1614 For a local copy, this option affects both the source and the destination.
1615 If you wish a local copy to enable this option just for the destination
1616 files, specify `-M--fake-super`. If you wish a local copy to enable this
1617 option just for the source files, combine `--fake-super` with `-M--super`.
1619 This option is overridden by both [`--super`](#opt) and `--no-super`.
1621 See also the [`fake super`](rsyncd.conf.5#fake_super) setting in the
1622 daemon's rsyncd.conf file.
1626 Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take up less space on the
1627 destination. If combined with [`--inplace`](#opt) the file created might
1628 not end up with sparse blocks with some combinations of kernel version
1629 and/or filesystem type. If [`--whole-file`](#opt) is in effect (e.g. for a
1630 local copy) then it will always work because rsync truncates the file prior
1631 to writing out the updated version.
1633 Note that versions of rsync older than 3.1.3 will reject the combination of
1634 `--sparse` and [`--inplace`](#opt).
1638 This tells the receiver to allocate each destination file to its eventual
1639 size before writing data to the file. Rsync will only use the real
1640 filesystem-level preallocation support provided by Linux's **fallocate**(2)
1641 system call or Cygwin's **posix_fallocate**(3), not the slow glibc
1642 implementation that writes a null byte into each block.
1644 Without this option, larger files may not be entirely contiguous on the
1645 filesystem, but with this option rsync will probably copy more slowly. If
1646 the destination is not an extent-supporting filesystem (such as ext4, xfs,
1647 NTFS, etc.), this option may have no positive effect at all.
1649 If combined with [`--sparse`](#opt), the file will only have sparse blocks
1650 (as opposed to allocated sequences of null bytes) if the kernel version and
1651 filesystem type support creating holes in the allocated data.
1653 0. `--dry-run`, `-n`
1655 This makes rsync perform a trial run that doesn't make any changes (and
1656 produces mostly the same output as a real run). It is most commonly used
1657 in combination with the [`--verbose`](#opt) (`-v`) and/or
1658 [`--itemize-changes`](#opt) (`-i`) options to see what an rsync command is
1659 going to do before one actually runs it.
1661 The output of [`--itemize-changes`](#opt) is supposed to be exactly the
1662 same on a dry run and a subsequent real run (barring intentional trickery
1663 and system call failures); if it isn't, that's a bug. Other output should
1664 be mostly unchanged, but may differ in some areas. Notably, a dry run does
1665 not send the actual data for file transfers, so [`--progress`](#opt) has no
1666 effect, the "bytes sent", "bytes received", "literal data", and "matched
1667 data" statistics are too small, and the "speedup" value is equivalent to a
1668 run where no file transfers were needed.
1670 0. `--whole-file`, `-W`
1672 This option disables rsync's delta-transfer algorithm, which causes all
1673 transferred files to be sent whole. The transfer may be faster if this
1674 option is used when the bandwidth between the source and destination
1675 machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the "disk"
1676 is actually a networked filesystem). This is the default when both the
1677 source and destination are specified as local paths, but only if no
1678 batch-writing option is in effect.
1680 0. `--no-whole-file`, `--no-W`
1682 Disable whole-file updating when it is enabled by default for a local
1683 transfer. This usually slows rsync down, but it can be useful if you are
1684 trying to minimize the writes to the destination file (if combined with
1685 [`--inplace`](#opt)) or for testing the checksum-based update algorithm.
1687 See also the [`--whole-file`](#opt) option.
1689 0. `--checksum-choice=STR`, `--cc=STR`
1691 This option overrides the checksum algorithms. If one algorithm name is
1692 specified, it is used for both the transfer checksums and (assuming
1693 [`--checksum`](#opt) is specified) the pre-transfer checksums. If two
1694 comma-separated names are supplied, the first name affects the transfer
1695 checksums, and the second name affects the pre-transfer checksums (`-c`).
1697 The checksum options that you may be able to use are:
1699 - `auto` (the default automatic choice)
1702 - `xxh64` (aka `xxhash`)
1707 Run `rsync --version` to see the default checksum list compiled into your
1708 version (which may differ from the list above).
1710 If "none" is specified for the first (or only) name, the [`--whole-file`](#opt)
1711 option is forced on and no checksum verification is performed on the
1712 transferred data. If "none" is specified for the second (or only) name,
1713 the [`--checksum`](#opt) option cannot be used.
1715 The "auto" option is the default, where rsync bases its algorithm choice on
1716 a negotiation between the client and the server as follows:
1718 When both sides of the transfer are at least 3.2.0, rsync chooses the first
1719 algorithm in the client's list of choices that is also in the server's list
1720 of choices. If no common checksum choice is found, rsync exits with
1721 an error. If the remote rsync is too old to support checksum negotiation,
1722 a value is chosen based on the protocol version (which chooses between MD5
1723 and various flavors of MD4 based on protocol age).
1725 The default order can be customized by setting the environment variable
1726 [`RSYNC_CHECKSUM_LIST`](#) to a space-separated list of acceptable checksum
1727 names. If the string contains a "`&`" character, it is separated into the
1728 "client string & server string", otherwise the same string applies to both.
1729 If the string (or string portion) contains no non-whitespace characters,
1730 the default checksum list is used. This method does not allow you to
1731 specify the transfer checksum separately from the pre-transfer checksum,
1732 and it discards "auto" and all unknown checksum names. A list with only
1733 invalid names results in a failed negotiation.
1735 The use of the `--checksum-choice` option overrides this environment list.
1737 0. `--one-file-system`, `-x`
1739 This tells rsync to avoid crossing a filesystem boundary when recursing.
1740 This does not limit the user's ability to specify items to copy from
1741 multiple filesystems, just rsync's recursion through the hierarchy of each
1742 directory that the user specified, and also the analogous recursion on the
1743 receiving side during deletion. Also keep in mind that rsync treats a
1744 "bind" mount to the same device as being on the same filesystem.
1746 If this option is repeated, rsync omits all mount-point directories from
1747 the copy. Otherwise, it includes an empty directory at each mount-point it
1748 encounters (using the attributes of the mounted directory because those of
1749 the underlying mount-point directory are inaccessible).
1751 If rsync has been told to collapse symlinks (via [`--copy-links`](#opt) or
1752 [`--copy-unsafe-links`](#opt)), a symlink to a directory on another device
1753 is treated like a mount-point. Symlinks to non-directories are unaffected
1756 0. `--ignore-non-existing`, `--existing`
1758 This tells rsync to skip creating files (including directories) that do not
1759 exist yet on the destination. If this option is combined with the
1760 [`--ignore-existing`](#opt) option, no files will be updated (which can be
1761 useful if all you want to do is delete extraneous files).
1763 This option is a [TRANSFER RULE](#TRANSFER_RULES), so don't expect any
1764 exclude side effects.
1766 0. `--ignore-existing`
1768 This tells rsync to skip updating files that already exist on the
1769 destination (this does _not_ ignore existing directories, or nothing would
1770 get done). See also [`--ignore-non-existing`](#opt).
1772 This option is a [TRANSFER RULE](#TRANSFER_RULES), so don't expect any
1773 exclude side effects.
1775 This option can be useful for those doing backups using the
1776 [`--link-dest`](#opt) option when they need to continue a backup run that
1777 got interrupted. Since a [`--link-dest`](#opt) run is copied into a new
1778 directory hierarchy (when it is used properly), using [`--ignore-existing`
1779 will ensure that the already-handled files don't get tweaked (which avoids
1780 a change in permissions on the hard-linked files). This does mean that
1781 this option is only looking at the existing files in the destination
1784 When [`--info=skip2`](#opt) is used rsync will output "FILENAME exists
1785 (INFO)" messages where the INFO indicates one of "type change", "sum
1786 change" (requires [`-c`](#opt)), "file change" (based on the quick check),
1787 "attr change", or "uptodate". Using [`--info=skip1`](#opt) (which is also
1788 implied by 2 [`-v`](#opt) options) outputs the exists message without the
1791 0. `--remove-source-files`
1793 This tells rsync to remove from the sending side the files (meaning
1794 non-directories) that are a part of the transfer and have been successfully
1795 duplicated on the receiving side.
1797 Note that you should only use this option on source files that are
1798 quiescent. If you are using this to move files that show up in a
1799 particular directory over to another host, make sure that the finished
1800 files get renamed into the source directory, not directly written into it,
1801 so that rsync can't possibly transfer a file that is not yet fully written.
1802 If you can't first write the files into a different directory, you should
1803 use a naming idiom that lets rsync avoid transferring files that are not
1804 yet finished (e.g. name the file "foo.new" when it is written, rename it to
1805 "foo" when it is done, and then use the option [`--exclude='*.new'`](#opt)
1806 for the rsync transfer).
1808 Starting with 3.1.0, rsync will skip the sender-side removal (and output an
1809 error) if the file's size or modify time has not stayed unchanged.
1811 Starting with 3.2.6, a local rsync copy will ensure that the sender does
1812 not remove a file the receiver just verified, such as when the user
1813 accidentally makes the source and destination directory the same path.
1817 This tells rsync to delete extraneous files from the receiving side (ones
1818 that aren't on the sending side), but only for the directories that are
1819 being synchronized. You must have asked rsync to send the whole directory
1820 (e.g. "`dir`" or "`dir/`") without using a wildcard for the directory's
1821 contents (e.g. "`dir/*`") since the wildcard is expanded by the shell and
1822 rsync thus gets a request to transfer individual files, not the files'
1823 parent directory. Files that are excluded from the transfer are also
1824 excluded from being deleted unless you use the [`--delete-excluded`](#opt)
1825 option or mark the rules as only matching on the sending side (see the
1826 include/exclude modifiers in the [FILTER RULES](#) section).
1828 Prior to rsync 2.6.7, this option would have no effect unless
1829 [`--recursive`](#opt) was enabled. Beginning with 2.6.7, deletions will
1830 also occur when [`--dirs`](#opt) (`-d`) is enabled, but only for
1831 directories whose contents are being copied.
1833 This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea to
1834 first try a run using the [`--dry-run`](#opt) (`-n`) option to see what
1835 files are going to be deleted.
1837 If the sending side detects any I/O errors, then the deletion of any files
1838 at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to prevent
1839 temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the sending side from
1840 causing a massive deletion of files on the destination. You can override
1841 this with the [`--ignore-errors`](#opt) option.
1843 The `--delete` option may be combined with one of the --delete-WHEN options
1844 without conflict, as well as [`--delete-excluded`](#opt). However, if none
1845 of the `--delete-WHEN` options are specified, rsync will choose the
1846 [`--delete-during`](#opt) algorithm when talking to rsync 3.0.0 or newer,
1847 or the [`--delete-before`](#opt) algorithm when talking to an older rsync.
1848 See also [`--delete-delay`](#opt) and [`--delete-after`](#opt).
1850 0. `--delete-before`
1852 Request that the file-deletions on the receiving side be done before the
1853 transfer starts. See [`--delete`](#opt) (which is implied) for more
1854 details on file-deletion.
1856 Deleting before the transfer is helpful if the filesystem is tight for
1857 space and removing extraneous files would help to make the transfer
1858 possible. However, it does introduce a delay before the start of the
1859 transfer, and this delay might cause the transfer to timeout (if
1860 [`--timeout`](#opt) was specified). It also forces rsync to use the old,
1861 non-incremental recursion algorithm that requires rsync to scan all the
1862 files in the transfer into memory at once (see [`--recursive`](#opt)).
1864 0. `--delete-during`, `--del`
1866 Request that the file-deletions on the receiving side be done incrementally
1867 as the transfer happens. The per-directory delete scan is done right
1868 before each directory is checked for updates, so it behaves like a more
1869 efficient [`--delete-before`](#opt), including doing the deletions prior to
1870 any per-directory filter files being updated. This option was first added
1871 in rsync version 2.6.4. See [`--delete`](#opt) (which is implied) for more
1872 details on file-deletion.
1876 Request that the file-deletions on the receiving side be computed during
1877 the transfer (like [`--delete-during`](#opt)), and then removed after the
1878 transfer completes. This is useful when combined with
1879 [`--delay-updates`](#opt) and/or [`--fuzzy`](#opt), and is more efficient
1880 than using [`--delete-after`](#opt) (but can behave differently, since
1881 [`--delete-after`](#opt) computes the deletions in a separate pass after
1882 all updates are done). If the number of removed files overflows an
1883 internal buffer, a temporary file will be created on the receiving side to
1884 hold the names (it is removed while open, so you shouldn't see it during
1885 the transfer). If the creation of the temporary file fails, rsync will try
1886 to fall back to using [`--delete-after`](#opt) (which it cannot do if
1887 [`--recursive`](#opt) is doing an incremental scan). See
1888 [`--delete`](#opt) (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
1892 Request that the file-deletions on the receiving side be done after the
1893 transfer has completed. This is useful if you are sending new
1894 per-directory merge files as a part of the transfer and you want their
1895 exclusions to take effect for the delete phase of the current transfer. It
1896 also forces rsync to use the old, non-incremental recursion algorithm that
1897 requires rsync to scan all the files in the transfer into memory at once
1898 (see [`--recursive`](#opt)). See [`--delete`](#opt) (which is implied) for
1899 more details on file-deletion.
1901 See also the [`--delete-delay`](#opt) option that might be a faster choice
1902 for those that just want the deletions to occur at the end of the transfer.
1904 0. `--delete-excluded`
1906 This option turns any unqualified exclude/include rules into server-side
1907 rules that do not affect the receiver's deletions.
1909 By default, an exclude or include has both a server-side effect (to "hide"
1910 and "show" files when building the server's file list) and a receiver-side
1911 effect (to "protect" and "risk" files when deletions are occurring). Any
1912 rule that has no modifier to specify what sides it is executed on will be
1913 instead treated as if it were a server-side rule only, avoiding any
1914 "protect" effects of the rules.
1916 A rule can still apply to both sides even with this option specified if the
1917 rule is given both the sender & receiver modifier letters (e.g., `-f'-sr
1918 foo'`). Receiver-side protect/risk rules can also be explicitly specified
1919 to limit the deletions. This saves you from having to edit a bunch of
1920 `-f'- foo'` rules into `-f'-s foo'` (aka `-f'H foo'`) rules (not to mention
1921 the corresponding includes).
1923 See the [FILTER RULES](#) section for more information. See
1924 [`--delete`](#opt) (which is implied) for more details on deletion.
1926 0. `--ignore-missing-args`
1928 When rsync is first processing the explicitly requested source files (e.g.
1929 command-line arguments or [`--files-from`](#opt) entries), it is normally
1930 an error if the file cannot be found. This option suppresses that error,
1931 and does not try to transfer the file. This does not affect subsequent
1932 vanished-file errors if a file was initially found to be present and later
1935 0. `--delete-missing-args`
1937 This option takes the behavior of the (implied)
1938 [`--ignore-missing-args`](#opt) option a step farther: each missing arg
1939 will become a deletion request of the corresponding destination file on the
1940 receiving side (should it exist). If the destination file is a non-empty
1941 directory, it will only be successfully deleted if [`--force`](#opt) or
1942 [`--delete`](#opt) are in effect. Other than that, this option is
1943 independent of any other type of delete processing.
1945 The missing source files are represented by special file-list entries which
1946 display as a "`*missing`" entry in the [`--list-only`](#opt) output.
1948 0. `--ignore-errors`
1950 Tells [`--delete`](#opt) to go ahead and delete files even when there are
1955 This option tells rsync to delete a non-empty directory when it is to be
1956 replaced by a non-directory. This is only relevant if deletions are not
1957 active (see [`--delete`](#opt) for details).
1959 Note for older rsync versions: `--force` used to still be required when
1960 using [`--delete-after`](#opt), and it used to be non-functional unless the
1961 [`--recursive`](#opt) option was also enabled.
1963 0. `--max-delete=NUM`
1965 This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM files or directories. If that
1966 limit is exceeded, all further deletions are skipped through the end of the
1967 transfer. At the end, rsync outputs a warning (including a count of the
1968 skipped deletions) and exits with an error code of 25 (unless some more
1969 important error condition also occurred).
1971 Beginning with version 3.0.0, you may specify `--max-delete=0` to be warned
1972 about any extraneous files in the destination without removing any of them.
1973 Older clients interpreted this as "unlimited", so if you don't know what
1974 version the client is, you can use the less obvious `--max-delete=-1` as a
1975 backward-compatible way to specify that no deletions be allowed (though
1976 really old versions didn't warn when the limit was exceeded).
1978 0. `--max-size=SIZE`
1980 This tells rsync to avoid transferring any file that is larger than the
1981 specified SIZE. A numeric value can be suffixed with a string to indicate
1982 the numeric units or left unqualified to specify bytes. Feel free to use a
1983 fractional value along with the units, such as `--max-size=1.5m`.
1985 This option is a [TRANSFER RULE](#TRANSFER_RULES), so don't expect any
1986 exclude side effects.
1988 The first letter of a units string can be `B` (bytes), `K` (kilo), `M`
1989 (mega), `G` (giga), `T` (tera), or `P` (peta). If the string is a single
1990 char or has "ib" added to it (e.g. "G" or "GiB") then the units are
1991 multiples of 1024. If you use a two-letter suffix that ends with a "B"
1992 (e.g. "kb") then you get units that are multiples of 1000. The string's
1993 letters can be any mix of upper and lower-case that you want to use.
1995 Finally, if the string ends with either "+1" or "-1", it is offset by one
1996 byte in the indicated direction. The largest possible value is usually
1999 Examples: `--max-size=1.5mb-1` is 1499999 bytes, and `--max-size=2g+1` is
2002 Note that rsync versions prior to 3.1.0 did not allow `--max-size=0`.
2004 0. `--min-size=SIZE`
2006 This tells rsync to avoid transferring any file that is smaller than the
2007 specified SIZE, which can help in not transferring small, junk files. See
2008 the [`--max-size`](#opt) option for a description of SIZE and other info.
2010 Note that rsync versions prior to 3.1.0 did not allow `--min-size=0`.
2012 0. `--max-alloc=SIZE`
2014 By default rsync limits an individual malloc/realloc to about 1GB in size.
2015 For most people this limit works just fine and prevents a protocol error
2016 causing rsync to request massive amounts of memory. However, if you have
2017 many millions of files in a transfer, a large amount of server memory, and
2018 you don't want to split up your transfer into multiple parts, you can
2019 increase the per-allocation limit to something larger and rsync will
2020 consume more memory.
2022 Keep in mind that this is not a limit on the total size of allocated
2023 memory. It is a sanity-check value for each individual allocation.
2025 See the [`--max-size`](#opt) option for a description of how SIZE can be
2026 specified. The default suffix if none is given is bytes.
2028 Beginning in 3.2.3, a value of 0 specifies no limit.
2030 You can set a default value using the environment variable
2031 [`RSYNC_MAX_ALLOC`](#) using the same SIZE values as supported by this
2032 option. If the remote rsync doesn't understand the `--max-alloc` option,
2033 you can override an environmental value by specifying `--max-alloc=1g`,
2034 which will make rsync avoid sending the option to the remote side (because
2035 "1G" is the default).
2037 0. `--block-size=SIZE`, `-B`
2039 This forces the block size used in rsync's delta-transfer algorithm to a
2040 fixed value. It is normally selected based on the size of each file being
2041 updated. See the technical report for details.
2043 Beginning in 3.2.3 the SIZE can be specified with a suffix as detailed in
2044 the [`--max-size`](#opt) option. Older versions only accepted a byte count.
2046 0. `--rsh=COMMAND`, `-e`
2048 This option allows you to choose an alternative remote shell program to use
2049 for communication between the local and remote copies of rsync. Typically,
2050 rsync is configured to use ssh by default, but you may prefer to use rsh on
2053 If this option is used with `[user@]host::module/path`, then the remote
2054 shell _COMMAND_ will be used to run an rsync daemon on the remote host, and
2055 all data will be transmitted through that remote shell connection, rather
2056 than through a direct socket connection to a running rsync daemon on the
2057 remote host. See the [USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A REMOTE-SHELL
2058 CONNECTION](#) section above.
2060 Beginning with rsync 3.2.0, the [`RSYNC_PORT`](#) environment variable will
2061 be set when a daemon connection is being made via a remote-shell
2062 connection. It is set to 0 if the default daemon port is being assumed, or
2063 it is set to the value of the rsync port that was specified via either the
2064 [`--port`](#opt) option or a non-empty port value in an `rsync://` URL.
2065 This allows the script to discern if a non-default port is being requested,
2066 allowing for things such as an SSL or stunnel helper script to connect to a
2067 default or alternate port.
2069 Command-line arguments are permitted in COMMAND provided that COMMAND is
2070 presented to rsync as a single argument. You must use spaces (not tabs or
2071 other whitespace) to separate the command and args from each other, and you
2072 can use single- and/or double-quotes to preserve spaces in an argument (but
2073 not backslashes). Note that doubling a single-quote inside a single-quoted
2074 string gives you a single-quote; likewise for double-quotes (though you
2075 need to pay attention to which quotes your shell is parsing and which
2076 quotes rsync is parsing). Some examples:
2079 > -e 'ssh -o "ProxyCommand nohup ssh firewall nc -w1 %h %p"'
2081 (Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect
2082 options in their .ssh/config file.)
2084 You can also choose the remote shell program using the [`RSYNC_RSH`](#)
2085 environment variable, which accepts the same range of values as `-e`.
2087 See also the [`--blocking-io`](#opt) option which is affected by this
2090 0. `--rsync-path=PROGRAM`
2092 Use this to specify what program is to be run on the remote machine to
2093 start-up rsync. Often used when rsync is not in the default remote-shell's
2094 path (e.g. `--rsync-path=/usr/local/bin/rsync`). Note that PROGRAM is run
2095 with the help of a shell, so it can be any program, script, or command
2096 sequence you'd care to run, so long as it does not corrupt the standard-in
2097 & standard-out that rsync is using to communicate.
2099 One tricky example is to set a different default directory on the remote
2100 machine for use with the [`--relative`](#opt) option. For instance:
2102 > rsync -avR --rsync-path="cd /a/b && rsync" host:c/d /e/
2104 0. `--remote-option=OPTION`, `-M`
2106 This option is used for more advanced situations where you want certain
2107 effects to be limited to one side of the transfer only. For instance, if
2108 you want to pass [`--log-file=FILE`](#opt) and [`--fake-super`](#opt) to
2109 the remote system, specify it like this:
2111 > rsync -av -M --log-file=foo -M--fake-super src/ dest/
2113 If you want to have an option affect only the local side of a transfer when
2114 it normally affects both sides, send its negation to the remote side. Like
2117 > rsync -av -x -M--no-x src/ dest/
2119 Be cautious using this, as it is possible to toggle an option that will
2120 cause rsync to have a different idea about what data to expect next over
2121 the socket, and that will make it fail in a cryptic fashion.
2123 Note that you should use a separate `-M` option for each remote option you
2124 want to pass. On older rsync versions, the presence of any spaces in the
2125 remote-option arg could cause it to be split into separate remote args, but
2126 this requires the use of [`--old-args`](#opt) in a modern rsync.
2128 When performing a local transfer, the "local" side is the sender and the
2129 "remote" side is the receiver.
2131 Note some versions of the popt option-parsing library have a bug in them
2132 that prevents you from using an adjacent arg with an equal in it next to a
2133 short option letter (e.g. `-M--log-file=/tmp/foo`). If this bug affects
2134 your version of popt, you can use the version of popt that is included with
2137 0. `--cvs-exclude`, `-C`
2139 This is a useful shorthand for excluding a broad range of files that you
2140 often don't want to transfer between systems. It uses a similar algorithm
2141 to CVS to determine if a file should be ignored.
2143 The exclude list is initialized to exclude the following items (these
2144 initial items are marked as perishable -- see the [FILTER RULES](#)
2147 [comment]: # (This list gets used for the default-cvsignore.h file.)
2186 then, files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
2187 files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (all cvsignore names are
2188 delimited by whitespace).
2190 Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a .cvsignore
2191 file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. Unlike rsync's
2192 filter/exclude files, these patterns are split on whitespace. See the
2193 **cvs**(1) manual for more information.
2195 If you're combining `-C` with your own [`--filter`](#opt) rules, you should
2196 note that these CVS excludes are appended at the end of your own rules,
2197 regardless of where the `-C` was placed on the command-line. This makes
2198 them a lower priority than any rules you specified explicitly. If you want
2199 to control where these CVS excludes get inserted into your filter rules,
2200 you should omit the `-C` as a command-line option and use a combination of
2201 [`--filter=:C`](#opt) and [`--filter=-C`](#opt) (either on your
2202 command-line or by putting the ":C" and "-C" rules into a filter file with
2203 your other rules). The first option turns on the per-directory scanning
2204 for the .cvsignore file. The second option does a one-time import of the
2205 CVS excludes mentioned above.
2207 0. `--filter=RULE`, `-f`
2209 This option allows you to add rules to selectively exclude certain files
2210 from the list of files to be transferred. This is most useful in
2211 combination with a recursive transfer.
2213 You may use as many `--filter` options on the command line as you like to
2214 build up the list of files to exclude. If the filter contains whitespace,
2215 be sure to quote it so that the shell gives the rule to rsync as a single
2216 argument. The text below also mentions that you can use an underscore to
2217 replace the space that separates a rule from its arg.
2219 See the [FILTER RULES](#) section for detailed information on this option.
2223 The `-F` option is a shorthand for adding two [`--filter`](#opt) rules to
2224 your command. The first time it is used is a shorthand for this rule:
2226 > --filter='dir-merge /.rsync-filter'
2228 This tells rsync to look for per-directory .rsync-filter files that have
2229 been sprinkled through the hierarchy and use their rules to filter the
2230 files in the transfer. If `-F` is repeated, it is a shorthand for this
2233 > --filter='exclude .rsync-filter'
2235 This filters out the .rsync-filter files themselves from the transfer.
2237 See the [FILTER RULES](#) section for detailed information on how these
2240 0. `--exclude=PATTERN`
2242 This option is a simplified form of the [`--filter`](#opt) option that
2243 specifies an exclude rule and does not allow the full rule-parsing syntax
2244 of normal filter rules. This is equivalent to specifying `-f'- PATTERN'`.
2246 See the [FILTER RULES](#) section for detailed information on this option.
2248 0. `--exclude-from=FILE`
2250 This option is related to the [`--exclude`](#opt) option, but it specifies
2251 a FILE that contains exclude patterns (one per line). Blank lines in the
2252 file are ignored, as are whole-line comments that start with '`;`' or '`#`'
2253 (filename rules that contain those characters are unaffected).
2255 If a line begins with "`-Â `" (dash, space) or "`+Â `" (plus, space), then
2256 the type of rule is being explicitly specified as an exclude or an include
2257 (respectively). Any rules without such a prefix are taken to be an exclude.
2259 If a line consists of just "`!`", then the current filter rules are cleared
2260 before adding any further rules.
2262 If _FILE_ is '`-`', the list will be read from standard input.
2264 0. `--include=PATTERN`
2266 This option is a simplified form of the [`--filter`](#opt) option that
2267 specifies an include rule and does not allow the full rule-parsing syntax
2268 of normal filter rules. This is equivalent to specifying `-f'+ PATTERN'`.
2270 See the [FILTER RULES](#) section for detailed information on this option.
2272 0. `--include-from=FILE`
2274 This option is related to the [`--include`](#opt) option, but it specifies
2275 a FILE that contains include patterns (one per line). Blank lines in the
2276 file are ignored, as are whole-line comments that start with '`;`' or '`#`'
2277 (filename rules that contain those characters are unaffected).
2279 If a line begins with "`-Â `" (dash, space) or "`+Â `" (plus, space), then
2280 the type of rule is being explicitly specified as an exclude or an include
2281 (respectively). Any rules without such a prefix are taken to be an include.
2283 If a line consists of just "`!`", then the current filter rules are cleared
2284 before adding any further rules.
2286 If _FILE_ is '`-`', the list will be read from standard input.
2288 0. `--files-from=FILE`
2290 Using this option allows you to specify the exact list of files to transfer
2291 (as read from the specified FILE or '`-`' for standard input). It also
2292 tweaks the default behavior of rsync to make transferring just the
2293 specified files and directories easier:
2295 - The [`--relative`](#opt) (`-R`) option is implied, which preserves the
2296 path information that is specified for each item in the file (use
2297 `--no-relative` or `--no-R` if you want to turn that off).
2298 - The [`--dirs`](#opt) (`-d`) option is implied, which will create
2299 directories specified in the list on the destination rather than noisily
2300 skipping them (use `--no-dirs` or `--no-d` if you want to turn that off).
2301 - The [`--archive`](#opt) (`-a`) option's behavior does not imply
2302 [`--recursive`](#opt) (`-r`), so specify it explicitly, if you want it.
2303 - These side-effects change the default state of rsync, so the position of
2304 the `--files-from` option on the command-line has no bearing on how other
2305 options are parsed (e.g. [`-a`](#opt) works the same before or after
2306 `--files-from`, as does `--no-R` and all other options).
2308 The filenames that are read from the FILE are all relative to the source
2309 dir -- any leading slashes are removed and no ".." references are allowed
2310 to go higher than the source dir. For example, take this command:
2312 > rsync -a --files-from=/tmp/foo /usr remote:/backup
2314 If /tmp/foo contains the string "bin" (or even "/bin"), the /usr/bin
2315 directory will be created as /backup/bin on the remote host. If it
2316 contains "bin/" (note the trailing slash), the immediate contents of the
2317 directory would also be sent (without needing to be explicitly mentioned in
2318 the file -- this began in version 2.6.4). In both cases, if the
2319 [`-r`](#opt) option was enabled, that dir's entire hierarchy would also be
2320 transferred (keep in mind that [`-r`](#opt) needs to be specified
2321 explicitly with `--files-from`, since it is not implied by [`-a`](#opt).
2322 Also note that the effect of the (enabled by default) [`-r`](#opt) option
2323 is to duplicate only the path info that is read from the file -- it does
2324 not force the duplication of the source-spec path (/usr in this case).
2326 In addition, the `--files-from` file can be read from the remote host
2327 instead of the local host if you specify a "host:" in front of the file
2328 (the host must match one end of the transfer). As a short-cut, you can
2329 specify just a prefix of ":" to mean "use the remote end of the transfer".
2332 > rsync -a --files-from=:/path/file-list src:/ /tmp/copy
2334 This would copy all the files specified in the /path/file-list file that
2335 was located on the remote "src" host.
2337 If the [`--iconv`](#opt) and [`--protect-args`](#opt) options are specified
2338 and the `--files-from` filenames are being sent from one host to another,
2339 the filenames will be translated from the sending host's charset to the
2340 receiving host's charset.
2342 NOTE: sorting the list of files in the `--files-from` input helps rsync to
2343 be more efficient, as it will avoid re-visiting the path elements that are
2344 shared between adjacent entries. If the input is not sorted, some path
2345 elements (implied directories) may end up being scanned multiple times, and
2346 rsync will eventually unduplicate them after they get turned into file-list
2351 This tells rsync that the rules/filenames it reads from a file are
2352 terminated by a null ('\\0') character, not a NL, CR, or CR+LF. This
2353 affects [`--exclude-from`](#opt), [`--include-from`](#opt),
2354 [`--files-from`](#opt), and any merged files specified in a
2355 [`--filter`](#opt) rule. It does not affect [`--cvs-exclude`](#opt) (since
2356 all names read from a .cvsignore file are split on whitespace).
2360 This option tells rsync to stop trying to protect the arg values on the
2361 remote side from unintended word-splitting or other misinterpretation.
2363 The default in a modern rsync is for "shell-active" characters (including
2364 spaces) to be backslash-escaped in the args that are sent to the remote
2365 shell. The wildcard characters `*`, `?`, `[`, & `]` are not escaped in
2366 filename args (allowing them to expand into multiple filenames) while being
2367 protected in option args, such as [`--usermap`](#opt).
2369 If you have a script that wants to use old-style arg splitting in its
2370 filenames, specify this option once. If the remote shell has a problem
2371 with any backslash escapes at all, specify this option twice.
2373 You may also control this setting via the [`RSYNC_OLD_ARGS`](#) environment
2374 variable. If it has the value "1", rsync will default to a single-option
2375 setting. If it has the value "2" (or more), rsync will default to a
2376 repeated-option setting. If it is "0", you'll get the default escaping
2377 behavior. The environment is always overridden by manually specified
2378 positive or negative options (the negative is `--no-old-args`).
2380 Note that this option also disables the extra safety check added in 3.2.5
2381 that ensures that a remote sender isn't including extra top-level items in
2382 the file-list that you didn't request. This side-effect is necessary
2383 because we can't know for sure what names to expect when the remote shell
2384 is interpreting the args.
2386 This option conflicts with the [`--protect-args`](#opt) option.
2388 0. `--protect-args`, `-s`
2390 This option sends all filenames and most options to the remote rsync
2391 without allowing the remote shell to interpret them. Wildcards are
2392 expanded on the remote host by rsync instead of the shell doing it.
2394 This is similar to the new-style backslash-escaping of args that was added
2395 in 3.2.4, but supports some extra features and doesn't rely on backslash
2396 escaping in the remote shell.
2398 If you use this option with [`--iconv`](#opt), the args related to the
2399 remote side will also be translated from the local to the remote
2400 character-set. The translation happens before wild-cards are expanded.
2401 See also the [`--files-from`](#opt) option.
2403 You may also control this setting via the [`RSYNC_PROTECT_ARGS`](#)
2404 environment variable. If it has a non-zero value, this setting will be
2405 enabled by default, otherwise it will be disabled by default. Either state
2406 is overridden by a manually specified positive or negative version of this
2407 option (note that `--no-s` and `--no-protect-args` are the negative
2408 versions). This environment variable is also superseded by a non-zero
2409 [`RSYNC_OLD_ARGS`](#) export.
2411 You may need to disable this option when interacting with an older rsync
2412 (one prior to 3.0.0).
2414 This option conflicts with the [`--old-args`](#opt) option.
2416 Note that this option is incompatible with the use of the restricted rsync
2417 script (`rrsync`) since it hides options from the script's inspection.
2421 This option disables two extra validation checks that a local client
2422 performs on the file list generated by a remote sender. This option should
2423 only be used if you trust the sender to not put something malicious in the
2424 file list (something that could possibly be done via a modified rsync, a
2425 modified shell, or some other similar manipulation).
2427 Normally, the rsync client (as of version 3.2.5) runs two extra validation
2428 checks when pulling files from a remote rsync:
2430 - It verifies that additional arg items didn't get added at the top of the
2432 - It verifies that none of the items in the file list are names that should
2433 have been excluded (if filter rules were specified).
2435 Note that various options can turn off one or both of these checks if the
2436 option interferes with the validation. For instance:
2438 - Using a per-directory filter file reads filter rules that only the server
2439 knows about, so the filter checking is disabled.
2440 - Using the [`--old-args`](#opt) option allows the sender to manipulate the
2441 requested args, so the arg checking is disabled.
2442 - Reading the files-from list from the server side means that the client
2443 doesn't know the arg list, so the arg checking is disabled.
2444 - Using [`--read-batch`](#opt) disables both checks since the batch file's
2445 contents will have been verified when it was created.
2447 This option may help an under-powered client server if the extra pattern
2448 matching is slowing things down on a huge transfer. It can also be used to
2449 work around a currently-unknown bug in the verification logic for a transfer
2450 from a trusted sender.
2452 When using this option it is a good idea to specify a dedicated destination
2453 directory, as discussed in the [MULTI-HOST SECURITY](#) section.
2455 0. `--copy-as=USER[:GROUP]`
2457 This option instructs rsync to use the USER and (if specified after a
2458 colon) the GROUP for the copy operations. This only works if the user that
2459 is running rsync has the ability to change users. If the group is not
2460 specified then the user's default groups are used.
2462 This option can help to reduce the risk of an rsync being run as root into
2463 or out of a directory that might have live changes happening to it and you
2464 want to make sure that root-level read or write actions of system files are
2465 not possible. While you could alternatively run all of rsync as the
2466 specified user, sometimes you need the root-level host-access credentials
2467 to be used, so this allows rsync to drop root for the copying part of the
2468 operation after the remote-shell or daemon connection is established.
2470 The option only affects one side of the transfer unless the transfer is
2471 local, in which case it affects both sides. Use the
2472 [`--remote-option`](#opt) to affect the remote side, such as
2473 `-M--copy-as=joe`. For a local transfer, the lsh (or lsh.sh) support file
2474 provides a local-shell helper script that can be used to allow a
2475 "localhost:" or "lh:" host-spec to be specified without needing to setup
2476 any remote shells, allowing you to specify remote options that affect the
2477 side of the transfer that is using the host-spec (and using hostname "lh"
2478 avoids the overriding of the remote directory to the user's home dir).
2480 For example, the following rsync writes the local files as user "joe":
2482 > sudo rsync -aiv --copy-as=joe host1:backups/joe/ /home/joe/
2484 This makes all files owned by user "joe", limits the groups to those that
2485 are available to that user, and makes it impossible for the joe user to do
2486 a timed exploit of the path to induce a change to a file that the joe user
2487 has no permissions to change.
2489 The following command does a local copy into the "dest/" dir as user "joe"
2490 (assuming you've installed support/lsh into a dir on your $PATH):
2492 > sudo rsync -aive lsh -M--copy-as=joe src/ lh:dest/
2494 0. `--temp-dir=DIR`, `-T`
2496 This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a scratch directory when creating
2497 temporary copies of the files transferred on the receiving side. The
2498 default behavior is to create each temporary file in the same directory as
2499 the associated destination file. Beginning with rsync 3.1.1, the temp-file
2500 names inside the specified DIR will not be prefixed with an extra dot
2501 (though they will still have a random suffix added).
2503 This option is most often used when the receiving disk partition does not
2504 have enough free space to hold a copy of the largest file in the transfer.
2505 In this case (i.e. when the scratch directory is on a different disk
2506 partition), rsync will not be able to rename each received temporary file
2507 over the top of the associated destination file, but instead must copy it
2508 into place. Rsync does this by copying the file over the top of the
2509 destination file, which means that the destination file will contain
2510 truncated data during this copy. If this were not done this way (even if
2511 the destination file were first removed, the data locally copied to a
2512 temporary file in the destination directory, and then renamed into place)
2513 it would be possible for the old file to continue taking up disk space (if
2514 someone had it open), and thus there might not be enough room to fit the
2515 new version on the disk at the same time.
2517 If you are using this option for reasons other than a shortage of disk
2518 space, you may wish to combine it with the [`--delay-updates`](#opt)
2519 option, which will ensure that all copied files get put into subdirectories
2520 in the destination hierarchy, awaiting the end of the transfer. If you
2521 don't have enough room to duplicate all the arriving files on the
2522 destination partition, another way to tell rsync that you aren't overly
2523 concerned about disk space is to use the [`--partial-dir`](#opt) option
2524 with a relative path; because this tells rsync that it is OK to stash off a
2525 copy of a single file in a subdir in the destination hierarchy, rsync will
2526 use the partial-dir as a staging area to bring over the copied file, and
2527 then rename it into place from there. (Specifying a [`--partial-dir`](#opt)
2528 with an absolute path does not have this side-effect.)
2532 This option tells rsync that it should look for a basis file for any
2533 destination file that is missing. The current algorithm looks in the same
2534 directory as the destination file for either a file that has an identical
2535 size and modified-time, or a similarly-named file. If found, rsync uses
2536 the fuzzy basis file to try to speed up the transfer.
2538 If the option is repeated, the fuzzy scan will also be done in any matching
2539 alternate destination directories that are specified via
2540 [`--compare-dest`](#opt), [`--copy-dest`](#opt), or [`--link-dest`](#opt).
2542 Note that the use of the [`--delete`](#opt) option might get rid of any
2543 potential fuzzy-match files, so either use [`--delete-after`](#opt) or
2544 specify some filename exclusions if you need to prevent this.
2546 0. `--compare-dest=DIR`
2548 This option instructs rsync to use _DIR_ on the destination machine as an
2549 additional hierarchy to compare destination files against doing transfers
2550 (if the files are missing in the destination directory). If a file is
2551 found in _DIR_ that is identical to the sender's file, the file will NOT be
2552 transferred to the destination directory. This is useful for creating a
2553 sparse backup of just files that have changed from an earlier backup. This
2554 option is typically used to copy into an empty (or newly created)
2557 Beginning in version 2.6.4, multiple `--compare-dest` directories may be
2558 provided, which will cause rsync to search the list in the order specified
2559 for an exact match. If a match is found that differs only in attributes, a
2560 local copy is made and the attributes updated. If a match is not found, a
2561 basis file from one of the _DIRs_ will be selected to try to speed up the
2564 If _DIR_ is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
2565 See also [`--copy-dest`](#opt) and [`--link-dest`](#opt).
2567 NOTE: beginning with version 3.1.0, rsync will remove a file from a
2568 non-empty destination hierarchy if an exact match is found in one of the
2569 compare-dest hierarchies (making the end result more closely match a fresh
2572 0. `--copy-dest=DIR`
2574 This option behaves like [`--compare-dest`](#opt), but rsync will also copy
2575 unchanged files found in _DIR_ to the destination directory using a local
2576 copy. This is useful for doing transfers to a new destination while
2577 leaving existing files intact, and then doing a flash-cutover when all
2578 files have been successfully transferred.
2580 Multiple `--copy-dest` directories may be provided, which will cause rsync
2581 to search the list in the order specified for an unchanged file. If a
2582 match is not found, a basis file from one of the _DIRs_ will be selected to
2583 try to speed up the transfer.
2585 If _DIR_ is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
2586 See also [`--compare-dest`](#opt) and [`--link-dest`](#opt).
2588 0. `--link-dest=DIR`
2590 This option behaves like [`--copy-dest`](#opt), but unchanged files are
2591 hard linked from _DIR_ to the destination directory. The files must be
2592 identical in all preserved attributes (e.g. permissions, possibly
2593 ownership) in order for the files to be linked together. An example:
2595 > rsync -av --link-dest=$PWD/prior_dir host:src_dir/ new_dir/
2597 If files aren't linking, double-check their attributes. Also check if
2598 some attributes are getting forced outside of rsync's control, such a mount
2599 option that squishes root to a single user, or mounts a removable drive
2600 with generic ownership (such as OS X's "Ignore ownership on this volume"
2603 Beginning in version 2.6.4, multiple `--link-dest` directories may be
2604 provided, which will cause rsync to search the list in the order specified
2605 for an exact match (there is a limit of 20 such directories). If a match
2606 is found that differs only in attributes, a local copy is made and the
2607 attributes updated. If a match is not found, a basis file from one of the
2608 _DIRs_ will be selected to try to speed up the transfer.
2610 This option works best when copying into an empty destination hierarchy, as
2611 existing files may get their attributes tweaked, and that can affect
2612 alternate destination files via hard-links. Also, itemizing of changes can
2613 get a bit muddled. Note that prior to version 3.1.0, an
2614 alternate-directory exact match would never be found (nor linked into the
2615 destination) when a destination file already exists.
2617 Note that if you combine this option with [`--ignore-times`](#opt), rsync will not
2618 link any files together because it only links identical files together as a
2619 substitute for transferring the file, never as an additional check after
2620 the file is updated.
2622 If _DIR_ is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
2623 See also [`--compare-dest`](#opt) and [`--copy-dest`](#opt).
2625 Note that rsync versions prior to 2.6.1 had a bug that could prevent
2626 `--link-dest` from working properly for a non-super-user when
2627 [`--owner`](#opt) (`-o`) was specified (or implied). You can work-around
2628 this bug by avoiding the `-o` option (or using `--no-o`) when sending to an
2631 0. `--compress`, `-z`
2633 With this option, rsync compresses the file data as it is sent to the
2634 destination machine, which reduces the amount of data being transmitted --
2635 something that is useful over a slow connection.
2637 Rsync supports multiple compression methods and will choose one for you
2638 unless you force the choice using the [`--compress-choice`](#opt) (`--zc`)
2641 Run `rsync --version` to see the default compress list compiled into your
2644 When both sides of the transfer are at least 3.2.0, rsync chooses the first
2645 algorithm in the client's list of choices that is also in the server's list
2646 of choices. If no common compress choice is found, rsync exits with
2647 an error. If the remote rsync is too old to support checksum negotiation,
2648 its list is assumed to be "zlib".
2650 The default order can be customized by setting the environment variable
2651 [`RSYNC_COMPRESS_LIST`](#) to a space-separated list of acceptable
2652 compression names. If the string contains a "`&`" character, it is
2653 separated into the "client string & server string", otherwise the same
2654 string applies to both. If the string (or string portion) contains no
2655 non-whitespace characters, the default compress list is used. Any unknown
2656 compression names are discarded from the list, but a list with only invalid
2657 names results in a failed negotiation.
2659 There are some older rsync versions that were configured to reject a `-z`
2660 option and require the use of `-zz` because their compression library was
2661 not compatible with the default zlib compression method. You can usually
2662 ignore this weirdness unless the rsync server complains and tells you to
2665 0. `--compress-choice=STR`, `--zc=STR`
2667 This option can be used to override the automatic negotiation of the
2668 compression algorithm that occurs when [`--compress`](#opt) is used. The
2669 option implies [`--compress`](#opt) unless "none" was specified, which
2670 instead implies `--no-compress`.
2672 The compression options that you may be able to use are:
2680 Run `rsync --version` to see the default compress list compiled into your
2681 version (which may differ from the list above).
2683 Note that if you see an error about an option named `--old-compress` or
2684 `--new-compress`, this is rsync trying to send the `--compress-choice=zlib`
2685 or `--compress-choice=zlibx` option in a backward-compatible manner that
2686 more rsync versions understand. This error indicates that the older rsync
2687 version on the server will not allow you to force the compression type.
2689 Note that the "zlibx" compression algorithm is just the "zlib" algorithm
2690 with matched data excluded from the compression stream (to try to make it
2691 more compatible with an external zlib implementation).
2693 0. `--compress-level=NUM`, `--zl=NUM`
2695 Explicitly set the compression level to use (see [`--compress`](#opt),
2696 `-z`) instead of letting it default. The [`--compress`](#opt) option is
2697 implied as long as the level chosen is not a "don't compress" level for the
2698 compression algorithm that is in effect (e.g. zlib compression treats level
2701 The level values vary depending on the checksum in effect. Because rsync
2702 will negotiate a checksum choice by default (when the remote rsync is new
2703 enough), it can be good to combine this option with a
2704 [`--compress-choice`](#opt) (`--zc`) option unless you're sure of the
2705 choice in effect. For example:
2707 > rsync -aiv --zc=zstd --zl=22 host:src/ dest/
2709 For zlib & zlibx compression the valid values are from 1 to 9 with 6 being
2710 the default. Specifying `--zl=0` turns compression off, and specifying
2711 `--zl=-1` chooses the default level of 6.
2713 For zstd compression the valid values are from -131072 to 22 with 3 being
2714 the default. Specifying 0 chooses the default of 3.
2716 For lz4 compression there are no levels, so the value is always 0.
2718 If you specify a too-large or too-small value, the number is silently
2719 limited to a valid value. This allows you to specify something like
2720 `--zl=999999999` and be assured that you'll end up with the maximum
2721 compression level no matter what algorithm was chosen.
2723 If you want to know the compression level that is in effect, specify
2724 [`--debug=nstr`](#opt) to see the "negotiated string" results. This will
2725 report something like "`Client compress: zstd (level 3)`" (along with the
2726 checksum choice in effect).
2728 0. `--skip-compress=LIST`
2730 **NOTE:** no compression method currently supports per-file compression
2731 changes, so this option has no effect.
2733 Override the list of file suffixes that will be compressed as little as
2734 possible. Rsync sets the compression level on a per-file basis based on
2735 the file's suffix. If the compression algorithm has an "off" level, then
2736 no compression occurs for those files. Other algorithms that support
2737 changing the streaming level on-the-fly will have the level minimized to
2738 reduces the CPU usage as much as possible for a matching file.
2740 The **LIST** should be one or more file suffixes (without the dot) separated
2741 by slashes (`/`). You may specify an empty string to indicate that no files
2744 Simple character-class matching is supported: each must consist of a list
2745 of letters inside the square brackets (e.g. no special classes, such as
2746 "[:alpha:]", are supported, and '-' has no special meaning).
2748 The characters asterisk (`*`) and question-mark (`?`) have no special meaning.
2750 Here's an example that specifies 6 suffixes to skip (since 1 of the 5 rules
2751 matches 2 suffixes):
2753 > --skip-compress=gz/jpg/mp[34]/7z/bz2
2755 The default file suffixes in the skip-compress list in this version of
2758 [comment]: # (This list gets used for the default-dont-compress.h file.)
2857 This list will be replaced by your `--skip-compress` list in all but one
2858 situation: a copy from a daemon rsync will add your skipped suffixes to its
2859 list of non-compressing files (and its list may be configured to a
2864 With this option rsync will transfer numeric group and user IDs rather than
2865 using user and group names and mapping them at both ends.
2867 By default rsync will use the username and groupname to determine what
2868 ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group 0 are
2869 never mapped via user/group names even if the `--numeric-ids` option is not
2872 If a user or group has no name on the source system or it has no match on
2873 the destination system, then the numeric ID from the source system is used
2874 instead. See also the [`use chroot`](rsyncd.conf.5#use_chroot) setting
2875 in the rsyncd.conf manpage for some comments on how the chroot setting
2876 affects rsync's ability to look up the names of the users and groups and
2877 what you can do about it.
2879 0. `--usermap=STRING`, `--groupmap=STRING`
2881 These options allow you to specify users and groups that should be mapped
2882 to other values by the receiving side. The **STRING** is one or more
2883 **FROM**:**TO** pairs of values separated by commas. Any matching **FROM**
2884 value from the sender is replaced with a **TO** value from the receiver.
2885 You may specify usernames or user IDs for the **FROM** and **TO** values,
2886 and the **FROM** value may also be a wild-card string, which will be
2887 matched against the sender's names (wild-cards do NOT match against ID
2888 numbers, though see below for why a '`*`' matches everything). You may
2889 instead specify a range of ID numbers via an inclusive range: LOW-HIGH.
2892 > --usermap=0-99:nobody,wayne:admin,*:normal --groupmap=usr:1,1:usr
2894 The first match in the list is the one that is used. You should specify
2895 all your user mappings using a single `--usermap` option, and/or all your
2896 group mappings using a single `--groupmap` option.
2898 Note that the sender's name for the 0 user and group are not transmitted to
2899 the receiver, so you should either match these values using a 0, or use the
2900 names in effect on the receiving side (typically "root"). All other
2901 **FROM** names match those in use on the sending side. All **TO** names
2902 match those in use on the receiving side.
2904 Any IDs that do not have a name on the sending side are treated as having
2905 an empty name for the purpose of matching. This allows them to be matched
2906 via a "`*`" or using an empty name. For instance:
2908 > --usermap=:nobody --groupmap=*:nobody
2910 When the [`--numeric-ids`](#opt) option is used, the sender does not send any
2911 names, so all the IDs are treated as having an empty name. This means that
2912 you will need to specify numeric **FROM** values if you want to map these
2913 nameless IDs to different values.
2915 For the `--usermap` option to work, the receiver will need to be running as
2916 a super-user (see also the [`--super`](#opt) and [`--fake-super`](#opt)
2917 options). For the `--groupmap` option to work, the receiver will need to
2918 have permissions to set that group.
2920 Starting with rsync 3.2.4, the `--usermap` option implies the
2921 [`--owner`](#opt) (`-o`) option while the `--groupmap` option implies the
2922 [`--group`](#opt) (`-g`) option (since rsync needs to have those options
2923 enabled for the mapping options to work).
2925 An older rsync client may need to use [`--protect-args`](#opt) (`-s`) to
2926 avoid a complaint about wildcard characters, but a modern rsync handles
2929 0. `--chown=USER:GROUP`
2931 This option forces all files to be owned by USER with group GROUP. This is
2932 a simpler interface than using [`--usermap`](#opt) & [`--groupmap`](#opt)
2933 directly, but it is implemented using those options internally so they
2934 cannot be mixed. If either the USER or GROUP is empty, no mapping for the
2935 omitted user/group will occur. If GROUP is empty, the trailing colon may
2936 be omitted, but if USER is empty, a leading colon must be supplied.
2938 If you specify "`--chown=foo:bar`", this is exactly the same as specifying
2939 "`--usermap=*:foo --groupmap=*:bar`", only easier (and with the same
2940 implied [`--owner`](#opt) and/or [`--group`](#opt) options).
2942 An older rsync client may need to use [`--protect-args`](#opt) (`-s`) to
2943 avoid a complaint about wildcard characters, but a modern rsync handles
2946 0. `--timeout=SECONDS`
2948 This option allows you to set a maximum I/O timeout in seconds. If no data
2949 is transferred for the specified time then rsync will exit. The default is
2950 0, which means no timeout.
2952 0. `--contimeout=SECONDS`
2954 This option allows you to set the amount of time that rsync will wait for
2955 its connection to an rsync daemon to succeed. If the timeout is reached,
2956 rsync exits with an error.
2958 0. `--address=ADDRESS`
2960 By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address when connecting to an
2961 rsync daemon. The `--address` option allows you to specify a specific IP
2962 address (or hostname) to bind to.
2964 See also [the daemon version of the `--address` option](#dopt--address).
2968 This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use rather than the default
2969 of 873. This is only needed if you are using the double-colon (::) syntax
2970 to connect with an rsync daemon (since the URL syntax has a way to specify
2971 the port as a part of the URL).
2973 See also [the daemon version of the `--port` option](#dopt--port).
2975 0. `--sockopts=OPTIONS`
2977 This option can provide endless fun for people who like to tune their
2978 systems to the utmost degree. You can set all sorts of socket options
2979 which may make transfers faster (or slower!). Read the manpage for the
2980 `setsockopt()` system call for details on some of the options you may be
2981 able to set. By default no special socket options are set. This only
2982 affects direct socket connections to a remote rsync daemon.
2984 See also [the daemon version of the `--sockopts` option](#dopt--sockopts).
2988 This tells rsync to use blocking I/O when launching a remote shell
2989 transport. If the remote shell is either rsh or remsh, rsync defaults to
2990 using blocking I/O, otherwise it defaults to using non-blocking I/O. (Note
2991 that ssh prefers non-blocking I/O.)
2995 This sets the output buffering mode. The mode can be None (aka
2996 Unbuffered), Line, or Block (aka Full). You may specify as little as a
2997 single letter for the mode, and use upper or lower case.
2999 The main use of this option is to change Full buffering to Line buffering
3000 when rsync's output is going to a file or pipe.
3002 0. `--itemize-changes`, `-i`
3004 Requests a simple itemized list of the changes that are being made to each
3005 file, including attribute changes. This is exactly the same as specifying
3006 [`--out-format='%i %n%L'`](#opt). If you repeat the option, unchanged
3007 files will also be output, but only if the receiving rsync is at least
3008 version 2.6.7 (you can use `-vv` with older versions of rsync, but that
3009 also turns on the output of other verbose messages).
3011 The "%i" escape has a cryptic output that is 11 letters long. The general
3012 format is like the string `YXcstpoguax`, where **Y** is replaced by the type
3013 of update being done, **X** is replaced by the file-type, and the other
3014 letters represent attributes that may be output if they are being modified.
3016 The update types that replace the **Y** are as follows:
3018 - A `<` means that a file is being transferred to the remote host (sent).
3019 - A `>` means that a file is being transferred to the local host
3021 - A `c` means that a local change/creation is occurring for the item (such
3022 as the creation of a directory or the changing of a symlink, etc.).
3023 - A `h` means that the item is a hard link to another item (requires
3024 [`--hard-links`](#opt)).
3025 - A `.` means that the item is not being updated (though it might have
3026 attributes that are being modified).
3027 - A `*` means that the rest of the itemized-output area contains a message
3030 The file-types that replace the **X** are: `f` for a file, a `d` for a
3031 directory, an `L` for a symlink, a `D` for a device, and a `S` for a
3032 special file (e.g. named sockets and fifos).
3034 The other letters in the string indicate if some attributes of the file
3035 have changed, as follows:
3037 - "`.`" - the attribute is unchanged.
3038 - "`+`" - the file is newly created.
3039 - "`Â `" - all the attributes are unchanged (all dots turn to spaces).
3040 - "`?`" - the change is unknown (when the remote rsync is old).
3041 - A letter indicates an attribute is being updated.
3043 The attribute that is associated with each letter is as follows:
3045 - A `c` means either that a regular file has a different checksum (requires
3046 [`--checksum`](#opt)) or that a symlink, device, or special file has a
3047 changed value. Note that if you are sending files to an rsync prior to
3048 3.0.1, this change flag will be present only for checksum-differing
3050 - A `s` means the size of a regular file is different and will be updated
3051 by the file transfer.
3052 - A `t` means the modification time is different and is being updated to
3053 the sender's value (requires [`--times`](#opt)). An alternate value of
3054 `T` means that the modification time will be set to the transfer time,
3055 which happens when a file/symlink/device is updated without
3056 [`--times`](#opt) and when a symlink is changed and the receiver can't
3057 set its time. (Note: when using an rsync 3.0.0 client, you might see the
3058 `s` flag combined with `t` instead of the proper `T` flag for this
3059 time-setting failure.)
3060 - A `p` means the permissions are different and are being updated to the
3061 sender's value (requires [`--perms`](#opt)).
3062 - An `o` means the owner is different and is being updated to the sender's
3063 value (requires [`--owner`](#opt) and super-user privileges).
3064 - A `g` means the group is different and is being updated to the sender's
3065 value (requires [`--group`](#opt) and the authority to set the group).
3066 - A `u`|`n`|`b` indicates the following information:
3067 - `u` means the access (use) time is different and is being updated to
3068 the sender's value (requires [`--atimes`](#opt))
3069 - `n` means the create time (newness) is different and is being updated
3070 to the sender's value (requires [`--crtimes`](#opt))
3071 - `b` means that both the access and create times are being updated
3072 - The `a` means that the ACL information is being changed.
3073 - The `x` means that the extended attribute information is being changed.
3075 One other output is possible: when deleting files, the "%i" will output the
3076 string "`*deleting`" for each item that is being removed (assuming that you
3077 are talking to a recent enough rsync that it logs deletions instead of
3078 outputting them as a verbose message).
3080 0. `--out-format=FORMAT`
3082 This allows you to specify exactly what the rsync client outputs to the
3083 user on a per-update basis. The format is a text string containing
3084 embedded single-character escape sequences prefixed with a percent (%)
3085 character. A default format of "%n%L" is assumed if either
3086 [`--info=name`](#opt) or [`-v`](#opt) is specified (this tells you just the
3087 name of the file and, if the item is a link, where it points). For a full
3088 list of the possible escape characters, see the [`log
3089 format`](rsyncd.conf.5#log_format) setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
3091 Specifying the `--out-format` option implies the [`--info=name`](#opt)
3092 option, which will mention each file, dir, etc. that gets updated in a
3093 significant way (a transferred file, a recreated symlink/device, or a
3094 touched directory). In addition, if the itemize-changes escape (%i) is
3095 included in the string (e.g. if the [`--itemize-changes`](#opt) option was
3096 used), the logging of names increases to mention any item that is changed
3097 in any way (as long as the receiving side is at least 2.6.4). See the
3098 [`--itemize-changes`](#opt) option for a description of the output of "%i".
3100 Rsync will output the out-format string prior to a file's transfer unless
3101 one of the transfer-statistic escapes is requested, in which case the
3102 logging is done at the end of the file's transfer. When this late logging
3103 is in effect and [`--progress`](#opt) is also specified, rsync will also
3104 output the name of the file being transferred prior to its progress
3105 information (followed, of course, by the out-format output).
3107 0. `--log-file=FILE`
3109 This option causes rsync to log what it is doing to a file. This is
3110 similar to the logging that a daemon does, but can be requested for the
3111 client side and/or the server side of a non-daemon transfer. If specified
3112 as a client option, transfer logging will be enabled with a default format
3113 of "%i %n%L". See the [`--log-file-format`](#opt) option if you wish to
3116 Here's an example command that requests the remote side to log what is
3119 > rsync -av --remote-option=--log-file=/tmp/rlog src/ dest/
3121 This is very useful if you need to debug why a connection is closing
3124 See also [the daemon version of the `--log-file` option](#dopt--log-file).
3126 0. `--log-file-format=FORMAT`
3128 This allows you to specify exactly what per-update logging is put into the
3129 file specified by the [`--log-file`](#opt) option (which must also be
3130 specified for this option to have any effect). If you specify an empty
3131 string, updated files will not be mentioned in the log file. For a list of
3132 the possible escape characters, see the [`log format`](rsyncd.conf.5#log_format)
3133 setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
3135 The default FORMAT used if [`--log-file`](#opt) is specified and this
3136 option is not is '%i %n%L'.
3138 See also [the daemon version of the `--log-file-format`
3139 option](#dopt--log-file-format).
3143 This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics on the file transfer,
3144 allowing you to tell how effective rsync's delta-transfer algorithm is for
3145 your data. This option is equivalent to [`--info=stats2`](#opt) if
3146 combined with 0 or 1 [`-v`](#opt) options, or [`--info=stats3`](#opt) if
3147 combined with 2 or more [`-v`](#opt) options.
3149 The current statistics are as follows:
3151 - `Number of files` is the count of all "files" (in the generic sense),
3152 which includes directories, symlinks, etc. The total count will be
3153 followed by a list of counts by filetype (if the total is non-zero). For
3154 example: "(reg: 5, dir: 3, link: 2, dev: 1, special: 1)" lists the totals
3155 for regular files, directories, symlinks, devices, and special files. If
3156 any of value is 0, it is completely omitted from the list.
3157 - `Number of created files` is the count of how many "files" (generic
3158 sense) were created (as opposed to updated). The total count will be
3159 followed by a list of counts by filetype (if the total is non-zero).
3160 - `Number of deleted files` is the count of how many "files" (generic
3161 sense) were deleted. The total count will be
3162 followed by a list of counts by filetype (if the total is non-zero).
3163 Note that this line is only output if deletions are in effect, and only
3164 if protocol 31 is being used (the default for rsync 3.1.x).
3165 - `Number of regular files transferred` is the count of normal files that
3166 were updated via rsync's delta-transfer algorithm, which does not include
3167 dirs, symlinks, etc. Note that rsync 3.1.0 added the word "regular" into
3169 - `Total file size` is the total sum of all file sizes in the transfer.
3170 This does not count any size for directories or special files, but does
3171 include the size of symlinks.
3172 - `Total transferred file size` is the total sum of all files sizes for
3173 just the transferred files.
3174 - `Literal data` is how much unmatched file-update data we had to send to
3175 the receiver for it to recreate the updated files.
3176 - `Matched data` is how much data the receiver got locally when recreating
3178 - `File list size` is how big the file-list data was when the sender sent
3179 it to the receiver. This is smaller than the in-memory size for the file
3180 list due to some compressing of duplicated data when rsync sends the
3182 - `File list generation time` is the number of seconds that the sender
3183 spent creating the file list. This requires a modern rsync on the
3184 sending side for this to be present.
3185 - `File list transfer time` is the number of seconds that the sender spent
3186 sending the file list to the receiver.
3187 - `Total bytes sent` is the count of all the bytes that rsync sent from the
3188 client side to the server side.
3189 - `Total bytes received` is the count of all non-message bytes that rsync
3190 received by the client side from the server side. "Non-message" bytes
3191 means that we don't count the bytes for a verbose message that the server
3192 sent to us, which makes the stats more consistent.
3194 0. `--8-bit-output`, `-8`
3196 This tells rsync to leave all high-bit characters unescaped in the output
3197 instead of trying to test them to see if they're valid in the current
3198 locale and escaping the invalid ones. All control characters (but never
3199 tabs) are always escaped, regardless of this option's setting.
3201 The escape idiom that started in 2.6.7 is to output a literal backslash
3202 (`\`) and a hash (`#`), followed by exactly 3 octal digits. For example, a
3203 newline would output as "`\#012`". A literal backslash that is in a
3204 filename is not escaped unless it is followed by a hash and 3 digits (0-9).
3206 0. `--human-readable`, `-h`
3208 Output numbers in a more human-readable format. There are 3 possible levels:
3210 1. output numbers with a separator between each set of 3 digits (either a
3211 comma or a period, depending on if the decimal point is represented by a
3213 2. output numbers in units of 1000 (with a character suffix for larger
3214 units -- see below).
3215 3. output numbers in units of 1024.
3217 The default is human-readable level 1. Each `-h` option increases the
3218 level by one. You can take the level down to 0 (to output numbers as pure
3219 digits) by specifying the `--no-human-readable` (`--no-h`) option.
3221 The unit letters that are appended in levels 2 and 3 are: `K` (kilo), `M`
3222 (mega), `G` (giga), `T` (tera), or `P` (peta). For example, a 1234567-byte
3223 file would output as 1.23M in level-2 (assuming that a period is your local
3226 Backward compatibility note: versions of rsync prior to 3.1.0 do not
3227 support human-readable level 1, and they default to level 0. Thus,
3228 specifying one or two `-h` options will behave in a comparable manner in
3229 old and new versions as long as you didn't specify a `--no-h` option prior
3230 to one or more `-h` options. See the [`--list-only`](#opt) option for one
3235 By default, rsync will delete any partially transferred file if the
3236 transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances it is more desirable to
3237 keep partially transferred files. Using the `--partial` option tells rsync
3238 to keep the partial file which should make a subsequent transfer of the
3239 rest of the file much faster.
3241 0. `--partial-dir=DIR`
3243 This option modifies the behavior of the [`--partial`](#opt) option while
3244 also implying that it be enabled. This enhanced partial-file method puts
3245 any partially transferred files into the specified _DIR_ instead of writing
3246 the partial file out to the destination file. On the next transfer, rsync
3247 will use a file found in this dir as data to speed up the resumption of the
3248 transfer and then delete it after it has served its purpose.
3250 Note that if [`--whole-file`](#opt) is specified (or implied), any
3251 partial-dir files that are found for a file that is being updated will
3252 simply be removed (since rsync is sending files without using rsync's
3253 delta-transfer algorithm).
3255 Rsync will create the _DIR_ if it is missing, but just the last dir -- not
3256 the whole path. This makes it easy to use a relative path (such as
3257 "`--partial-dir=.rsync-partial`") to have rsync create the
3258 partial-directory in the destination file's directory when it is needed,
3259 and then remove it again when the partial file is deleted. Note that this
3260 directory removal is only done for a relative pathname, as it is expected
3261 that an absolute path is to a directory that is reserved for partial-dir
3264 If the partial-dir value is not an absolute path, rsync will add an exclude
3265 rule at the end of all your existing excludes. This will prevent the
3266 sending of any partial-dir files that may exist on the sending side, and
3267 will also prevent the untimely deletion of partial-dir items on the
3268 receiving side. An example: the above `--partial-dir` option would add the
3269 equivalent of this "perishable" exclude at the end of any other filter
3270 rules: `-f '-p .rsync-partial/'`
3272 If you are supplying your own exclude rules, you may need to add your own
3273 exclude/hide/protect rule for the partial-dir because:
3275 1. the auto-added rule may be ineffective at the end of your other rules, or
3276 2. you may wish to override rsync's exclude choice.
3278 For instance, if you want to make rsync clean-up any left-over partial-dirs
3279 that may be lying around, you should specify [`--delete-after`](#opt) and
3280 add a "risk" filter rule, e.g. `-f 'R .rsync-partial/'`. Avoid using
3281 [`--delete-before`](#opt) or [`--delete-during`](#opt) unless you don't
3282 need rsync to use any of the left-over partial-dir data during the current
3285 IMPORTANT: the `--partial-dir` should not be writable by other users or it
3286 is a security risk! E.g. AVOID "/tmp"!
3288 You can also set the partial-dir value the [`RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR`](#)
3289 environment variable. Setting this in the environment does not force
3290 [`--partial`](#opt) to be enabled, but rather it affects where partial
3291 files go when [`--partial`](#opt) is specified. For instance, instead of
3292 using `--partial-dir=.rsync-tmp` along with [`--progress`](#opt), you could
3293 set [`RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR=.rsync-tmp`](#) in your environment and then use
3294 the [`-P`](#opt) option to turn on the use of the .rsync-tmp dir for
3295 partial transfers. The only times that the [`--partial`](#opt) option does
3296 not look for this environment value are:
3298 1. when [`--inplace`](#opt) was specified (since [`--inplace`](#opt)
3299 conflicts with `--partial-dir`), and
3300 2. when [`--delay-updates`](#opt) was specified (see below).
3302 When a modern rsync resumes the transfer of a file in the partial-dir, that
3303 partial file is now updated in-place instead of creating yet another
3304 tmp-file copy (so it maxes out at dest + tmp instead of dest + partial +
3305 tmp). This requires both ends of the transfer to be at least version
3308 For the purposes of the daemon-config's "`refuse options`" setting,
3309 `--partial-dir` does _not_ imply [`--partial`](#opt). This is so that a
3310 refusal of the [`--partial`](#opt) option can be used to disallow the
3311 overwriting of destination files with a partial transfer, while still
3312 allowing the safer idiom provided by `--partial-dir`.
3314 0. `--delay-updates`
3316 This option puts the temporary file from each updated file into a holding
3317 directory until the end of the transfer, at which time all the files are
3318 renamed into place in rapid succession. This attempts to make the updating
3319 of the files a little more atomic. By default the files are placed into a
3320 directory named `.~tmp~` in each file's destination directory, but if
3321 you've specified the [`--partial-dir`](#opt) option, that directory will be
3322 used instead. See the comments in the [`--partial-dir`](#opt) section for
3323 a discussion of how this `.~tmp~` dir will be excluded from the transfer,
3324 and what you can do if you want rsync to cleanup old `.~tmp~` dirs that
3325 might be lying around. Conflicts with [`--inplace`](#opt) and
3328 This option implies [`--no-inc-recursive`](#opt) since it needs the full
3329 file list in memory in order to be able to iterate over it at the end.
3331 This option uses more memory on the receiving side (one bit per file
3332 transferred) and also requires enough free disk space on the receiving side
3333 to hold an additional copy of all the updated files. Note also that you
3334 should not use an absolute path to [`--partial-dir`](#opt) unless:
3336 1. there is no chance of any of the files in the transfer having the same
3337 name (since all the updated files will be put into a single directory if
3338 the path is absolute), and
3339 2. there are no mount points in the hierarchy (since the delayed updates
3340 will fail if they can't be renamed into place).
3342 See also the "atomic-rsync" python script in the "support" subdir for an
3343 update algorithm that is even more atomic (it uses [`--link-dest`](#opt)
3344 and a parallel hierarchy of files).
3346 0. `--prune-empty-dirs`, `-m`
3348 This option tells the receiving rsync to get rid of empty directories from
3349 the file-list, including nested directories that have no non-directory
3350 children. This is useful for avoiding the creation of a bunch of useless
3351 directories when the sending rsync is recursively scanning a hierarchy of
3352 files using include/exclude/filter rules.
3354 This option can still leave empty directories on the receiving side if you
3355 make use of [TRANSFER_RULES](#).
3357 Because the file-list is actually being pruned, this option also affects
3358 what directories get deleted when a delete is active. However, keep in
3359 mind that excluded files and directories can prevent existing items from
3360 being deleted due to an exclude both hiding source files and protecting
3361 destination files. See the perishable filter-rule option for how to avoid
3364 You can prevent the pruning of certain empty directories from the file-list
3365 by using a global "protect" filter. For instance, this option would ensure
3366 that the directory "emptydir" was kept in the file-list:
3368 > --filter 'protect emptydir/'
3370 Here's an example that copies all .pdf files in a hierarchy, only creating
3371 the necessary destination directories to hold the .pdf files, and ensures
3372 that any superfluous files and directories in the destination are removed
3373 (note the hide filter of non-directories being used instead of an exclude):
3375 > rsync -avm --del --include='*.pdf' -f 'hide,! */' src/ dest
3377 If you didn't want to remove superfluous destination files, the more
3378 time-honored options of `--include='*/' --exclude='*'` would work
3379 fine in place of the hide-filter (if that is more natural to you).
3383 This option tells rsync to print information showing the progress of the
3384 transfer. This gives a bored user something to watch. With a modern rsync
3385 this is the same as specifying [`--info=flist2,name,progress`](#opt), but
3386 any user-supplied settings for those info flags takes precedence (e.g.
3387 [`--info=flist0 --progress`](#opt)).
3389 While rsync is transferring a regular file, it updates a progress line that
3392 > 782448 63% 110.64kB/s 0:00:04
3394 In this example, the receiver has reconstructed 782448 bytes or 63% of the
3395 sender's file, which is being reconstructed at a rate of 110.64 kilobytes
3396 per second, and the transfer will finish in 4 seconds if the current rate
3397 is maintained until the end.
3399 These statistics can be misleading if rsync's delta-transfer algorithm is
3400 in use. For example, if the sender's file consists of the basis file
3401 followed by additional data, the reported rate will probably drop
3402 dramatically when the receiver gets to the literal data, and the transfer
3403 will probably take much longer to finish than the receiver estimated as it
3404 was finishing the matched part of the file.
3406 When the file transfer finishes, rsync replaces the progress line with a
3407 summary line that looks like this:
3409 > 1,238,099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (xfr#5, to-chk=169/396)
3411 In this example, the file was 1,238,099 bytes long in total, the average
3412 rate of transfer for the whole file was 146.38 kilobytes per second over
3413 the 8 seconds that it took to complete, it was the 5th transfer of a
3414 regular file during the current rsync session, and there are 169 more files
3415 for the receiver to check (to see if they are up-to-date or not) remaining
3416 out of the 396 total files in the file-list.
3418 In an incremental recursion scan, rsync won't know the total number of
3419 files in the file-list until it reaches the ends of the scan, but since it
3420 starts to transfer files during the scan, it will display a line with the
3421 text "ir-chk" (for incremental recursion check) instead of "to-chk" until
3422 the point that it knows the full size of the list, at which point it will
3423 switch to using "to-chk". Thus, seeing "ir-chk" lets you know that the
3424 total count of files in the file list is still going to increase (and each
3425 time it does, the count of files left to check will increase by the number
3426 of the files added to the list).
3430 The `-P` option is equivalent to "[`--partial`](#opt)
3431 [`--progress`](#opt)". Its purpose is to make it much easier to specify
3432 these two options for a long transfer that may be interrupted.
3434 There is also a [`--info=progress2`](#opt) option that outputs statistics
3435 based on the whole transfer, rather than individual files. Use this flag
3436 without outputting a filename (e.g. avoid `-v` or specify
3437 [`--info=name0`](#opt)) if you want to see how the transfer is doing
3438 without scrolling the screen with a lot of names. (You don't need to
3439 specify the [`--progress`](#opt) option in order to use
3440 [`--info=progress2`](#opt).)
3442 Finally, you can get an instant progress report by sending rsync a signal
3443 of either SIGINFO or SIGVTALRM. On BSD systems, a SIGINFO is generated by
3444 typing a Ctrl+T (Linux doesn't currently support a SIGINFO signal). When
3445 the client-side process receives one of those signals, it sets a flag to
3446 output a single progress report which is output when the current file
3447 transfer finishes (so it may take a little time if a big file is being
3448 handled when the signal arrives). A filename is output (if needed)
3449 followed by the [`--info=progress2`](#opt) format of progress info. If you
3450 don't know which of the 3 rsync processes is the client process, it's OK to
3451 signal all of them (since the non-client processes ignore the signal).
3453 CAUTION: sending SIGVTALRM to an older rsync (pre-3.2.0) will kill it.
3455 0. `--password-file=FILE`
3457 This option allows you to provide a password for accessing an rsync daemon
3458 via a file or via standard input if **FILE** is `-`. The file should
3459 contain just the password on the first line (all other lines are ignored).
3460 Rsync will exit with an error if **FILE** is world readable or if a
3461 root-run rsync command finds a non-root-owned file.
3463 This option does not supply a password to a remote shell transport such as
3464 ssh; to learn how to do that, consult the remote shell's documentation.
3465 When accessing an rsync daemon using a remote shell as the transport, this
3466 option only comes into effect after the remote shell finishes its
3467 authentication (i.e. if you have also specified a password in the daemon's
3470 0. `--early-input=FILE`
3472 This option allows rsync to send up to 5K of data to the "early exec"
3473 script on its stdin. One possible use of this data is to give the script a
3474 secret that can be used to mount an encrypted filesystem (which you should
3475 unmount in the the "post-xfer exec" script).
3477 The daemon must be at least version 3.2.1.
3481 This option will cause the source files to be listed instead of
3482 transferred. This option is inferred if there is a single source arg and
3483 no destination specified, so its main uses are:
3485 1. to turn a copy command that includes a destination arg into a
3486 file-listing command, or
3487 2. to be able to specify more than one source arg. Note: be sure to
3488 include the destination.
3490 CAUTION: keep in mind that a source arg with a wild-card is expanded by the
3491 shell into multiple args, so it is never safe to try to specify a single
3492 wild-card arg to try to infer this option. A safe example is:
3494 > rsync -av --list-only foo* dest/
3496 Starting with rsync 3.1.0, the sizes output by `--list-only` are affected
3497 by the [`--human-readable`](#opt) option. By default they will contain
3498 digit separators, but higher levels of readability will output the sizes
3499 with unit suffixes. Note also that the column width for the size output
3500 has increased from 11 to 14 characters for all human-readable levels. Use
3501 `--no-h` if you want just digits in the sizes, and the old column width of
3504 Compatibility note: when requesting a remote listing of files from an rsync
3505 that is version 2.6.3 or older, you may encounter an error if you ask for a
3506 non-recursive listing. This is because a file listing implies the
3507 [`--dirs`](#opt) option w/o [`--recursive`](#opt), and older rsyncs don't
3508 have that option. To avoid this problem, either specify the `--no-dirs`
3509 option (if you don't need to expand a directory's content), or turn on
3510 recursion and exclude the content of subdirectories: `-r --exclude='/*/*'`.
3514 This option allows you to specify the maximum transfer rate for the data
3515 sent over the socket, specified in units per second. The RATE value can be
3516 suffixed with a string to indicate a size multiplier, and may be a
3517 fractional value (e.g. `--bwlimit=1.5m`). If no suffix is specified, the
3518 value will be assumed to be in units of 1024 bytes (as if "K" or "KiB" had
3519 been appended). See the [`--max-size`](#opt) option for a description of
3520 all the available suffixes. A value of 0 specifies no limit.
3522 For backward-compatibility reasons, the rate limit will be rounded to the
3523 nearest KiB unit, so no rate smaller than 1024 bytes per second is
3526 Rsync writes data over the socket in blocks, and this option both limits
3527 the size of the blocks that rsync writes, and tries to keep the average
3528 transfer rate at the requested limit. Some burstiness may be seen where
3529 rsync writes out a block of data and then sleeps to bring the average rate
3532 Due to the internal buffering of data, the [`--progress`](#opt) option may
3533 not be an accurate reflection on how fast the data is being sent. This is
3534 because some files can show up as being rapidly sent when the data is
3535 quickly buffered, while other can show up as very slow when the flushing of
3536 the output buffer occurs. This may be fixed in a future version.
3538 See also [the daemon version of the `--bwlimit` option](#dopt--bwlimit).
3540 0. `--stop-after=MINS`, (`--time-limit=MINS`)
3542 This option tells rsync to stop copying when the specified number of
3543 minutes has elapsed.
3545 For maximal flexibility, rsync does not communicate this option to the
3546 remote rsync since it is usually enough that one side of the connection
3547 quits as specified. This allows the option's use even when only one side
3548 of the connection supports it. You can tell the remote side about the time
3549 limit using [`--remote-option`](#opt) (`-M`), should the need arise.
3551 The `--time-limit` version of this option is deprecated.
3553 0. `--stop-at=y-m-dTh:m`
3555 This option tells rsync to stop copying when the specified point in time
3556 has been reached. The date & time can be fully specified in a numeric
3557 format of year-month-dayThour:minute (e.g. 2000-12-31T23:59) in the local
3558 timezone. You may choose to separate the date numbers using slashes
3561 The value can also be abbreviated in a variety of ways, such as specifying
3562 a 2-digit year and/or leaving off various values. In all cases, the value
3563 will be taken to be the next possible point in time where the supplied
3564 information matches. If the value specifies the current time or a past
3565 time, rsync exits with an error.
3567 For example, "1-30" specifies the next January 30th (at midnight local
3568 time), "14:00" specifies the next 2 P.M., "1" specifies the next 1st of the
3569 month at midnight, "31" specifies the next month where we can stop on its
3570 31st day, and ":59" specifies the next 59th minute after the hour.
3572 For maximal flexibility, rsync does not communicate this option to the
3573 remote rsync since it is usually enough that one side of the connection
3574 quits as specified. This allows the option's use even when only one side
3575 of the connection supports it. You can tell the remote side about the time
3576 limit using [`--remote-option`](#opt) (`-M`), should the need arise. Do
3577 keep in mind that the remote host may have a different default timezone
3578 than your local host.
3582 Cause the receiving side to fsync each finished file. This may slow down
3583 the transfer, but can help to provide peace of mind when updating critical
3586 0. `--write-batch=FILE`
3588 Record a file that can later be applied to another identical destination
3589 with [`--read-batch`](#opt). See the "BATCH MODE" section for details, and
3590 also the [`--only-write-batch`](#opt) option.
3592 This option overrides the negotiated checksum & compress lists and always
3593 negotiates a choice based on old-school md5/md4/zlib choices. If you want
3594 a more modern choice, use the [`--checksum-choice`](#opt) (`--cc`) and/or
3595 [`--compress-choice`](#opt) (`--zc`) options.
3597 0. `--only-write-batch=FILE`
3599 Works like [`--write-batch`](#opt), except that no updates are made on the
3600 destination system when creating the batch. This lets you transport the
3601 changes to the destination system via some other means and then apply the
3602 changes via [`--read-batch`](#opt).
3604 Note that you can feel free to write the batch directly to some portable
3605 media: if this media fills to capacity before the end of the transfer, you
3606 can just apply that partial transfer to the destination and repeat the
3607 whole process to get the rest of the changes (as long as you don't mind a
3608 partially updated destination system while the multi-update cycle is
3611 Also note that you only save bandwidth when pushing changes to a remote
3612 system because this allows the batched data to be diverted from the sender
3613 into the batch file without having to flow over the wire to the receiver
3614 (when pulling, the sender is remote, and thus can't write the batch).
3616 0. `--read-batch=FILE`
3618 Apply all of the changes stored in FILE, a file previously generated by
3619 [`--write-batch`](#opt). If _FILE_ is `-`, the batch data will be read
3620 from standard input. See the "BATCH MODE" section for details.
3624 Force an older protocol version to be used. This is useful for creating a
3625 batch file that is compatible with an older version of rsync. For
3626 instance, if rsync 2.6.4 is being used with the [`--write-batch`](#opt)
3627 option, but rsync 2.6.3 is what will be used to run the
3628 [`--read-batch`](#opt) option, you should use "--protocol=28" when creating
3629 the batch file to force the older protocol version to be used in the batch
3630 file (assuming you can't upgrade the rsync on the reading system).
3632 0. `--iconv=CONVERT_SPEC`
3634 Rsync can convert filenames between character sets using this option.
3635 Using a CONVERT_SPEC of "." tells rsync to look up the default
3636 character-set via the locale setting. Alternately, you can fully specify
3637 what conversion to do by giving a local and a remote charset separated by a
3638 comma in the order `--iconv=LOCAL,REMOTE`, e.g. `--iconv=utf8,iso88591`.
3639 This order ensures that the option will stay the same whether you're
3640 pushing or pulling files. Finally, you can specify either `--no-iconv` or
3641 a CONVERT_SPEC of "-" to turn off any conversion. The default setting of
3642 this option is site-specific, and can also be affected via the
3643 [`RSYNC_ICONV`](#) environment variable.
3645 For a list of what charset names your local iconv library supports, you can
3646 run "`iconv --list`".
3648 If you specify the [`--protect-args`](#opt) (`-s`) option, rsync will
3649 translate the filenames you specify on the command-line that are being sent
3650 to the remote host. See also the [`--files-from`](#opt) option.
3652 Note that rsync does not do any conversion of names in filter files
3653 (including include/exclude files). It is up to you to ensure that you're
3654 specifying matching rules that can match on both sides of the transfer.
3655 For instance, you can specify extra include/exclude rules if there are
3656 filename differences on the two sides that need to be accounted for.
3658 When you pass an `--iconv` option to an rsync daemon that allows it, the
3659 daemon uses the charset specified in its "charset" configuration parameter
3660 regardless of the remote charset you actually pass. Thus, you may feel
3661 free to specify just the local charset for a daemon transfer (e.g.
3664 0. `--ipv4`, `-4` or `--ipv6`, `-6`
3666 Tells rsync to prefer IPv4/IPv6 when creating sockets or running ssh. This
3667 affects sockets that rsync has direct control over, such as the outgoing
3668 socket when directly contacting an rsync daemon, as well as the forwarding
3669 of the `-4` or `-6` option to ssh when rsync can deduce that ssh is being
3670 used as the remote shell. For other remote shells you'll need to specify
3671 the "`--rsh SHELL -4`" option directly (or whatever IPv4/IPv6 hint options
3674 See also [the daemon version of these options](#dopt--ipv4).
3676 If rsync was compiled without support for IPv6, the `--ipv6` option will
3677 have no effect. The `rsync --version` output will contain "`no IPv6`" if
3680 0. `--checksum-seed=NUM`
3682 Set the checksum seed to the integer NUM. This 4 byte checksum seed is
3683 included in each block and MD4 file checksum calculation (the more modern
3684 MD5 file checksums don't use a seed). By default the checksum seed is
3685 generated by the server and defaults to the current **time**(). This
3686 option is used to set a specific checksum seed, which is useful for
3687 applications that want repeatable block checksums, or in the case where the
3688 user wants a more random checksum seed. Setting NUM to 0 causes rsync to
3689 use the default of **time**() for checksum seed.
3693 The options allowed when starting an rsync daemon are as follows:
3697 This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The daemon you start
3698 running may be accessed using an rsync client using the `host::module` or
3699 `rsync://host/module/` syntax.
3701 If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being run
3702 via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and become a
3703 background daemon. The daemon will read the config file (rsyncd.conf) on
3704 each connect made by a client and respond to requests accordingly.
3706 See the [**rsyncd.conf**(5)](rsyncd.conf.5) manpage for more details.
3708 0. `--address=ADDRESS`
3710 By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address when run as a daemon
3711 with the `--daemon` option. The `--address` option allows you to specify a
3712 specific IP address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting
3713 possible in conjunction with the `--config` option.
3715 See also the [address](rsyncd.conf.5#address) global option in the
3716 rsyncd.conf manpage and the [client version of the `--address`
3717 option](#opt--address).
3721 This option allows you to specify the maximum transfer rate for the data
3722 the daemon sends over the socket. The client can still specify a smaller
3723 `--bwlimit` value, but no larger value will be allowed.
3725 See the [client version of the `--bwlimit` option](#opt--bwlimit) for some
3730 This specifies an alternate config file than the default. This is only
3731 relevant when [`--daemon`](#dopt) is specified. The default is
3732 /etc/rsyncd.conf unless the daemon is running over a remote shell program
3733 and the remote user is not the super-user; in that case the default is
3734 rsyncd.conf in the current directory (typically $HOME).
3736 0. `--dparam=OVERRIDE`, `-M`
3738 This option can be used to set a daemon-config parameter when starting up
3739 rsync in daemon mode. It is equivalent to adding the parameter at the end
3740 of the global settings prior to the first module's definition. The
3741 parameter names can be specified without spaces, if you so desire. For
3744 > rsync --daemon -M pidfile=/path/rsync.pid
3748 When running as a daemon, this option instructs rsync to not detach itself
3749 and become a background process. This option is required when running as a
3750 service on Cygwin, and may also be useful when rsync is supervised by a
3751 program such as `daemontools` or AIX's `System Resource Controller`.
3752 `--no-detach` is also recommended when rsync is run under a debugger. This
3753 option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or sshd.
3757 This specifies an alternate TCP port number for the daemon to listen on
3758 rather than the default of 873.
3760 See also [the client version of the `--port` option](#opt--port) and the
3761 [port](rsyncd.conf.5#port) global setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
3763 0. `--log-file=FILE`
3765 This option tells the rsync daemon to use the given log-file name instead
3766 of using the "`log file`" setting in the config file.
3768 See also [the client version of the `--log-file` option](#opt--log-file).
3770 0. `--log-file-format=FORMAT`
3772 This option tells the rsync daemon to use the given FORMAT string instead
3773 of using the "`log format`" setting in the config file. It also enables
3774 "`transfer logging`" unless the string is empty, in which case transfer
3775 logging is turned off.
3777 See also [the client version of the `--log-file-format`
3778 option](#opt--log-file-format).
3782 This overrides the [`socket options`](rsyncd.conf.5#socket_options)
3783 setting in the rsyncd.conf file and has the same syntax.
3785 See also [the client version of the `--sockopts` option](#opt--sockopts).
3787 0. `--verbose`, `-v`
3789 This option increases the amount of information the daemon logs during its
3790 startup phase. After the client connects, the daemon's verbosity level
3791 will be controlled by the options that the client used and the
3792 "`max verbosity`" setting in the module's config section.
3794 See also [the client version of the `--verbose` option](#opt--verbose).
3796 0. `--ipv4`, `-4` or `--ipv6`, `-6`
3798 Tells rsync to prefer IPv4/IPv6 when creating the incoming sockets that the
3799 rsync daemon will use to listen for connections. One of these options may
3800 be required in older versions of Linux to work around an IPv6 bug in the
3801 kernel (if you see an "address already in use" error when nothing else is
3802 using the port, try specifying `--ipv6` or `--ipv4` when starting the
3805 See also [the client version of these options](#opt--ipv4).
3807 If rsync was compiled without support for IPv6, the `--ipv6` option will
3808 have no effect. The `rsync --version` output will contain "`no IPv6`" if
3813 When specified after `--daemon`, print a short help page describing the
3814 options available for starting an rsync daemon.
3818 The filter rules allow for custom control of several aspects of how files are
3821 - Control which files the sending side puts into the file list that describes
3822 the transfer hierarchy
3823 - Control which files the receiving side protects from deletion when the file
3824 is not in the sender's file list
3825 - Control which extended attribute names are skipped when copying xattrs
3827 The rules are either directly specified via option arguments or they can be
3828 read in from one or more files. The filter-rule files can even be a part of
3829 the hierarchy of files being copied, affecting different parts of the tree in
3832 ### SIMPLE INCLUDE/EXCLUDE RULES
3834 We will first cover the basics of how include & exclude rules affect what files
3835 are transferred, ignoring any deletion side-effects. Filter rules mainly
3836 affect the contents of directories that rsync is "recursing" into, but they can
3837 also affect a top-level item in the transfer that was specified as a argument.
3839 The default for any unmatched file/dir is for it to be included in the
3840 transfer, which puts the file/dir into the sender's file list. The use of an
3841 exclude rule causes one or more matching files/dirs to be left out of the
3842 sender's file list. An include rule can be used to limit the effect of an
3843 exclude rule that is matching too many files.
3845 The order of the rules is important because the first rule that matches is the
3846 one that takes effect. Thus, if an early rule excludes a file, no include rule
3847 that comes after it can have any effect. This means that you must place any
3848 include overrides somewhere prior to the exclude that it is intended to limit.
3850 When a directory is excluded, all its contents and sub-contents are also
3851 excluded. The sender doesn't scan through any of it at all, which can save a
3852 lot of time when skipping large unneeded sub-trees.
3854 It is also important to understand that the include/exclude rules are applied
3855 to every file and directory that the sender is recursing into. Thus, if you
3856 want a particular deep file to be included, you have to make sure that none of
3857 the directories that must be traversed on the way down to that file are
3858 excluded or else the file will never be discovered to be included. As an
3859 example, if the directory "`a/path`" was given as a transfer argument and you
3860 want to ensure that the file "`a/path/down/deep/wanted.txt`" is a part of the
3861 transfer, then the sender must not exclude the directories "`a/path`",
3862 "`a/path/down`", or "`a/path/down/deep`" as it makes it way scanning through
3865 When you are working on the rules, it can be helpful to ask rsync to tell you
3866 what is being excluded/included and why. Specifying `--debug=FILTER` or (when
3867 pulling files) `-M--debug=FILTER` turns on level 1 of the FILTER debug
3868 information that will output a message any time that a file or directory is
3869 included or excluded and which rule it matched. Beginning in 3.2.4 it will
3870 also warn if a filter rule has trailing whitespace, since an exclude of "foo "
3871 (with a trailing space) will not exclude a file named "foo".
3873 Exclude and include rules can specify wildcard [PATTERN MATCHING RULES](#)
3874 (similar to shell wildcards) that allow you to match things like a file suffix
3875 or a portion of a filename.
3877 A rule can be limited to only affecting a directory by putting a trailing slash
3880 ### SIMPLE INCLUDE/EXCLUDE EXAMPLE
3882 With the following file tree created on the sending side:
3887 > touch x/y/file.txt
3890 > touch x/z/file.txt
3892 Then the following rsync command will transfer the file "`x/y/file.txt`" and
3893 the directories needed to hold it, resulting in the path "`/tmp/x/y/file.txt`"
3894 existing on the remote host:
3896 > rsync -ai -f'+ x/' -f'+ x/y/' -f'+ x/y/file.txt' -f'- *' x host:/tmp/
3898 Aside: this copy could also have been accomplished using the [`-R`](#opt)
3899 option (though the 2 commands behave differently if deletions are enabled):
3901 > rsync -aiR x/y/file.txt host:/tmp/
3903 The following command does not need an include of the "x" directory because it
3904 is not a part of the transfer (note the traililng slash). Running this command
3905 would copy just "`/tmp/x/file.txt`" because the "y" and "z" dirs get excluded:
3907 > rsync -ai -f'+ file.txt' -f'- *' x/ host:/tmp/x/
3909 This command would omit the zzz.txt file while copying "x" and everything else
3912 > rsync -ai -f'- zzz.txt' x host:/tmp/
3914 ### FILTER RULES WHEN DELETING
3916 By default the include & exclude filter rules affect both the sender
3917 (as it creates its file list)
3918 and the receiver (as it creates its file lists for calculating deletions). If
3919 no delete option is in effect, the receiver skips creating the delete-related
3920 file lists. This two-sided default can be manually overridden so that you are
3921 only specifying sender rules or receiver rules, as described in the [FILTER
3922 RULES IN DEPTH](#) section.
3924 When deleting, an exclude protects a file from being removed on the receiving
3925 side while an include overrides that protection (putting the file at risk of
3926 deletion). The default is for a file to be at risk -- its safety depends on it
3927 matching a corresponding file from the sender.
3929 An example of the two-sided exclude effect can be illustrated by the copying of
3930 a C development directory between 2 systems. When doing a touch-up copy, you
3931 might want to skip copying the built executable and the `.o` files (sender
3932 hide) so that the receiving side can build their own and not lose any object
3933 files that are already correct (receiver protect). For instance:
3935 > rsync -ai --del -f'- *.o' -f'- cmd' src host:/dest/
3937 Note that using `-f'-p *.o'` is even better than `-f'- *.o'` if there is a
3938 chance that the directory structure may have changed. The "p" modifier is
3939 discussed in [FILTER RULE MODIFIERS](#).
3941 One final note, if your shell doesn't mind unexpanded wildcards, you could
3942 simplify the typing of the filter options by using an underscore in place of
3943 the space and leaving off the quotes. For instance, `-f -_*.o -f -_cmd` (and
3944 similar) could be used instead of the filter options above.
3946 ### FILTER RULES IN DEPTH
3948 Rsync supports old-style include/exclude rules and new-style filter rules. The
3949 older rules are specified using [`--include`](#opt) and [`--exclude`](#opt) as
3950 well as the [`--include-from`](#opt) and [`--exclude-from`](#opt). These are
3951 limited in behavior but they don't require a "-" or "+" prefix. An old-style
3952 exclude rule is turned into a "`- name`" filter rule (with no modifiers) and an
3953 old-style include rule is turned into a "`+ name`" filter rule (with no
3956 Rsync builds an ordered list of filter rules as specified on the command-line
3957 and/or read-in from files. New style filter rules have the following syntax:
3959 > RULE [PATTERN_OR_FILENAME]
3960 > RULE,MODIFIERS [PATTERN_OR_FILENAME]
3962 You have your choice of using either short or long RULE names, as described
3963 below. If you use a short-named rule, the ',' separating the RULE from the
3964 MODIFIERS is optional. The PATTERN or FILENAME that follows (when present)
3965 must come after either a single space or an underscore (\_). Any additional
3966 spaces and/or underscores are considered to be a part of the pattern name.
3967 Here are the available rule prefixes:
3969 0. `exclude, '-'` specifies an exclude pattern that (by default) is both a
3970 `hide` and a `protect`.
3971 0. `include, '+'` specifies an include pattern that (by default) is both a
3972 `show` and a `risk`.
3973 0. `merge, '.'` specifies a merge-file on the client side to read for more
3975 0. `dir-merge, ':'` specifies a per-directory merge-file. Using this kind of
3976 filter rule requires that you trust the sending side's filter checking, so
3977 it has the side-effect mentioned under the [`--trust-sender`](#opt) option.
3978 0. `hide, 'H'` specifies a pattern for hiding files from the transfer.
3979 Equivalent to a sender-only exclude, so `-f'H foo'` could also be specified
3981 0. `show, 'S'` files that match the pattern are not hidden. Equivalent to a
3982 sender-only include, so `-f'S foo'` could also be specified as `-f'+s
3984 0. `protect, 'P'` specifies a pattern for protecting files from deletion.
3985 Equivalent to a receiver-only exclude, so `-f'P foo'` could also be
3986 specified as `-f'-r foo'`.
3987 0. `risk, 'R'` files that match the pattern are not protected. Equivalent to a
3988 receiver-only include, so `-f'R foo'` could also be specified as `-f'+r
3990 0. `clear, '!'` clears the current include/exclude list (takes no arg)
3992 When rules are being read from a file (using merge or dir-merge), empty lines
3993 are ignored, as are whole-line comments that start with a '`#`' (filename rules
3994 that contain a hash character are unaffected).
3996 Note also that the [`--filter`](#opt), [`--include`](#opt), and
3997 [`--exclude`](#opt) options take one rule/pattern each. To add multiple ones,
3998 you can repeat the options on the command-line, use the merge-file syntax of
3999 the [`--filter`](#opt) option, or the [`--include-from`](#opt) /
4000 [`--exclude-from`](#opt) options.
4002 ### PATTERN MATCHING RULES
4004 Most of the rules mentioned above take an argument that specifies what the rule
4005 should match. If rsync is recursing through a directory hierarchy, keep in
4006 mind that each pattern is matched against the name of every directory in the
4007 descent path as rsync finds the filenames to send.
4009 The matching rules for the pattern argument take several forms:
4011 - If a pattern contains a `/` (not counting a trailing slash) or a "`**`"
4012 (which can match a slash), then the pattern is matched against the full
4013 pathname, including any leading directories within the transfer. If the
4014 pattern doesn't contain a (non-trailing) `/` or a "`**`", then it is matched
4015 only against the final component of the filename or pathname. For example,
4016 `foo` means that the final path component must be "foo" while `foo/bar` would
4017 match the last 2 elements of the path (as long as both elements are within
4019 - A pattern that ends with a `/` only matches a directory, not a regular file,
4021 - A pattern that starts with a `/` is anchored to the start of the transfer
4022 path instead of the end. For example, `/foo/**` or `/foo/bar/**` match only
4023 leading elements in the path. If the rule is read from a per-directory
4024 filter file, the transfer path being matched will begin at the level of the
4025 filter file instead of the top of the transfer. See the section on
4026 [ANCHORING INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERNS](#) for a full discussion of how to
4027 specify a pattern that matches at the root of the transfer.
4029 Rsync chooses between doing a simple string match and wildcard matching by
4030 checking if the pattern contains one of these three wildcard characters: '`*`',
4033 - a '`?`' matches any single character except a slash (`/`).
4034 - a '`*`' matches zero or more non-slash characters.
4035 - a '`**`' matches zero or more characters, including slashes.
4036 - a '`[`' introduces a character class, such as `[a-z]` or `[[:alpha:]]`, that
4037 must match one character.
4038 - a trailing `***` in the pattern is a shorthand that allows you to match a
4039 directory and all its contents using a single rule. For example, specifying
4040 "`dir_name/***`" will match both the "dir_name" directory (as if "`dir_name/`"
4041 had been specified) and everything in the directory (as if "`dir_name/**`"
4042 had been specified).
4043 - a backslash can be used to escape a wildcard character, but it is only
4044 interpreted as an escape character if at least one wildcard character is
4045 present in the match pattern. For instance, the pattern "`foo\bar`" matches
4046 that single backslash literally, while the pattern "`foo\bar*`" would need to
4047 be changed to "`foo\\bar*`" to avoid the "`\b`" becoming just "b".
4049 Here are some examples of exclude/include matching:
4051 - Option `-f'- *.o'` would exclude all filenames ending with `.o`
4052 - Option `-f'- /foo'` would exclude a file (or directory) named foo in the
4053 transfer-root directory
4054 - Option `-f'- foo/'` would exclude any directory named foo
4055 - Option `-f'- foo/*/bar'` would exclude any file/dir named bar which is at two
4056 levels below a directory named foo (if foo is in the transfer)
4057 - Option `-f'- /foo/**/bar'` would exclude any file/dir named bar that was two
4058 or more levels below a top-level directory named foo (note that /foo/bar is
4059 **not** excluded by this)
4060 - Options `-f'+ */' -f'+ *.c' -f'- *'` would include all directories and .c
4061 source files but nothing else
4062 - Options `-f'+ foo/' -f'+ foo/bar.c' -f'- *'` would include only the foo
4063 directory and foo/bar.c (the foo directory must be explicitly included or it
4064 would be excluded by the "`- *`")
4066 ### FILTER RULE MODIFIERS
4068 The following modifiers are accepted after an include (+) or exclude (-) rule:
4070 - A `/` specifies that the include/exclude rule should be matched against the
4071 absolute pathname of the current item. For example, `-f'-/ /etc/passwd'`
4072 would exclude the passwd file any time the transfer was sending files from
4073 the "/etc" directory, and "-/ subdir/foo" would always exclude "foo" when it
4074 is in a dir named "subdir", even if "foo" is at the root of the current
4076 - A `!` specifies that the include/exclude should take effect if the pattern
4077 fails to match. For instance, `-f'-! */'` would exclude all non-directories.
4078 - A `C` is used to indicate that all the global CVS-exclude rules should be
4079 inserted as excludes in place of the "-C". No arg should follow.
4080 - An `s` is used to indicate that the rule applies to the sending side. When a
4081 rule affects the sending side, it affects what files are put into the
4082 sender's file list. The default is for a rule to affect both sides unless
4083 [`--delete-excluded`](#opt) was specified, in which case default rules become
4084 sender-side only. See also the hide (H) and show (S) rules, which are an
4085 alternate way to specify sending-side includes/excludes.
4086 - An `r` is used to indicate that the rule applies to the receiving side. When
4087 a rule affects the receiving side, it prevents files from being deleted. See
4088 the `s` modifier for more info. See also the protect (P) and risk (R) rules,
4089 which are an alternate way to specify receiver-side includes/excludes.
4090 - A `p` indicates that a rule is perishable, meaning that it is ignored in
4091 directories that are being deleted. For instance, the
4092 [`--cvs-exclude`](#opt) (`-C`) option's default rules that exclude things
4093 like "CVS" and "`*.o`" are marked as perishable, and will not prevent a
4094 directory that was removed on the source from being deleted on the
4096 - An `x` indicates that a rule affects xattr names in xattr copy/delete
4097 operations (and is thus ignored when matching file/dir names). If no
4098 xattr-matching rules are specified, a default xattr filtering rule is used
4099 (see the [`--xattrs`](#opt) option).
4101 ### MERGE-FILE FILTER RULES
4103 You can merge whole files into your filter rules by specifying either a merge
4104 (.) or a dir-merge (:) filter rule (as introduced in the [FILTER RULES](#)
4107 There are two kinds of merged files -- single-instance ('.') and per-directory
4108 (':'). A single-instance merge file is read one time, and its rules are
4109 incorporated into the filter list in the place of the "." rule. For
4110 per-directory merge files, rsync will scan every directory that it traverses
4111 for the named file, merging its contents when the file exists into the current
4112 list of inherited rules. These per-directory rule files must be created on the
4113 sending side because it is the sending side that is being scanned for the
4114 available files to transfer. These rule files may also need to be transferred
4115 to the receiving side if you want them to affect what files don't get deleted
4116 (see [PER-DIRECTORY RULES AND DELETE](#) below).
4120 > merge /etc/rsync/default.rules
4121 > . /etc/rsync/default.rules
4122 > dir-merge .per-dir-filter
4123 > dir-merge,n- .non-inherited-per-dir-excludes
4124 > :n- .non-inherited-per-dir-excludes
4126 The following modifiers are accepted after a merge or dir-merge rule:
4128 - A `-` specifies that the file should consist of only exclude patterns, with
4129 no other rule-parsing except for in-file comments.
4130 - A `+` specifies that the file should consist of only include patterns, with
4131 no other rule-parsing except for in-file comments.
4132 - A `C` is a way to specify that the file should be read in a CVS-compatible
4133 manner. This turns on 'n', 'w', and '-', but also allows the list-clearing
4134 token (!) to be specified. If no filename is provided, ".cvsignore" is
4136 - A `e` will exclude the merge-file name from the transfer; e.g. "dir-merge,e
4137 .rules" is like "dir-merge .rules" and "- .rules".
4138 - An `n` specifies that the rules are not inherited by subdirectories.
4139 - A `w` specifies that the rules are word-split on whitespace instead of the
4140 normal line-splitting. This also turns off comments. Note: the space that
4141 separates the prefix from the rule is treated specially, so "- foo + bar" is
4142 parsed as two rules (assuming that prefix-parsing wasn't also disabled).
4143 - You may also specify any of the modifiers for the "+" or "-" rules (above) in
4144 order to have the rules that are read in from the file default to having that
4145 modifier set (except for the `!` modifier, which would not be useful). For
4146 instance, "merge,-/ .excl" would treat the contents of .excl as absolute-path
4147 excludes, while "dir-merge,s .filt" and ":sC" would each make all their
4148 per-directory rules apply only on the sending side. If the merge rule
4149 specifies sides to affect (via the `s` or `r` modifier or both), then the
4150 rules in the file must not specify sides (via a modifier or a rule prefix
4153 Per-directory rules are inherited in all subdirectories of the directory where
4154 the merge-file was found unless the 'n' modifier was used. Each subdirectory's
4155 rules are prefixed to the inherited per-directory rules from its parents, which
4156 gives the newest rules a higher priority than the inherited rules. The entire
4157 set of dir-merge rules are grouped together in the spot where the merge-file
4158 was specified, so it is possible to override dir-merge rules via a rule that
4159 got specified earlier in the list of global rules. When the list-clearing rule
4160 ("!") is read from a per-directory file, it only clears the inherited rules for
4161 the current merge file.
4163 Another way to prevent a single rule from a dir-merge file from being inherited
4164 is to anchor it with a leading slash. Anchored rules in a per-directory
4165 merge-file are relative to the merge-file's directory, so a pattern "/foo"
4166 would only match the file "foo" in the directory where the dir-merge filter
4169 Here's an example filter file which you'd specify via `--filter=". file":`
4171 > merge /home/user/.global-filter
4178 This will merge the contents of the /home/user/.global-filter file at the start
4179 of the list and also turns the ".rules" filename into a per-directory filter
4180 file. All rules read in prior to the start of the directory scan follow the
4181 global anchoring rules (i.e. a leading slash matches at the root of the
4184 If a per-directory merge-file is specified with a path that is a parent
4185 directory of the first transfer directory, rsync will scan all the parent dirs
4186 from that starting point to the transfer directory for the indicated
4187 per-directory file. For instance, here is a common filter (see [`-F`](#opt)):
4189 > --filter=': /.rsync-filter'
4191 That rule tells rsync to scan for the file .rsync-filter in all directories
4192 from the root down through the parent directory of the transfer prior to the
4193 start of the normal directory scan of the file in the directories that are sent
4194 as a part of the transfer. (Note: for an rsync daemon, the root is always the
4195 same as the module's "path".)
4197 Some examples of this pre-scanning for per-directory files:
4199 > rsync -avF /src/path/ /dest/dir
4200 > rsync -av --filter=': ../../.rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir
4201 > rsync -av --filter=': .rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir
4203 The first two commands above will look for ".rsync-filter" in "/" and "/src"
4204 before the normal scan begins looking for the file in "/src/path" and its
4205 subdirectories. The last command avoids the parent-dir scan and only looks for
4206 the ".rsync-filter" files in each directory that is a part of the transfer.
4208 If you want to include the contents of a ".cvsignore" in your patterns, you
4209 should use the rule ":C", which creates a dir-merge of the .cvsignore file, but
4210 parsed in a CVS-compatible manner. You can use this to affect where the
4211 [`--cvs-exclude`](#opt) (`-C`) option's inclusion of the per-directory
4212 .cvsignore file gets placed into your rules by putting the ":C" wherever you
4213 like in your filter rules. Without this, rsync would add the dir-merge rule
4214 for the .cvsignore file at the end of all your other rules (giving it a lower
4215 priority than your command-line rules). For example:
4218 > cat <<EOT | rsync -avC --filter='. -' a/ b
4223 > rsync -avC --include=foo.o -f :C --exclude='*.old' a/ b
4226 Both of the above rsync commands are identical. Each one will merge all the
4227 per-directory .cvsignore rules in the middle of the list rather than at the
4228 end. This allows their dir-specific rules to supersede the rules that follow
4229 the :C instead of being subservient to all your rules. To affect the other CVS
4230 exclude rules (i.e. the default list of exclusions, the contents of
4231 $HOME/.cvsignore, and the value of $CVSIGNORE) you should omit the `-C`
4232 command-line option and instead insert a "-C" rule into your filter rules; e.g.
4235 ### LIST-CLEARING FILTER RULE
4237 You can clear the current include/exclude list by using the "!" filter rule (as
4238 introduced in the [FILTER RULES](#) section above). The "current" list is either
4239 the global list of rules (if the rule is encountered while parsing the filter
4240 options) or a set of per-directory rules (which are inherited in their own
4241 sub-list, so a subdirectory can use this to clear out the parent's rules).
4243 ### ANCHORING INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERNS
4245 As mentioned earlier, global include/exclude patterns are anchored at the "root
4246 of the transfer" (as opposed to per-directory patterns, which are anchored at
4247 the merge-file's directory). If you think of the transfer as a subtree of
4248 names that are being sent from sender to receiver, the transfer-root is where
4249 the tree starts to be duplicated in the destination directory. This root
4250 governs where patterns that start with a / match.
4252 Because the matching is relative to the transfer-root, changing the trailing
4253 slash on a source path or changing your use of the [`--relative`](#opt) option
4254 affects the path you need to use in your matching (in addition to changing how
4255 much of the file tree is duplicated on the destination host). The following
4256 examples demonstrate this.
4258 Let's say that we want to match two source files, one with an absolute
4259 path of "/home/me/foo/bar", and one with a path of "/home/you/bar/baz".
4260 Here is how the various command choices differ for a 2-source transfer:
4263 > Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me /home/you /dest
4264 > +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar
4265 > +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz
4266 > Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar
4267 > Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz
4271 > Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me/ /home/you/ /dest
4272 > +/- pattern: /foo/bar (note missing "me")
4273 > +/- pattern: /bar/baz (note missing "you")
4274 > Target file: /dest/foo/bar
4275 > Target file: /dest/bar/baz
4279 > Example cmd: rsync -a --relative /home/me/ /home/you /dest
4280 > +/- pattern: /home/me/foo/bar (note full path)
4281 > +/- pattern: /home/you/bar/baz (ditto)
4282 > Target file: /dest/home/me/foo/bar
4283 > Target file: /dest/home/you/bar/baz
4287 > Example cmd: cd /home; rsync -a --relative me/foo you/ /dest
4288 > +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar (starts at specified path)
4289 > +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz (ditto)
4290 > Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar
4291 > Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz
4294 The easiest way to see what name you should filter is to just look at the
4295 output when using [`--verbose`](#opt) and put a / in front of the name (use the
4296 `--dry-run` option if you're not yet ready to copy any files).
4298 ### PER-DIRECTORY RULES AND DELETE
4300 Without a delete option, per-directory rules are only relevant on the sending
4301 side, so you can feel free to exclude the merge files themselves without
4302 affecting the transfer. To make this easy, the 'e' modifier adds this exclude
4303 for you, as seen in these two equivalent commands:
4305 > rsync -av --filter=': .excl' --exclude=.excl host:src/dir /dest
4306 > rsync -av --filter=':e .excl' host:src/dir /dest
4308 However, if you want to do a delete on the receiving side AND you want some
4309 files to be excluded from being deleted, you'll need to be sure that the
4310 receiving side knows what files to exclude. The easiest way is to include the
4311 per-directory merge files in the transfer and use [`--delete-after`](#opt),
4312 because this ensures that the receiving side gets all the same exclude rules as
4313 the sending side before it tries to delete anything:
4315 > rsync -avF --delete-after host:src/dir /dest
4317 However, if the merge files are not a part of the transfer, you'll need to
4318 either specify some global exclude rules (i.e. specified on the command line),
4319 or you'll need to maintain your own per-directory merge files on the receiving
4320 side. An example of the first is this (assume that the remote .rules files
4321 exclude themselves):
4323 > rsync -av --filter=': .rules' --filter='. /my/extra.rules'
4324 > --delete host:src/dir /dest
4326 In the above example the extra.rules file can affect both sides of the
4327 transfer, but (on the sending side) the rules are subservient to the rules
4328 merged from the .rules files because they were specified after the
4329 per-directory merge rule.
4331 In one final example, the remote side is excluding the .rsync-filter files from
4332 the transfer, but we want to use our own .rsync-filter files to control what
4333 gets deleted on the receiving side. To do this we must specifically exclude
4334 the per-directory merge files (so that they don't get deleted) and then put
4335 rules into the local files to control what else should not get deleted. Like
4336 one of these commands:
4339 > rsync -av --filter=':e /.rsync-filter' --delete \
4340 > host:src/dir /dest
4341 > rsync -avFF --delete host:src/dir /dest
4346 In addition to the [FILTER RULES](#) that affect the recursive file scans that
4347 generate the file list on the sending and (when deleting) receiving sides,
4348 there are transfer rules. These rules affect which files the generator decides
4349 need to be transferred without the side effects of an exclude filter rule.
4350 Transfer rules affect only files and never directories.
4352 Because a transfer rule does not affect what goes into the sender's (and
4353 receiver's) file list, it cannot have any effect on which files get deleted on
4354 the receiving side. For example, if the file "foo" is present in the sender's
4355 list but its size is such that it is omitted due to a transfer rule, the
4356 receiving side does not request the file. However, its presence in the file
4357 list means that a delete pass will not remove a matching file named "foo" on
4358 the receiving side. On the other hand, a server-side exclude (hide) of the
4359 file "foo" leaves the file out of the server's file list, and absent a
4360 receiver-side exclude (protect) the receiver will remove a matching file named
4361 "foo" if deletions are requested.
4363 Given that the files are still in the sender's file list, the
4364 [`--prune-empty-dirs`](#opt) option will not judge a directory as being empty
4365 even if it contains only files that the transfer rules omitted.
4367 Similarly, a transfer rule does not have any extra effect on which files are
4368 deleted on the receiving side, so setting a maximum file size for the transfer
4369 does not prevent big files from being deleted.
4371 Examples of transfer rules include the default "quick check" algorithm (which
4372 compares size & modify time), the [`--update`](#opt) option, the
4373 [`--max-size`](#opt) option, the [`--ignore-non-existing`](#opt) option, and a
4378 Batch mode can be used to apply the same set of updates to many identical
4379 systems. Suppose one has a tree which is replicated on a number of hosts. Now
4380 suppose some changes have been made to this source tree and those changes need
4381 to be propagated to the other hosts. In order to do this using batch mode,
4382 rsync is run with the write-batch option to apply the changes made to the
4383 source tree to one of the destination trees. The write-batch option causes the
4384 rsync client to store in a "batch file" all the information needed to repeat
4385 this operation against other, identical destination trees.
4387 Generating the batch file once saves having to perform the file status,
4388 checksum, and data block generation more than once when updating multiple
4389 destination trees. Multicast transport protocols can be used to transfer the
4390 batch update files in parallel to many hosts at once, instead of sending the
4391 same data to every host individually.
4393 To apply the recorded changes to another destination tree, run rsync with the
4394 read-batch option, specifying the name of the same batch file, and the
4395 destination tree. Rsync updates the destination tree using the information
4396 stored in the batch file.
4398 For your convenience, a script file is also created when the write-batch option
4399 is used: it will be named the same as the batch file with ".sh" appended. This
4400 script file contains a command-line suitable for updating a destination tree
4401 using the associated batch file. It can be executed using a Bourne (or
4402 Bourne-like) shell, optionally passing in an alternate destination tree
4403 pathname which is then used instead of the original destination path. This is
4404 useful when the destination tree path on the current host differs from the one
4405 used to create the batch file.
4409 > $ rsync --write-batch=foo -a host:/source/dir/ /adest/dir/
4410 > $ scp foo* remote:
4411 > $ ssh remote ./foo.sh /bdest/dir/
4413 > $ rsync --write-batch=foo -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/
4414 > $ ssh remote rsync --read-batch=- -a /bdest/dir/ <foo
4416 In these examples, rsync is used to update /adest/dir/ from /source/dir/ and
4417 the information to repeat this operation is stored in "foo" and "foo.sh". The
4418 host "remote" is then updated with the batched data going into the directory
4419 /bdest/dir. The differences between the two examples reveals some of the
4420 flexibility you have in how you deal with batches:
4422 - The first example shows that the initial copy doesn't have to be local -- you
4423 can push or pull data to/from a remote host using either the remote-shell
4424 syntax or rsync daemon syntax, as desired.
4425 - The first example uses the created "foo.sh" file to get the right rsync
4426 options when running the read-batch command on the remote host.
4427 - The second example reads the batch data via standard input so that the batch
4428 file doesn't need to be copied to the remote machine first. This example
4429 avoids the foo.sh script because it needed to use a modified
4430 [`--read-batch`](#opt) option, but you could edit the script file if you
4431 wished to make use of it (just be sure that no other option is trying to use
4432 standard input, such as the [`--exclude-from=-`](#opt) option).
4436 The read-batch option expects the destination tree that it is updating to be
4437 identical to the destination tree that was used to create the batch update
4438 fileset. When a difference between the destination trees is encountered the
4439 update might be discarded with a warning (if the file appears to be up-to-date
4440 already) or the file-update may be attempted and then, if the file fails to
4441 verify, the update discarded with an error. This means that it should be safe
4442 to re-run a read-batch operation if the command got interrupted. If you wish
4443 to force the batched-update to always be attempted regardless of the file's
4444 size and date, use the [`-I`](#opt) option (when reading the batch). If an
4445 error occurs, the destination tree will probably be in a partially updated
4446 state. In that case, rsync can be used in its regular (non-batch) mode of
4447 operation to fix up the destination tree.
4449 The rsync version used on all destinations must be at least as new as the one
4450 used to generate the batch file. Rsync will die with an error if the protocol
4451 version in the batch file is too new for the batch-reading rsync to handle.
4452 See also the [`--protocol`](#opt) option for a way to have the creating rsync
4453 generate a batch file that an older rsync can understand. (Note that batch
4454 files changed format in version 2.6.3, so mixing versions older than that with
4455 newer versions will not work.)
4457 When reading a batch file, rsync will force the value of certain options to
4458 match the data in the batch file if you didn't set them to the same as the
4459 batch-writing command. Other options can (and should) be changed. For
4460 instance [`--write-batch`](#opt) changes to [`--read-batch`](#opt),
4461 [`--files-from`](#opt) is dropped, and the [`--filter`](#opt) /
4462 [`--include`](#opt) / [`--exclude`](#opt) options are not needed unless one of
4463 the [`--delete`](#opt) options is specified.
4465 The code that creates the BATCH.sh file transforms any filter/include/exclude
4466 options into a single list that is appended as a "here" document to the shell
4467 script file. An advanced user can use this to modify the exclude list if a
4468 change in what gets deleted by [`--delete`](#opt) is desired. A normal user
4469 can ignore this detail and just use the shell script as an easy way to run the
4470 appropriate [`--read-batch`](#opt) command for the batched data.
4472 The original batch mode in rsync was based on "rsync+", but the latest
4473 version uses a new implementation.
4477 Three basic behaviors are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic
4478 link in the source directory.
4480 By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message "skipping
4481 non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist.
4483 If [`--links`](#opt) is specified, then symlinks are added to the transfer
4484 (instead of being noisily ignored), and the default handling is to recreate
4485 them with the same target on the destination. Note that [`--archive`](#opt)
4486 implies [`--links`](#opt).
4488 If [`--copy-links`](#opt) is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by
4489 copying their referent, rather than the symlink.
4491 Rsync can also distinguish "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An example
4492 where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes to ensure that the
4493 rsync module that is copied does not include symbolic links to `/etc/passwd` in
4494 the public section of the site. Using [`--copy-unsafe-links`](#opt) will cause
4495 any links to be copied as the file they point to on the destination. Using
4496 [`--safe-links`](#opt) will cause unsafe links to be omitted by the receiver.
4497 (Note that you must specify or imply [`--links`](#opt) for
4498 [`--safe-links`](#opt) to have any effect.)
4500 Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks (start with
4501 `/`), empty, or if they contain enough ".." components to ascend from the top
4504 Here's a summary of how the symlink options are interpreted. The list is in
4505 order of precedence, so if your combination of options isn't mentioned, use the
4506 first line that is a complete subset of your options:
4508 0. `--copy-links` Turn all symlinks into normal files and directories
4509 (leaving no symlinks in the transfer for any other options to affect).
4510 0. `--copy-dirlinks` Turn just symlinks to directories into real
4511 directories, leaving all other symlinks to be handled as described below.
4512 0. `--links --copy-unsafe-links` Turn all unsafe symlinks
4513 into files and create all safe symlinks.
4514 0. `--copy-unsafe-links` Turn all unsafe symlinks into files, noisily
4515 skip all safe symlinks.
4516 0. `--links --safe-links` The receiver skips creating
4517 unsafe symlinks found in the transfer and creates the safe ones.
4518 0. `--links` Create all symlinks.
4520 For the effect of [`--munge-links`](#opt), see the discussion in that option's
4523 Note that the [`--keep-dirlinks`](#opt) option does not effect symlinks in the
4524 transfer but instead affects how rsync treats a symlink to a directory that
4525 already exists on the receiving side. See that option's section for a warning.
4529 Rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little cryptic. The
4530 one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol version mismatch -- is
4533 This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell facility
4534 producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using for its transport.
4535 The way to diagnose this problem is to run your remote shell like this:
4537 > ssh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat
4539 then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat should
4540 be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from rsync then you
4541 will probably find that out.dat contains some text or data. Look at the
4542 contents and try to work out what is producing it. The most common cause is
4543 incorrectly configured shell startup scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that
4544 contain output statements for non-interactive logins.
4546 If you are having trouble debugging filter patterns, then try specifying the
4547 `-vv` option. At this level of verbosity rsync will show why each individual
4548 file is included or excluded.
4553 - **1** - Syntax or usage error
4554 - **2** - Protocol incompatibility
4555 - **3** - Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
4556 - **4** - Requested action not supported. Either:
4557 - an attempt was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support them
4558 - an option was specified that is supported by the client and not by the server
4559 - **5** - Error starting client-server protocol
4560 - **6** - Daemon unable to append to log-file
4561 - **10** - Error in socket I/O
4562 - **11** - Error in file I/O
4563 - **12** - Error in rsync protocol data stream
4564 - **13** - Errors with program diagnostics
4565 - **14** - Error in IPC code
4566 - **20** - Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
4567 - **21** - Some error returned by **waitpid()**
4568 - **22** - Error allocating core memory buffers
4569 - **23** - Partial transfer due to error
4570 - **24** - Partial transfer due to vanished source files
4571 - **25** - The --max-delete limit stopped deletions
4572 - **30** - Timeout in data send/receive
4573 - **35** - Timeout waiting for daemon connection
4575 ## ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
4579 The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any ignore patterns in
4580 .cvsignore files. See the [`--cvs-exclude`](#opt) option for more details.
4584 Specify a default [`--iconv`](#opt) setting using this environment
4585 variable. First supported in 3.0.0.
4589 Specify a "1" if you want the [`--old-args`](#opt) option to be enabled by
4590 default, a "2" (or more) if you want it to be enabled in the
4591 repeated-option state, or a "0" to make sure that it is disabled by
4592 default. When this environment variable is set to a non-zero value, it
4593 supersedes the [`RSYNC_PROTECT_ARGS`](#) variable.
4595 This variable is ignored if [`--old-args`](#opt), `--no-old-args`, or
4596 [`--protect-args`](#opt) is specified on the command line.
4598 First supported in 3.2.4.
4600 0. `RSYNC_PROTECT_ARGS`
4602 Specify a non-zero numeric value if you want the [`--protect-args`](#opt)
4603 option to be enabled by default, or a zero value to make sure that it is
4604 disabled by default.
4606 This variable is ignored if [`--protect-args`](#opt), `--no-protect-args`,
4607 or [`--old-args`](#opt) is specified on the command line.
4609 First supported in 3.1.0. Starting in 3.2.4, this variable is ignored if
4610 [`RSYNC_OLD_ARGS`](#) is set to a non-zero value.
4614 This environment variable allows you to override the default shell used as
4615 the transport for rsync. Command line options are permitted after the
4616 command name, just as in the [`--rsh`](#opt) (`-e`) option.
4620 This environment variable allows you to redirect your rsync
4621 client to use a web proxy when connecting to an rsync daemon. You should
4622 set `RSYNC_PROXY` to a hostname:port pair.
4626 This environment variable allows you to set the password for an rsync
4627 **daemon** connection, which avoids the password prompt. Note that this
4628 does **not** supply a password to a remote shell transport such as ssh
4629 (consult its documentation for how to do that).
4631 0. `USER` or `LOGNAME`
4633 The USER or LOGNAME environment variables are used to determine the default
4634 username sent to an rsync daemon. If neither is set, the username defaults
4635 to "nobody". If both are set, `USER` takes precedence.
4637 0. `RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR`
4639 This environment variable specifies the directory to use for a
4640 [`--partial`](#opt) transfer without implying that partial transfers be
4641 enabled. See the [`--partial-dir`](#opt) option for full details.
4643 0. `RSYNC_COMPRESS_LIST`
4645 This environment variable allows you to customize the negotiation of the
4646 compression algorithm by specifying an alternate order or a reduced list of
4647 names. Use the command `rsync --version` to see the available compression
4648 names. See the [`--compress`](#opt) option for full details.
4650 0. `RSYNC_CHECKSUM_LIST`
4652 This environment variable allows you to customize the negotiation of the
4653 checksum algorithm by specifying an alternate order or a reduced list of
4654 names. Use the command `rsync --version` to see the available checksum
4655 names. See the [`--checksum-choice`](#opt) option for full details.
4657 0. `RSYNC_MAX_ALLOC`
4659 This environment variable sets an allocation maximum as if you had used the
4660 [`--max-alloc`](#opt) option.
4664 This environment variable is not read by rsync, but is instead set in
4665 its sub-environment when rsync is running the remote shell in combination
4666 with a daemon connection. This allows a script such as
4667 [`rsync-ssl`](rsync-ssl.1) to be able to know the port number that the user
4668 specified on the command line.
4672 This environment variable is used to find the user's default .cvsignore
4675 0. `RSYNC_CONNECT_PROG`
4677 This environment variable is mainly used in debug setups to set the program
4678 to use when making a daemon connection. See [CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC
4679 DAEMON](#) for full details.
4683 This environment variable is mainly used in debug setups to set the program
4684 to use to run the program specified by [`RSYNC_CONNECT_PROG`](#). See
4685 [CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC DAEMON](#) for full details.
4689 /etc/rsyncd.conf or rsyncd.conf
4693 [**rsync-ssl**(1)](rsync-ssl.1), [**rsyncd.conf**(5)](rsyncd.conf.5), [**rrsync**(1)](rrsync.1)
4697 - Times are transferred as \*nix time_t values.
4698 - When transferring to FAT filesystems rsync may re-sync unmodified files. See
4699 the comments on the [`--modify-window`](#opt) option.
4700 - File permissions, devices, etc. are transferred as native numerical values.
4701 - See also the comments on the [`--delete`](#opt) option.
4703 Please report bugs! See the web site at <https://rsync.samba.org/>.
4707 This manpage is current for version @VERSION@ of rsync.
4711 The options `--server` and `--sender` are used internally by rsync, and should
4712 never be typed by a user under normal circumstances. Some awareness of these
4713 options may be needed in certain scenarios, such as when setting up a login
4714 that can only run an rsync command. For instance, the support directory of the
4715 rsync distribution has an example script named rrsync (for restricted rsync)
4716 that can be used with a restricted ssh login.
4720 Rsync is distributed under the GNU General Public License. See the file
4721 [COPYING](COPYING) for details.
4723 An rsync web site is available at <https://rsync.samba.org/>. The site
4724 includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this manual
4727 The rsync github project is <https://github.com/WayneD/rsync>.
4729 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program. Please
4730 contact the mailing-list at <rsync@lists.samba.org>.
4732 This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by Jean-loup
4733 Gailly and Mark Adler.
4737 Special thanks go out to: John Van Essen, Matt McCutchen, Wesley W. Terpstra,
4738 David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer, Martin Pool, and our
4739 gone-but-not-forgotten compadre, J.W. Schultz.
4741 Thanks also to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell and
4742 David Bell. I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
4746 Rsync was originally written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras. Many
4747 people have later contributed to it. It is currently maintained by Wayne
4750 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
4751 <https://lists.samba.org/>.