1 mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
2 manpage(rsync)(1)(14 Dec 2001)()()
3 manpagename(rsync)(faster, flexible replacement for rcp)
6 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST:DEST
8 rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC DEST
10 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... DEST
12 rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST]
14 rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST::DEST
16 rsync [OPTION]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC [DEST]
20 rsync is a program that behaves in much the same way that rcp does,
21 but has many more options and uses the rsync remote-update protocol to
22 greatly speed up file transfers when the destination file already
25 The rsync remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the
26 differences between two sets of files across the network link, using
27 an efficient checksum-search algorithm described in the technical
28 report that accompanies this package.
30 Some of the additional features of rsync are:
33 it() support for copying links, devices, owners, groups and permissions
34 it() exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar
35 it() a CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore
36 it() can use any transparent remote shell, including rsh or ssh
37 it() does not require root privileges
38 it() pipelining of file transfers to minimize latency costs
39 it() support for anonymous or authenticated rsync servers (ideal for
43 manpagesection(GENERAL)
45 There are six different ways of using rsync. They are:
48 it() for copying local files. This is invoked when neither
49 source nor destination path contains a : separator
51 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine using
52 a remote shell program as the transport (such as rsh or
53 ssh). This is invoked when the destination path contains a
56 it() for copying from a remote machine to the local machine
57 using a remote shell program. This is invoked when the source
58 contains a : separator.
60 it() for copying from a remote rsync server to the local
61 machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
62 separator or a rsync:// URL.
64 it() for copying from the local machine to a remote rsync
65 server. This is invoked when the destination path contains a ::
68 it() for listing files on a remote machine. This is done the
69 same way as rsync transfers except that you leave off the
73 Note that in all cases (other than listing) at least one of the source
74 and destination paths must be local.
78 See the file README for installation instructions.
80 Once installed you can use rsync to any machine that you can use rsh
81 to. rsync uses rsh for its communications, unless both the source and
82 destination are local.
84 You can also specify an alternative to rsh, either by using the -e
85 command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable.
87 One common substitute is to use ssh, which offers a high degree of
90 Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination
95 You use rsync in the same way you use rcp. You must specify a source
96 and a destination, one of which may be remote.
98 Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is some examples:
100 quote(rsync *.c foo:src/)
102 this would transfer all files matching the pattern *.c from the
103 current directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of
104 the files already exist on the remote system then the rsync
105 remote-update protocol is used to update the file by sending only the
106 differences. See the tech report for details.
108 quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp)
110 this would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the
111 machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The
112 files are transferred in "archive" mode, which ensures that symbolic
113 links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownerships etc are preserved
114 in the transfer. Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the
115 size of data portions of the transfer.
117 quote(rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp)
119 a trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to transfer
120 all files from the directory src/bar on the machine foo into the
121 /data/tmp/. A trailing / on a source name means "copy the
122 contents of this directory". Without a trailing slash it means "copy
123 the directory". This difference becomes particularly important when
124 using the --delete option.
126 You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
127 destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like
128 an improved copy command.
130 quote(rsync somehost.mydomain.com::)
132 this would list all the anonymous rsync modules available on the host
133 somehost.mydomain.com. (See the following section for more details.)
136 manpagesection(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER)
138 It is also possible to use rsync without using rsh or ssh as the
139 transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server
140 running on TCP port 873.
142 You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the
143 environment variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to
144 your web proxy. Note that your web proxy's configuration must allow
145 proxying to port 873.
147 Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with rsh or ssh except
151 it() you use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to
152 separate the hostname from the path.
154 it() the remote server may print a message of the day when you
157 it() if you specify no path name on the remote server then the
158 list of accessible paths on the server will be shown.
160 it() if you specify no local destination then a listing of the
161 specified files on the remote server is provided.
164 Some paths on the remote server may require authentication. If so then
165 you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the
166 password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to
167 the password you want to use or using the --password-file option. This
168 may be useful when scripting rsync.
170 WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all
171 users. On those systems using --password-file is recommended.
173 manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER)
175 An rsync server is configured using a config file which by default is
176 called /etc/rsyncd.conf. Please see the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
179 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
181 Here are some examples of how I use rsync.
183 To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS Word
184 files and mail folders, I use a cron job that runs
186 quote(rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup)
188 each night over a PPP link to a duplicate directory on my machine
191 To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile
195 rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ .
198 rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/
202 this allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the
203 link. I then do cvs operations on the remote machine, which saves a
204 lot of time as the remote cvs protocol isn't very efficient.
206 I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the
209 quote(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba/ nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge/samba")
211 this is launched from cron every few hours.
213 manpagesection(OPTIONS SUMMARY)
215 Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer
216 to the detailed description below for a complete description.
219 -v, --verbose increase verbosity
220 -q, --quiet decrease verbosity
221 -c, --checksum always checksum
222 -a, --archive archive mode
223 -r, --recursive recurse into directories
224 -R, --relative use relative path names
225 -b, --backup make backups (default ~ suffix)
226 --backup-dir make backups into this directory
227 --suffix=SUFFIX override backup suffix
228 -u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files)
229 -l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks
230 -L, --copy-links copy the referent of symlinks
231 --copy-unsafe-links copy links outside the source tree
232 --safe-links ignore links outside the destination tree
233 -H, --hard-links preserve hard links
234 -p, --perms preserve permissions
235 -o, --owner preserve owner (root only)
236 -g, --group preserve group
237 -D, --devices preserve devices (root only)
238 -t, --times preserve times
239 -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently
240 -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
241 -W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks
242 -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
243 -B, --block-size=SIZE checksum blocking size (default 700)
244 -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify rsh replacement
245 --rsync-path=PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine
246 -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does
247 --existing only update files that already exist
248 --delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side
249 --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on the receiving side
250 --delete-after delete after transferring, not before
251 --ignore-errors delete even if there are IO errors
252 --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
253 --partial keep partially transferred files
254 --force force deletion of directories even if not empty
255 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
256 --timeout=TIME set IO timeout in seconds
257 -I, --ignore-times don't exclude files that match length and time
258 --size-only only use file size when determining if a file should be transferred
259 --modify-window=NUM Timestamp window (seconds) for file match (default=0)
260 -T --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
261 --compare-dest=DIR also compare destination files relative to DIR
262 -P equivalent to --partial --progress
263 -z, --compress compress file data
264 --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
265 --exclude-from=FILE exclude patterns listed in FILE
266 --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN
267 --include-from=FILE don't exclude patterns listed in FILE
268 --version print version number
269 --daemon run as a rsync daemon
270 --no-detach do not detach from the parent
271 --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address
272 --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
273 --port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number
274 --blocking-io use blocking IO for the remote shell
275 --stats give some file transfer stats
276 --progress show progress during transfer
277 --log-format=FORMAT log file transfers using specified format
278 --password-file=FILE get password from FILE
279 --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth, KBytes per second
280 --read-batch=FILE read batch file
281 --write-batch write batch file
282 -h, --help show this help screen
289 rsync uses the GNU long options package. Many of the command line
290 options have two variants, one short and one long. These are shown
291 below, separated by commas. Some options only have a long variant.
292 The '=' for options that take a parameter is optional; whitespace
296 dit(bf(-h, --help)) Print a short help page describing the options
299 dit(bf(--version)) print the rsync version number and exit
301 dit(bf(-v, --verbose)) This option increases the amount of information you
302 are given during the transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A
303 single -v will give you information about what files are being
304 transferred and a brief summary at the end. Two -v flags will give you
305 information on what files are being skipped and slightly more
306 information at the end. More than two -v flags should only be used if
307 you are debugging rsync.
309 dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) This option decreases the amount of information you
310 are given during the transfer, notably suppressing information messages
311 from the remote server. This flag is useful when invoking rsync from
314 dit(bf(-I, --ignore-times)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
315 already the same length and have the same time-stamp. This option turns
318 dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
319 already the same length and have the same time-stamp. With the
320 --size-only option files will be skipped if they have the same size,
321 regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync
322 after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
325 dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps rsync treats
326 the timestamps as being equal if they are within the value of
327 modify_window. This is normally zero, but you may find it useful to
328 set this to a larger value in some situations. In particular, when
329 transferring to/from FAT filesystems which cannot represent times with
330 a 1 second resolution this option is useful.
332 dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using
333 a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then
334 explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name
335 which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
336 receiver are skipped. This option can be quite slow.
338 dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptgoD. It is a quick
339 way of saying you want recursion and want to preserve almost
342 Note however that bf(-a) bf(does not preserve hardlinks), because
343 finding multiply-linked files is expensive. You must separately
346 dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories
347 recursively. If you don't specify this then rsync won't copy
350 dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path
351 names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than
352 just the last parts of the filenames. This is particularly useful when
353 you want to send several different directories at the same time. For
354 example, if you used the command
356 verb(rsync foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
358 then this would create a file called foo.c in /tmp/ on the remote
359 machine. If instead you used
361 verb(rsync -R foo/bar/foo.c remote:/tmp/)
363 then a file called /tmp/foo/bar/foo.c would be created on the remote
364 machine. The full path name is preserved.
366 dit(bf(-b, --backup)) With this option preexisting destination files are
367 renamed with a ~ extension as each file is transferred. You can
368 control the backup suffix using the --suffix option.
370 dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the --backup option, this
371 tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
372 very useful for incremental backups.
374 dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
375 backup suffix used with the -b option. The default is a ~.
377 dit(bf(-u, --update)) This forces rsync to skip any files for which the
378 destination file already exists and has a date later than the source
381 dit(bf(-l, --links)) When symlinks are encountered, recreate the
382 symlink on the destination.
384 dit(bf(-L, --copy-links)) When symlinks are encountered, the file that
385 they point to is copied, rather than the symlink.
387 dit(bf(--copy-unsafe-links)) This tells rsync to copy the referent of
388 symbolic links that point outside the source tree. Absolute symlinks
389 are also treated like ordinary files, and so are any symlinks in the
390 source path itself when --relative is used.
392 dit(bf(--safe-links)) This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links
393 which point outside the destination tree. All absolute symlinks are
394 also ignored. Using this option in conjunction with --relative may
395 give unexpected results.
397 dit(bf(-H, --hard-links)) This tells rsync to recreate hard links on
398 the remote system to be the same as the local system. Without this
399 option hard links are treated like regular files.
401 Note that rsync can only detect hard links if both parts of the link
402 are in the list of files being sent.
404 This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it.
406 dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm
407 is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. The transfer may be
408 faster if this option is used when the bandwidth between the source and
409 target machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the
410 "disk" is actually a networked file system). This is the default when both
411 the source and target are on the local machine.
413 dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to update the remote
414 permissions to be the same as the local permissions.
416 dit(bf(-o, --owner)) This option causes rsync to set the owner of the
417 destination file to be the same as the source file. On most systems,
418 only the super-user can set file ownership.
420 dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to set the group of the
421 destination file to be the same as the source file. If the receiving
422 program is not running as the super-user, only groups that the
423 receiver is a member of will be preserved (by group name, not group id
426 dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
427 block device information to the remote system to recreate these
428 devices. This option is only available to the super-user.
430 dit(bf(-t, --times)) This tells rsync to transfer modification times along
431 with the files and update them on the remote system. Note that if this
432 option is not used, the optimization that excludes files that have not been
433 modified cannot be effective; in other words, a missing -t or -a will
434 cause the next transfer to behave as if it used -I, and all files will have
435 their checksums compared and show up in log messages even if they haven't
438 dit(bf(-n, --dry-run)) This tells rsync to not do any file transfers,
439 instead it will just report the actions it would have taken.
441 dit(bf(-S, --sparse)) Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take
442 up less space on the destination.
444 NOTE: Don't use this option when the destination is a Solaris "tmpfs"
445 filesystem. It doesn't seem to handle seeks over null regions
446 correctly and ends up corrupting the files.
448 dit(bf(-x, --one-file-system)) This tells rsync not to cross filesystem
449 boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the
450 contents of only one filesystem.
452 dit(bf(--existing)) This tells rsync not to create any new files -
453 only update files that already exist on the destination.
455 dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM
456 files or directories. This is useful when mirroring very large trees
457 to prevent disasters.
459 dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving
460 side that aren't on the sending side. Files that are excluded from
461 transfer are excluded from being deleted unless you use --delete-excluded.
463 This option has no effect if directory recursion is not selected.
465 This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea
466 to run first using the dry run option (-n) to see what files would be
467 deleted to make sure important files aren't listed.
469 If the sending side detects any IO errors then the deletion of any
470 files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to
471 prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the
472 sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the
473 destination. You can override this with the --ignore-errors option.
475 dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the
476 receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also
477 delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see --exclude).
479 dit(bf(--delete-after)) By default rsync does file deletions before
480 transferring files to try to ensure that there is sufficient space on
481 the receiving filesystem. If you want to delete after transferring
482 then use the --delete-after switch.
484 dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files
485 even when there are IO errors.
487 dit(bf(--force)) This options tells rsync to delete directories even if
488 they are not empty. This applies to both the --delete option and to
489 cases where rsync tries to copy a normal file but the destination
490 contains a directory of the same name.
492 Since this option was added, deletions were reordered to be done depth-first
493 so it is hardly ever needed anymore except in very obscure cases.
495 dit(bf(-B , --block-size=BLOCKSIZE)) This controls the block size used in
496 the rsync algorithm. See the technical report for details.
498 dit(bf(-e, --rsh=COMMAND)) This option allows you to choose an alternative
499 remote shell program to use for communication between the local and
500 remote copies of rsync. By default, rsync will use rsh, but you may
501 like to instead use ssh because of its high security.
503 You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
504 environment variable.
506 See also the --blocking-io option which is affected by this option.
508 dit(bf(--rsync-path=PATH)) Use this to specify the path to the copy of
509 rsync on the remote machine. Useful when it's not in your path. Note
510 that this is the full path to the binary, not just the directory that
513 dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option allows you to selectively exclude
514 certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is most
515 useful in combination with a recursive transfer.
517 You may use as many --exclude options on the command line as you like
518 to build up the list of files to exclude.
520 See the section on exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
523 dit(bf(--exclude-from=FILE)) This option is similar to the --exclude
524 option, but instead it adds all exclude patterns listed in the file
525 FILE to the exclude list. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with
526 ';' or '#' are ignored.
528 dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option tells rsync to not exclude the
529 specified pattern of filenames. This is useful as it allows you to
530 build up quite complex exclude/include rules.
532 See the section of exclude patterns for information on the syntax of
535 dit(bf(--include-from=FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns
538 dit(bf(-C, --cvs-exclude)) This is a useful shorthand for excluding a
539 broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between
540 systems. It uses the same algorithm that CVS uses to determine if
541 a file should be ignored.
543 The exclude list is initialized to:
545 quote(RCS SCCS CVS CVS.adm RCSLOG cvslog.* tags TAGS .make.state
546 .nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej .del-*
547 *.a *.o *.obj *.so *.Z *.elc *.ln core)
549 then files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
550 files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (space delimited).
552 Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a
553 .cvsignore file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. See
554 the bf(cvs(1)) manual for more information.
556 dit(bf(--csum-length=LENGTH)) By default the primary checksum used in
557 rsync is a very strong 16 byte MD4 checksum. In most cases you will
558 find that a truncated version of this checksum is quite efficient, and
559 this will decrease the size of the checksum data sent over the link,
560 making things faster.
562 You can choose the number of bytes in the truncated checksum using the
563 --csum-length option. Any value less than or equal to 16 is valid.
565 Note that if you use this option then you run the risk of ending up
566 with an incorrect target file. The risk with a value of 16 is
567 microscopic and can be safely ignored (the universe will probably end
568 before it fails) but with smaller values the risk is higher.
570 Current versions of rsync actually use an adaptive algorithm for the
571 checksum length by default, using a 16 byte file checksum to determine
572 if a 2nd pass is required with a longer block checksum. Only use this
573 option if you have read the source code and know what you are doing.
575 dit(bf(-T, --temp-dir=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a
576 scratch directory when creating temporary copies of the files
577 transferred on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create
578 the temporary files in the receiving directory.
580 dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR on
581 the destination machine as an additional directory to compare destination
582 files against when doing transfers. This is useful for doing transfers to
583 a new destination while leaving existing files intact, and then doing a
584 flash-cutover when all files have been successfully transferred (for
585 example by moving directories around and removing the old directory,
586 although this requires also doing the transfer with -I to avoid skipping
587 files that haven't changed). This option increases the usefulness of
588 --partial because partially transferred files will remain in the new
589 temporary destination until they have a chance to be completed. If DIR is
590 a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
592 dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses any data from
593 the files that it sends to the destination machine. This
594 option is useful on slow links. The compression method used is the
595 same method that gzip uses.
597 Note this this option typically achieves better compression ratios
598 that can be achieved by using a compressing remote shell, or a
599 compressing transport, as it takes advantage of the implicit
600 information sent for matching data blocks.
602 dit(bf(--numeric-ids)) With this option rsync will transfer numeric group
603 and user ids rather than using user and group names and mapping them
606 By default rsync will use the user name and group name to determine
607 what ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group
608 0 are never mapped via user/group names even if the --numeric-ids
609 option is not specified.
611 If the source system is a daemon using chroot, or if a user or group
612 name does not exist on the destination system, then the numeric id
613 from the source system is used instead.
615 dit(bf(--timeout=TIMEOUT)) This option allows you to set a maximum IO
616 timeout in seconds. If no data is transferred for the specified time
617 then rsync will exit. The default is 0, which means no timeout.
619 dit(bf(--daemon)) This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The
620 daemon may be accessed using the bf(host::module) or
621 bf(rsync://host/module/) syntax.
623 If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being
624 run via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and
625 become a background daemon. The daemon will read the config file
626 (/etc/rsyncd.conf) on each connect made by a client and respond to
627 requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
630 dit(bf(--no-detach)) When running as a daemon, this option instructs
631 rsync to not detach itself and become a background process. This
632 option is required when running as a service on Cygwin, and may also
633 be useful when rsync is supervised by a program such as
634 bf(daemontools) or AIX's bf(System Resource Controller).
635 bf(--no-detach) is also recommended when rsync is run under a
636 debugger. This option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or
639 dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address
640 when run as a daemon with the --daemon option or when connecting to a
641 rsync server. The --address option allows you to specify a specific IP
642 address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting possible
643 in conjunction with the --config option.
645 dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
646 the default /etc/rsyncd.conf. This is only relevant when --daemon is
649 dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
650 rather than the default port 873.
652 dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This tells rsync to use blocking IO when launching
653 a remote shell transport. If -e or --rsh are not specified or are set to
654 the default "rsh", this defaults to blocking IO, otherwise it defaults to
655 non-blocking IO. You may find the --blocking-io option is needed for some
656 remote shells that can't handle non-blocking IO. Ssh prefers blocking IO.
658 dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
659 rsync client logs to stdout on a per-file basis. The log format is
660 specified using the same format conventions as the log format option in
663 dit(bf(--stats)) This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics
664 on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync
665 algorithm is for your data.
667 dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
668 transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
669 it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the
670 --partial option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should
671 make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster.
673 dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information
674 showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user
677 This option is normally combined with -v. Using this option without
678 the -v option will produce weird results on your display.
680 dit(bf(-P)) The -P option is equivalent to --partial --progress. I
681 found myself typing that combination quite often so I created an
682 option to make it easier.
684 dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password
685 in a file for accessing a remote rsync server. Note that this option
686 is only useful when accessing a rsync server using the built in
687 transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file
688 must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a
691 dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
692 transfer rate in kilobytes per second. This option is most effective when
693 using rsync with large files (several megabytes and up). Due to the nature
694 of rsync transfers, blocks of data are sent, then if rsync determines the
695 transfer was too fast, it will wait before sending the next data block. The
696 result is an average transfer rate equalling the specified limit. A value
697 of zero specifies no limit.
699 dit(bf(--read-batch)) Apply a previously generated change batch.
701 dit(bf(--write-batch)) Generate a set of files that can be transferred
706 manpagesection(EXCLUDE PATTERNS)
708 The exclude and include patterns specified to rsync allow for flexible
709 selection of which files to transfer and which files to skip.
711 rsync builds an ordered list of include/exclude options as specified on
712 the command line. When a filename is encountered, rsync checks the
713 name against each exclude/include pattern in turn. The first matching
714 pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern, then that file is
715 skipped. If it is an include pattern then that filename is not
716 skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the
717 filename is not skipped.
719 Note that when used with -r (which is implied by -a), every subcomponent of
720 every path is visited from top down, so include/exclude patterns get
721 applied recursively to each subcomponent.
723 Note also that the --include and --exclude options take one pattern
724 each. To add multiple patterns use the --include-from and
725 --exclude-from options or multiple --include and --exclude options.
727 The patterns can take several forms. The rules are:
730 it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is matched against the
731 start of the filename, otherwise it is matched against the end of
732 the filename. Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at the base of
733 the tree. On the other hand, "foo" would match any file called "foo"
734 anywhere in the tree because the algorithm is applied recursively from
735 top down; it behaves as if each path component gets a turn at being the
736 end of the file name.
738 it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
739 directory, not a file, link or device.
741 it() if the pattern contains a wildcard character from the set
742 *?[ then expression matching is applied using the shell filename
743 matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used.
745 it() if the pattern includes a double asterisk "**" then all wildcards in
746 the pattern will match slashes, otherwise they will stop at slashes.
748 it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) then it
749 is matched against the full filename, including any leading
750 directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a / then it is matched
751 only against the final component of the filename. Again, remember
752 that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename" can
753 actually be any portion of a path.
755 it() if the pattern starts with "+ " (a plus followed by a space)
756 then it is always considered an include pattern, even if specified as
757 part of an exclude option. The "+ " part is discarded before matching.
759 it() if the pattern starts with "- " (a minus followed by a space)
760 then it is always considered an exclude pattern, even if specified as
761 part of an include option. The "- " part is discarded before matching.
763 it() if the pattern is a single exclamation mark ! then the current
764 include/exclude list is reset, removing all previously defined patterns.
767 The +/- rules are most useful in exclude lists, allowing you to have a
768 single exclude list that contains both include and exclude options.
770 If you end an exclude list with --exclude '*', note that since the
771 algorithm is applied recursively that unless you explicitly include
772 parent directories of files you want to include then the algorithm
773 will stop at the parent directories and never see the files below
774 them. To include all directories, use --include '*/' before the
777 Here are some exclude/include examples:
780 it() --exclude "*.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o
781 it() --exclude "/foo" would exclude a file in the base directory called foo
782 it() --exclude "foo/" would exclude any directory called foo
783 it() --exclude "/foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
784 levels below a base directory called foo
785 it() --exclude "/foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two
786 or more levels below a base directory called foo
787 it() --include "*/" --include "*.c" --exclude "*" would include all
788 directories and C source files
789 it() --include "foo/" --include "foo/bar.c" --exclude "*" would include
790 only foo/bar.c (the foo/ directory must be explicitly included or
791 it would be excluded by the "*")
794 manpagesection(BATCH MODE)
796 bf(Note:) Batch mode should be considered experimental in this version
797 of rsync. The interface or behaviour may change before it stabilizes.
799 The following call generates 4 files that encapsulate the information
800 for synchronizing the contents of bf(target_dir) with the updates found in
804 $ rsync --write-batch [other rsync options here] \nl()
805 /somewhere/src_dir /somewhere/target_dir
808 The generated files are labeled with a common timestamp:
811 it() bf(rsync_argvs.<timestamp>) command-line arguments
812 it() bf(rsync_flist.<timestamp>) rsync internal file metadata
813 it() bf(rsync_csums.<timestamp>) rsync checksums
814 it() bf(rsync_delta.<timestamp>) data blocks for file update & change
817 See bf(http://www.ils.unc.edu/i2dsi/unc_rsync+.html) for papers and technical
820 manpagesection(SYMBOLIC LINKS)
822 Three basic behaviours are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic
823 link in the source directory.
825 By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message
826 "skipping non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist.
828 If bf(--links) is specified, then symlinks are recreated with the same
829 target on the destination. Note that bf(--archive) implies
832 If bf(--copy-links) is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by
833 copying their referent, rather than the symlink.
835 rsync also distinguishes "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An
836 example where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes
837 ensure the rsync module they copy does not include symbolic links to
838 bf(/etc/passwd) in the public section of the site. Using
839 bf(--copy-unsafe-links) will cause any links to be copied as the file
840 they point to on the destination. Using bf(--safe-links) will cause
841 unsafe links to be ommitted altogether.
843 manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS)
845 rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
846 cryptic. The one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol
847 version mismatch - is your shell clean?".
849 This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell
850 facility producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using
851 for its transport. The way to diagnose this problem is to run your
852 remote shell like this:
855 rsh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat
858 then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat
859 should be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from
860 rsync then you will probably find that out.dat contains some text or
861 data. Look at the contents and try to work out what is producing
862 it. The most common cause is incorrectly configured shell startup
863 scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that contain output statements
864 for non-interactive logins.
866 If you are having trouble debugging include and exclude patterns, then
867 try specifying the -vv option. At this level of verbosity rsync will
868 show why each individual file is included or excluded.
870 manpagesection(EXIT VALUES)
873 dit(bf(RERR_SYNTAX 1)) Syntax or usage error
874 dit(bf(RERR_PROTOCOL 2)) Protocol incompatibility
875 dit(bf(RERR_FILESELECT 3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
877 dit(bf(RERR_UNSUPPORTED 4)) Requested action not supported: an attempt
878 was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support
879 them; or an option was speciifed that is supported by the client and
882 dit(bf(RERR_SOCKETIO 10)) Error in socket IO
883 dit(bf(RERR_FILEIO 11)) Error in file IO
884 dit(bf(RERR_STREAMIO 12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream
885 dit(bf(RERR_MESSAGEIO 13)) Errors with program diagnostics
886 dit(bf(RERR_IPC 14)) Error in IPC code
887 dit(bf(RERR_SIGNAL 20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
888 dit(bf(RERR_WAITCHILD 21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
889 dit(bf(RERR_MALLOC 22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
890 dit(bf(RERR_TIMEOUT 30)) Timeout in data send/receive
893 manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES)
897 dit(bf(CVSIGNORE)) The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any
898 ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the --cvs-exclude option for
901 dit(bf(RSYNC_RSH)) The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to
902 override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. This can
903 be used instead of the -e option.
905 dit(bf(RSYNC_PROXY)) The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to
906 redirect your rsync client to use a web proxy when connecting to a
907 rsync daemon. You should set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair.
909 dit(bf(RSYNC_PASSWORD)) Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required
910 password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to a rsync
911 daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a
912 password to a shell transport such as ssh.
914 dit(bf(USER) or bf(LOGNAME)) The USER or LOGNAME environment variables
915 are used to determine the default username sent to a rsync server.
917 dit(bf(HOME)) The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's
918 default .cvsignore file.
934 times are transferred as unix time_t values
936 file permissions, devices etc are transferred as native numerical
939 see also the comments on the --delete option
941 Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at
942 url(http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/)(http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/)
944 manpagesection(VERSION)
945 This man page is current for version 2.0 of rsync
947 manpagesection(CREDITS)
949 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
952 A WEB site is available at
953 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/). The site
954 includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this
957 The primary ftp site for rsync is
958 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
960 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
962 This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by
963 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
965 manpagesection(THANKS)
967 Thanks to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell
968 and David Bell for helpful suggestions, patches and testing of rsync.
969 I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
971 Especial thanks also to: David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer.
976 rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell <tridge@samba.org> and Paul
979 rsync is now maintained by Martin Pool <mbp@samba.org>.
981 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
982 url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)
984 If you suspect you have found a security vulnerability in rsync,
985 please send it directly to Martin Pool and Andrew Tridgell. For other
986 enquiries, please use the mailing list.