3 rsync - a fast, versatile, remote (and local) file-copying tool
9 rsync [OPTION...] SRC... [DEST]
11 Access via remote shell:
13 rsync [OPTION...] [USER@]HOST:SRC... [DEST]
15 rsync [OPTION...] SRC... [USER@]HOST:DEST
17 Access via rsync daemon:
19 rsync [OPTION...] [USER@]HOST::SRC... [DEST]
20 rsync [OPTION...] rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC... [DEST]
22 rsync [OPTION...] SRC... [USER@]HOST::DEST
23 rsync [OPTION...] SRC... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/DEST)
26 Usages with just one SRC arg and no DEST arg will list the source files instead
31 Rsync is a fast and extraordinarily versatile file copying tool. It can copy
32 locally, to/from another host over any remote shell, or to/from a remote rsync
33 daemon. It offers a large number of options that control every aspect of its
34 behavior and permit very flexible specification of the set of files to be
35 copied. It is famous for its delta-transfer algorithm, which reduces the
36 amount of data sent over the network by sending only the differences between
37 the source files and the existing files in the destination. Rsync is widely
38 used for backups and mirroring and as an improved copy command for everyday
41 Rsync finds files that need to be transferred using a "quick check" algorithm
42 (by default) that looks for files that have changed in size or in last-modified
43 time. Any changes in the other preserved attributes (as requested by options)
44 are made on the destination file directly when the quick check indicates that
45 the file's data does not need to be updated.
47 Some of the additional features of rsync are:
49 - support for copying links, devices, owners, groups, and permissions
50 - exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar
51 - a CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore
52 - can use any transparent remote shell, including ssh or rsh
53 - does not require super-user privileges
54 - pipelining of file transfers to minimize latency costs
55 - support for anonymous or authenticated rsync daemons (ideal for mirroring)
59 Rsync copies files either to or from a remote host, or locally on the current
60 host (it does not support copying files between two remote hosts).
62 There are two different ways for rsync to contact a remote system: using a
63 remote-shell program as the transport (such as ssh or rsh) or contacting an
64 rsync daemon directly via TCP. The remote-shell transport is used whenever the
65 source or destination path contains a single colon (:) separator after a host
66 specification. Contacting an rsync daemon directly happens when the source or
67 destination path contains a double colon (::) separator after a host
68 specification, OR when an rsync:// URL is specified (see also the "USING
69 RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION" section for an exception
72 As a special case, if a single source arg is specified without a destination,
73 the files are listed in an output format similar to "`ls -l`".
75 As expected, if neither the source or destination path specify a remote host,
76 the copy occurs locally (see also the `--list-only` option).
78 Rsync refers to the local side as the client and the remote side as the server.
79 Don't confuse server with an rsync daemon. A daemon is always a server, but a
80 server can be either a daemon or a remote-shell spawned process.
84 See the file README.md for installation instructions.
86 Once installed, you can use rsync to any machine that you can access via a
87 remote shell (as well as some that you can access using the rsync daemon-mode
88 protocol). For remote transfers, a modern rsync uses ssh for its
89 communications, but it may have been configured to use a different remote shell
90 by default, such as rsh or remsh.
92 You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the `-e`
93 command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable.
95 Note that rsync must be installed on both the source and destination machines.
99 You use rsync in the same way you use rcp. You must specify a source and a
100 destination, one of which may be remote.
102 Perhaps the best way to explain the syntax is with some examples:
104 > rsync -t *.c foo:src/
106 This would transfer all files matching the pattern `*.c` from the current
107 directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of the files already
108 exist on the remote system then the rsync remote-update protocol is used to
109 update the file by sending only the differences in the data. Note that the
110 expansion of wildcards on the command-line (`*.c`) into a list of files is
111 handled by the shell before it runs rsync and not by rsync itself (exactly the
112 same as all other Posix-style programs).
114 > rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp
116 This would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the
117 machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The files
118 are transferred in archive mode, which ensures that symbolic links, devices,
119 attributes, permissions, ownerships, etc. are preserved in the transfer.
120 Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the size of data portions of
123 > rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp
125 A trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to avoid creating an
126 additional directory level at the destination. You can think of a trailing /
127 on a source as meaning "copy the contents of this directory" as opposed to
128 "copy the directory by name", but in both cases the attributes of the
129 containing directory are transferred to the containing directory on the
130 destination. In other words, each of the following commands copies the files
131 in the same way, including their setting of the attributes of /dest/foo:
133 > rsync -av /src/foo /dest
134 > rsync -av /src/foo/ /dest/foo
136 Note also that host and module references don't require a trailing slash to
137 copy the contents of the default directory. For example, both of these copy
138 the remote directory's contents into "/dest":
140 > rsync -av host: /dest
141 > rsync -av host::module /dest
143 You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
144 destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like an
145 improved copy command.
147 Finally, you can list all the (listable) modules available from a particular
148 rsync daemon by leaving off the module name:
150 > rsync somehost.mydomain.com::
152 See the following section for more details.
156 The syntax for requesting multiple files from a remote host is done by
157 specifying additional remote-host args in the same style as the first, or with
158 the hostname omitted. For instance, all these work:
160 > rsync -av host:file1 :file2 host:file{3,4} /dest/
161 > rsync -av host::modname/file{1,2} host::modname/file3 /dest/
162 > rsync -av host::modname/file1 ::modname/file{3,4}
164 Older versions of rsync required using quoted spaces in the SRC, like these
167 > rsync -av host:'dir1/file1 dir2/file2' /dest
168 > rsync host::'modname/dir1/file1 modname/dir2/file2' /dest
170 This word-splitting still works (by default) in the latest rsync, but is not as
171 easy to use as the first method.
173 If you need to transfer a filename that contains whitespace, you can either
174 specify the `--protect-args` (`-s`) option, or you'll need to escape the
175 whitespace in a way that the remote shell will understand. For instance:
177 > rsync -av host:'file\ name\ with\ spaces' /dest
179 # CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC DAEMON
181 It is also possible to use rsync without a remote shell as the transport. In
182 this case you will directly connect to a remote rsync daemon, typically using
183 TCP port 873. (This obviously requires the daemon to be running on the remote
184 system, so refer to the STARTING AN RSYNC DAEMON TO ACCEPT CONNECTIONS section
185 below for information on that.)
187 Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with a remote shell except
190 - you either use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to separate the
191 hostname from the path, or you use an rsync:// URL.
192 - the first word of the "path" is actually a module name.
193 - the remote daemon may print a message of the day when you connect.
194 - if you specify no path name on the remote daemon then the list of accessible
195 paths on the daemon will be shown.
196 - if you specify no local destination then a listing of the specified files on
197 the remote daemon is provided.
198 - you must not specify the `--rsh` (`-e`) option (since that overrides the
199 daemon connection to use ssh -- see USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A
200 REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION below).
202 An example that copies all the files in a remote module named "src":
204 > rsync -av host::src /dest
206 Some modules on the remote daemon may require authentication. If so, you will
207 receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the password prompt
208 by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to the password you want to
209 use or using the `--password-file` option. This may be useful when scripting
212 WARNING: On some systems environment variables are visible to all users. On
213 those systems using `--password-file` is recommended.
215 You may establish the connection via a web proxy by setting the environment
216 variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to your web proxy. Note
217 that your web proxy's configuration must support proxy connections to port 873.
219 You may also establish a daemon connection using a program as a proxy by
220 setting the environment variable RSYNC_CONNECT_PROG to the commands you wish to
221 run in place of making a direct socket connection. The string may contain the
222 escape "%H" to represent the hostname specified in the rsync command (so use
223 "%%" if you need a single "%" in your string). For example:
225 > export RSYNC_CONNECT_PROG='ssh proxyhost nc %H 873'
226 > rsync -av targethost1::module/src/ /dest/
227 > rsync -av rsync://targethost2/module/src/ /dest/
229 The command specified above uses ssh to run nc (netcat) on a proxyhost, which
230 forwards all data to port 873 (the rsync daemon) on the targethost (%H).
232 Note also that if the RSYNC_SHELL environment variable is set, that program
233 will be used to run the RSYNC_CONNECT_PROG command instead of using the default
234 shell of the **system()** call.
236 # USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION
238 It is sometimes useful to use various features of an rsync daemon (such as
239 named modules) without actually allowing any new socket connections into a
240 system (other than what is already required to allow remote-shell access).
241 Rsync supports connecting to a host using a remote shell and then spawning a
242 single-use "daemon" server that expects to read its config file in the home dir
243 of the remote user. This can be useful if you want to encrypt a daemon-style
244 transfer's data, but since the daemon is started up fresh by the remote user,
245 you may not be able to use features such as chroot or change the uid used by
246 the daemon. (For another way to encrypt a daemon transfer, consider using ssh
247 to tunnel a local port to a remote machine and configure a normal rsync daemon
248 on that remote host to only allow connections from "localhost".)
250 From the user's perspective, a daemon transfer via a remote-shell connection
251 uses nearly the same command-line syntax as a normal rsync-daemon transfer,
252 with the only exception being that you must explicitly set the remote shell
253 program on the command-line with the `--rsh=COMMAND` option. (Setting the
254 RSYNC_RSH in the environment will not turn on this functionality.) For example:
256 > rsync -av --rsh=ssh host::module /dest
258 If you need to specify a different remote-shell user, keep in mind that the
259 user@ prefix in front of the host is specifying the rsync-user value (for a
260 module that requires user-based authentication). This means that you must give
261 the '-l user' option to ssh when specifying the remote-shell, as in this
262 example that uses the short version of the `--rsh` option:
264 > rsync -av -e "ssh -l ssh-user" rsync-user@host::module /dest
266 The "ssh-user" will be used at the ssh level; the "rsync-user" will be used to
267 log-in to the "module".
269 # STARTING AN RSYNC DAEMON TO ACCEPT CONNECTIONS
271 In order to connect to an rsync daemon, the remote system needs to have a
272 daemon already running (or it needs to have configured something like inetd to
273 spawn an rsync daemon for incoming connections on a particular port). For full
274 information on how to start a daemon that will handling incoming socket
275 connections, see the **rsyncd.conf**(5) man page -- that is the config file for
276 the daemon, and it contains the full details for how to run the daemon
277 (including stand-alone and inetd configurations).
279 If you're using one of the remote-shell transports for the transfer, there is
280 no need to manually start an rsync daemon.
282 # SORTED TRANSFER ORDER
284 Rsync always sorts the specified filenames into its internal transfer list.
285 This handles the merging together of the contents of identically named
286 directories, makes it easy to remove duplicate filenames, and may confuse
287 someone when the files are transferred in a different order than what was given
290 If you need a particular file to be transferred prior to another, either
291 separate the files into different rsync calls, or consider using
292 `--delay-updates` (which doesn't affect the sorted transfer order, but does
293 make the final file-updating phase happen much more rapidly).
297 Here are some examples of how I use rsync.
299 To backup my wife's home directory, which consists of large MS Word files and
300 mail folders, I use a cron job that runs
302 > rsync -Cavz . arvidsjaur:backup
304 each night over a PPP connection to a duplicate directory on my machine
307 To synchronize my samba source trees I use the following Makefile targets:
310 > rsync -avuzb --exclude '*~' samba:samba/ .
312 > rsync -Cavuzb . samba:samba/
315 This allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the connection.
316 I then do CVS operations on the remote machine, which saves a lot of time as
317 the remote CVS protocol isn't very efficient.
319 I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the command:
321 > rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge"
323 This is launched from cron every few hours.
327 Here is a short summary of the options available in rsync. Please refer to the
328 detailed description below for a complete description.
330 [comment]: # (help-rsync.h)
331 [comment]: # (Keep these short enough that they'll be under 80 chars when indented by 7 chars.)
334 --verbose, -v increase verbosity
335 --info=FLAGS fine-grained informational verbosity
336 --debug=FLAGS fine-grained debug verbosity
337 --stderr=e|a|c change stderr output mode (default: errors)
338 --quiet, -q suppress non-error messages
339 --no-motd suppress daemon-mode MOTD
340 --checksum, -c skip based on checksum, not mod-time & size
341 --archive, -a archive mode is -rlptgoD (no -A,-X,-U,-N,-H)
342 --no-OPTION turn off an implied OPTION (e.g. --no-D)
343 --recursive, -r recurse into directories
344 --relative, -R use relative path names
345 --no-implied-dirs don't send implied dirs with --relative
346 --backup, -b make backups (see --suffix & --backup-dir)
347 --backup-dir=DIR make backups into hierarchy based in DIR
348 --suffix=SUFFIX backup suffix (default ~ w/o --backup-dir)
349 --update, -u skip files that are newer on the receiver
350 --inplace update destination files in-place
351 --append append data onto shorter files
352 --append-verify --append w/old data in file checksum
353 --dirs, -d transfer directories without recursing
354 --mkpath create the destination's path component
355 --links, -l copy symlinks as symlinks
356 --copy-links, -L transform symlink into referent file/dir
357 --copy-unsafe-links only "unsafe" symlinks are transformed
358 --safe-links ignore symlinks that point outside the tree
359 --munge-links munge symlinks to make them safe & unusable
360 --copy-dirlinks, -k transform symlink to dir into referent dir
361 --keep-dirlinks, -K treat symlinked dir on receiver as dir
362 --hard-links, -H preserve hard links
363 --perms, -p preserve permissions
364 --executability, -E preserve executability
365 --chmod=CHMOD affect file and/or directory permissions
366 --acls, -A preserve ACLs (implies --perms)
367 --xattrs, -X preserve extended attributes
368 --owner, -o preserve owner (super-user only)
369 --group, -g preserve group
370 --devices preserve device files (super-user only)
371 --specials preserve special files
372 -D same as --devices --specials
373 --times, -t preserve modification times
374 --atimes, -U preserve access (use) times
375 --open-noatime avoid changing the atime on opened files
376 --crtimes, -N preserve create times (newness)
377 --omit-dir-times, -O omit directories from --times
378 --omit-link-times, -J omit symlinks from --times
379 --super receiver attempts super-user activities
380 --fake-super store/recover privileged attrs using xattrs
381 --sparse, -S turn sequences of nulls into sparse blocks
382 --preallocate allocate dest files before writing them
383 --write-devices write to devices as files (implies --inplace)
384 --dry-run, -n perform a trial run with no changes made
385 --whole-file, -W copy files whole (w/o delta-xfer algorithm)
386 --checksum-choice=STR choose the checksum algorithm (aka --cc)
387 --one-file-system, -x don't cross filesystem boundaries
388 --block-size=SIZE, -B force a fixed checksum block-size
389 --rsh=COMMAND, -e specify the remote shell to use
390 --rsync-path=PROGRAM specify the rsync to run on remote machine
391 --existing skip creating new files on receiver
392 --ignore-existing skip updating files that exist on receiver
393 --remove-source-files sender removes synchronized files (non-dir)
394 --del an alias for --delete-during
395 --delete delete extraneous files from dest dirs
396 --delete-before receiver deletes before xfer, not during
397 --delete-during receiver deletes during the transfer
398 --delete-delay find deletions during, delete after
399 --delete-after receiver deletes after transfer, not during
400 --delete-excluded also delete excluded files from dest dirs
401 --ignore-missing-args ignore missing source args without error
402 --delete-missing-args delete missing source args from destination
403 --ignore-errors delete even if there are I/O errors
404 --force force deletion of dirs even if not empty
405 --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
406 --max-size=SIZE don't transfer any file larger than SIZE
407 --min-size=SIZE don't transfer any file smaller than SIZE
408 --max-alloc=SIZE change a limit relating to memory alloc
409 --partial keep partially transferred files
410 --partial-dir=DIR put a partially transferred file into DIR
411 --delay-updates put all updated files into place at end
412 --prune-empty-dirs, -m prune empty directory chains from file-list
413 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
414 --usermap=STRING custom username mapping
415 --groupmap=STRING custom groupname mapping
416 --chown=USER:GROUP simple username/groupname mapping
417 --timeout=SECONDS set I/O timeout in seconds
418 --contimeout=SECONDS set daemon connection timeout in seconds
419 --ignore-times, -I don't skip files that match size and time
420 --size-only skip files that match in size
421 --modify-window=NUM, -@ set the accuracy for mod-time comparisons
422 --temp-dir=DIR, -T create temporary files in directory DIR
423 --fuzzy, -y find similar file for basis if no dest file
424 --compare-dest=DIR also compare destination files relative to DIR
425 --copy-dest=DIR ... and include copies of unchanged files
426 --link-dest=DIR hardlink to files in DIR when unchanged
427 --compress, -z compress file data during the transfer
428 --compress-choice=STR choose the compression algorithm (aka --zc)
429 --compress-level=NUM explicitly set compression level (aka --zl)
430 --skip-compress=LIST skip compressing files with suffix in LIST
431 --cvs-exclude, -C auto-ignore files in the same way CVS does
432 --filter=RULE, -f add a file-filtering RULE
433 -F same as --filter='dir-merge /.rsync-filter'
434 repeated: --filter='- .rsync-filter'
435 --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
436 --exclude-from=FILE read exclude patterns from FILE
437 --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN
438 --include-from=FILE read include patterns from FILE
439 --files-from=FILE read list of source-file names from FILE
440 --from0, -0 all *-from/filter files are delimited by 0s
441 --protect-args, -s no space-splitting; wildcard chars only
442 --copy-as=USER[:GROUP] specify user & optional group for the copy
443 --address=ADDRESS bind address for outgoing socket to daemon
444 --port=PORT specify double-colon alternate port number
445 --sockopts=OPTIONS specify custom TCP options
446 --blocking-io use blocking I/O for the remote shell
447 --outbuf=N|L|B set out buffering to None, Line, or Block
448 --stats give some file-transfer stats
449 --8-bit-output, -8 leave high-bit chars unescaped in output
450 --human-readable, -h output numbers in a human-readable format
451 --progress show progress during transfer
452 -P same as --partial --progress
453 --itemize-changes, -i output a change-summary for all updates
454 --remote-option=OPT, -M send OPTION to the remote side only
455 --out-format=FORMAT output updates using the specified FORMAT
456 --log-file=FILE log what we're doing to the specified FILE
457 --log-file-format=FMT log updates using the specified FMT
458 --password-file=FILE read daemon-access password from FILE
459 --early-input=FILE use FILE for daemon's early exec input
460 --list-only list the files instead of copying them
461 --bwlimit=RATE limit socket I/O bandwidth
462 --stop-after=MINS Stop rsync after MINS minutes have elapsed
463 --stop-at=y-m-dTh:m Stop rsync at the specified point in time
464 --fsync fsync every written file
465 --write-batch=FILE write a batched update to FILE
466 --only-write-batch=FILE like --write-batch but w/o updating dest
467 --read-batch=FILE read a batched update from FILE
468 --protocol=NUM force an older protocol version to be used
469 --iconv=CONVERT_SPEC request charset conversion of filenames
470 --checksum-seed=NUM set block/file checksum seed (advanced)
471 --ipv4, -4 prefer IPv4
472 --ipv6, -6 prefer IPv6
473 --version, -V print the version + other info and exit
474 --help, -h (*) show this help (* -h is help only on its own)
477 Rsync can also be run as a daemon, in which case the following options are
480 [comment]: # (help-rsyncd.h)
483 --daemon run as an rsync daemon
484 --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address
485 --bwlimit=RATE limit socket I/O bandwidth
486 --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
487 --dparam=OVERRIDE, -M override global daemon config parameter
488 --no-detach do not detach from the parent
489 --port=PORT listen on alternate port number
490 --log-file=FILE override the "log file" setting
491 --log-file-format=FMT override the "log format" setting
492 --sockopts=OPTIONS specify custom TCP options
493 --verbose, -v increase verbosity
494 --ipv4, -4 prefer IPv4
495 --ipv6, -6 prefer IPv6
496 --help, -h show this help (when used with --daemon)
501 Rsync accepts both long (double-dash + word) and short (single-dash + letter)
502 options. The full list of the available options are described below. If an
503 option can be specified in more than one way, the choices are comma-separated.
504 Some options only have a long variant, not a short. If the option takes a
505 parameter, the parameter is only listed after the long variant, even though it
506 must also be specified for the short. When specifying a parameter, you can
507 either use the form `--option=param` or replace the '=' with whitespace. The
508 parameter may need to be quoted in some manner for it to survive the shell's
509 command-line parsing. Keep in mind that a leading tilde (`~`) in a filename is
510 substituted by your shell, so `--option=~/foo` will not change the tilde into
511 your home directory (remove the '=' for that).
513 [comment]: # (An OL starting at 0 is converted into a DL by the parser.)
515 0. `--help`, `-h` `(*)`
517 Print a short help page describing the options available in rsync and exit.
518 (*) The `-h` short option will only invoke `--help` when used without other
519 options since it normally means `--human-readable`.
523 Print the rsync version plus other info and exit.
525 The output includes the default list of checksum algorithms, the default
526 list of compression algorithms, a list of compiled-in capabilities, a link
527 to the rsync web site, and some license/copyright info.
531 This option increases the amount of information you are given during the
532 transfer. By default, rsync works silently. A single `-v` will give you
533 information about what files are being transferred and a brief summary at
534 the end. Two `-v` options will give you information on what files are
535 being skipped and slightly more information at the end. More than two `-v`
536 options should only be used if you are debugging rsync.
538 In a modern rsync, the `-v` option is equivalent to the setting of groups
539 of `--info` and `--debug` options. You can choose to use these newer
540 options in addition to, or in place of using `--verbose`, as any
541 fine-grained settings override the implied settings of `-v`. Both `--info`
542 and `--debug` have a way to ask for help that tells you exactly what flags
543 are set for each increase in verbosity.
545 However, do keep in mind that a daemon's "`max verbosity`" setting will limit
546 how high of a level the various individual flags can be set on the daemon
547 side. For instance, if the max is 2, then any info and/or debug flag that
548 is set to a higher value than what would be set by `-vv` will be downgraded
549 to the `-vv` level in the daemon's logging.
553 This option lets you have fine-grained control over the information output
554 you want to see. An individual flag name may be followed by a level
555 number, with 0 meaning to silence that output, 1 being the default output
556 level, and higher numbers increasing the output of that flag (for those
557 that support higher levels). Use `--info=help` to see all the available
558 flag names, what they output, and what flag names are added for each
559 increase in the verbose level. Some examples:
561 > rsync -a --info=progress2 src/ dest/
562 > rsync -avv --info=stats2,misc1,flist0 src/ dest/
564 Note that `--info=name`'s output is affected by the `--out-format` and
565 `--itemize-changes` (`-i`) options. See those options for more information
566 on what is output and when.
568 This option was added to 3.1.0, so an older rsync on the server side might
569 reject your attempts at fine-grained control (if one or more flags needed
570 to be send to the server and the server was too old to understand them).
571 See also the "`max verbosity`" caveat above when dealing with a daemon.
575 This option lets you have fine-grained control over the debug output you
576 want to see. An individual flag name may be followed by a level number,
577 with 0 meaning to silence that output, 1 being the default output level,
578 and higher numbers increasing the output of that flag (for those that
579 support higher levels). Use `--debug=help` to see all the available flag
580 names, what they output, and what flag names are added for each increase in
581 the verbose level. Some examples:
583 > rsync -avvv --debug=none src/ dest/
584 > rsync -avA --del --debug=del2,acl src/ dest/
586 Note that some debug messages will only be output when `--stderr=all` is
587 specified, especially those pertaining to I/O and buffer debugging.
589 Beginning in 3.2.0, this option is no longer auto-forwarded to the server
590 side in order to allow you to specify different debug values for each side
591 of the transfer, as well as to specify a new debug option that is only
592 present in one of the rsync versions. If you want to duplicate the same
593 option on both sides, using brace expansion is an easy way to save you some
594 typing. This works in zsh and bash:
596 > rsync -aiv {-M,}--debug=del2 src/ dest/
598 0. `--stderr=errors|all|client`
600 This option controls which processes output to stderr and if info messages
601 are also changed to stderr. The mode strings can be abbreviated, so feel
602 free to use a single letter value. The 3 possible choices are:
604 - `errors` - (the default) causes all the rsync processes to send an
605 error directly to stderr, even if the process is on the remote side of
606 the transfer. Info messages are sent to the client side via the protocol
607 stream. If stderr is not available (i.e. when directly connecting with a
608 daemon via a socket) errors fall back to being sent via the protocol
611 - `all` - causes all rsync messages (info and error) to get written
612 directly to stderr from all (possible) processes. This causes stderr to
613 become line-buffered (instead of raw) and eliminates the ability to
614 divide up the info and error messages by file handle. For those doing
615 debugging or using several levels of verbosity, this option can help to
616 avoid clogging up the transfer stream (which should prevent any chance of
617 a deadlock bug hanging things up). It also allows `--debug` to enable
618 some extra I/O related messages.
620 - `client` - causes all rsync messages to be sent to the client side
621 via the protocol stream. One client process outputs all messages, with
622 errors on stderr and info messages on stdout. This **was** the default
623 in older rsync versions, but can cause error delays when a lot of
624 transfer data is ahead of the messages. If you're pushing files to an
625 older rsync, you may want to use `--stderr=all` since that idiom has
626 been around for several releases.
628 This option was added in rsync 3.2.3. This version also began the
629 forwarding of a non-default setting to the remote side, though rsync uses
630 the backward-compatible options `--msgs2stderr` and `--no-msgs2stderr` to
631 represent the `all` and `client` settings, respectively. A newer rsync
632 will continue to accept these older option names to maintain compatibility.
636 This option decreases the amount of information you are given during the
637 transfer, notably suppressing information messages from the remote server.
638 This option is useful when invoking rsync from cron.
642 This option affects the information that is output by the client at the
643 start of a daemon transfer. This suppresses the message-of-the-day (MOTD)
644 text, but it also affects the list of modules that the daemon sends in
645 response to the "rsync host::" request (due to a limitation in the rsync
646 protocol), so omit this option if you want to request the list of modules
649 0. `--ignore-times`, `-I`
651 Normally rsync will skip any files that are already the same size and have
652 the same modification timestamp. This option turns off this "quick check"
653 behavior, causing all files to be updated.
655 This option can be a little confusing compared to `--ignore-existing` and
656 `--ignore-non-existing` in that that they cause rsync to transfer fewer
657 files, while this option causes rsync to transfer more files.
661 This modifies rsync's "quick check" algorithm for finding files that need
662 to be transferred, changing it from the default of transferring files with
663 either a changed size or a changed last-modified time to just looking for
664 files that have changed in size. This is useful when starting to use rsync
665 after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
668 0. `--modify-window=NUM`, `-@`
670 When comparing two timestamps, rsync treats the timestamps as being equal
671 if they differ by no more than the modify-window value. The default is 0,
672 which matches just integer seconds. If you specify a negative value (and
673 the receiver is at least version 3.1.3) then nanoseconds will also be taken
674 into account. Specifying 1 is useful for copies to/from MS Windows FAT
675 filesystems, because FAT represents times with a 2-second resolution
676 (allowing times to differ from the original by up to 1 second).
678 If you want all your transfers to default to comparing nanoseconds, you can
679 create a `~/.popt` file and put these lines in it:
681 > rsync alias -a -a@-1
682 > rsync alias -t -t@-1
684 With that as the default, you'd need to specify `--modify-window=0` (aka
685 `-@0`) to override it and ignore nanoseconds, e.g. if you're copying
686 between ext3 and ext4, or if the receiving rsync is older than 3.1.3.
688 0. `--checksum`, `-c`
690 This changes the way rsync checks if the files have been changed and are in
691 need of a transfer. Without this option, rsync uses a "quick check" that
692 (by default) checks if each file's size and time of last modification match
693 between the sender and receiver. This option changes this to compare a
694 128-bit checksum for each file that has a matching size. Generating the
695 checksums means that both sides will expend a lot of disk I/O reading all
696 the data in the files in the transfer, so this can slow things down
697 significantly (and this is prior to any reading that will be done to
698 transfer changed files)
700 The sending side generates its checksums while it is doing the file-system
701 scan that builds the list of the available files. The receiver generates
702 its checksums when it is scanning for changed files, and will checksum any
703 file that has the same size as the corresponding sender's file: files with
704 either a changed size or a changed checksum are selected for transfer.
706 Note that rsync always verifies that each _transferred_ file was correctly
707 reconstructed on the receiving side by checking a whole-file checksum that
708 is generated as the file is transferred, but that automatic
709 after-the-transfer verification has nothing to do with this option's
710 before-the-transfer "Does this file need to be updated?" check.
712 The checksum used is auto-negotiated between the client and the server, but
713 can be overridden using either the `--checksum-choice` (`--cc`) option or an
714 environment variable that is discussed in that option's section.
718 This is equivalent to `-rlptgoD`. It is a quick way of saying you want
719 recursion and want to preserve almost everything. Be aware that it does
720 **not** include preserving ACLs (`-A`), xattrs (`-X`), atimes (`-U`),
721 crtimes (`-N`), nor the finding and preserving of hardlinks (`-H`).
723 The only exception to the above equivalence is when
724 `--files-from` is specified, in which case `-r` is not implied.
728 You may turn off one or more implied options by prefixing the option name
729 with "no-". Not all options may be prefixed with a "no-": only options that
730 are implied by other options (e.g. `--no-D`, `--no-perms`) or have
731 different defaults in various circumstances (e.g. `--no-whole-file`,
732 `--no-blocking-io`, `--no-dirs`). You may specify either the short or the
733 long option name after the "no-" prefix (e.g. `--no-R` is the same as
736 For example: if you want to use `-a` (`--archive`) but don't want `-o`
737 (`--owner`), instead of converting `-a` into `-rlptgD`, you could specify
738 `-a --no-o` (or `-a --no-owner`).
740 The order of the options is important: if you specify `--no-r -a`, the
741 `-r` option would end up being turned on, the opposite of `-a --no-r`.
742 Note also that the side-effects of the `--files-from` option are NOT
743 positional, as it affects the default state of several options and slightly
744 changes the meaning of `-a` (see the `--files-from` option for more
747 0. `--recursive`, `-r`
749 This tells rsync to copy directories recursively. See also `--dirs` (`-d`).
751 Beginning with rsync 3.0.0, the recursive algorithm used is now an
752 incremental scan that uses much less memory than before and begins the
753 transfer after the scanning of the first few directories have been
754 completed. This incremental scan only affects our recursion algorithm, and
755 does not change a non-recursive transfer. It is also only possible when
756 both ends of the transfer are at least version 3.0.0.
758 Some options require rsync to know the full file list, so these options
759 disable the incremental recursion mode. These include: `--delete-before`,
760 `--delete-after`, `--prune-empty-dirs`, and `--delay-updates`. Because of
761 this, the default delete mode when you specify `--delete` is now
762 `--delete-during` when both ends of the connection are at least 3.0.0 (use
763 `--del` or `--delete-during` to request this improved deletion mode
764 explicitly). See also the `--delete-delay` option that is a better choice
765 than using `--delete-after`.
767 Incremental recursion can be disabled using the `--no-inc-recursive` option
768 or its shorter `--no-i-r` alias.
770 0. `--relative`, `-R`
772 Use relative paths. This means that the full path names specified on the
773 command line are sent to the server rather than just the last parts of the
774 filenames. This is particularly useful when you want to send several
775 different directories at the same time. For example, if you used this
778 > rsync -av /foo/bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/
780 would create a file named baz.c in /tmp/ on the remote machine. If instead
783 > rsync -avR /foo/bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/
785 then a file named /tmp/foo/bar/baz.c would be created on the remote
786 machine, preserving its full path. These extra path elements are called
787 "implied directories" (i.e. the "foo" and the "foo/bar" directories in the
790 Beginning with rsync 3.0.0, rsync always sends these implied directories as
791 real directories in the file list, even if a path element is really a
792 symlink on the sending side. This prevents some really unexpected behaviors
793 when copying the full path of a file that you didn't realize had a symlink
794 in its path. If you want to duplicate a server-side symlink, include both
795 the symlink via its path, and referent directory via its real path. If
796 you're dealing with an older rsync on the sending side, you may need to use
797 the `--no-implied-dirs` option.
799 It is also possible to limit the amount of path information that is sent as
800 implied directories for each path you specify. With a modern rsync on the
801 sending side (beginning with 2.6.7), you can insert a dot and a slash into
802 the source path, like this:
804 > rsync -avR /foo/./bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/
806 That would create /tmp/bar/baz.c on the remote machine. (Note that the dot
807 must be followed by a slash, so "/foo/." would not be abbreviated.) For
808 older rsync versions, you would need to use a chdir to limit the source
809 path. For example, when pushing files:
811 > (cd /foo; rsync -avR bar/baz.c remote:/tmp/)
813 (Note that the parens put the two commands into a sub-shell, so that the
814 "cd" command doesn't remain in effect for future commands.) If you're
815 pulling files from an older rsync, use this idiom (but only for a
816 non-daemon transfer):
818 > rsync -avR --rsync-path="cd /foo; rsync" \
819 > remote:bar/baz.c /tmp/
821 0. `--no-implied-dirs`
823 This option affects the default behavior of the `--relative` option. When
824 it is specified, the attributes of the implied directories from the source
825 names are not included in the transfer. This means that the corresponding
826 path elements on the destination system are left unchanged if they exist,
827 and any missing implied directories are created with default attributes.
828 This even allows these implied path elements to have big differences, such
829 as being a symlink to a directory on the receiving side.
831 For instance, if a command-line arg or a files-from entry told rsync to
832 transfer the file "path/foo/file", the directories "path" and "path/foo"
833 are implied when `--relative` is used. If "path/foo" is a symlink to "bar"
834 on the destination system, the receiving rsync would ordinarily delete
835 "path/foo", recreate it as a directory, and receive the file into the new
836 directory. With `--no-implied-dirs`, the receiving rsync updates
837 "path/foo/file" using the existing path elements, which means that the file
838 ends up being created in "path/bar". Another way to accomplish this link
839 preservation is to use the `--keep-dirlinks` option (which will also affect
840 symlinks to directories in the rest of the transfer).
842 When pulling files from an rsync older than 3.0.0, you may need to use this
843 option if the sending side has a symlink in the path you request and you
844 wish the implied directories to be transferred as normal directories.
848 With this option, preexisting destination files are renamed as each file is
849 transferred or deleted. You can control where the backup file goes and
850 what (if any) suffix gets appended using the `--backup-dir` and `--suffix`
853 Note that if you don't specify `--backup-dir`, (1) the `--omit-dir-times`
854 option will be forced on, and (2) if `--delete` is also in effect (without
855 `--delete-excluded`), rsync will add a "protect" filter-rule for the backup
856 suffix to the end of all your existing excludes (e.g. `-f "P *~"`). This
857 will prevent previously backed-up files from being deleted. Note that if
858 you are supplying your own filter rules, you may need to manually insert
859 your own exclude/protect rule somewhere higher up in the list so that it
860 has a high enough priority to be effective (e.g., if your rules specify a
861 trailing inclusion/exclusion of `*`, the auto-added rule would never be
864 0. `--backup-dir=DIR`
866 This implies the `--backup` option, and tells rsync to store all
867 backups in the specified directory on the receiving side. This can be used
868 for incremental backups. You can additionally specify a backup suffix
869 using the `--suffix` option (otherwise the files backed up in the specified
870 directory will keep their original filenames).
872 Note that if you specify a relative path, the backup directory will be
873 relative to the destination directory, so you probably want to specify
874 either an absolute path or a path that starts with "../". If an rsync
875 daemon is the receiver, the backup dir cannot go outside the module's path
876 hierarchy, so take extra care not to delete it or copy into it.
880 This option allows you to override the default backup suffix used with the
881 `--backup` (`-b`) option. The default suffix is a `~` if no `--backup-dir`
882 was specified, otherwise it is an empty string.
886 This forces rsync to skip any files which exist on the destination and have
887 a modified time that is newer than the source file. (If an existing
888 destination file has a modification time equal to the source file's, it
889 will be updated if the sizes are different.)
891 Note that this does not affect the copying of dirs, symlinks, or other
892 special files. Also, a difference of file format between the sender and
893 receiver is always considered to be important enough for an update, no
894 matter what date is on the objects. In other words, if the source has a
895 directory where the destination has a file, the transfer would occur
896 regardless of the timestamps.
898 This option is a transfer rule, not an exclude, so it doesn't affect the
899 data that goes into the file-lists, and thus it doesn't affect deletions.
900 It just limits the files that the receiver requests to be transferred.
904 This option changes how rsync transfers a file when its data needs to be
905 updated: instead of the default method of creating a new copy of the file
906 and moving it into place when it is complete, rsync instead writes the
907 updated data directly to the destination file.
909 This has several effects:
911 - Hard links are not broken. This means the new data will be visible
912 through other hard links to the destination file. Moreover, attempts to
913 copy differing source files onto a multiply-linked destination file will
914 result in a "tug of war" with the destination data changing back and
916 - In-use binaries cannot be updated (either the OS will prevent this from
917 happening, or binaries that attempt to swap-in their data will misbehave
919 - The file's data will be in an inconsistent state during the transfer and
920 will be left that way if the transfer is interrupted or if an update
922 - A file that rsync cannot write to cannot be updated. While a super user
923 can update any file, a normal user needs to be granted write permission
924 for the open of the file for writing to be successful.
925 - The efficiency of rsync's delta-transfer algorithm may be reduced if some
926 data in the destination file is overwritten before it can be copied to a
927 position later in the file. This does not apply if you use `--backup`,
928 since rsync is smart enough to use the backup file as the basis file for
931 WARNING: you should not use this option to update files that are being
932 accessed by others, so be careful when choosing to use this for a copy.
934 This option is useful for transferring large files with block-based changes
935 or appended data, and also on systems that are disk bound, not network
936 bound. It can also help keep a copy-on-write filesystem snapshot from
937 diverging the entire contents of a file that only has minor changes.
939 The option implies `--partial` (since an interrupted transfer does not
940 delete the file), but conflicts with `--partial-dir` and `--delay-updates`.
941 Prior to rsync 2.6.4 `--inplace` was also incompatible with
942 `--compare-dest` and `--link-dest`.
946 This special copy mode only works to efficiently update files that are
947 known to be growing larger where any existing content on the receiving side
948 is also known to be the same as the content on the sender. The use of
949 `--append` **can be dangerous** if you aren't 100% sure that all the files
950 in the transfer are shared, growing files. You should thus use filter
951 rules to ensure that you weed out any files that do not fit this criteria.
953 Rsync updates these growing file in-place without verifying any of the
954 existing content in the file (it only verifies the content that it is
955 appending). Rsync skips any files that exist on the receiving side that
956 are not shorter than the associated file on the sending side (which means
957 that new files are transferred). It also skips any files whose size on the
958 sending side gets shorter during the send negotiations (rsync warns about a
959 "diminished" file when this happens).
961 This does not interfere with the updating of a file's non-content
962 attributes (e.g. permissions, ownership, etc.) when the file does not need
963 to be transferred, nor does it affect the updating of any directories or
968 This special copy mode works like `--append` except that all the data in
969 the file is included in the checksum verification (making it much less
970 efficient but also potentially safer). This option **can be dangerous** if
971 you aren't 100% sure that all the files in the transfer are shared, growing
972 files. See the `--append` option for more details.
974 Note: prior to rsync 3.0.0, the `--append` option worked like
975 `--append-verify`, so if you are interacting with an older rsync (or the
976 transfer is using a protocol prior to 30), specifying either append option
977 will initiate an `--append-verify` transfer.
981 Tell the sending side to include any directories that are encountered.
982 Unlike `--recursive`, a directory's contents are not copied unless the
983 directory name specified is "." or ends with a trailing slash (e.g. ".",
984 "dir/.", "dir/", etc.). Without this option or the `--recursive` option,
985 rsync will skip all directories it encounters (and output a message to that
986 effect for each one). If you specify both `--dirs` and `--recursive`,
987 `--recursive` takes precedence.
989 The `--dirs` option is implied by the `--files-from` option or the
990 `--list-only` option (including an implied `--list-only` usage) if
991 `--recursive` wasn't specified (so that directories are seen in the
992 listing). Specify `--no-dirs` (or `--no-d`) if you want to turn this off.
994 There is also a backward-compatibility helper option, `--old-dirs` (or
995 `--old-d`) that tells rsync to use a hack of `-r --exclude='/*/*'` to get
996 an older rsync to list a single directory without recursing.
1000 Create a missing path component of the destination arg. This allows rsync
1001 to create multiple levels of missing destination dirs and to create a path
1002 in which to put a single renamed file. Keep in mind that you'll need to
1003 supply a trailing slash if you want the entire destination path to be
1004 treated as a directory when copying a single arg (making rsync behave the
1005 same way that it would if the path component of the destination had already
1008 For example, the following creates a copy of file foo as bar in the sub/dir
1009 directory, creating dirs "sub" and "sub/dir" if either do not yet exist:
1011 > rsync -ai --mkpath foo sub/dir/bar
1013 If you instead ran the following, it would have created file foo in the
1014 sub/dir/bar directory:
1016 > rsync -ai --mkpath foo sub/dir/bar/
1020 When symlinks are encountered, recreate the symlink on the destination.
1022 By default, rsync generates a "non-regular file" warning for each symlink
1023 encountered when this option is not set. You can silence the warning by
1024 specifying ``--info=nonreg0``.
1026 0. `--copy-links`, `-L`
1028 When symlinks are encountered, the item that they point to (the referent)
1029 is copied, rather than the symlink. In older versions of rsync, this
1030 option also had the side-effect of telling the receiving side to follow
1031 symlinks, such as symlinks to directories. In a modern rsync such as this
1032 one, you'll need to specify `--keep-dirlinks` (`-K`) to get this extra
1033 behavior. The only exception is when sending files to an rsync that is too
1034 old to understand `-K` -- in that case, the `-L` option will still have the
1035 side-effect of `-K` on that older receiving rsync.
1037 0. `--copy-unsafe-links`
1039 This tells rsync to copy the referent of symbolic links that point outside
1040 the copied tree. Absolute symlinks are also treated like ordinary files,
1041 and so are any symlinks in the source path itself when `--relative` is
1042 used. This option has no additional effect if `--copy-links` was also
1045 Note that the cut-off point is the top of the transfer, which is the part
1046 of the path that rsync isn't mentioning in the verbose output. If you copy
1047 "/src/subdir" to "/dest/" then the "subdir" directory is a name inside the
1048 transfer tree, not the top of the transfer (which is /src) so it is legal
1049 for created relative symlinks to refer to other names inside the /src and
1050 /dest directories. If you instead copy "/src/subdir/" (with a trailing
1051 slash) to "/dest/subdir" that would not allow symlinks to any files outside
1056 This tells rsync to ignore any symbolic links which point outside the
1057 copied tree. All absolute symlinks are also ignored. Using this option in
1058 conjunction with `--relative` may give unexpected results.
1062 This option tells rsync to (1) modify all symlinks on the receiving side in
1063 a way that makes them unusable but recoverable (see below), or (2) to
1064 unmunge symlinks on the sending side that had been stored in a munged
1065 state. This is useful if you don't quite trust the source of the data to
1066 not try to slip in a symlink to a unexpected place.
1068 The way rsync disables the use of symlinks is to prefix each one with the
1069 string "/rsyncd-munged/". This prevents the links from being used as long
1070 as that directory does not exist. When this option is enabled, rsync will
1071 refuse to run if that path is a directory or a symlink to a directory.
1073 The option only affects the client side of the transfer, so if you need it
1074 to affect the server, specify it via `--remote-option`. (Note that in a
1075 local transfer, the client side is the sender.)
1077 This option has no affect on a daemon, since the daemon configures whether
1078 it wants munged symlinks via its "`munge symlinks`" parameter. See also the
1079 "munge-symlinks" perl script in the support directory of the source code.
1081 0. `--copy-dirlinks`, `-k`
1083 This option causes the sending side to treat a symlink to a directory as
1084 though it were a real directory. This is useful if you don't want symlinks
1085 to non-directories to be affected, as they would be using `--copy-links`.
1087 Without this option, if the sending side has replaced a directory with a
1088 symlink to a directory, the receiving side will delete anything that is in
1089 the way of the new symlink, including a directory hierarchy (as long as
1090 `--force` or `--delete` is in effect).
1092 See also `--keep-dirlinks` for an analogous option for the receiving side.
1094 `--copy-dirlinks` applies to all symlinks to directories in the source. If
1095 you want to follow only a few specified symlinks, a trick you can use is to
1096 pass them as additional source args with a trailing slash, using
1097 `--relative` to make the paths match up right. For example:
1099 > rsync -r --relative src/./ src/./follow-me/ dest/
1101 This works because rsync calls **lstat**(2) on the source arg as given, and
1102 the trailing slash makes **lstat**(2) follow the symlink, giving rise to a
1103 directory in the file-list which overrides the symlink found during the
1106 0. `--keep-dirlinks`, `-K`
1108 This option causes the receiving side to treat a symlink to a directory as
1109 though it were a real directory, but only if it matches a real directory
1110 from the sender. Without this option, the receiver's symlink would be
1111 deleted and replaced with a real directory.
1113 For example, suppose you transfer a directory "foo" that contains a file
1114 "file", but "foo" is a symlink to directory "bar" on the receiver. Without
1115 `--keep-dirlinks`, the receiver deletes symlink "foo", recreates it as a
1116 directory, and receives the file into the new directory. With
1117 `--keep-dirlinks`, the receiver keeps the symlink and "file" ends up in
1120 One note of caution: if you use `--keep-dirlinks`, you must trust all the
1121 symlinks in the copy! If it is possible for an untrusted user to create
1122 their own symlink to any directory, the user could then (on a subsequent
1123 copy) replace the symlink with a real directory and affect the content of
1124 whatever directory the symlink references. For backup copies, you are
1125 better off using something like a bind mount instead of a symlink to modify
1126 your receiving hierarchy.
1128 See also `--copy-dirlinks` for an analogous option for the sending side.
1130 0. `--hard-links`, `-H`
1132 This tells rsync to look for hard-linked files in the source and link
1133 together the corresponding files on the destination. Without this option,
1134 hard-linked files in the source are treated as though they were separate
1137 This option does NOT necessarily ensure that the pattern of hard links on
1138 the destination exactly matches that on the source. Cases in which the
1139 destination may end up with extra hard links include the following:
1141 - If the destination contains extraneous hard-links (more linking than what
1142 is present in the source file list), the copying algorithm will not break
1143 them explicitly. However, if one or more of the paths have content
1144 differences, the normal file-update process will break those extra links
1145 (unless you are using the `--inplace` option).
1146 - If you specify a `--link-dest` directory that contains hard links, the
1147 linking of the destination files against the `--link-dest` files can
1148 cause some paths in the destination to become linked together due to the
1149 `--link-dest` associations.
1151 Note that rsync can only detect hard links between files that are inside
1152 the transfer set. If rsync updates a file that has extra hard-link
1153 connections to files outside the transfer, that linkage will be broken. If
1154 you are tempted to use the `--inplace` option to avoid this breakage, be
1155 very careful that you know how your files are being updated so that you are
1156 certain that no unintended changes happen due to lingering hard links (and
1157 see the `--inplace` option for more caveats).
1159 If incremental recursion is active (see `--recursive`), rsync may transfer
1160 a missing hard-linked file before it finds that another link for that
1161 contents exists elsewhere in the hierarchy. This does not affect the
1162 accuracy of the transfer (i.e. which files are hard-linked together), just
1163 its efficiency (i.e. copying the data for a new, early copy of a
1164 hard-linked file that could have been found later in the transfer in
1165 another member of the hard-linked set of files). One way to avoid this
1166 inefficiency is to disable incremental recursion using the
1167 `--no-inc-recursive` option.
1171 This option causes the receiving rsync to set the destination permissions
1172 to be the same as the source permissions. (See also the `--chmod` option
1173 for a way to modify what rsync considers to be the source permissions.)
1175 When this option is _off_, permissions are set as follows:
1177 - Existing files (including updated files) retain their existing
1178 permissions, though the `--executability` option might change just the
1179 execute permission for the file.
1180 - New files get their "normal" permission bits set to the source file's
1181 permissions masked with the receiving directory's default permissions
1182 (either the receiving process's umask, or the permissions specified via
1183 the destination directory's default ACL), and their special permission
1184 bits disabled except in the case where a new directory inherits a setgid
1185 bit from its parent directory.
1187 Thus, when `--perms` and `--executability` are both disabled, rsync's
1188 behavior is the same as that of other file-copy utilities, such as **cp**(1)
1191 In summary: to give destination files (both old and new) the source
1192 permissions, use `--perms`. To give new files the destination-default
1193 permissions (while leaving existing files unchanged), make sure that the
1194 `--perms` option is off and use `--chmod=ugo=rwX` (which ensures that all
1195 non-masked bits get enabled). If you'd care to make this latter behavior
1196 easier to type, you could define a popt alias for it, such as putting this
1197 line in the file `~/.popt` (the following defines the `-Z` option, and
1198 includes `--no-g` to use the default group of the destination dir):
1200 > rsync alias -Z --no-p --no-g --chmod=ugo=rwX
1202 You could then use this new option in a command such as this one:
1204 > rsync -avZ src/ dest/
1206 (Caveat: make sure that `-a` does not follow `-Z`, or it will re-enable the
1207 two `--no-*` options mentioned above.)
1209 The preservation of the destination's setgid bit on newly-created
1210 directories when `--perms` is off was added in rsync 2.6.7. Older rsync
1211 versions erroneously preserved the three special permission bits for
1212 newly-created files when `--perms` was off, while overriding the
1213 destination's setgid bit setting on a newly-created directory. Default ACL
1214 observance was added to the ACL patch for rsync 2.6.7, so older (or
1215 non-ACL-enabled) rsyncs use the umask even if default ACLs are present.
1216 (Keep in mind that it is the version of the receiving rsync that affects
1219 0. `--executability`, `-E`
1221 This option causes rsync to preserve the executability (or
1222 non-executability) of regular files when `--perms` is not enabled. A
1223 regular file is considered to be executable if at least one 'x' is turned
1224 on in its permissions. When an existing destination file's executability
1225 differs from that of the corresponding source file, rsync modifies the
1226 destination file's permissions as follows:
1228 - To make a file non-executable, rsync turns off all its 'x' permissions.
1229 - To make a file executable, rsync turns on each 'x' permission that has a
1230 corresponding 'r' permission enabled.
1232 If `--perms` is enabled, this option is ignored.
1236 This option causes rsync to update the destination ACLs to be the same as
1237 the source ACLs. The option also implies `--perms`.
1239 The source and destination systems must have compatible ACL entries for
1240 this option to work properly. See the `--fake-super` option for a way to
1241 backup and restore ACLs that are not compatible.
1245 This option causes rsync to update the destination extended attributes to
1246 be the same as the source ones.
1248 For systems that support extended-attribute namespaces, a copy being done
1249 by a super-user copies all namespaces except system.\*. A normal user only
1250 copies the user.\* namespace. To be able to backup and restore non-user
1251 namespaces as a normal user, see the `--fake-super` option.
1253 The above name filtering can be overridden by using one or more filter
1254 options with the **x** modifier. When you specify an xattr-affecting
1255 filter rule, rsync requires that you do your own system/user filtering, as
1256 well as any additional filtering for what xattr names are copied and what
1257 names are allowed to be deleted. For example, to skip the system
1258 namespace, you could specify:
1260 > --filter='-x system.*'
1262 To skip all namespaces except the user namespace, you could specify a
1265 > --filter='-x! user.*'
1267 To prevent any attributes from being deleted, you could specify a
1268 receiver-only rule that excludes all names:
1272 Note that the `-X` option does not copy rsync's special xattr values (e.g.
1273 those used by `--fake-super`) unless you repeat the option (e.g. `-XX`).
1274 This "copy all xattrs" mode cannot be used with `--fake-super`.
1278 This option tells rsync to apply one or more comma-separated "chmod" modes
1279 to the permission of the files in the transfer. The resulting value is
1280 treated as though it were the permissions that the sending side supplied
1281 for the file, which means that this option can seem to have no effect on
1282 existing files if `--perms` is not enabled.
1284 In addition to the normal parsing rules specified in the **chmod**(1)
1285 manpage, you can specify an item that should only apply to a directory by
1286 prefixing it with a 'D', or specify an item that should only apply to a
1287 file by prefixing it with a 'F'. For example, the following will ensure
1288 that all directories get marked set-gid, that no files are other-writable,
1289 that both are user-writable and group-writable, and that both have
1290 consistent executability across all bits:
1292 > --chmod=Dg+s,ug+w,Fo-w,+X
1294 Using octal mode numbers is also allowed:
1296 > --chmod=D2775,F664
1298 It is also legal to specify multiple `--chmod` options, as each additional
1299 option is just appended to the list of changes to make.
1301 See the `--perms` and `--executability` options for how the resulting
1302 permission value can be applied to the files in the transfer.
1306 This option causes rsync to set the owner of the destination file to be the
1307 same as the source file, but only if the receiving rsync is being run as
1308 the super-user (see also the `--super` and `--fake-super` options). Without
1309 this option, the owner of new and/or transferred files are set to the
1310 invoking user on the receiving side.
1312 The preservation of ownership will associate matching names by default, but
1313 may fall back to using the ID number in some circumstances (see also the
1314 `--numeric-ids` option for a full discussion).
1318 This option causes rsync to set the group of the destination file to be the
1319 same as the source file. If the receiving program is not running as the
1320 super-user (or if `--no-super` was specified), only groups that the
1321 invoking user on the receiving side is a member of will be preserved.
1322 Without this option, the group is set to the default group of the invoking
1323 user on the receiving side.
1325 The preservation of group information will associate matching names by
1326 default, but may fall back to using the ID number in some circumstances
1327 (see also the `--numeric-ids` option for a full discussion).
1331 This option causes rsync to transfer character and block device files to
1332 the remote system to recreate these devices. If the receiving rsync is not
1333 being run as the super-user, rsync silently skips creating the device files
1334 (see also the `--super` and `--fake-super` options).
1336 By default, rsync generates a "non-regular file" warning for each device
1337 file encountered when this option is not set. You can silence the warning
1338 by specifying ``--info=nonreg0``.
1342 This option causes rsync to transfer special files, such as named sockets
1343 and fifos. If the receiving rsync is not being run as the super-user,
1344 rsync silently skips creating the special files (see also the `--super` and
1345 `--fake-super` options).
1347 By default, rsync generates a "non-regular file" warning for each special
1348 file encountered when this option is not set. You can silence the warning
1349 by specifying ``--info=nonreg0``.
1353 The `-D` option is equivalent to `--devices --specials`.
1355 0. `--write-devices`
1357 This tells rsync to treat a device on the receiving side as a regular file,
1358 allowing the writing of file data into a device.
1360 This option implies the `--inplace` option.
1362 Be careful using this, as you should know what devices are present on the
1363 receiving side of the transfer, especially if running rsync as root.
1365 This option is refused by an rsync daemon.
1369 This tells rsync to transfer modification times along with the files and
1370 update them on the remote system. Note that if this option is not used,
1371 the optimization that excludes files that have not been modified cannot be
1372 effective; in other words, a missing `-t` or `-a` will cause the next
1373 transfer to behave as if it used `-I`, causing all files to be updated
1374 (though rsync's delta-transfer algorithm will make the update fairly
1375 efficient if the files haven't actually changed, you're much better off
1380 This tells rsync to set the access (use) times of the destination files to
1381 the same value as the source files.
1383 If repeated, it also sets the `--open-noatime` option, which can help you
1384 to make the sending and receiving systems have the same access times on the
1385 transferred files without needing to run rsync an extra time after a file
1388 Note that some older rsync versions (prior to 3.2.0) may have been built
1389 with a pre-release `--atimes` patch that does not imply `--open-noatime`
1390 when this option is repeated.
1394 This tells rsync to open files with the O_NOATIME flag (on systems that
1395 support it) to avoid changing the access time of the files that are being
1396 transferred. If your OS does not support the O_NOATIME flag then rsync
1397 will silently ignore this option. Note also that some filesystems are
1398 mounted to avoid updating the atime on read access even without the
1399 O_NOATIME flag being set.
1401 0. `--crtimes`, `-N,`
1403 This tells rsync to set the create times (newness) of the destination
1404 files to the same value as the source files.
1406 0. `--omit-dir-times`, `-O`
1408 This tells rsync to omit directories when it is preserving modification,
1409 access, and create times. If NFS is sharing the directories on the receiving
1410 side, it is a good idea to use `-O`. This option is inferred if you use
1411 `--backup` without `--backup-dir`.
1413 This option also has the side-effect of avoiding early creation of
1414 directories in incremental recursion copies. The default `--inc-recursive`
1415 copying normally does an early-create pass of all the sub-directories in a
1416 parent directory in order for it to be able to then set the modify time of
1417 the parent directory right away (without having to delay that until a bunch
1418 of recursive copying has finished). This early-create idiom is not
1419 necessary if directory modify times are not being preserved, so it is
1420 skipped. Since early-create directories don't have accurate mode, mtime,
1421 or ownership, the use of this option can help when someone wants to avoid
1422 these partially-finished directories.
1424 0. `--omit-link-times`, `-J`
1426 This tells rsync to omit symlinks when it is preserving modification,
1427 access, and create times.
1431 This tells the receiving side to attempt super-user activities even if the
1432 receiving rsync wasn't run by the super-user. These activities include:
1433 preserving users via the `--owner` option, preserving all groups (not just
1434 the current user's groups) via the `--group` option, and copying devices
1435 via the `--devices` option. This is useful for systems that allow such
1436 activities without being the super-user, and also for ensuring that you
1437 will get errors if the receiving side isn't being run as the super-user.
1438 To turn off super-user activities, the super-user can use `--no-super`.
1442 When this option is enabled, rsync simulates super-user activities by
1443 saving/restoring the privileged attributes via special extended attributes
1444 that are attached to each file (as needed). This includes the file's owner
1445 and group (if it is not the default), the file's device info (device &
1446 special files are created as empty text files), and any permission bits
1447 that we won't allow to be set on the real file (e.g. the real file gets
1448 u-s,g-s,o-t for safety) or that would limit the owner's access (since the
1449 real super-user can always access/change a file, the files we create can
1450 always be accessed/changed by the creating user). This option also handles
1451 ACLs (if `--acls` was specified) and non-user extended attributes (if
1452 `--xattrs` was specified).
1454 This is a good way to backup data without using a super-user, and to store
1455 ACLs from incompatible systems.
1457 The `--fake-super` option only affects the side where the option is used.
1458 To affect the remote side of a remote-shell connection, use the
1459 `--remote-option` (`-M`) option:
1461 > rsync -av -M--fake-super /src/ host:/dest/
1463 For a local copy, this option affects both the source and the destination.
1464 If you wish a local copy to enable this option just for the destination
1465 files, specify `-M--fake-super`. If you wish a local copy to enable this
1466 option just for the source files, combine `--fake-super` with `-M--super`.
1468 This option is overridden by both `--super` and `--no-super`.
1470 See also the "`fake super`" setting in the daemon's rsyncd.conf file.
1474 Try to handle sparse files efficiently so they take up less space on the
1475 destination. If combined with `--inplace` the file created might not end
1476 up with sparse blocks with some combinations of kernel version and/or
1477 filesystem type. If `--whole-file` is in effect (e.g. for a local copy)
1478 then it will always work because rsync truncates the file prior to writing
1479 out the updated version.
1481 Note that versions of rsync older than 3.1.3 will reject the combination of
1482 `--sparse` and `--inplace`.
1486 This tells the receiver to allocate each destination file to its eventual
1487 size before writing data to the file. Rsync will only use the real
1488 filesystem-level preallocation support provided by Linux's **fallocate**(2)
1489 system call or Cygwin's **posix_fallocate**(3), not the slow glibc
1490 implementation that writes a null byte into each block.
1492 Without this option, larger files may not be entirely contiguous on the
1493 filesystem, but with this option rsync will probably copy more slowly. If
1494 the destination is not an extent-supporting filesystem (such as ext4, xfs,
1495 NTFS, etc.), this option may have no positive effect at all.
1497 If combined with `--sparse`, the file will only have sparse blocks (as
1498 opposed to allocated sequences of null bytes) if the kernel version and
1499 filesystem type support creating holes in the allocated data.
1501 0. `--dry-run`, `-n`
1503 This makes rsync perform a trial run that doesn't make any changes (and
1504 produces mostly the same output as a real run). It is most commonly used
1505 in combination with the `--verbose`, `-v` and/or `--itemize-changes`, `-i`
1506 options to see what an rsync command is going to do before one actually
1509 The output of `--itemize-changes` is supposed to be exactly the same on a
1510 dry run and a subsequent real run (barring intentional trickery and system
1511 call failures); if it isn't, that's a bug. Other output should be mostly
1512 unchanged, but may differ in some areas. Notably, a dry run does not send
1513 the actual data for file transfers, so `--progress` has no effect, the
1514 "bytes sent", "bytes received", "literal data", and "matched data"
1515 statistics are too small, and the "speedup" value is equivalent to a run
1516 where no file transfers were needed.
1518 0. `--whole-file`, `-W`
1520 This option disables rsync's delta-transfer algorithm, which causes all
1521 transferred files to be sent whole. The transfer may be faster if this
1522 option is used when the bandwidth between the source and destination
1523 machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the "disk"
1524 is actually a networked filesystem). This is the default when both the
1525 source and destination are specified as local paths, but only if no
1526 batch-writing option is in effect.
1528 0. `--checksum-choice=STR`, `--cc=STR`
1530 This option overrides the checksum algorithms. If one algorithm name is
1531 specified, it is used for both the transfer checksums and (assuming
1532 `--checksum` is specified) the pre-transfer checksums. If two
1533 comma-separated names are supplied, the first name affects the transfer
1534 checksums, and the second name affects the pre-transfer checksums (`-c`).
1536 The checksum options that you may be able to use are:
1538 - `auto` (the default automatic choice)
1541 - `xxh64` (aka `xxhash`)
1546 Run `rsync --version` to see the default checksum list compiled into your
1547 version (which may differ from the list above).
1549 If "none" is specified for the first (or only) name, the `--whole-file`
1550 option is forced on and no checksum verification is performed on the
1551 transferred data. If "none" is specified for the second (or only) name,
1552 the `--checksum` option cannot be used.
1554 The "auto" option is the default, where rsync bases its algorithm choice on
1555 a negotiation between the client and the server as follows:
1557 When both sides of the transfer are at least 3.2.0, rsync chooses the first
1558 algorithm in the client's list of choices that is also in the server's list
1559 of choices. If no common checksum choice is found, rsync exits with
1560 an error. If the remote rsync is too old to support checksum negotiation,
1561 a value is chosen based on the protocol version (which chooses between MD5
1562 and various flavors of MD4 based on protocol age).
1564 The default order can be customized by setting the environment variable
1565 RSYNC_CHECKSUM_LIST to a space-separated list of acceptable checksum names.
1566 If the string contains a "`&`" character, it is separated into the "client
1567 string & server string", otherwise the same string
1568 applies to both. If the string (or string portion) contains no
1569 non-whitespace characters, the default checksum list is used. This method
1570 does not allow you to specify the transfer checksum separately from the
1571 pre-transfer checksum, and it discards "auto" and all unknown checksum
1572 names. A list with only invalid names results in a failed negotiation.
1574 The use of the `--checksum-choice` option overrides this environment list.
1576 0. `--one-file-system`, `-x`
1578 This tells rsync to avoid crossing a filesystem boundary when recursing.
1579 This does not limit the user's ability to specify items to copy from
1580 multiple filesystems, just rsync's recursion through the hierarchy of each
1581 directory that the user specified, and also the analogous recursion on the
1582 receiving side during deletion. Also keep in mind that rsync treats a
1583 "bind" mount to the same device as being on the same filesystem.
1585 If this option is repeated, rsync omits all mount-point directories from
1586 the copy. Otherwise, it includes an empty directory at each mount-point it
1587 encounters (using the attributes of the mounted directory because those of
1588 the underlying mount-point directory are inaccessible).
1590 If rsync has been told to collapse symlinks (via `--copy-links` or
1591 `--copy-unsafe-links`), a symlink to a directory on another device is
1592 treated like a mount-point. Symlinks to non-directories are unaffected by
1595 0. `--existing`, `--ignore-non-existing`
1597 This tells rsync to skip creating files (including directories) that do not
1598 exist yet on the destination. If this option is combined with the
1599 `--ignore-existing` option, no files will be updated (which can be useful
1600 if all you want to do is delete extraneous files).
1602 This option is a transfer rule, not an exclude, so it doesn't affect the
1603 data that goes into the file-lists, and thus it doesn't affect deletions.
1604 It just limits the files that the receiver requests to be transferred.
1606 0. `--ignore-existing`
1608 This tells rsync to skip updating files that already exist on the
1609 destination (this does _not_ ignore existing directories, or nothing would
1610 get done). See also `--existing`.
1612 This option is a transfer rule, not an exclude, so it doesn't affect the
1613 data that goes into the file-lists, and thus it doesn't affect deletions.
1614 It just limits the files that the receiver requests to be transferred.
1616 This option can be useful for those doing backups using the `--link-dest`
1617 option when they need to continue a backup run that got interrupted. Since
1618 a `--link-dest` run is copied into a new directory hierarchy (when it is
1619 used properly), using `--ignore-existing` will ensure that the
1620 already-handled files don't get tweaked (which avoids a change in
1621 permissions on the hard-linked files). This does mean that this option is
1622 only looking at the existing files in the destination hierarchy itself.
1624 When `--info=skip2` is used rsync will output "FILENAME exists (INFO)"
1625 messages where the INFO indicates one of "type change", "sum change"
1626 (requires `-c`), "file change" (based on the quick check), "attr change",
1627 or "uptodate". Using `--info=skip1` (which is also implied by `-vv`)
1628 outputs the exists message without the INFO suffix.
1630 0. `--remove-source-files`
1632 This tells rsync to remove from the sending side the files (meaning
1633 non-directories) that are a part of the transfer and have been successfully
1634 duplicated on the receiving side.
1636 Note that you should only use this option on source files that are
1637 quiescent. If you are using this to move files that show up in a
1638 particular directory over to another host, make sure that the finished
1639 files get renamed into the source directory, not directly written into it,
1640 so that rsync can't possibly transfer a file that is not yet fully written.
1641 If you can't first write the files into a different directory, you should
1642 use a naming idiom that lets rsync avoid transferring files that are not
1643 yet finished (e.g. name the file "foo.new" when it is written, rename it to
1644 "foo" when it is done, and then use the option `--exclude='*.new'` for the
1647 Starting with 3.1.0, rsync will skip the sender-side removal (and output an
1648 error) if the file's size or modify time has not stayed unchanged.
1652 This tells rsync to delete extraneous files from the receiving side (ones
1653 that aren't on the sending side), but only for the directories that are
1654 being synchronized. You must have asked rsync to send the whole directory
1655 (e.g. "`dir`" or "`dir/`") without using a wildcard for the directory's
1656 contents (e.g. "`dir/*`") since the wildcard is expanded by the shell and
1657 rsync thus gets a request to transfer individual files, not the files'
1658 parent directory. Files that are excluded from the transfer are also
1659 excluded from being deleted unless you use the `--delete-excluded` option
1660 or mark the rules as only matching on the sending side (see the
1661 include/exclude modifiers in the FILTER RULES section).
1663 Prior to rsync 2.6.7, this option would have no effect unless `--recursive`
1664 was enabled. Beginning with 2.6.7, deletions will also occur when `--dirs`
1665 (`-d`) is enabled, but only for directories whose contents are being
1668 This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea to
1669 first try a run using the `--dry-run` option (`-n`) to see what files are
1670 going to be deleted.
1672 If the sending side detects any I/O errors, then the deletion of any files
1673 at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to prevent
1674 temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the sending side from
1675 causing a massive deletion of files on the destination. You can override
1676 this with the `--ignore-errors` option.
1678 The `--delete` option may be combined with one of the --delete-WHEN options
1679 without conflict, as well as `--delete-excluded`. However, if none of the
1680 `--delete-WHEN` options are specified, rsync will choose the
1681 `--delete-during` algorithm when talking to rsync 3.0.0 or newer, and the
1682 `--delete-before` algorithm when talking to an older rsync. See also
1683 `--delete-delay` and `--delete-after`.
1685 0. `--delete-before`
1687 Request that the file-deletions on the receiving side be done before the
1688 transfer starts. See `--delete` (which is implied) for more details on
1691 Deleting before the transfer is helpful if the filesystem is tight for
1692 space and removing extraneous files would help to make the transfer
1693 possible. However, it does introduce a delay before the start of the
1694 transfer, and this delay might cause the transfer to timeout (if
1695 `--timeout` was specified). It also forces rsync to use the old,
1696 non-incremental recursion algorithm that requires rsync to scan all the
1697 files in the transfer into memory at once (see `--recursive`).
1699 0. `--delete-during`, `--del`
1701 Request that the file-deletions on the receiving side be done incrementally
1702 as the transfer happens. The per-directory delete scan is done right
1703 before each directory is checked for updates, so it behaves like a more
1704 efficient `--delete-before`, including doing the deletions prior to any
1705 per-directory filter files being updated. This option was first added in
1706 rsync version 2.6.4. See `--delete` (which is implied) for more details on
1711 Request that the file-deletions on the receiving side be computed during
1712 the transfer (like `--delete-during`), and then removed after the transfer
1713 completes. This is useful when combined with `--delay-updates` and/or
1714 `--fuzzy`, and is more efficient than using `--delete-after` (but can
1715 behave differently, since `--delete-after` computes the deletions in a
1716 separate pass after all updates are done). If the number of removed files
1717 overflows an internal buffer, a temporary file will be created on the
1718 receiving side to hold the names (it is removed while open, so you
1719 shouldn't see it during the transfer). If the creation of the temporary
1720 file fails, rsync will try to fall back to using `--delete-after` (which it
1721 cannot do if `--recursive` is doing an incremental scan). See `--delete`
1722 (which is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
1726 Request that the file-deletions on the receiving side be done after the
1727 transfer has completed. This is useful if you are sending new
1728 per-directory merge files as a part of the transfer and you want their
1729 exclusions to take effect for the delete phase of the current transfer. It
1730 also forces rsync to use the old, non-incremental recursion algorithm that
1731 requires rsync to scan all the files in the transfer into memory at once
1732 (see `--recursive`). See `--delete` (which is implied) for more details on
1735 0. `--delete-excluded`
1737 In addition to deleting the files on the receiving side that are not on the
1738 sending side, this tells rsync to also delete any files on the receiving
1739 side that are excluded (see `--exclude`). See the FILTER RULES section for
1740 a way to make individual exclusions behave this way on the receiver, and
1741 for a way to protect files from `--delete-excluded`. See `--delete` (which
1742 is implied) for more details on file-deletion.
1744 0. `--ignore-missing-args`
1746 When rsync is first processing the explicitly requested source files (e.g.
1747 command-line arguments or `--files-from` entries), it is normally an error
1748 if the file cannot be found. This option suppresses that error, and does
1749 not try to transfer the file. This does not affect subsequent
1750 vanished-file errors if a file was initially found to be present and later
1753 0. `--delete-missing-args`
1755 This option takes the behavior of (the implied) `--ignore-missing-args`
1756 option a step farther: each missing arg will become a deletion request of
1757 the corresponding destination file on the receiving side (should it exist).
1758 If the destination file is a non-empty directory, it will only be
1759 successfully deleted if `--force` or `--delete` are in effect. Other than
1760 that, this option is independent of any other type of delete processing.
1762 The missing source files are represented by special file-list entries which
1763 display as a "`*missing`" entry in the `--list-only` output.
1765 0. `--ignore-errors`
1767 Tells `--delete` to go ahead and delete files even when there are I/O
1772 This option tells rsync to delete a non-empty directory when it is to be
1773 replaced by a non-directory. This is only relevant if deletions are not
1774 active (see `--delete` for details).
1776 Note for older rsync versions: `--force` used to still be required when
1777 using `--delete-after`, and it used to be non-functional unless the
1778 `--recursive` option was also enabled.
1780 0. `--max-delete=NUM`
1782 This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM files or directories. If that
1783 limit is exceeded, all further deletions are skipped through the end of the
1784 transfer. At the end, rsync outputs a warning (including a count of the
1785 skipped deletions) and exits with an error code of 25 (unless some more
1786 important error condition also occurred).
1788 Beginning with version 3.0.0, you may specify `--max-delete=0` to be warned
1789 about any extraneous files in the destination without removing any of them.
1790 Older clients interpreted this as "unlimited", so if you don't know what
1791 version the client is, you can use the less obvious `--max-delete=-1` as a
1792 backward-compatible way to specify that no deletions be allowed (though
1793 really old versions didn't warn when the limit was exceeded).
1795 0. `--max-size=SIZE`
1797 This tells rsync to avoid transferring any file that is larger than the
1798 specified SIZE. A numeric value can be suffixed with a string to indicate
1799 the numeric units or left unqualified to specify bytes. Feel free to use a
1800 fractional value along with the units, such as `--max-size=1.5m`.
1802 This option is a transfer rule, not an exclude, so it doesn't affect the
1803 data that goes into the file-lists, and thus it doesn't affect deletions.
1804 It just limits the files that the receiver requests to be transferred.
1806 The first letter of a units string can be `B` (bytes), `K` (kilo), `M`
1807 (mega), `G` (giga), `T` (tera), or `P` (peta). If the string is a single
1808 char or has "ib" added to it (e.g. "G" or "GiB") then the units are
1809 multiples of 1024. If you use a two-letter suffix that ends with a "B"
1810 (e.g. "kb") then you get units that are multiples of 1000. The string's
1811 letters can be any mix of upper and lower-case that you want to use.
1813 Finally, if the string ends with either "+1" or "-1", it is offset by one
1814 byte in the indicated direction. The largest possible value is usually
1817 Examples: `--max-size=1.5mb-1` is 1499999 bytes, and `--max-size=2g+1` is
1820 Note that rsync versions prior to 3.1.0 did not allow `--max-size=0`.
1822 0. `--min-size=SIZE`
1824 This tells rsync to avoid transferring any file that is smaller than the
1825 specified SIZE, which can help in not transferring small, junk files. See
1826 the `--max-size` option for a description of SIZE and other information.
1828 Note that rsync versions prior to 3.1.0 did not allow `--min-size=0`.
1830 0. `--max-alloc=SIZE`
1832 By default rsync limits an individual malloc/realloc to about 1GB in size.
1833 For most people this limit works just fine and prevents a protocol error
1834 causing rsync to request massive amounts of memory. However, if you have
1835 many millions of files in a transfer, a large amount of server memory, and
1836 you don't want to split up your transfer into multiple parts, you can
1837 increase the per-allocation limit to something larger and rsync will
1838 consume more memory.
1840 Keep in mind that this is not a limit on the total size of allocated
1841 memory. It is a sanity-check value for each individual allocation.
1843 See the `--max-size` option for a description of how SIZE can be specified.
1844 The default suffix if none is given is bytes.
1846 Beginning in 3.2.3, a value of 0 specifies no limit.
1848 You can set a default value using the environment variable RSYNC_MAX_ALLOC
1849 using the same SIZE values as supported by this option. If the remote
1850 rsync doesn't understand the `--max-alloc` option, you can override an
1851 environmental value by specifying `--max-alloc=1g`, which will make rsync
1852 avoid sending the option to the remote side (because "1G" is the default).
1854 0. `--block-size=SIZE`, `-B`
1856 This forces the block size used in rsync's delta-transfer algorithm to a
1857 fixed value. It is normally selected based on the size of each file being
1858 updated. See the technical report for details.
1860 Beginning in 3.2.3 the SIZE can be specified with a suffix as detailed in
1861 the `--max-size` option. Older versions only accepted a byte count.
1863 0. `--rsh=COMMAND`, `-e`
1865 This option allows you to choose an alternative remote shell program to use
1866 for communication between the local and remote copies of rsync. Typically,
1867 rsync is configured to use ssh by default, but you may prefer to use rsh on
1870 If this option is used with `[user@]host::module/path`, then the remote
1871 shell _COMMAND_ will be used to run an rsync daemon on the remote host, and
1872 all data will be transmitted through that remote shell connection, rather
1873 than through a direct socket connection to a running rsync daemon on the
1874 remote host. See the section "USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A
1875 REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION" above.
1877 Beginning with rsync 3.2.0, the RSYNC_PORT environment variable will be set
1878 when a daemon connection is being made via a remote-shell connection. It
1879 is set to 0 if the default daemon port is being assumed, or it is set to
1880 the value of the rsync port that was specified via either the `--port`
1881 option or a non-empty port value in an rsync:// URL. This allows the
1882 script to discern if a non-default port is being requested, allowing for
1883 things such as an SSL or stunnel helper script to connect to a default or
1886 Command-line arguments are permitted in COMMAND provided that COMMAND is
1887 presented to rsync as a single argument. You must use spaces (not tabs or
1888 other whitespace) to separate the command and args from each other, and you
1889 can use single- and/or double-quotes to preserve spaces in an argument (but
1890 not backslashes). Note that doubling a single-quote inside a single-quoted
1891 string gives you a single-quote; likewise for double-quotes (though you
1892 need to pay attention to which quotes your shell is parsing and which
1893 quotes rsync is parsing). Some examples:
1896 > -e 'ssh -o "ProxyCommand nohup ssh firewall nc -w1 %h %p"'
1898 (Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect
1899 options in their .ssh/config file.)
1901 You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
1902 environment variable, which accepts the same range of values as `-e`.
1904 See also the `--blocking-io` option which is affected by this option.
1906 0. `--rsync-path=PROGRAM`
1908 Use this to specify what program is to be run on the remote machine to
1909 start-up rsync. Often used when rsync is not in the default remote-shell's
1910 path (e.g. `--rsync-path=/usr/local/bin/rsync`). Note that PROGRAM is run
1911 with the help of a shell, so it can be any program, script, or command
1912 sequence you'd care to run, so long as it does not corrupt the standard-in
1913 & standard-out that rsync is using to communicate.
1915 One tricky example is to set a different default directory on the remote
1916 machine for use with the `--relative` option. For instance:
1918 > rsync -avR --rsync-path="cd /a/b && rsync" host:c/d /e/
1920 0. `--remote-option=OPTION`, `-M`
1922 This option is used for more advanced situations where you want certain
1923 effects to be limited to one side of the transfer only. For instance, if
1924 you want to pass `--log-file=FILE` and `--fake-super` to the remote system,
1925 specify it like this:
1927 > rsync -av -M --log-file=foo -M--fake-super src/ dest/
1929 If you want to have an option affect only the local side of a transfer when
1930 it normally affects both sides, send its negation to the remote side. Like
1933 > rsync -av -x -M--no-x src/ dest/
1935 Be cautious using this, as it is possible to toggle an option that will
1936 cause rsync to have a different idea about what data to expect next over
1937 the socket, and that will make it fail in a cryptic fashion.
1939 Note that it is best to use a separate `--remote-option` for each option
1940 you want to pass. This makes your usage compatible with the
1941 `--protect-args` option. If that option is off, any spaces in your remote
1942 options will be split by the remote shell unless you take steps to protect
1945 When performing a local transfer, the "local" side is the sender and the
1946 "remote" side is the receiver.
1948 Note some versions of the popt option-parsing library have a bug in them
1949 that prevents you from using an adjacent arg with an equal in it next to a
1950 short option letter (e.g. `-M--log-file=/tmp/foo`). If this bug affects
1951 your version of popt, you can use the version of popt that is included with
1954 0. `--cvs-exclude`, `-C`
1956 This is a useful shorthand for excluding a broad range of files that you
1957 often don't want to transfer between systems. It uses a similar algorithm
1958 to CVS to determine if a file should be ignored.
1960 The exclude list is initialized to exclude the following items (these
1961 initial items are marked as perishable -- see the FILTER RULES section):
1963 [comment]: # (This list gets used for the default-cvsignore.h file.)
2002 then, files listed in a $HOME/.cvsignore are added to the list and any
2003 files listed in the CVSIGNORE environment variable (all cvsignore names are
2004 delimited by whitespace).
2006 Finally, any file is ignored if it is in the same directory as a .cvsignore
2007 file and matches one of the patterns listed therein. Unlike rsync's
2008 filter/exclude files, these patterns are split on whitespace. See the
2009 **cvs**(1) manual for more information.
2011 If you're combining `-C` with your own `--filter` rules, you should note
2012 that these CVS excludes are appended at the end of your own rules,
2013 regardless of where the `-C` was placed on the command-line. This makes
2014 them a lower priority than any rules you specified explicitly. If you want
2015 to control where these CVS excludes get inserted into your filter rules,
2016 you should omit the `-C` as a command-line option and use a combination of
2017 `--filter=:C` and `--filter=-C` (either on your command-line or by putting
2018 the ":C" and "-C" rules into a filter file with your other rules). The
2019 first option turns on the per-directory scanning for the .cvsignore file.
2020 The second option does a one-time import of the CVS excludes mentioned
2023 0. `--filter=RULE`, `-f`
2025 This option allows you to add rules to selectively exclude certain files
2026 from the list of files to be transferred. This is most useful in
2027 combination with a recursive transfer.
2029 You may use as many `--filter` options on the command line as you like to
2030 build up the list of files to exclude. If the filter contains whitespace,
2031 be sure to quote it so that the shell gives the rule to rsync as a single
2032 argument. The text below also mentions that you can use an underscore to
2033 replace the space that separates a rule from its arg.
2035 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
2039 The `-F` option is a shorthand for adding two `--filter` rules to your
2040 command. The first time it is used is a shorthand for this rule:
2042 > --filter='dir-merge /.rsync-filter'
2044 This tells rsync to look for per-directory .rsync-filter files that have
2045 been sprinkled through the hierarchy and use their rules to filter the
2046 files in the transfer. If `-F` is repeated, it is a shorthand for this
2049 > --filter='exclude .rsync-filter'
2051 This filters out the .rsync-filter files themselves from the transfer.
2053 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on how these options
2056 0. `--exclude=PATTERN`
2058 This option is a simplified form of the `--filter` option that defaults to
2059 an exclude rule and does not allow the full rule-parsing syntax of normal
2062 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
2064 0. `--exclude-from=FILE`
2066 This option is related to the `--exclude` option, but it specifies a FILE
2067 that contains exclude patterns (one per line). Blank lines in the file are
2068 ignored, as are whole-line comments that start with '`;`' or '`#`'
2069 (filename rules that contain those characters are unaffected).
2071 If _FILE_ is '`-`', the list will be read from standard input.
2073 0. `--include=PATTERN`
2075 This option is a simplified form of the `--filter` option that defaults to
2076 an include rule and does not allow the full rule-parsing syntax of normal
2079 See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.
2081 0. `--include-from=FILE`
2083 This option is related to the `--include` option, but it specifies a FILE
2084 that contains include patterns (one per line). Blank lines in the file are
2085 ignored, as are whole-line comments that start with '`;`' or '`#`'
2086 (filename rules that contain those characters are unaffected).
2088 If _FILE_ is '`-`', the list will be read from standard input.
2090 0. `--files-from=FILE`
2092 Using this option allows you to specify the exact list of files to transfer
2093 (as read from the specified FILE or '`-`' for standard input). It also
2094 tweaks the default behavior of rsync to make transferring just the
2095 specified files and directories easier:
2097 - The `--relative` (`-R`) option is implied, which preserves the path
2098 information that is specified for each item in the file (use
2099 `--no-relative` or `--no-R` if you want to turn that off).
2100 - The `--dirs` (`-d`) option is implied, which will create directories
2101 specified in the list on the destination rather than noisily skipping
2102 them (use `--no-dirs` or `--no-d` if you want to turn that off).
2103 - The `--archive` (`-a`) option's behavior does not imply `--recursive`
2104 (`-r`), so specify it explicitly, if you want it.
2105 - These side-effects change the default state of rsync, so the position of
2106 the `--files-from` option on the command-line has no bearing on how other
2107 options are parsed (e.g. `-a` works the same before or after
2108 `--files-from`, as does `--no-R` and all other options).
2110 The filenames that are read from the FILE are all relative to the source
2111 dir -- any leading slashes are removed and no ".." references are allowed
2112 to go higher than the source dir. For example, take this command:
2114 > rsync -a --files-from=/tmp/foo /usr remote:/backup
2116 If /tmp/foo contains the string "bin" (or even "/bin"), the /usr/bin
2117 directory will be created as /backup/bin on the remote host. If it
2118 contains "bin/" (note the trailing slash), the immediate contents of the
2119 directory would also be sent (without needing to be explicitly mentioned in
2120 the file -- this began in version 2.6.4). In both cases, if the `-r`
2121 option was enabled, that dir's entire hierarchy would also be transferred
2122 (keep in mind that `-r` needs to be specified explicitly with
2123 `--files-from`, since it is not implied by `-a`). Also note that the
2124 effect of the (enabled by default) `--relative` option is to duplicate only
2125 the path info that is read from the file -- it does not force the
2126 duplication of the source-spec path (/usr in this case).
2128 In addition, the `--files-from` file can be read from the remote host
2129 instead of the local host if you specify a "host:" in front of the file
2130 (the host must match one end of the transfer). As a short-cut, you can
2131 specify just a prefix of ":" to mean "use the remote end of the transfer".
2134 > rsync -a --files-from=:/path/file-list src:/ /tmp/copy
2136 This would copy all the files specified in the /path/file-list file that
2137 was located on the remote "src" host.
2139 If the `--iconv` and `--protect-args` options are specified and the
2140 `--files-from` filenames are being sent from one host to another, the
2141 filenames will be translated from the sending host's charset to the
2142 receiving host's charset.
2144 NOTE: sorting the list of files in the `--files-from` input helps rsync to
2145 be more efficient, as it will avoid re-visiting the path elements that are
2146 shared between adjacent entries. If the input is not sorted, some path
2147 elements (implied directories) may end up being scanned multiple times, and
2148 rsync will eventually unduplicate them after they get turned into file-list
2153 This tells rsync that the rules/filenames it reads from a file are
2154 terminated by a null ('\\0') character, not a NL, CR, or CR+LF. This
2155 affects `--exclude-from`, `--include-from`, `--files-from`, and any merged
2156 files specified in a `--filter` rule. It does not affect `--cvs-exclude`
2157 (since all names read from a .cvsignore file are split on whitespace).
2159 0. `--protect-args`, `-s`
2161 This option sends all filenames and most options to the remote rsync
2162 without allowing the remote shell to interpret them. This means that
2163 spaces are not split in names, and any non-wildcard special characters are
2164 not translated (such as `~`, `$`, `;`, `&`, etc.). Wildcards are expanded
2165 on the remote host by rsync (instead of the shell doing it).
2167 If you use this option with `--iconv`, the args related to the remote side
2168 will also be translated from the local to the remote character-set. The
2169 translation happens before wild-cards are expanded. See also the
2170 `--files-from` option.
2172 You may also control this option via the RSYNC_PROTECT_ARGS environment
2173 variable. If this variable has a non-zero value, this option will be
2174 enabled by default, otherwise it will be disabled by default. Either state
2175 is overridden by a manually specified positive or negative version of this
2176 option (note that `--no-s` and `--no-protect-args` are the negative
2177 versions). Since this option was first introduced in 3.0.0, you'll need to
2178 make sure it's disabled if you ever need to interact with a remote rsync
2179 that is older than that.
2181 Rsync can also be configured (at build time) to have this option enabled by
2182 default (with is overridden by both the environment and the command-line).
2183 Run `rsync --version` to check if this is the case, as it will display
2184 "default protect-args" or "optional protect-args" depending on how it was
2187 This option will eventually become a new default setting at some
2188 as-yet-undetermined point in the future.
2190 0. `--copy-as=USER[:GROUP]`
2192 This option instructs rsync to use the USER and (if specified after a
2193 colon) the GROUP for the copy operations. This only works if the user that
2194 is running rsync has the ability to change users. If the group is not
2195 specified then the user's default groups are used.
2197 This option can help to reduce the risk of an rsync being run as root into
2198 or out of a directory that might have live changes happening to it and you
2199 want to make sure that root-level read or write actions of system files are
2200 not possible. While you could alternatively run all of rsync as the
2201 specified user, sometimes you need the root-level host-access credentials
2202 to be used, so this allows rsync to drop root for the copying part of the
2203 operation after the remote-shell or daemon connection is established.
2205 The option only affects one side of the transfer unless the transfer is
2206 local, in which case it affects both sides. Use the `--remote-option` to
2207 affect the remote side, such as `-M--copy-as=joe`. For a local transfer,
2208 the lsh (or lsh.sh) support file provides a local-shell helper script that
2209 can be used to allow a "localhost:" or "lh:" host-spec to be specified
2210 without needing to setup any remote shells, allowing you to specify remote
2211 options that affect the side of the transfer that is using the host-spec
2212 (and using hostname "lh" avoids the overriding of the remote directory to
2213 the user's home dir).
2215 For example, the following rsync writes the local files as user "joe":
2217 > sudo rsync -aiv --copy-as=joe host1:backups/joe/ /home/joe/
2219 This makes all files owned by user "joe", limits the groups to those that
2220 are available to that user, and makes it impossible for the joe user to do
2221 a timed exploit of the path to induce a change to a file that the joe user
2222 has no permissions to change.
2224 The following command does a local copy into the "dest/" dir as user "joe"
2225 (assuming you've installed support/lsh into a dir on your $PATH):
2227 > sudo rsync -aive lsh -M--copy-as=joe src/ lh:dest/
2229 0. `--temp-dir=DIR`, `-T`
2231 This option instructs rsync to use DIR as a scratch directory when creating
2232 temporary copies of the files transferred on the receiving side. The
2233 default behavior is to create each temporary file in the same directory as
2234 the associated destination file. Beginning with rsync 3.1.1, the temp-file
2235 names inside the specified DIR will not be prefixed with an extra dot
2236 (though they will still have a random suffix added).
2238 This option is most often used when the receiving disk partition does not
2239 have enough free space to hold a copy of the largest file in the transfer.
2240 In this case (i.e. when the scratch directory is on a different disk
2241 partition), rsync will not be able to rename each received temporary file
2242 over the top of the associated destination file, but instead must copy it
2243 into place. Rsync does this by copying the file over the top of the
2244 destination file, which means that the destination file will contain
2245 truncated data during this copy. If this were not done this way (even if
2246 the destination file were first removed, the data locally copied to a
2247 temporary file in the destination directory, and then renamed into place)
2248 it would be possible for the old file to continue taking up disk space (if
2249 someone had it open), and thus there might not be enough room to fit the
2250 new version on the disk at the same time.
2252 If you are using this option for reasons other than a shortage of disk
2253 space, you may wish to combine it with the `--delay-updates` option, which
2254 will ensure that all copied files get put into subdirectories in the
2255 destination hierarchy, awaiting the end of the transfer. If you don't have
2256 enough room to duplicate all the arriving files on the destination
2257 partition, another way to tell rsync that you aren't overly concerned about
2258 disk space is to use the `--partial-dir` option with a relative path;
2259 because this tells rsync that it is OK to stash off a copy of a single file
2260 in a subdir in the destination hierarchy, rsync will use the partial-dir as
2261 a staging area to bring over the copied file, and then rename it into place
2262 from there. (Specifying a `--partial-dir` with an absolute path does not
2263 have this side-effect.)
2267 This option tells rsync that it should look for a basis file for any
2268 destination file that is missing. The current algorithm looks in the same
2269 directory as the destination file for either a file that has an identical
2270 size and modified-time, or a similarly-named file. If found, rsync uses
2271 the fuzzy basis file to try to speed up the transfer.
2273 If the option is repeated, the fuzzy scan will also be done in any matching
2274 alternate destination directories that are specified via `--compare-dest`,
2275 `--copy-dest`, or `--link-dest`.
2277 Note that the use of the `--delete` option might get rid of any potential
2278 fuzzy-match files, so either use `--delete-after` or specify some filename
2279 exclusions if you need to prevent this.
2281 0. `--compare-dest=DIR`
2283 This option instructs rsync to use _DIR_ on the destination machine as an
2284 additional hierarchy to compare destination files against doing transfers
2285 (if the files are missing in the destination directory). If a file is
2286 found in _DIR_ that is identical to the sender's file, the file will NOT be
2287 transferred to the destination directory. This is useful for creating a
2288 sparse backup of just files that have changed from an earlier backup. This
2289 option is typically used to copy into an empty (or newly created)
2292 Beginning in version 2.6.4, multiple `--compare-dest` directories may be
2293 provided, which will cause rsync to search the list in the order specified
2294 for an exact match. If a match is found that differs only in attributes, a
2295 local copy is made and the attributes updated. If a match is not found, a
2296 basis file from one of the _DIRs_ will be selected to try to speed up the
2299 If _DIR_ is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
2300 See also `--copy-dest` and `--link-dest`.
2302 NOTE: beginning with version 3.1.0, rsync will remove a file from a
2303 non-empty destination hierarchy if an exact match is found in one of the
2304 compare-dest hierarchies (making the end result more closely match a fresh
2307 0. `--copy-dest=DIR`
2309 This option behaves like `--compare-dest`, but rsync will also copy
2310 unchanged files found in _DIR_ to the destination directory using a local
2311 copy. This is useful for doing transfers to a new destination while
2312 leaving existing files intact, and then doing a flash-cutover when all
2313 files have been successfully transferred.
2315 Multiple `--copy-dest` directories may be provided, which will cause rsync
2316 to search the list in the order specified for an unchanged file. If a
2317 match is not found, a basis file from one of the _DIRs_ will be selected to
2318 try to speed up the transfer.
2320 If _DIR_ is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
2321 See also `--compare-dest` and `--link-dest`.
2323 0. `--link-dest=DIR`
2325 This option behaves like `--copy-dest`, but unchanged files are hard linked
2326 from _DIR_ to the destination directory. The files must be identical in
2327 all preserved attributes (e.g. permissions, possibly ownership) in order
2328 for the files to be linked together. An example:
2330 > rsync -av --link-dest=$PWD/prior_dir host:src_dir/ new_dir/
2332 If files aren't linking, double-check their attributes. Also check if
2333 some attributes are getting forced outside of rsync's control, such a mount
2334 option that squishes root to a single user, or mounts a removable drive
2335 with generic ownership (such as OS X's "Ignore ownership on this volume"
2338 Beginning in version 2.6.4, multiple `--link-dest` directories may be
2339 provided, which will cause rsync to search the list in the order specified
2340 for an exact match (there is a limit of 20 such directories). If a match
2341 is found that differs only in attributes, a local copy is made and the
2342 attributes updated. If a match is not found, a basis file from one of the
2343 _DIRs_ will be selected to try to speed up the transfer.
2345 This option works best when copying into an empty destination hierarchy, as
2346 existing files may get their attributes tweaked, and that can affect
2347 alternate destination files via hard-links. Also, itemizing of changes can
2348 get a bit muddled. Note that prior to version 3.1.0, an
2349 alternate-directory exact match would never be found (nor linked into the
2350 destination) when a destination file already exists.
2352 Note that if you combine this option with `--ignore-times`, rsync will not
2353 link any files together because it only links identical files together as a
2354 substitute for transferring the file, never as an additional check after
2355 the file is updated.
2357 If _DIR_ is a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
2358 See also `--compare-dest` and `--copy-dest`.
2360 Note that rsync versions prior to 2.6.1 had a bug that could prevent
2361 `--link-dest` from working properly for a non-super-user when `-o` was
2362 specified (or implied by `-a`). You can work-around this bug by avoiding
2363 the `-o` option when sending to an old rsync.
2365 0. `--compress`, `-z`
2367 With this option, rsync compresses the file data as it is sent to the
2368 destination machine, which reduces the amount of data being transmitted --
2369 something that is useful over a slow connection.
2371 Rsync supports multiple compression methods and will choose one for you
2372 unless you force the choice using the `--compress-choice` (`--zc`) option.
2374 Run `rsync --version` to see the default compress list compiled into your
2377 When both sides of the transfer are at least 3.2.0, rsync chooses the first
2378 algorithm in the client's list of choices that is also in the server's list
2379 of choices. If no common compress choice is found, rsync exits with
2380 an error. If the remote rsync is too old to support checksum negotiation,
2381 its list is assumed to be "zlib".
2383 The default order can be customized by setting the environment variable
2384 RSYNC_COMPRESS_LIST to a space-separated list of acceptable compression
2385 names. If the string contains a "`&`" character, it is separated into the
2386 "client string & server string", otherwise the same string applies to both.
2387 If the string (or string portion) contains no
2388 non-whitespace characters, the default compress list is used. Any unknown
2389 compression names are discarded from the list, but a list with only invalid
2390 names results in a failed negotiation.
2392 There are some older rsync versions that were configured to reject a `-z`
2393 option and require the use of `-zz` because their compression library was
2394 not compatible with the default zlib compression method. You can usually
2395 ignore this weirdness unless the rsync server complains and tells you to
2398 0. `--compress-choice=STR`, `--zc=STR`
2400 This option can be used to override the automatic negotiation of the
2401 compression algorithm that occurs when `--compress` is used. The option
2402 implies `--compress` unless "none" was specified, which instead implies
2405 The compression options that you may be able to use are:
2413 Run `rsync --version` to see the default compress list compiled into your
2414 version (which may differ from the list above).
2416 Note that if you see an error about an option named `--old-compress` or
2417 `--new-compress`, this is rsync trying to send the `--compress-choice=zlib`
2418 or `--compress-choice=zlibx` option in a backward-compatible manner that
2419 more rsync versions understand. This error indicates that the older rsync
2420 version on the server will not allow you to force the compression type.
2422 Note that the "zlibx" compression algorithm is just the "zlib" algorithm
2423 with matched data excluded from the compression stream (to try to make it
2424 more compatible with an external zlib implementation).
2426 0. `--compress-level=NUM`, `--zl=NUM`
2428 Explicitly set the compression level to use (see `--compress`, `-z`)
2429 instead of letting it default. The `--compress` option is implied as long
2430 as the level chosen is not a "don't compress" level for the compression
2431 algorithm that is in effect (e.g. zlib compression treats level 0 as
2434 The level values vary depending on the checksum in effect. Because rsync
2435 will negotiate a checksum choice by default (when the remote rsync is new
2436 enough), it can be good to combine this option with a `--compress-choice`
2437 (`--zc`) option unless you're sure of the choice in effect. For example:
2439 > rsync -aiv --zc=zstd --zl=22 host:src/ dest/
2441 For zlib & zlibx compression the valid values are from 1 to 9 with 6 being
2442 the default. Specifying `--zl=0` turns compression off, and specifying
2443 `--zl=-1` chooses the default level of 6.
2445 For zstd compression the valid values are from -131072 to 22 with 3 being
2446 the default. Specifying 0 chooses the default of 3.
2448 For lz4 compression there are no levels, so the value is always 0.
2450 If you specify a too-large or too-small value, the number is silently
2451 limited to a valid value. This allows you to specify something like
2452 `--zl=999999999` and be assured that you'll end up with the maximum
2453 compression level no matter what algorithm was chosen.
2455 If you want to know the compression level that is in effect, specify
2456 `--debug=nstr` to see the "negotiated string" results. This will report
2457 something like "`Client compress: zstd (level 3)`" (along with the checksum
2460 0. `--skip-compress=LIST`
2462 **NOTE:** no compression method currently supports per-file compression
2463 changes, so this option has no effect.
2465 Override the list of file suffixes that will be compressed as little as
2466 possible. Rsync sets the compression level on a per-file basis based on
2467 the file's suffix. If the compression algorithm has an "off" level, then
2468 no compression occurs for those files. Other algorithms that support
2469 changing the streaming level on-the-fly will have the level minimized to
2470 reduces the CPU usage as much as possible for a matching file.
2472 The **LIST** should be one or more file suffixes (without the dot) separated
2473 by slashes (`/`). You may specify an empty string to indicate that no files
2476 Simple character-class matching is supported: each must consist of a list
2477 of letters inside the square brackets (e.g. no special classes, such as
2478 "[:alpha:]", are supported, and '-' has no special meaning).
2480 The characters asterisk (`*`) and question-mark (`?`) have no special meaning.
2482 Here's an example that specifies 6 suffixes to skip (since 1 of the 5 rules
2483 matches 2 suffixes):
2485 > --skip-compress=gz/jpg/mp[34]/7z/bz2
2487 The default file suffixes in the skip-compress list in this version of
2490 [comment]: # (This list gets used for the default-dont-compress.h file.)
2589 This list will be replaced by your `--skip-compress` list in all but one
2590 situation: a copy from a daemon rsync will add your skipped suffixes to its
2591 list of non-compressing files (and its list may be configured to a
2596 With this option rsync will transfer numeric group and user IDs rather than
2597 using user and group names and mapping them at both ends.
2599 By default rsync will use the username and groupname to determine what
2600 ownership to give files. The special uid 0 and the special group 0 are
2601 never mapped via user/group names even if the `--numeric-ids` option is not
2604 If a user or group has no name on the source system or it has no match on
2605 the destination system, then the numeric ID from the source system is used
2606 instead. See also the comments on the "`use chroot`" setting in the
2607 rsyncd.conf manpage for information on how the chroot setting affects
2608 rsync's ability to look up the names of the users and groups and what you
2611 0. `--usermap=STRING`, `--groupmap=STRING`
2613 These options allow you to specify users and groups that should be mapped
2614 to other values by the receiving side. The **STRING** is one or more
2615 **FROM**:**TO** pairs of values separated by commas. Any matching **FROM**
2616 value from the sender is replaced with a **TO** value from the receiver.
2617 You may specify usernames or user IDs for the **FROM** and **TO** values,
2618 and the **FROM** value may also be a wild-card string, which will be
2619 matched against the sender's names (wild-cards do NOT match against ID
2620 numbers, though see below for why a '`*`' matches everything). You may
2621 instead specify a range of ID numbers via an inclusive range: LOW-HIGH.
2624 > --usermap=0-99:nobody,wayne:admin,*:normal --groupmap=usr:1,1:usr
2626 The first match in the list is the one that is used. You should specify
2627 all your user mappings using a single `--usermap` option, and/or all your
2628 group mappings using a single `--groupmap` option.
2630 Note that the sender's name for the 0 user and group are not transmitted to
2631 the receiver, so you should either match these values using a 0, or use the
2632 names in effect on the receiving side (typically "root"). All other
2633 **FROM** names match those in use on the sending side. All **TO** names
2634 match those in use on the receiving side.
2636 Any IDs that do not have a name on the sending side are treated as having
2637 an empty name for the purpose of matching. This allows them to be matched
2638 via a "`*`" or using an empty name. For instance:
2640 > --usermap=:nobody --groupmap=*:nobody
2642 When the `--numeric-ids` option is used, the sender does not send any
2643 names, so all the IDs are treated as having an empty name. This means that
2644 you will need to specify numeric **FROM** values if you want to map these
2645 nameless IDs to different values.
2647 For the `--usermap` option to have any effect, the `-o` (`--owner`) option
2648 must be used (or implied), and the receiver will need to be running as a
2649 super-user (see also the `--fake-super` option). For the `--groupmap`
2650 option to have any effect, the `-g` (`--group`) option must be used (or
2651 implied), and the receiver will need to have permissions to set that group.
2653 The `--usermap` option implies the `--owner` option while the `--groupmap`
2654 option implies the `--group` option.
2656 If your shell complains about the wildcards, use `--protect-args` (`-s`).
2658 0. `--chown=USER:GROUP`
2660 This option forces all files to be owned by USER with group GROUP. This is
2661 a simpler interface than using `--usermap` and `--groupmap` directly, but
2662 it is implemented using those options internally, so you cannot mix them.
2663 If either the USER or GROUP is empty, no mapping for the omitted user/group
2664 will occur. If GROUP is empty, the trailing colon may be omitted, but if
2665 USER is empty, a leading colon must be supplied.
2667 If you specify "`--chown=foo:bar`", this is exactly the same as specifying
2668 "`--usermap=*:foo --groupmap=*:bar`", only easier (with the same implied
2669 `--owner` and/or `--group` option).
2671 If your shell complains about the wildcards, use `--protect-args` (`-s`).
2673 0. `--timeout=SECONDS`
2675 This option allows you to set a maximum I/O timeout in seconds. If no data
2676 is transferred for the specified time then rsync will exit. The default is
2677 0, which means no timeout.
2679 0. `--contimeout=SECONDS`
2681 This option allows you to set the amount of time that rsync will wait for
2682 its connection to an rsync daemon to succeed. If the timeout is reached,
2683 rsync exits with an error.
2685 0. `--address=ADDRESS`
2687 By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address when connecting to an
2688 rsync daemon. The `--address` option allows you to specify a specific IP
2689 address (or hostname) to bind to. See also this option in the `--daemon`
2694 This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use rather than the default
2695 of 873. This is only needed if you are using the double-colon (::) syntax
2696 to connect with an rsync daemon (since the URL syntax has a way to specify
2697 the port as a part of the URL). See also this option in the `--daemon`
2700 0. `--sockopts=OPTIONS`
2702 This option can provide endless fun for people who like to tune their
2703 systems to the utmost degree. You can set all sorts of socket options
2704 which may make transfers faster (or slower!). Read the man page for the
2705 `setsockopt()` system call for details on some of the options you may be
2706 able to set. By default no special socket options are set. This only
2707 affects direct socket connections to a remote rsync daemon.
2709 This option also exists in the `--daemon` mode section.
2713 This tells rsync to use blocking I/O when launching a remote shell
2714 transport. If the remote shell is either rsh or remsh, rsync defaults to
2715 using blocking I/O, otherwise it defaults to using non-blocking I/O. (Note
2716 that ssh prefers non-blocking I/O.)
2720 This sets the output buffering mode. The mode can be None (aka
2721 Unbuffered), Line, or Block (aka Full). You may specify as little as a
2722 single letter for the mode, and use upper or lower case.
2724 The main use of this option is to change Full buffering to Line buffering
2725 when rsync's output is going to a file or pipe.
2727 0. `--itemize-changes`, `-i`
2729 Requests a simple itemized list of the changes that are being made to each
2730 file, including attribute changes. This is exactly the same as specifying
2731 `--out-format='%i %n%L'`. If you repeat the option, unchanged files will
2732 also be output, but only if the receiving rsync is at least version 2.6.7
2733 (you can use `-vv` with older versions of rsync, but that also turns on the
2734 output of other verbose messages).
2736 The "%i" escape has a cryptic output that is 11 letters long. The general
2737 format is like the string `YXcstpoguax`, where **Y** is replaced by the type
2738 of update being done, **X** is replaced by the file-type, and the other
2739 letters represent attributes that may be output if they are being modified.
2741 The update types that replace the **Y** are as follows:
2743 - A `<` means that a file is being transferred to the remote host (sent).
2744 - A `>` means that a file is being transferred to the local host
2746 - A `c` means that a local change/creation is occurring for the item (such
2747 as the creation of a directory or the changing of a symlink, etc.).
2748 - A `h` means that the item is a hard link to another item (requires
2750 - A `.` means that the item is not being updated (though it might have
2751 attributes that are being modified).
2752 - A `*` means that the rest of the itemized-output area contains a message
2755 The file-types that replace the **X** are: `f` for a file, a `d` for a
2756 directory, an `L` for a symlink, a `D` for a device, and a `S` for a
2757 special file (e.g. named sockets and fifos).
2759 The other letters in the string indicate if some attributes of the file
2760 have changed, as follows:
2762 - "`.`" - the attribute is unchanged.
2763 - "`+`" - the file is newly created.
2764 - "`Â `" - all the attributes are unchanged (all dots turn to spaces).
2765 - "`?`" - the change is unknown (when the remote rsync is old).
2766 - A letter indicates an attribute is being updated.
2768 The attribute that is associated with each letter is as follows:
2770 - A `c` means either that a regular file has a different checksum (requires
2771 `--checksum`) or that a symlink, device, or special file has a changed
2772 value. Note that if you are sending files to an rsync prior to 3.0.1,
2773 this change flag will be present only for checksum-differing regular
2775 - A `s` means the size of a regular file is different and will be updated
2776 by the file transfer.
2777 - A `t` means the modification time is different and is being updated to
2778 the sender's value (requires `--times`). An alternate value of `T` means
2779 that the modification time will be set to the transfer time, which
2780 happens when a file/symlink/device is updated without `--times` and when
2781 a symlink is changed and the receiver can't set its time. (Note: when
2782 using an rsync 3.0.0 client, you might see the `s` flag combined with `t`
2783 instead of the proper `T` flag for this time-setting failure.)
2784 - A `p` means the permissions are different and are being updated to the
2785 sender's value (requires `--perms`).
2786 - An `o` means the owner is different and is being updated to the sender's
2787 value (requires `--owner` and super-user privileges).
2788 - A `g` means the group is different and is being updated to the sender's
2789 value (requires `--group` and the authority to set the group).
2790 - A `u`|`n`|`b` indicates the following information: `u` means the access
2791 (use) time is different and is being updated to the sender's value
2792 (requires `--atimes`); `n` means the create time (newness) is different
2793 and is being updated to the sender's value (requires `--crtimes`); `b`
2794 means that both the access and create times are being updated.
2795 - The `a` means that the ACL information is being changed.
2796 - The `x` means that the extended attribute information is being changed.
2798 One other output is possible: when deleting files, the "%i" will output the
2799 string "`*deleting`" for each item that is being removed (assuming that you
2800 are talking to a recent enough rsync that it logs deletions instead of
2801 outputting them as a verbose message).
2803 0. `--out-format=FORMAT`
2805 This allows you to specify exactly what the rsync client outputs to the
2806 user on a per-update basis. The format is a text string containing
2807 embedded single-character escape sequences prefixed with a percent (%)
2808 character. A default format of "%n%L" is assumed if either `--info=name`
2809 or `-v` is specified (this tells you just the name of the file and, if the
2810 item is a link, where it points). For a full list of the possible escape
2811 characters, see the "`log format`" setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
2813 Specifying the `--out-format` option implies the `--info=name` option,
2814 which will mention each file, dir, etc. that gets updated in a significant
2815 way (a transferred file, a recreated symlink/device, or a touched
2816 directory). In addition, if the itemize-changes escape (%i) is included in
2817 the string (e.g. if the `--itemize-changes` option was used), the logging
2818 of names increases to mention any item that is changed in any way (as long
2819 as the receiving side is at least 2.6.4). See the `--itemize-changes`
2820 option for a description of the output of "%i".
2822 Rsync will output the out-format string prior to a file's transfer unless
2823 one of the transfer-statistic escapes is requested, in which case the
2824 logging is done at the end of the file's transfer. When this late logging
2825 is in effect and `--progress` is also specified, rsync will also output the
2826 name of the file being transferred prior to its progress information
2827 (followed, of course, by the out-format output).
2829 0. `--log-file=FILE`
2831 This option causes rsync to log what it is doing to a file. This is
2832 similar to the logging that a daemon does, but can be requested for the
2833 client side and/or the server side of a non-daemon transfer. If specified
2834 as a client option, transfer logging will be enabled with a default format
2835 of "%i %n%L". See the `--log-file-format` option if you wish to override
2838 Here's a example command that requests the remote side to log what is
2841 > rsync -av --remote-option=--log-file=/tmp/rlog src/ dest/
2843 This is very useful if you need to debug why a connection is closing
2846 0. `--log-file-format=FORMAT`
2848 This allows you to specify exactly what per-update logging is put into the
2849 file specified by the `--log-file` option (which must also be specified for
2850 this option to have any effect). If you specify an empty string, updated
2851 files will not be mentioned in the log file. For a list of the possible
2852 escape characters, see the "`log format`" setting in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
2854 The default FORMAT used if `--log-file` is specified and this option is not
2859 This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics on the file transfer,
2860 allowing you to tell how effective rsync's delta-transfer algorithm is for
2861 your data. This option is equivalent to `--info=stats2` if combined with 0
2862 or 1 `-v` options, or `--info=stats3` if combined with 2 or more `-v`
2865 The current statistics are as follows:
2867 - `Number of files` is the count of all "files" (in the generic sense),
2868 which includes directories, symlinks, etc. The total count will be
2869 followed by a list of counts by filetype (if the total is non-zero). For
2870 example: "(reg: 5, dir: 3, link: 2, dev: 1, special: 1)" lists the totals
2871 for regular files, directories, symlinks, devices, and special files. If
2872 any of value is 0, it is completely omitted from the list.
2873 - `Number of created files` is the count of how many "files" (generic
2874 sense) were created (as opposed to updated). The total count will be
2875 followed by a list of counts by filetype (if the total is non-zero).
2876 - `Number of deleted files` is the count of how many "files" (generic
2877 sense) were deleted. The total count will be
2878 followed by a list of counts by filetype (if the total is non-zero).
2879 Note that this line is only output if deletions are in effect, and only
2880 if protocol 31 is being used (the default for rsync 3.1.x).
2881 - `Number of regular files transferred` is the count of normal files that
2882 were updated via rsync's delta-transfer algorithm, which does not include
2883 dirs, symlinks, etc. Note that rsync 3.1.0 added the word "regular" into
2885 - `Total file size` is the total sum of all file sizes in the transfer.
2886 This does not count any size for directories or special files, but does
2887 include the size of symlinks.
2888 - `Total transferred file size` is the total sum of all files sizes for
2889 just the transferred files.
2890 - `Literal data` is how much unmatched file-update data we had to send to
2891 the receiver for it to recreate the updated files.
2892 - `Matched data` is how much data the receiver got locally when recreating
2894 - `File list size` is how big the file-list data was when the sender sent
2895 it to the receiver. This is smaller than the in-memory size for the file
2896 list due to some compressing of duplicated data when rsync sends the
2898 - `File list generation time` is the number of seconds that the sender
2899 spent creating the file list. This requires a modern rsync on the
2900 sending side for this to be present.
2901 - `File list transfer time` is the number of seconds that the sender spent
2902 sending the file list to the receiver.
2903 - `Total bytes sent` is the count of all the bytes that rsync sent from the
2904 client side to the server side.
2905 - `Total bytes received` is the count of all non-message bytes that rsync
2906 received by the client side from the server side. "Non-message" bytes
2907 means that we don't count the bytes for a verbose message that the server
2908 sent to us, which makes the stats more consistent.
2910 0. `--8-bit-output`, `-8`
2912 This tells rsync to leave all high-bit characters unescaped in the output
2913 instead of trying to test them to see if they're valid in the current
2914 locale and escaping the invalid ones. All control characters (but never
2915 tabs) are always escaped, regardless of this option's setting.
2917 The escape idiom that started in 2.6.7 is to output a literal backslash
2918 (`\`) and a hash (`#`), followed by exactly 3 octal digits. For example, a
2919 newline would output as "`\#012`". A literal backslash that is in a
2920 filename is not escaped unless it is followed by a hash and 3 digits (0-9).
2922 0. `--human-readable`, `-h`
2924 Output numbers in a more human-readable format. There are 3 possible
2925 levels: (1) output numbers with a separator between each set of 3 digits
2926 (either a comma or a period, depending on if the decimal point is
2927 represented by a period or a comma); (2) output numbers in units of 1000
2928 (with a character suffix for larger units -- see below); (3) output
2929 numbers in units of 1024.
2931 The default is human-readable level 1. Each `-h` option increases the
2932 level by one. You can take the level down to 0 (to output numbers as pure
2933 digits) by specifying the `--no-human-readable` (`--no-h`) option.
2935 The unit letters that are appended in levels 2 and 3 are: `K` (kilo), `M`
2936 (mega), `G` (giga), `T` (tera), or `P` (peta). For example, a 1234567-byte
2937 file would output as 1.23M in level-2 (assuming that a period is your local
2940 Backward compatibility note: versions of rsync prior to 3.1.0 do not
2941 support human-readable level 1, and they default to level 0. Thus,
2942 specifying one or two `-h` options will behave in a comparable manner in
2943 old and new versions as long as you didn't specify a `--no-h` option prior
2944 to one or more `-h` options. See the `--list-only` option for one
2949 By default, rsync will delete any partially transferred file if the
2950 transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances it is more desirable to
2951 keep partially transferred files. Using the `--partial` option tells rsync
2952 to keep the partial file which should make a subsequent transfer of the
2953 rest of the file much faster.
2955 0. `--partial-dir=DIR`
2957 A better way to keep partial files than the `--partial` option is to
2958 specify a _DIR_ that will be used to hold the partial data (instead of
2959 writing it out to the destination file). On the next transfer, rsync will
2960 use a file found in this dir as data to speed up the resumption of the
2961 transfer and then delete it after it has served its purpose.
2963 Note that if `--whole-file` is specified (or implied), any partial-dir file
2964 that is found for a file that is being updated will simply be removed
2965 (since rsync is sending files without using rsync's delta-transfer
2968 Rsync will create the _DIR_ if it is missing (just the last dir -- not the
2969 whole path). This makes it easy to use a relative path (such as
2970 "`--partial-dir=.rsync-partial`") to have rsync create the
2971 partial-directory in the destination file's directory when needed, and then
2972 remove it again when the partial file is deleted. Note that the directory
2973 is only removed if it is a relative pathname, as it is expected that an
2974 absolute path is to a directory that is reserved for partial-dir work.
2976 If the partial-dir value is not an absolute path, rsync will add an exclude
2977 rule at the end of all your existing excludes. This will prevent the
2978 sending of any partial-dir files that may exist on the sending side, and
2979 will also prevent the untimely deletion of partial-dir items on the
2980 receiving side. An example: the above `--partial-dir` option would add the
2981 equivalent of "`-f '-p .rsync-partial/'`" at the end of any other filter
2984 If you are supplying your own exclude rules, you may need to add your own
2985 exclude/hide/protect rule for the partial-dir because (1) the auto-added
2986 rule may be ineffective at the end of your other rules, or (2) you may wish
2987 to override rsync's exclude choice. For instance, if you want to make
2988 rsync clean-up any left-over partial-dirs that may be lying around, you
2989 should specify `--delete-after` and add a "risk" filter rule, e.g.
2990 `-f 'R .rsync-partial/'`. (Avoid using `--delete-before` or
2991 `--delete-during` unless you don't need rsync to use any of the left-over
2992 partial-dir data during the current run.)
2994 IMPORTANT: the `--partial-dir` should not be writable by other users or it
2995 is a security risk. E.g. AVOID "/tmp".
2997 You can also set the partial-dir value the RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR environment
2998 variable. Setting this in the environment does not force `--partial` to be
2999 enabled, but rather it affects where partial files go when `--partial` is
3000 specified. For instance, instead of using `--partial-dir=.rsync-tmp` along
3001 with `--progress`, you could set RSYNC_PARTIAL_DIR=.rsync-tmp in your
3002 environment and then just use the `-P` option to turn on the use of the
3003 .rsync-tmp dir for partial transfers. The only times that the `--partial`
3004 option does not look for this environment value are (1) when `--inplace`
3005 was specified (since `--inplace` conflicts with `--partial-dir`), and (2)
3006 when `--delay-updates` was specified (see below).
3008 When a modern rsync resumes the transfer of a file in the partial-dir, that
3009 partial file is now updated in-place instead of creating yet another
3010 tmp-file copy (so it maxes out at dest + tmp instead of dest + partial +
3011 tmp). This requires both ends of the transfer to be at least version
3014 For the purposes of the daemon-config's "`refuse options`" setting,
3015 `--partial-dir` does _not_ imply `--partial`. This is so that a refusal of
3016 the `--partial` option can be used to disallow the overwriting of
3017 destination files with a partial transfer, while still allowing the safer
3018 idiom provided by `--partial-dir`.
3020 0. `--delay-updates`
3022 This option puts the temporary file from each updated file into a holding
3023 directory until the end of the transfer, at which time all the files are
3024 renamed into place in rapid succession. This attempts to make the updating
3025 of the files a little more atomic. By default the files are placed into a
3026 directory named `.~tmp~` in each file's destination directory, but if
3027 you've specified the `--partial-dir` option, that directory will be used
3028 instead. See the comments in the `--partial-dir` section for a discussion
3029 of how this `.~tmp~` dir will be excluded from the transfer, and what you
3030 can do if you want rsync to cleanup old `.~tmp~` dirs that might be lying
3031 around. Conflicts with `--inplace` and `--append`.
3033 This option implies `--no-inc-recursive` since it needs the full file list
3034 in memory in order to be able to iterate over it at the end.
3036 This option uses more memory on the receiving side (one bit per file
3037 transferred) and also requires enough free disk space on the receiving side
3038 to hold an additional copy of all the updated files. Note also that you
3039 should not use an absolute path to `--partial-dir` unless (1) there is no
3040 chance of any of the files in the transfer having the same name (since all
3041 the updated files will be put into a single directory if the path is
3042 absolute) and (2) there are no mount points in the hierarchy (since the
3043 delayed updates will fail if they can't be renamed into place).
3045 See also the "atomic-rsync" perl script in the "support" subdir for an
3046 update algorithm that is even more atomic (it uses `--link-dest` and a
3047 parallel hierarchy of files).
3049 0. `--prune-empty-dirs`, `-m`
3051 This option tells the receiving rsync to get rid of empty directories from
3052 the file-list, including nested directories that have no non-directory
3053 children. This is useful for avoiding the creation of a bunch of useless
3054 directories when the sending rsync is recursively scanning a hierarchy of
3055 files using include/exclude/filter rules.
3057 Note that the use of transfer rules, such as the `--min-size` option, does
3058 not affect what goes into the file list, and thus does not leave
3059 directories empty, even if none of the files in a directory match the
3062 Because the file-list is actually being pruned, this option also affects
3063 what directories get deleted when a delete is active. However, keep in
3064 mind that excluded files and directories can prevent existing items from
3065 being deleted due to an exclude both hiding source files and protecting
3066 destination files. See the perishable filter-rule option for how to avoid
3069 You can prevent the pruning of certain empty directories from the file-list
3070 by using a global "protect" filter. For instance, this option would ensure
3071 that the directory "emptydir" was kept in the file-list:
3073 > --filter 'protect emptydir/'
3075 Here's an example that copies all .pdf files in a hierarchy, only creating
3076 the necessary destination directories to hold the .pdf files, and ensures
3077 that any superfluous files and directories in the destination are removed
3078 (note the hide filter of non-directories being used instead of an exclude):
3080 > rsync -avm --del --include='*.pdf' -f 'hide,! */' src/ dest
3082 If you didn't want to remove superfluous destination files, the more
3083 time-honored options of `--include='*/' --exclude='*'` would work
3084 fine in place of the hide-filter (if that is more natural to you).
3088 This option tells rsync to print information showing the progress of the
3089 transfer. This gives a bored user something to watch. With a modern rsync
3090 this is the same as specifying `--info=flist2,name,progress`, but any
3091 user-supplied settings for those info flags takes precedence (e.g.
3092 "`--info=flist0 --progress`").
3094 While rsync is transferring a regular file, it updates a progress line that
3097 > 782448 63% 110.64kB/s 0:00:04
3099 In this example, the receiver has reconstructed 782448 bytes or 63% of the
3100 sender's file, which is being reconstructed at a rate of 110.64 kilobytes
3101 per second, and the transfer will finish in 4 seconds if the current rate
3102 is maintained until the end.
3104 These statistics can be misleading if rsync's delta-transfer algorithm is
3105 in use. For example, if the sender's file consists of the basis file
3106 followed by additional data, the reported rate will probably drop
3107 dramatically when the receiver gets to the literal data, and the transfer
3108 will probably take much longer to finish than the receiver estimated as it
3109 was finishing the matched part of the file.
3111 When the file transfer finishes, rsync replaces the progress line with a
3112 summary line that looks like this:
3114 > 1,238,099 100% 146.38kB/s 0:00:08 (xfr#5, to-chk=169/396)
3116 In this example, the file was 1,238,099 bytes long in total, the average
3117 rate of transfer for the whole file was 146.38 kilobytes per second over
3118 the 8 seconds that it took to complete, it was the 5th transfer of a
3119 regular file during the current rsync session, and there are 169 more files
3120 for the receiver to check (to see if they are up-to-date or not) remaining
3121 out of the 396 total files in the file-list.
3123 In an incremental recursion scan, rsync won't know the total number of
3124 files in the file-list until it reaches the ends of the scan, but since it
3125 starts to transfer files during the scan, it will display a line with the
3126 text "ir-chk" (for incremental recursion check) instead of "to-chk" until
3127 the point that it knows the full size of the list, at which point it will
3128 switch to using "to-chk". Thus, seeing "ir-chk" lets you know that the
3129 total count of files in the file list is still going to increase (and each
3130 time it does, the count of files left to check will increase by the number
3131 of the files added to the list).
3135 The `-P` option is equivalent to `--partial --progress`. Its purpose is
3136 to make it much easier to specify these two options for a long transfer
3137 that may be interrupted.
3139 There is also a `--info=progress2` option that outputs statistics based on
3140 the whole transfer, rather than individual files. Use this flag without
3141 outputting a filename (e.g. avoid `-v` or specify `--info=name0`) if you
3142 want to see how the transfer is doing without scrolling the screen with a
3143 lot of names. (You don't need to specify the `--progress` option in order
3144 to use `--info=progress2`.)
3146 Finally, you can get an instant progress report by sending rsync a signal
3147 of either SIGINFO or SIGVTALRM. On BSD systems, a SIGINFO is generated by
3148 typing a Ctrl+T (Linux doesn't currently support a SIGINFO signal). When
3149 the client-side process receives one of those signals, it sets a flag to
3150 output a single progress report which is output when the current file
3151 transfer finishes (so it may take a little time if a big file is being
3152 handled when the signal arrives). A filename is output (if needed)
3153 followed by the `--info=progress2` format of progress info. If you don't
3154 know which of the 3 rsync processes is the client process, it's OK to
3155 signal all of them (since the non-client processes ignore the signal).
3157 CAUTION: sending SIGVTALRM to an older rsync (pre-3.2.0) will kill it.
3159 0. `--password-file=FILE`
3161 This option allows you to provide a password for accessing an rsync daemon
3162 via a file or via standard input if **FILE** is `-`. The file should
3163 contain just the password on the first line (all other lines are ignored).
3164 Rsync will exit with an error if **FILE** is world readable or if a
3165 root-run rsync command finds a non-root-owned file.
3167 This option does not supply a password to a remote shell transport such as
3168 ssh; to learn how to do that, consult the remote shell's documentation.
3169 When accessing an rsync daemon using a remote shell as the transport, this
3170 option only comes into effect after the remote shell finishes its
3171 authentication (i.e. if you have also specified a password in the daemon's
3174 0. `--early-input=FILE`
3176 This option allows rsync to send up to 5K of data to the "early exec"
3177 script on its stdin. One possible use of this data is to give the script a
3178 secret that can be used to mount an encrypted filesystem (which you should
3179 unmount in the the "post-xfer exec" script).
3181 The daemon must be at least version 3.2.1.
3185 This option will cause the source files to be listed instead of
3186 transferred. This option is inferred if there is a single source arg and
3187 no destination specified, so its main uses are: (1) to turn a copy command
3188 that includes a destination arg into a file-listing command, or (2) to be
3189 able to specify more than one source arg (note: be sure to include the
3190 destination). Caution: keep in mind that a source arg with a wild-card is
3191 expanded by the shell into multiple args, so it is never safe to try to
3192 list such an arg without using this option. For example:
3194 > rsync -av --list-only foo* dest/
3196 Starting with rsync 3.1.0, the sizes output by `--list-only` are affected
3197 by the `--human-readable` option. By default they will contain digit
3198 separators, but higher levels of readability will output the sizes with
3199 unit suffixes. Note also that the column width for the size output has
3200 increased from 11 to 14 characters for all human-readable levels. Use
3201 `--no-h` if you want just digits in the sizes, and the old column width of
3204 Compatibility note: when requesting a remote listing of files from an rsync
3205 that is version 2.6.3 or older, you may encounter an error if you ask for a
3206 non-recursive listing. This is because a file listing implies the `--dirs`
3207 option w/o `--recursive`, and older rsyncs don't have that option. To
3208 avoid this problem, either specify the `--no-dirs` option (if you don't
3209 need to expand a directory's content), or turn on recursion and exclude the
3210 content of subdirectories: `-r --exclude='/*/*'`.
3214 This option allows you to specify the maximum transfer rate for the data
3215 sent over the socket, specified in units per second. The RATE value can be
3216 suffixed with a string to indicate a size multiplier, and may be a
3217 fractional value (e.g. "`--bwlimit=1.5m`"). If no suffix is specified, the
3218 value will be assumed to be in units of 1024 bytes (as if "K" or "KiB" had
3219 been appended). See the `--max-size` option for a description of all the
3220 available suffixes. A value of 0 specifies no limit.
3222 For backward-compatibility reasons, the rate limit will be rounded to the
3223 nearest KiB unit, so no rate smaller than 1024 bytes per second is
3226 Rsync writes data over the socket in blocks, and this option both limits
3227 the size of the blocks that rsync writes, and tries to keep the average
3228 transfer rate at the requested limit. Some burstiness may be seen where
3229 rsync writes out a block of data and then sleeps to bring the average rate
3232 Due to the internal buffering of data, the `--progress` option may not be
3233 an accurate reflection on how fast the data is being sent. This is because
3234 some files can show up as being rapidly sent when the data is quickly
3235 buffered, while other can show up as very slow when the flushing of the
3236 output buffer occurs. This may be fixed in a future version.
3238 0. `--stop-after=MINS`
3240 This option tells rsync to stop copying when the specified number of
3241 minutes has elapsed.
3243 Rsync also accepts an earlier version of this option: `--time-limit=MINS`.
3245 For maximal flexibility, rsync does not communicate this option to the
3246 remote rsync since it is usually enough that one side of the connection
3247 quits as specified. This allows the option's use even when only one side
3248 of the connection supports it. You can tell the remote side about the time
3249 limit using `--remote-option` (`-M`), should the need arise.
3251 0. `--stop-at=y-m-dTh:m`
3253 This option tells rsync to stop copying when the specified point in time
3254 has been reached. The date & time can be fully specified in a numeric
3255 format of year-month-dayThour:minute (e.g. 2000-12-31T23:59) in the local
3256 timezone. You may choose to separate the date numbers using slashes
3259 The value can also be abbreviated in a variety of ways, such as specifying
3260 a 2-digit year and/or leaving off various values. In all cases, the value
3261 will be taken to be the next possible point in time where the supplied
3262 information matches. If the value specifies the current time or a past
3263 time, rsync exits with an error.
3265 For example, "1-30" specifies the next January 30th (at midnight local
3266 time), "14:00" specifies the next 2 P.M., "1" specifies the next 1st of the
3267 month at midnight, "31" specifies the next month where we can stop on its
3268 31st day, and ":59" specifies the next 59th minute after the hour.
3270 For maximal flexibility, rsync does not communicate this option to the
3271 remote rsync since it is usually enough that one side of the connection
3272 quits as specified. This allows the option's use even when only one side
3273 of the connection supports it. You can tell the remote side about the time
3274 limit using `--remote-option` (`-M`), should the need arise. Do keep in
3275 mind that the remote host may have a different default timezone than your
3280 Cause the receiving side to fsync each finished file. This may slow down
3281 the transfer, but can help to provide peace of mind when updating critical
3284 0. `--write-batch=FILE`
3286 Record a file that can later be applied to another identical destination
3287 with `--read-batch`. See the "BATCH MODE" section for details, and also
3288 the `--only-write-batch` option.
3290 This option overrides the negotiated checksum & compress lists and always
3291 negotiates a choice based on old-school md5/md4/zlib choices. If you want
3292 a more modern choice, use the `--checksum-choice` (`--cc`) and/or
3293 `--compress-choice` (`--zc`) options.
3295 0. `--only-write-batch=FILE`
3297 Works like `--write-batch`, except that no updates are made on the
3298 destination system when creating the batch. This lets you transport the
3299 changes to the destination system via some other means and then apply the
3300 changes via `--read-batch`.
3302 Note that you can feel free to write the batch directly to some portable
3303 media: if this media fills to capacity before the end of the transfer, you
3304 can just apply that partial transfer to the destination and repeat the
3305 whole process to get the rest of the changes (as long as you don't mind a
3306 partially updated destination system while the multi-update cycle is
3309 Also note that you only save bandwidth when pushing changes to a remote
3310 system because this allows the batched data to be diverted from the sender
3311 into the batch file without having to flow over the wire to the receiver
3312 (when pulling, the sender is remote, and thus can't write the batch).
3314 0. `--read-batch=FILE`
3316 Apply all of the changes stored in FILE, a file previously generated by
3317 `--write-batch`. If _FILE_ is `-`, the batch data will be read from
3318 standard input. See the "BATCH MODE" section for details.
3322 Force an older protocol version to be used. This is useful for creating a
3323 batch file that is compatible with an older version of rsync. For
3324 instance, if rsync 2.6.4 is being used with the `--write-batch` option, but
3325 rsync 2.6.3 is what will be used to run the `--read-batch` option, you
3326 should use "--protocol=28" when creating the batch file to force the older
3327 protocol version to be used in the batch file (assuming you can't upgrade
3328 the rsync on the reading system).
3330 0. `--iconv=CONVERT_SPEC`
3332 Rsync can convert filenames between character sets using this option.
3333 Using a CONVERT_SPEC of "." tells rsync to look up the default
3334 character-set via the locale setting. Alternately, you can fully specify
3335 what conversion to do by giving a local and a remote charset separated by a
3336 comma in the order `--iconv=LOCAL,REMOTE`, e.g. `--iconv=utf8,iso88591`.
3337 This order ensures that the option will stay the same whether you're
3338 pushing or pulling files. Finally, you can specify either `--no-iconv` or
3339 a CONVERT_SPEC of "-" to turn off any conversion. The default setting of
3340 this option is site-specific, and can also be affected via the RSYNC_ICONV
3341 environment variable.
3343 For a list of what charset names your local iconv library supports, you can
3344 run "`iconv --list`".
3346 If you specify the `--protect-args` option (`-s`), rsync will translate the
3347 filenames you specify on the command-line that are being sent to the remote
3348 host. See also the `--files-from` option.
3350 Note that rsync does not do any conversion of names in filter files
3351 (including include/exclude files). It is up to you to ensure that you're
3352 specifying matching rules that can match on both sides of the transfer.
3353 For instance, you can specify extra include/exclude rules if there are
3354 filename differences on the two sides that need to be accounted for.
3356 When you pass an `--iconv` option to an rsync daemon that allows it, the
3357 daemon uses the charset specified in its "charset" configuration parameter
3358 regardless of the remote charset you actually pass. Thus, you may feel
3359 free to specify just the local charset for a daemon transfer (e.g.
3362 0. `--ipv4`, `-4` or `--ipv6`, `-6`
3364 Tells rsync to prefer IPv4/IPv6 when creating sockets or running ssh. This
3365 affects sockets that rsync has direct control over, such as the outgoing
3366 socket when directly contacting an rsync daemon, as well as the forwarding
3367 of the `-4` or `-6` option to ssh when rsync can deduce that ssh is being
3368 used as the remote shell. For other remote shells you'll need to specify
3369 the "`--rsh SHELL -4`" option directly (or whatever ipv4/ipv6 hint options
3372 These options also exist in the `--daemon` mode section.
3374 If rsync was complied without support for IPv6, the `--ipv6` option will
3375 have no effect. The `rsync --version` output will contain "`no IPv6`" if
3378 0. `--checksum-seed=NUM`
3380 Set the checksum seed to the integer NUM. This 4 byte checksum seed is
3381 included in each block and MD4 file checksum calculation (the more modern
3382 MD5 file checksums don't use a seed). By default the checksum seed is
3383 generated by the server and defaults to the current **time**(). This
3384 option is used to set a specific checksum seed, which is useful for
3385 applications that want repeatable block checksums, or in the case where the
3386 user wants a more random checksum seed. Setting NUM to 0 causes rsync to
3387 use the default of **time**() for checksum seed.
3391 The options allowed when starting an rsync daemon are as follows:
3395 This tells rsync that it is to run as a daemon. The daemon you start
3396 running may be accessed using an rsync client using the `host::module` or
3397 `rsync://host/module/` syntax.
3399 If standard input is a socket then rsync will assume that it is being run
3400 via inetd, otherwise it will detach from the current terminal and become a
3401 background daemon. The daemon will read the config file (rsyncd.conf) on
3402 each connect made by a client and respond to requests accordingly. See the
3403 **rsyncd.conf**(5) man page for more details.
3405 0. `--address=ADDRESS`
3407 By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address when run as a daemon
3408 with the `--daemon` option. The `--address` option allows you to specify a
3409 specific IP address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting
3410 possible in conjunction with the `--config` option. See also the "address"
3411 global option in the rsyncd.conf manpage.
3415 This option allows you to specify the maximum transfer rate for the data
3416 the daemon sends over the socket. The client can still specify a smaller
3417 `--bwlimit` value, but no larger value will be allowed. See the client
3418 version of this option (above) for some extra details.
3422 This specifies an alternate config file than the default. This is only
3423 relevant when `--daemon` is specified. The default is /etc/rsyncd.conf
3424 unless the daemon is running over a remote shell program and the remote
3425 user is not the super-user; in that case the default is rsyncd.conf in the
3426 current directory (typically $HOME).
3428 0. `--dparam=OVERRIDE`, `-M`
3430 This option can be used to set a daemon-config parameter when starting up
3431 rsync in daemon mode. It is equivalent to adding the parameter at the end
3432 of the global settings prior to the first module's definition. The
3433 parameter names can be specified without spaces, if you so desire. For
3436 > rsync --daemon -M pidfile=/path/rsync.pid
3440 When running as a daemon, this option instructs rsync to not detach itself
3441 and become a background process. This option is required when running as a
3442 service on Cygwin, and may also be useful when rsync is supervised by a
3443 program such as `daemontools` or AIX's `System Resource Controller`.
3444 `--no-detach` is also recommended when rsync is run under a debugger. This
3445 option has no effect if rsync is run from inetd or sshd.
3449 This specifies an alternate TCP port number for the daemon to listen on
3450 rather than the default of 873. See also the "port" global option in the
3451 rsyncd.conf manpage.
3453 0. `--log-file=FILE`
3455 This option tells the rsync daemon to use the given log-file name instead
3456 of using the "`log file`" setting in the config file.
3458 0. `--log-file-format=FORMAT`
3460 This option tells the rsync daemon to use the given FORMAT string instead
3461 of using the "`log format`" setting in the config file. It also enables
3462 "`transfer logging`" unless the string is empty, in which case transfer
3463 logging is turned off.
3467 This overrides the `socket options` setting in the rsyncd.conf file and has
3470 0. `--verbose`, `-v`
3472 This option increases the amount of information the daemon logs during its
3473 startup phase. After the client connects, the daemon's verbosity level
3474 will be controlled by the options that the client used and the
3475 "`max verbosity`" setting in the module's config section.
3477 0. `--ipv4`, `-4` or `--ipv6`, `-6`
3479 Tells rsync to prefer IPv4/IPv6 when creating the incoming sockets that the
3480 rsync daemon will use to listen for connections. One of these options may
3481 be required in older versions of Linux to work around an IPv6 bug in the
3482 kernel (if you see an "address already in use" error when nothing else is
3483 using the port, try specifying `--ipv6` or `--ipv4` when starting the
3486 These options also exist in the regular rsync options section.
3488 If rsync was complied without support for IPv6, the `--ipv6` option will
3489 have no effect. The `rsync --version` output will contain "`no IPv6`" if
3494 When specified after `--daemon`, print a short help page describing the
3495 options available for starting an rsync daemon.
3499 The filter rules allow for flexible selection of which files to transfer
3500 (include) and which files to skip (exclude). The rules either directly specify
3501 include/exclude patterns or they specify a way to acquire more include/exclude
3502 patterns (e.g. to read them from a file).
3504 As the list of files/directories to transfer is built, rsync checks each name
3505 to be transferred against the list of include/exclude patterns in turn, and the
3506 first matching pattern is acted on: if it is an exclude pattern, then that file
3507 is skipped; if it is an include pattern then that filename is not skipped; if
3508 no matching pattern is found, then the filename is not skipped.
3510 Rsync builds an ordered list of filter rules as specified on the command-line.
3511 Filter rules have the following syntax:
3513 > RULE [PATTERN_OR_FILENAME]
3514 > RULE,MODIFIERS [PATTERN_OR_FILENAME]
3516 You have your choice of using either short or long RULE names, as described
3517 below. If you use a short-named rule, the ',' separating the RULE from the
3518 MODIFIERS is optional. The PATTERN or FILENAME that follows (when present)
3519 must come after either a single space or an underscore (\_). Here are the
3520 available rule prefixes:
3522 0. `exclude, '-'` specifies an exclude pattern.
3523 0. `include, '+'` specifies an include pattern.
3524 0. `merge, '.'` specifies a merge-file to read for more rules.
3525 0. `dir-merge, ':'` specifies a per-directory merge-file.
3526 0. `hide, 'H'` specifies a pattern for hiding files from the transfer.
3527 0. `show, 'S'` files that match the pattern are not hidden.
3528 0. `protect, 'P'` specifies a pattern for protecting files from deletion.
3529 0. `risk, 'R'` files that match the pattern are not protected.
3530 0. `clear, '!'` clears the current include/exclude list (takes no arg)
3532 When rules are being read from a file, empty lines are ignored, as are
3533 whole-line comments that start with a '`#`' (filename rules that contain a hash
3536 [comment]: # (Remember that markdown strips spaces from start/end of ` ... ` sequences!)
3537 [comment]: # (Thus, the `x ` sequences below use a literal non-breakable space!)
3539 Note that the `--include` & `--exclude` command-line options do not allow the
3540 full range of rule parsing as described above -- they only allow the
3541 specification of include / exclude patterns plus a "`!`" token to clear the
3542 list (and the normal comment parsing when rules are read from a file). If a
3543 pattern does not begin with "`-Â `" (dash, space) or "`+Â `" (plus, space), then
3544 the rule will be interpreted as if "`+Â `" (for an include option) or "`-Â `"
3545 (for an exclude option) were prefixed to the string. A `--filter` option, on
3546 the other hand, must always contain either a short or long rule name at the
3549 Note also that the `--filter`, `--include`, and `--exclude` options take one
3550 rule/pattern each. To add multiple ones, you can repeat the options on the
3551 command-line, use the merge-file syntax of the `--filter` option, or the
3552 `--include-from` / `--exclude-from` options.
3554 # INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERN RULES
3556 You can include and exclude files by specifying patterns using the "+", "-",
3557 etc. filter rules (as introduced in the FILTER RULES section above). The
3558 include/exclude rules each specify a pattern that is matched against the names
3559 of the files that are going to be transferred. These patterns can take several
3562 - if the pattern starts with a `/` then it is anchored to a particular spot in
3563 the hierarchy of files, otherwise it is matched against the end of the
3564 pathname. This is similar to a leading `^` in regular expressions. Thus
3565 `/foo` would match a name of "foo" at either the "root of the transfer" (for
3566 a global rule) or in the merge-file's directory (for a per-directory rule).
3567 An unqualified `foo` would match a name of "foo" anywhere in the tree because
3568 the algorithm is applied recursively from the top down; it behaves as if each
3569 path component gets a turn at being the end of the filename. Even the
3570 unanchored "sub/foo" would match at any point in the hierarchy where a "foo"
3571 was found within a directory named "sub". See the section on ANCHORING
3572 INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERNS for a full discussion of how to specify a pattern
3573 that matches at the root of the transfer.
3574 - if the pattern ends with a `/` then it will only match a directory, not a
3575 regular file, symlink, or device.
3576 - rsync chooses between doing a simple string match and wildcard matching by
3577 checking if the pattern contains one of these three wildcard characters:
3578 '`*`', '`?`', and '`[`' .
3579 - a '`*`' matches any path component, but it stops at slashes.
3580 - use '`**`' to match anything, including slashes.
3581 - a '`?`' matches any character except a slash (`/`).
3582 - a '`[`' introduces a character class, such as `[a-z]` or `[[:alpha:]]`.
3583 - in a wildcard pattern, a backslash can be used to escape a wildcard
3584 character, but it is matched literally when no wildcards are present. This
3585 means that there is an extra level of backslash removal when a pattern
3586 contains wildcard characters compared to a pattern that has none. e.g. if
3587 you add a wildcard to "`foo\bar`" (which matches the backslash) you would
3588 need to use "`foo\\bar*`" to avoid the "`\b`" becoming just "b".
3589 - if the pattern contains a `/` (not counting a trailing /) or a "`**`", then it
3590 is matched against the full pathname, including any leading directories. If
3591 the pattern doesn't contain a `/` or a "`**`", then it is matched only against
3592 the final component of the filename. (Remember that the algorithm is applied
3593 recursively so "full filename" can actually be any portion of a path from the
3594 starting directory on down.)
3595 - a trailing "`dir_name/***`" will match both the directory (as if "dir_name/"
3596 had been specified) and everything in the directory (as if "`dir_name/**`"
3597 had been specified). This behavior was added in version 2.6.7.
3599 Note that, when using the `--recursive` (`-r`) option (which is implied by
3600 `-a`), every subdir component of every path is visited left to right, with each
3601 directory having a chance for exclusion before its content. In this way
3602 include/exclude patterns are applied recursively to the pathname of each node
3603 in the filesystem's tree (those inside the transfer). The exclude patterns
3604 short-circuit the directory traversal stage as rsync finds the files to send.
3606 For instance, to include "`/foo/bar/baz`", the directories "`/foo`" and "`/foo/bar`"
3607 must not be excluded. Excluding one of those parent directories prevents the
3608 examination of its content, cutting off rsync's recursion into those paths and
3609 rendering the include for "`/foo/bar/baz`" ineffectual (since rsync can't match
3610 something it never sees in the cut-off section of the directory hierarchy).
3612 The concept path exclusion is particularly important when using a trailing '`*`'
3613 rule. For instance, this won't work:
3615 > + /some/path/this-file-will-not-be-found
3616 > + /file-is-included
3619 This fails because the parent directory "some" is excluded by the '`*`' rule, so
3620 rsync never visits any of the files in the "some" or "some/path" directories.
3621 One solution is to ask for all directories in the hierarchy to be included by
3622 using a single rule: "`+ */`" (put it somewhere before the "`- *`" rule), and
3623 perhaps use the `--prune-empty-dirs` option. Another solution is to add
3624 specific include rules for all the parent dirs that need to be visited. For
3625 instance, this set of rules works fine:
3629 > + /some/path/this-file-is-found
3630 > + /file-also-included
3633 Here are some examples of exclude/include matching:
3635 - "`- *.o`" would exclude all names matching `*.o`
3636 - "`- /foo`" would exclude a file (or directory) named foo in the transfer-root
3638 - "`- foo/`" would exclude any directory named foo
3639 - "`- /foo/*/bar`" would exclude any file named bar which is at two levels
3640 below a directory named foo in the transfer-root directory
3641 - "`- /foo/**/bar`" would exclude any file named bar two or more levels below a
3642 directory named foo in the transfer-root directory
3643 - The combination of "`+ */`", "`+ *.c`", and "`- *`" would include all
3644 directories and C source files but nothing else (see also the
3645 `--prune-empty-dirs` option)
3646 - The combination of "`+ foo/`", "`+ foo/bar.c`", and "`- *`" would include
3647 only the foo directory and foo/bar.c (the foo directory must be explicitly
3648 included or it would be excluded by the "`*`")
3650 The following modifiers are accepted after a "`+`" or "`-`":
3652 - A `/` specifies that the include/exclude rule should be matched against the
3653 absolute pathname of the current item. For example, "`-/ /etc/passwd`" would
3654 exclude the passwd file any time the transfer was sending files from the
3655 "/etc" directory, and "-/ subdir/foo" would always exclude "foo" when it is
3656 in a dir named "subdir", even if "foo" is at the root of the current
3658 - A `!` specifies that the include/exclude should take effect if the pattern
3659 fails to match. For instance, "`-! */`" would exclude all non-directories.
3660 - A `C` is used to indicate that all the global CVS-exclude rules should be
3661 inserted as excludes in place of the "-C". No arg should follow.
3662 - An `s` is used to indicate that the rule applies to the sending side. When a
3663 rule affects the sending side, it prevents files from being transferred. The
3664 default is for a rule to affect both sides unless `--delete-excluded` was
3665 specified, in which case default rules become sender-side only. See also the
3666 hide (H) and show (S) rules, which are an alternate way to specify
3667 sending-side includes/excludes.
3668 - An `r` is used to indicate that the rule applies to the receiving side. When
3669 a rule affects the receiving side, it prevents files from being deleted. See
3670 the `s` modifier for more info. See also the protect (P) and risk (R) rules,
3671 which are an alternate way to specify receiver-side includes/excludes.
3672 - A `p` indicates that a rule is perishable, meaning that it is ignored in
3673 directories that are being deleted. For instance, the `-C` option's default
3674 rules that exclude things like "CVS" and "`*.o`" are marked as perishable,
3675 and will not prevent a directory that was removed on the source from being
3676 deleted on the destination.
3677 - An `x` indicates that a rule affects xattr names in xattr copy/delete
3678 operations (and is thus ignored when matching file/dir names). If no
3679 xattr-matching rules are specified, a default xattr filtering rule is used
3680 (see the `--xattrs` option).
3682 # MERGE-FILE FILTER RULES
3684 You can merge whole files into your filter rules by specifying either a merge
3685 (.) or a dir-merge (:) filter rule (as introduced in the FILTER RULES section
3688 There are two kinds of merged files -- single-instance ('.') and per-directory
3689 (':'). A single-instance merge file is read one time, and its rules are
3690 incorporated into the filter list in the place of the "." rule. For
3691 per-directory merge files, rsync will scan every directory that it traverses
3692 for the named file, merging its contents when the file exists into the current
3693 list of inherited rules. These per-directory rule files must be created on the
3694 sending side because it is the sending side that is being scanned for the
3695 available files to transfer. These rule files may also need to be transferred
3696 to the receiving side if you want them to affect what files don't get deleted
3697 (see PER-DIRECTORY RULES AND DELETE below).
3701 > merge /etc/rsync/default.rules
3702 > . /etc/rsync/default.rules
3703 > dir-merge .per-dir-filter
3704 > dir-merge,n- .non-inherited-per-dir-excludes
3705 > :n- .non-inherited-per-dir-excludes
3707 The following modifiers are accepted after a merge or dir-merge rule:
3709 - A `-` specifies that the file should consist of only exclude patterns, with
3710 no other rule-parsing except for in-file comments.
3711 - A `+` specifies that the file should consist of only include patterns, with
3712 no other rule-parsing except for in-file comments.
3713 - A `C` is a way to specify that the file should be read in a CVS-compatible
3714 manner. This turns on 'n', 'w', and '-', but also allows the list-clearing
3715 token (!) to be specified. If no filename is provided, ".cvsignore" is
3717 - A `e` will exclude the merge-file name from the transfer; e.g. "dir-merge,e
3718 .rules" is like "dir-merge .rules" and "- .rules".
3719 - An `n` specifies that the rules are not inherited by subdirectories.
3720 - A `w` specifies that the rules are word-split on whitespace instead of the
3721 normal line-splitting. This also turns off comments. Note: the space that
3722 separates the prefix from the rule is treated specially, so "- foo + bar" is
3723 parsed as two rules (assuming that prefix-parsing wasn't also disabled).
3724 - You may also specify any of the modifiers for the "+" or "-" rules (above) in
3725 order to have the rules that are read in from the file default to having that
3726 modifier set (except for the `!` modifier, which would not be useful). For
3727 instance, "merge,-/ .excl" would treat the contents of .excl as absolute-path
3728 excludes, while "dir-merge,s .filt" and ":sC" would each make all their
3729 per-directory rules apply only on the sending side. If the merge rule
3730 specifies sides to affect (via the `s` or `r` modifier or both), then the
3731 rules in the file must not specify sides (via a modifier or a rule prefix
3734 Per-directory rules are inherited in all subdirectories of the directory where
3735 the merge-file was found unless the 'n' modifier was used. Each subdirectory's
3736 rules are prefixed to the inherited per-directory rules from its parents, which
3737 gives the newest rules a higher priority than the inherited rules. The entire
3738 set of dir-merge rules are grouped together in the spot where the merge-file
3739 was specified, so it is possible to override dir-merge rules via a rule that
3740 got specified earlier in the list of global rules. When the list-clearing rule
3741 ("!") is read from a per-directory file, it only clears the inherited rules for
3742 the current merge file.
3744 Another way to prevent a single rule from a dir-merge file from being inherited
3745 is to anchor it with a leading slash. Anchored rules in a per-directory
3746 merge-file are relative to the merge-file's directory, so a pattern "/foo"
3747 would only match the file "foo" in the directory where the dir-merge filter
3750 Here's an example filter file which you'd specify via `--filter=". file":`
3752 > merge /home/user/.global-filter
3759 This will merge the contents of the /home/user/.global-filter file at the start
3760 of the list and also turns the ".rules" filename into a per-directory filter
3761 file. All rules read in prior to the start of the directory scan follow the
3762 global anchoring rules (i.e. a leading slash matches at the root of the
3765 If a per-directory merge-file is specified with a path that is a parent
3766 directory of the first transfer directory, rsync will scan all the parent dirs
3767 from that starting point to the transfer directory for the indicated
3768 per-directory file. For instance, here is a common filter (see `-F`):
3770 > --filter=': /.rsync-filter'
3772 That rule tells rsync to scan for the file .rsync-filter in all directories
3773 from the root down through the parent directory of the transfer prior to the
3774 start of the normal directory scan of the file in the directories that are sent
3775 as a part of the transfer. (Note: for an rsync daemon, the root is always the
3776 same as the module's "path".)
3778 Some examples of this pre-scanning for per-directory files:
3780 > rsync -avF /src/path/ /dest/dir
3781 > rsync -av --filter=': ../../.rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir
3782 > rsync -av --filter=': .rsync-filter' /src/path/ /dest/dir
3784 The first two commands above will look for ".rsync-filter" in "/" and "/src"
3785 before the normal scan begins looking for the file in "/src/path" and its
3786 subdirectories. The last command avoids the parent-dir scan and only looks for
3787 the ".rsync-filter" files in each directory that is a part of the transfer.
3789 If you want to include the contents of a ".cvsignore" in your patterns, you
3790 should use the rule ":C", which creates a dir-merge of the .cvsignore file, but
3791 parsed in a CVS-compatible manner. You can use this to affect where the
3792 `--cvs-exclude` (`-C`) option's inclusion of the per-directory .cvsignore file
3793 gets placed into your rules by putting the ":C" wherever you like in your
3794 filter rules. Without this, rsync would add the dir-merge rule for the
3795 .cvsignore file at the end of all your other rules (giving it a lower priority
3796 than your command-line rules). For example:
3799 > cat <<EOT | rsync -avC --filter='. -' a/ b
3804 > rsync -avC --include=foo.o -f :C --exclude='*.old' a/ b
3807 Both of the above rsync commands are identical. Each one will merge all the
3808 per-directory .cvsignore rules in the middle of the list rather than at the
3809 end. This allows their dir-specific rules to supersede the rules that follow
3810 the :C instead of being subservient to all your rules. To affect the other CVS
3811 exclude rules (i.e. the default list of exclusions, the contents of
3812 $HOME/.cvsignore, and the value of $CVSIGNORE) you should omit the `-C`
3813 command-line option and instead insert a "-C" rule into your filter rules; e.g.
3816 # LIST-CLEARING FILTER RULE
3818 You can clear the current include/exclude list by using the "!" filter rule (as
3819 introduced in the FILTER RULES section above). The "current" list is either
3820 the global list of rules (if the rule is encountered while parsing the filter
3821 options) or a set of per-directory rules (which are inherited in their own
3822 sub-list, so a subdirectory can use this to clear out the parent's rules).
3824 # ANCHORING INCLUDE/EXCLUDE PATTERNS
3826 As mentioned earlier, global include/exclude patterns are anchored at the "root
3827 of the transfer" (as opposed to per-directory patterns, which are anchored at
3828 the merge-file's directory). If you think of the transfer as a subtree of
3829 names that are being sent from sender to receiver, the transfer-root is where
3830 the tree starts to be duplicated in the destination directory. This root
3831 governs where patterns that start with a / match.
3833 Because the matching is relative to the transfer-root, changing the trailing
3834 slash on a source path or changing your use of the `--relative` option affects
3835 the path you need to use in your matching (in addition to changing how much of
3836 the file tree is duplicated on the destination host). The following examples
3839 Let's say that we want to match two source files, one with an absolute
3840 path of "/home/me/foo/bar", and one with a path of "/home/you/bar/baz".
3841 Here is how the various command choices differ for a 2-source transfer:
3844 > Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me /home/you /dest
3845 > +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar
3846 > +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz
3847 > Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar
3848 > Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz
3852 > Example cmd: rsync -a /home/me/ /home/you/ /dest
3853 > +/- pattern: /foo/bar (note missing "me")
3854 > +/- pattern: /bar/baz (note missing "you")
3855 > Target file: /dest/foo/bar
3856 > Target file: /dest/bar/baz
3860 > Example cmd: rsync -a --relative /home/me/ /home/you /dest
3861 > +/- pattern: /home/me/foo/bar (note full path)
3862 > +/- pattern: /home/you/bar/baz (ditto)
3863 > Target file: /dest/home/me/foo/bar
3864 > Target file: /dest/home/you/bar/baz
3868 > Example cmd: cd /home; rsync -a --relative me/foo you/ /dest
3869 > +/- pattern: /me/foo/bar (starts at specified path)
3870 > +/- pattern: /you/bar/baz (ditto)
3871 > Target file: /dest/me/foo/bar
3872 > Target file: /dest/you/bar/baz
3875 The easiest way to see what name you should filter is to just
3876 look at the output when using `--verbose` and put a / in front of the name
3877 (use the `--dry-run` option if you're not yet ready to copy any files).
3879 # PER-DIRECTORY RULES AND DELETE
3881 Without a delete option, per-directory rules are only relevant on the sending
3882 side, so you can feel free to exclude the merge files themselves without
3883 affecting the transfer. To make this easy, the 'e' modifier adds this exclude
3884 for you, as seen in these two equivalent commands:
3886 > rsync -av --filter=': .excl' --exclude=.excl host:src/dir /dest
3887 > rsync -av --filter=':e .excl' host:src/dir /dest
3889 However, if you want to do a delete on the receiving side AND you want some
3890 files to be excluded from being deleted, you'll need to be sure that the
3891 receiving side knows what files to exclude. The easiest way is to include the
3892 per-directory merge files in the transfer and use `--delete-after`, because
3893 this ensures that the receiving side gets all the same exclude rules as the
3894 sending side before it tries to delete anything:
3896 > rsync -avF --delete-after host:src/dir /dest
3898 However, if the merge files are not a part of the transfer, you'll need to
3899 either specify some global exclude rules (i.e. specified on the command line),
3900 or you'll need to maintain your own per-directory merge files on the receiving
3901 side. An example of the first is this (assume that the remote .rules files
3902 exclude themselves):
3904 > rsync -av --filter=': .rules' --filter='. /my/extra.rules'
3905 > --delete host:src/dir /dest
3907 In the above example the extra.rules file can affect both sides of the
3908 transfer, but (on the sending side) the rules are subservient to the rules
3909 merged from the .rules files because they were specified after the
3910 per-directory merge rule.
3912 In one final example, the remote side is excluding the .rsync-filter files from
3913 the transfer, but we want to use our own .rsync-filter files to control what
3914 gets deleted on the receiving side. To do this we must specifically exclude
3915 the per-directory merge files (so that they don't get deleted) and then put
3916 rules into the local files to control what else should not get deleted. Like
3917 one of these commands:
3920 > rsync -av --filter=':e /.rsync-filter' --delete \
3921 > host:src/dir /dest
3922 > rsync -avFF --delete host:src/dir /dest
3927 Batch mode can be used to apply the same set of updates to many identical
3928 systems. Suppose one has a tree which is replicated on a number of hosts. Now
3929 suppose some changes have been made to this source tree and those changes need
3930 to be propagated to the other hosts. In order to do this using batch mode,
3931 rsync is run with the write-batch option to apply the changes made to the
3932 source tree to one of the destination trees. The write-batch option causes the
3933 rsync client to store in a "batch file" all the information needed to repeat
3934 this operation against other, identical destination trees.
3936 Generating the batch file once saves having to perform the file status,
3937 checksum, and data block generation more than once when updating multiple
3938 destination trees. Multicast transport protocols can be used to transfer the
3939 batch update files in parallel to many hosts at once, instead of sending the
3940 same data to every host individually.
3942 To apply the recorded changes to another destination tree, run rsync with the
3943 read-batch option, specifying the name of the same batch file, and the
3944 destination tree. Rsync updates the destination tree using the information
3945 stored in the batch file.
3947 For your convenience, a script file is also created when the write-batch option
3948 is used: it will be named the same as the batch file with ".sh" appended. This
3949 script file contains a command-line suitable for updating a destination tree
3950 using the associated batch file. It can be executed using a Bourne (or
3951 Bourne-like) shell, optionally passing in an alternate destination tree
3952 pathname which is then used instead of the original destination path. This is
3953 useful when the destination tree path on the current host differs from the one
3954 used to create the batch file.
3958 > $ rsync --write-batch=foo -a host:/source/dir/ /adest/dir/
3959 > $ scp foo* remote:
3960 > $ ssh remote ./foo.sh /bdest/dir/
3962 > $ rsync --write-batch=foo -a /source/dir/ /adest/dir/
3963 > $ ssh remote rsync --read-batch=- -a /bdest/dir/ <foo
3965 In these examples, rsync is used to update /adest/dir/ from /source/dir/ and
3966 the information to repeat this operation is stored in "foo" and "foo.sh". The
3967 host "remote" is then updated with the batched data going into the directory
3968 /bdest/dir. The differences between the two examples reveals some of the
3969 flexibility you have in how you deal with batches:
3971 - The first example shows that the initial copy doesn't have to be local -- you
3972 can push or pull data to/from a remote host using either the remote-shell
3973 syntax or rsync daemon syntax, as desired.
3974 - The first example uses the created "foo.sh" file to get the right rsync
3975 options when running the read-batch command on the remote host.
3976 - The second example reads the batch data via standard input so that the batch
3977 file doesn't need to be copied to the remote machine first. This example
3978 avoids the foo.sh script because it needed to use a modified `--read-batch`
3979 option, but you could edit the script file if you wished to make use of it
3980 (just be sure that no other option is trying to use standard input, such as
3981 the "`--exclude-from=-`" option).
3985 The read-batch option expects the destination tree that it is updating to be
3986 identical to the destination tree that was used to create the batch update
3987 fileset. When a difference between the destination trees is encountered the
3988 update might be discarded with a warning (if the file appears to be up-to-date
3989 already) or the file-update may be attempted and then, if the file fails to
3990 verify, the update discarded with an error. This means that it should be safe
3991 to re-run a read-batch operation if the command got interrupted. If you wish
3992 to force the batched-update to always be attempted regardless of the file's
3993 size and date, use the `-I` option (when reading the batch). If an error
3994 occurs, the destination tree will probably be in a partially updated state. In
3995 that case, rsync can be used in its regular (non-batch) mode of operation to
3996 fix up the destination tree.
3998 The rsync version used on all destinations must be at least as new as the one
3999 used to generate the batch file. Rsync will die with an error if the protocol
4000 version in the batch file is too new for the batch-reading rsync to handle.
4001 See also the `--protocol` option for a way to have the creating rsync generate
4002 a batch file that an older rsync can understand. (Note that batch files
4003 changed format in version 2.6.3, so mixing versions older than that with newer
4004 versions will not work.)
4006 When reading a batch file, rsync will force the value of certain options to
4007 match the data in the batch file if you didn't set them to the same as the
4008 batch-writing command. Other options can (and should) be changed. For
4009 instance `--write-batch` changes to `--read-batch`, `--files-from` is dropped,
4010 and the `--filter` / `--include` / `--exclude` options are not needed unless
4011 one of the `--delete` options is specified.
4013 The code that creates the BATCH.sh file transforms any filter/include/exclude
4014 options into a single list that is appended as a "here" document to the shell
4015 script file. An advanced user can use this to modify the exclude list if a
4016 change in what gets deleted by `--delete` is desired. A normal user can ignore
4017 this detail and just use the shell script as an easy way to run the appropriate
4018 `--read-batch` command for the batched data.
4020 The original batch mode in rsync was based on "rsync+", but the latest
4021 version uses a new implementation.
4025 Three basic behaviors are possible when rsync encounters a symbolic
4026 link in the source directory.
4028 By default, symbolic links are not transferred at all. A message "skipping
4029 non-regular" file is emitted for any symlinks that exist.
4031 If `--links` is specified, then symlinks are recreated with the same target on
4032 the destination. Note that `--archive` implies `--links`.
4034 If `--copy-links` is specified, then symlinks are "collapsed" by
4035 copying their referent, rather than the symlink.
4037 Rsync can also distinguish "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links. An example
4038 where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes to ensure that the
4039 rsync module that is copied does not include symbolic links to `/etc/passwd` in
4040 the public section of the site. Using `--copy-unsafe-links` will cause any
4041 links to be copied as the file they point to on the destination. Using
4042 `--safe-links` will cause unsafe links to be omitted altogether. (Note that you
4043 must specify `--links` for `--safe-links` to have any effect.)
4045 Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks
4046 (start with `/`), empty, or if they contain enough ".."
4047 components to ascend from the directory being copied.
4049 Here's a summary of how the symlink options are interpreted. The list is in
4050 order of precedence, so if your combination of options isn't mentioned, use the
4051 first line that is a complete subset of your options:
4053 0. `--copy-links` Turn all symlinks into normal files (leaving no symlinks for
4054 any other options to affect).
4055 0. `--links --copy-unsafe-links` Turn all unsafe symlinks into files and
4056 duplicate all safe symlinks.
4057 0. `--copy-unsafe-links` Turn all unsafe symlinks into files, noisily skip all
4059 0. `--links --safe-links` Duplicate safe symlinks and skip unsafe ones.
4060 0. `--links` Duplicate all symlinks.
4064 rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little cryptic. The
4065 one that seems to cause the most confusion is "protocol version mismatch -- is
4068 This message is usually caused by your startup scripts or remote shell facility
4069 producing unwanted garbage on the stream that rsync is using for its transport.
4070 The way to diagnose this problem is to run your remote shell like this:
4072 > ssh remotehost /bin/true > out.dat
4074 then look at out.dat. If everything is working correctly then out.dat should
4075 be a zero length file. If you are getting the above error from rsync then you
4076 will probably find that out.dat contains some text or data. Look at the
4077 contents and try to work out what is producing it. The most common cause is
4078 incorrectly configured shell startup scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that
4079 contain output statements for non-interactive logins.
4081 If you are having trouble debugging filter patterns, then try specifying the
4082 `-vv` option. At this level of verbosity rsync will show why each individual
4083 file is included or excluded.
4088 0. **1** Syntax or usage error
4089 0. **2** Protocol incompatibility
4090 0. **3** Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
4091 0. **4** Requested action not supported: an attempt was made to manipulate
4092 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support them; or an option was
4093 specified that is supported by the client and not by the server.
4094 0. **5** Error starting client-server protocol
4095 0. **6** Daemon unable to append to log-file
4096 0. **10** Error in socket I/O
4097 0. **11** Error in file I/O
4098 0. **12** Error in rsync protocol data stream
4099 0. **13** Errors with program diagnostics
4100 0. **14** Error in IPC code
4101 0. **20** Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
4102 0. **21** Some error returned by **waitpid()**
4103 0. **22** Error allocating core memory buffers
4104 0. **23** Partial transfer due to error
4105 0. **24** Partial transfer due to vanished source files
4106 0. **25** The --max-delete limit stopped deletions
4107 0. **30** Timeout in data send/receive
4108 0. **35** Timeout waiting for daemon connection
4110 # ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
4114 The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any ignore patterns in
4115 .cvsignore files. See the `--cvs-exclude` option for more details.
4119 Specify a default `--iconv` setting using this environment variable. (First
4120 supported in 3.0.0.)
4122 0. `RSYNC_PROTECT_ARGS`
4124 Specify a non-zero numeric value if you want the `--protect-args` option to
4125 be enabled by default, or a zero value to make sure that it is disabled by
4126 default. (First supported in 3.1.0.)
4130 The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to override the default shell
4131 used as the transport for rsync. Command line options are permitted after
4132 the command name, just as in the `-e` option.
4136 The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to redirect your rsync
4137 client to use a web proxy when connecting to a rsync daemon. You should
4138 set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair.
4142 Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required password allows you to run
4143 authenticated rsync connections to an rsync daemon without user
4144 intervention. Note that this does not supply a password to a remote shell
4145 transport such as ssh; to learn how to do that, consult the remote shell's
4148 0. `USER` or `LOGNAME`
4150 The USER or LOGNAME environment variables are used to determine the default
4151 username sent to an rsync daemon. If neither is set, the username defaults
4156 The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's default .cvsignore
4161 /etc/rsyncd.conf or rsyncd.conf
4165 **rsync-ssl**(1), **rsyncd.conf**(5)
4169 times are transferred as \*nix time_t values
4171 When transferring to FAT filesystems rsync may re-sync
4173 See the comments on the `--modify-window` option.
4175 file permissions, devices, etc. are transferred as native numerical
4178 see also the comments on the `--delete` option
4180 Please report bugs! See the web site at <https://rsync.samba.org/>.
4184 This man page is current for version @VERSION@ of rsync.
4188 The options `--server` and `--sender` are used internally by rsync, and should
4189 never be typed by a user under normal circumstances. Some awareness of these
4190 options may be needed in certain scenarios, such as when setting up a login
4191 that can only run an rsync command. For instance, the support directory of the
4192 rsync distribution has an example script named rrsync (for restricted rsync)
4193 that can be used with a restricted ssh login.
4197 rsync is distributed under the GNU General Public License. See the file
4198 COPYING for details.
4200 A web site is available at <https://rsync.samba.org/>. The site includes an
4201 FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this manual page.
4203 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program. Please
4204 contact the mailing-list at <rsync@lists.samba.org>.
4206 This program uses the excellent zlib compression library written by Jean-loup
4207 Gailly and Mark Adler.
4211 Special thanks go out to: John Van Essen, Matt McCutchen, Wesley W. Terpstra,
4212 David Dykstra, Jos Backus, Sebastian Krahmer, Martin Pool, and our
4213 gone-but-not-forgotten compadre, J.W. Schultz.
4215 Thanks also to Richard Brent, Brendan Mackay, Bill Waite, Stephen Rothwell and
4216 David Bell. I've probably missed some people, my apologies if I have.
4220 rsync was originally written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras. Many
4221 people have later contributed to it. It is currently maintained by Wayne
4224 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
4225 <https://lists.samba.org/>.