WHAT IS RSYNC? -------------- rsync is a replacement for rcp that has many more features. rsync uses the "rsync algorithm" which provides a very fast method for bringing remote files into sync. It does this by sending just the differences in the files across the link, without requiring that both sets of files are present at one of the ends of the link beforehand. At first glance this may seem impossible because the calculation of diffs between two files normally requires local access to both files. A technical report describing the rsync algorithm is included with this package. USAGE ----- Basically you use rsync just like rcp, but rsync has many additional options. Here is a brief description of available options: Options: -v, --verbose increase verbosity -c, --checksum always checksum -a, --archive archive mode (same as -rlptDog) -r, --recursive recurse into directories -R, --relative use relative path names -b, --backup make backups (default ~ extension) -u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files) -l, --links preserve soft links -L, --copy-links treat soft links like regular files -H, --hard-links preserve hard links -p, --perms preserve permissions -o, --owner preserve owner (root only) -g, --group preserve group -D, --devices preserve devices (root only) -t, --times preserve times -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred -W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries -B, --block-size SIZE checksum blocking size -e, --rsh COMMAND specify rsh replacement --rsync-path PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does --delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side --force force deletion of directories even if not empty --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name --timeout TIME set IO timeout in seconds -I, --ignore-times don't exclude files that match length and time -T --temp-dir DIR create temporary files in directory DIR -z, --compress compress file data --exclude FILE exclude file FILE --exclude-from FILE exclude files listed in FILE --suffix SUFFIX override backup suffix --version print version number --daemon run as a rsync daemon --config FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file --port PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number SETUP ----- Rsync uses rsh or ssh for communication. It does not need to be setuid and requires no special privileges for installation. It does not require a inetd entry or a daemon. You must, however, have a working rsh or ssh system. Using ssh is recommended for its security features. To install rsync, first run the "configure" script. This will create a Makefile and config.h appropriate for your system. Then type "make". Note that on some systems you will have to force configure not to use gcc because gcc may not support some features (such as 64 bit file offsets) that your system may support. Set the environment variable CC to the name of your native compiler before running configure in this case. Once built put a copy of rsync in your search path on the local and remote systems (or use "make install"). That's it! RSYNC SERVERS ------------- rsync can also talk to "rsync servers" which can provide anonymous or authenticated rsync. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for details on how to setup a rsync server. See the rsync(1) man page for info on how to connect to a rsync server. MAILING LIST ------------ There is a mailing list for the discussion of rsync and its applications. It is open to anyone to join. I will announce new versions on this list. To join the mailing list send mail to listproc@samba.org with no subject and a body of "subscribe rsync Your Name". To send mail to everyone on the list send it to rsync@samba.org BUG REPORTS ----------- If you have web access then please look at http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/ This will give you access to the bug tracking system used by the developers of rsync and will allow you to look at other bug reports or submit a new bug report. If you don't have web access then mail bug reports to rsync-bugs@samba.org or (if you think it will be of interest to lots of people) send it to rsync@samba.org CVS TREE -------- If you want to get the very latest version of rsync direct from the source code repository then you can use anonymous cvs. You will need a recent version of cvs then use the following commands: cvs -d :pserver:cvs@cvs.samba.org:/cvsroot login Password: cvs cvs -d :pserver:cvs@cvs.samba.org:/cvsroot co rsync Look at the cvs documentation for more details. COPYRIGHT --------- Rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras, and is available under the Gnu Public License. tridge@samba.org paulus@cs.anu.edu.au AVAILABILITY ------------ The main web site for rsync is http://rsync.samba.org/ The main ftp site is ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync/ This is also available as rsync://rsync.samba.org/rsyncftp/