mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
-manpage(rsync)(1)(18 Feb 1999)()()
+manpage(rsync)(1)(29 May 2001)()()
manpagename(rsync)(faster, flexible replacement for rcp)
manpagesynopsis()
transport. In this case you will connect to a remote rsync server
running on TCP port 873.
+You may establish the connetcion via a web proxy by setting the
+environment variable RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair pointing to
+your web proxy. Note that your web proxy must allow proxying to port
+873, this must be configured in your proxy servers ruleset.
+
Using rsync in this way is the same as using it with rsh or ssh except
that:
to the detailed description below for a complete description.
verb(
-Usage: rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST:DEST
- or rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC DEST
- or rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... DEST
- or rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST]
- or rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST::DEST
- or rsync [OPTION]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC [DEST]
-SRC on single-colon remote HOST will be expanded by remote shell
-SRC on server remote HOST may contain shell wildcards or multiple
- sources separated by space as long as they have same top-level
-
-Options
-v, --verbose increase verbosity
-q, --quiet decrease verbosity
-c, --checksum always checksum
-r, --recursive recurse into directories
-R, --relative use relative path names
-b, --backup make backups (default ~ suffix)
+ --backup-dir make backups into this directory
--suffix=SUFFIX override backup suffix
-u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files)
-l, --links preserve soft links
-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
+ --existing only update files that already exist
--delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side
+ --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on the receiving side
+ --delete-after delete after transferring, not before
+ --ignore-errors delete even if there are IO errors
+ --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files
--partial keep partially transferred files
--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
--size-only only use file size when determining if a file should be transferred
+ --modify-window=NUM Timestamp window (seconds) for file match (default=0)
-T --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
--compare-dest=DIR also compare destination files relative to DIR
+ -P equivalent to --partial --progress
-z, --compress compress file data
--exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
--exclude-from=FILE exclude patterns listed in FILE
--include-from=FILE don't exclude patterns listed in FILE
--version print version number
--daemon run as a rsync daemon
+ --address bind to the specified address
--config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
--port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number
+ --blocking-io use blocking IO for the remote shell
--stats give some file transfer stats
--progress show progress during transfer
--log-format=FORMAT log file transfers using specified format
--password-file=FILE get password from FILE
+ --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth, KBytes per second
+ -f, --read-batch=FILE read batch file
+ -F, --write-batch write batch file
-h, --help show this help screen
+
+
)
manpageoptions()
already the same length and have the same time-stamp. This option turns
off this behavior.
-dit(bf(-I, --size-only)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
+dit(bf(--size-only)) Normally rsync will skip any files that are
already the same length and have the same time-stamp. With the
--size-only option files will be skipped if they have the same size,
regardless of timestamp. This is useful when starting to use rsync
after using another mirroring system which may not preserve timestamps
exactly.
+dit(bf(--modify-window)) When comparing two timestamps rsync treats
+the timestamps as being equal if they are within the value of
+modify_window. This is normally zero, but you may find it useful to
+set this to a larger value in some situations. In particular, when
+transferring to/from FAT filesystems which cannot represent times with
+a 1 second resolution this option is useful.
+
dit(bf(-c, --checksum)) This forces the sender to checksum all files using
a 128-bit MD4 checksum before transfer. The checksum is then
explicitly checked on the receiver and any files of the same name
which already exist and have the same checksum and size on the
receiver are skipped. This option can be quite slow.
-dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptDg. It is a quick way
+dit(bf(-a, --archive)) This is equivalent to -rlptgoD. It is a quick way
of saying you want recursion and want to preserve everything.
-Note: if the user launching rsync is root then the -o option (preserve
-uid) is also implied.
-
-dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories recursively.
+dit(bf(-r, --recursive)) This tells rsync to copy directories
+recursively. If you don't specify this then rsync won't copy
+directories at all.
dit(bf(-R, --relative)) Use relative paths. This means that the full path
names specified on the command line are sent to the server rather than
renamed with a ~ extension as each file is transferred. You can
control the backup suffix using the --suffix option.
+dit(bf(--backup-dir=DIR)) In combination with the --backup option, this
+tells rsync to store all backups in the specified directory. This is
+very useful for incremental backups.
+
dit(bf(--suffix=SUFFIX)) This option allows you to override the default
backup suffix used with the -b option. The default is a ~.
This option can be quite slow, so only use it if you need it.
dit(bf(-W, --whole-file)) With this option the incremental rsync algorithm
-is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. This may be
-useful when using rsync with a local machine.
-
-dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
-transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
-it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the
---partial option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should
-make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster.
+is not used and the whole file is sent as-is instead. The transfer may be
+faster if this option is used when the bandwidth between the source and
+target machines is higher than the bandwidth to disk (especially when the
+"disk" is actually a networked file system). This is the default when both
+the source and target are on the local machine.
dit(bf(-p, --perms)) This option causes rsync to update the remote
permissions to be the same as the local permissions.
access to the usernames.
dit(bf(-g, --group)) This option causes rsync to update the remote group
-of the file to be the same as the local group. Note that if the source
-system is a daemon using chroot, the --numeric-ids option is implied because
-the source system cannot get access to the group names.
+of the file to be the same as the local group. If the receving system is
+not running as the super-user, only groups that the receiver is a member of
+will be preserved (by group name, not group id number).
dit(bf(-D, --devices)) This option causes rsync to transfer character and
block device information to the remote system to recreate these
boundaries when recursing. This is useful for transferring the
contents of only one filesystem.
-dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving
-side that aren't on the sending side. This option can be dangerous if
-used incorrectly!
+dit(bf(--existing)) This tells rsync not to create any new files -
+only update files that already exist on the destination.
+
+dit(bf(--max-delete=NUM)) This tells rsync not to delete more than NUM
+files or directories. This is useful when mirroring very large trees
+to prevent disasters.
-It is a very good idea to run first using the dry run option (-n) to
-see what files would be deleted to make sure important files aren't
-listed.
+dit(bf(--delete)) This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving
+side that aren't on the sending side. Files that are excluded from
+transfer are excluded from being deleted unless you use --delete-excluded.
-rsync 1.6.4 changed the behavior of --delete to make it less
-dangerous. rsync now only scans directories on the receiving side
-that are explicitly transferred from the sending side. Only files in
-these directories are deleted.
+This option has no effect if directory recursion is not selected.
-Still, it is probably easy to get burnt with this option. The moral
-of the story is to use the -n option until you get used to the
-behavior of --delete.
+This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly! It is a very good idea
+to run first using the dry run option (-n) to see what files would be
+deleted to make sure important files aren't listed.
If the sending side detects any IO errors then the deletion of any
files at the destination will be automatically disabled. This is to
prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors) on the
sending side causing a massive deletion of files on the
-destination.
+destination. You can override this with the --ignore-errors option.
+
+dit(bf(--delete-excluded)) In addition to deleting the files on the
+receiving side that are not on the sending side, this tells rsync to also
+delete any files on the receiving side that are excluded (see --exclude).
+
+dit(bf(--delete-after)) By default rsync does file deletions before
+transferring files to try to ensure that there is sufficient space on
+the receiving filesystem. If you want to delete after transferring
+then use the --delete-after switch.
+
+dit(bf(--ignore-errors)) Tells --delete to go ahead and delete files
+even when there are IO errors.
dit(bf(--force)) This options tells rsync to delete directories even if
they are not empty. This applies to both the --delete option and to
You can also choose the remote shell program using the RSYNC_RSH
environment variable.
+See also the --blocking-io option which is affected by this option.
+
dit(bf(--rsync-path=PATH)) Use this to specify the path to the copy of
-rsync on the remote machine. Useful when it's not in your path.
+rsync on the remote machine. Useful when it's not in your path. Note
+that this is the full path to the binary, not just the directory that
+the binary is in.
dit(bf(--exclude=PATTERN)) This option allows you to selectively exclude
certain files from the list of files to be transferred. This is most
this option.
dit(bf(--exclude-from=FILE)) This option is similar to the --exclude
-option, but instead it adds all filenames listed in the file FILE to
-the exclude list. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with ';' or '#'
-are ignored.
+option, but instead it adds all exclude patterns listed in the file
+FILE to the exclude list. Blank lines in FILE and lines starting with
+';' or '#' are ignored.
dit(bf(--include=PATTERN)) This option tells rsync to not exclude the
specified pattern of filenames. This is useful as it allows you to
transferred on the receiving side. The default behavior is to create
the temporary files in the receiving directory.
-dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR as an
-additional directory to compare destination files against when doing
-transfers. This is useful for doing transfers to a new destination while
-leaving existing files intact, and then doing a flash-cutover when all
-files have been successfully transferred (for example by moving directories
-around and removing the old directory, although this requires also doing
-the transfer with -I to avoid skipping files that haven't changed). This
-option increases the usefulness of --partial because partially transferred
-files will remain in the new temporary destination until they have a chance
-to be completed. If DIR is a relative path, it is relative to the
-destination directory.
+dit(bf(--compare-dest=DIR)) This option instructs rsync to use DIR on
+the destination machine as an additional directory to compare destination
+files against when doing transfers. This is useful for doing transfers to
+a new destination while leaving existing files intact, and then doing a
+flash-cutover when all files have been successfully transferred (for
+example by moving directories around and removing the old directory,
+although this requires also doing the transfer with -I to avoid skipping
+files that haven't changed). This option increases the usefulness of
+--partial because partially transferred files will remain in the new
+temporary destination until they have a chance to be completed. If DIR is
+a relative path, it is relative to the destination directory.
dit(bf(-z, --compress)) With this option, rsync compresses any data from
-the source file(s) which it sends to the destination machine. This
+the files that it sends to the destination machine. This
option is useful on slow links. The compression method used is the
same method that gzip uses.
respond to requests accordingly. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for more
details.
+dit(bf(--address)) By default rsync will bind to the wildcard address
+when run as a daemon with the --daemon option or when connecting to a
+rsync server. The --address option allows you to specify a specific IP
+address (or hostname) to bind to. This makes virtual hosting possible
+in conjunction with the --config option.
+
dit(bf(--config=FILE)) This specifies an alternate config file than
the default /etc/rsyncd.conf. This is only relevant when --daemon is
specified.
dit(bf(--port=PORT)) This specifies an alternate TCP port number to use
rather than the default port 873.
+dit(bf(--blocking-io)) This tells rsync to use blocking IO when launching
+a remote shell transport. If -e or --rsh are not specified or are set to
+the default "rsh", this defaults to blocking IO, otherwise it defaults to
+non-blocking IO. You may find the --blocking-io option is needed for some
+remote shells that can't handle non-blocking IO. Ssh prefers blocking IO.
+
dit(bf(--log-format=FORMAT)) This allows you to specify exactly what the
rsync client logs to stdout on a per-file basis. The log format is
specified using the same format conventions as the log format option in
on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync
algorithm is for your data.
+dit(bf(--partial)) By default, rsync will delete any partially
+transferred file if the transfer is interrupted. In some circumstances
+it is more desirable to keep partially transferred files. Using the
+--partial option tells rsync to keep the partial file which should
+make a subsequent transfer of the rest of the file much faster.
+
dit(bf(--progress)) This option tells rsync to print information
showing the progress of the transfer. This gives a bored user
something to watch.
+This option is normally combined with -v. Using this option without
+the -v option will produce weird results on your display.
+
+dit(bf(-P)) The -P option is equivalent to --partial --progress. I
+found myself typing that combination quite often so I created an
+option to make it easier.
+
dit(bf(--password-file)) This option allows you to provide a password
in a file for accessing a remote rsync server. Note that this option
is only useful when accessing a rsync server using the built in
transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file
-must not be world readable.
+must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a
+single line.
+
+dit(bf(--bwlimit=KBPS)) This option allows you to specify a maximum
+transfer rate in kilobytes per second. This option is most effective when
+using rsync with large files (several megabytes and up). Due to the nature
+of rsync transfers, blocks of data are sent, then if rsync determines the
+transfer was too fast, it will wait before sending the next data block. The
+result is an average transfer rate equalling the specified limit. A value
+of zero specifies no limit.
+
+dit(bf(--read-batch)) Apply a previously generated change batch.
+
+dit(bf(--write-batch)) Generate a set of files that can be transferred
+as a batch update.
enddit()
rsync builds a ordered list of include/exclude options as specified on
the command line. When a filename is encountered, rsync checks the
name against each exclude/include pattern in turn. The first matching
-pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern than that file is
+pattern is acted on. If it is an exclude pattern, then that file is
skipped. If it is an include pattern then that filename is not
skipped. If no matching include/exclude pattern is found then the
filename is not skipped.
+Note that when used with -r (which is implied by -a), every subcomponent of
+every path is visited from top down, so include/exclude patterns get
+applied recursively to each subcomponent.
+
+Note also that the --include and --exclude options take one pattern
+each. To add multiple patterns use the --include-from and
+--exclude-from options or multiple --include and --exclude options.
+
The patterns can take several forms. The rules are:
itemize(
it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is matched against the
start of the filename, otherwise it is matched against the end of
- the filename. Thus /foo would match a file called foo
- at the base of the tree whereas foo would match any file
- called foo anywhere in the tree.
+ the filename. Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at the base of
+ the tree. On the other hand, "foo" would match any file called "foo"
+ anywhere in the tree because the algorithm is applied recursively from
+ top down; it behaves as if each path component gets a turn at being the
+ end of the file name.
it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
directory, not a file, link or device.
*?[ then expression matching is applied using the shell filename
matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used.
+ it() if the pattern includes a double asterisk "**" then all wildcards in
+ the pattern will match slashes, otherwise they will stop at slashes.
+
it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) then it
is matched against the full filename, including any leading
directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a / then it is matched
- only against the final component of the filename. Furthermore, if
- the pattern includes a double asterisk "**" then all wildcards in
- the pattern will match slashes, otherwise they will stop at slashes.
+ only against the final component of the filename. Again, remember
+ that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename" can
+ actually be any portion of a path.
it() if the pattern starts with "+ " (a plus followed by a space)
then it is always considered an include pattern, even if specified as
The +/- rules are most useful in exclude lists, allowing you to have a
single exclude list that contains both include and exclude options.
-Here are some examples:
+If you end an exclude list with --exclude '*', note that since the
+algorithm is applied recursively that unless you explicitly include
+parent directories of files you want to include then the algorithm
+will stop at the parent directories and never see the files below
+them. To include all directories, use --include '*/' before the
+--exclude '*'.
+
+Here are some exclude/include examples:
itemize(
it() --exclude "*.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o
it would be excluded by the "*")
)
+manpagesection(BATCH MODE)
+
+The following call generates 4 files that encapsulate the information
+for synchronizing the contents of bf(target_dir) with the updates found in
+bf(src_dir)
+
+quote(
+$ rsync -F [other rsync options here] \nl()
+ /somewhere/src_dir /somewhere/target_dir
+)
+
+The generated files are labeled with a common timestamp:
+
+itemize(
+it() bf(rsync_argvs.<timestamp>) command-line arguments
+it() bf(rsync_flist.<timestamp>) rsync internal file metadata
+it() bf(rsync_csums.<timestamp>) rsync checksums
+it() bf(rsync_delta.<timestamp>) data blocks for file update & change
+)
+
+See bf(http://www.ils.unc.edu/i2dsi/unc_rsync+.html) for papers and technical
+reports.
+
manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS)
rsync occasionally produces error messages that may seem a little
scripts (such as .cshrc or .profile) that contain output statements
for non-interactive logins.
+If you are having trouble debugging include and exclude patterns, then
+try specifying the -vv option. At this level of verbosity rsync will
+show why each individual file is included or excluded.
+
+manpagesection(EXIT VALUES)
+
+startdit()
+dit(bf(RERR_SYNTAX 1)) Syntax or usage error
+dit(bf(RERR_PROTOCOL 2)) Protocol incompatibility
+dit(bf(RERR_FILESELECT 3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
+
+dit(bf(RERR_UNSUPPORTED 4)) Requested action not supported: an attempt
+was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support
+them; or an option was speciifed that is supported by the client and
+not by the server.
+
+dit(bf(RERR_SOCKETIO 10)) Error in socket IO
+dit(bf(RERR_FILEIO 11)) Error in file IO
+dit(bf(RERR_STREAMIO 12)) Error in rsync protocol data stream
+dit(bf(RERR_MESSAGEIO 13)) Errors with program diagnostics
+dit(bf(RERR_IPC 14)) Error in IPC code
+dit(bf(RERR_SIGNAL 20)) Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT
+dit(bf(RERR_WAITCHILD 21)) Some error returned by waitpid()
+dit(bf(RERR_MALLOC 22)) Error allocating core memory buffers
+dit(bf(RERR_TIMEOUT 30)) Timeout in data send/receive
+enddit()
+
manpagesection(ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES)
startdit()
override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. This can
be used instead of the -e option.
+dit(bf(RSYNC_PROXY)) The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to
+redirect your rsync client to use a web proxy when connecting to a
+rsync daemon. You should set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair.
+
dit(bf(RSYNC_PASSWORD)) Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required
password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to a rsync
daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a
COPYING for details.
A WEB site is available at
-url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
+url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/). The site
+includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this
+manual page.
The primary ftp site for rsync is
url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
contacted via email at tridge@samba.org and
Paul.Mackerras@cs.anu.edu.au
+rsync is now also maintained by Martin Pool <mbp@samba.org>
+
+
git.samba.org / rsync.git / blobdiff