mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
-manpage(rsyncd.conf)(5)(12 Feb 1999)()()
+manpage(rsyncd.conf)(5)(30 Mar 2005)()()
manpagename(rsyncd.conf)(configuration file for rsync server)
manpagesynopsis()
manpagedescription()
The rsyncd.conf file is the runtime configuration file for rsync when
-run with the --daemon option. When run in this way rsync becomes a
-rsync server listening on TCP port 873. Connections from rsync clients
-are accepted for either anonymous or authenticated rsync sessions.
+run as an rsync server.
The rsyncd.conf file controls authentication, access, logging and
available modules.
name of the module in square brackets and continues until the next
module begins. Modules contain parameters of the form 'name = value'.
-The file is line-based - that is, each newline-terminated line represents
+The file is line-based -- that is, each newline-terminated line represents
either a comment, a module name or a parameter.
Only the first equals sign in a parameter is significant. Whitespace before
manpagesection(LAUNCHING THE RSYNC DAEMON)
-The rsync daemon is launched by specifying the --daemon option to
+The rsync daemon is launched by specifying the bf(--daemon) option to
rsync.
The daemon must run with root privileges if you wish to use chroot, to
file ownership. Otherwise, it must just have permission to read and
write the appropriate data, log, and lock files.
-You can launch it either via inetd or as a stand-alone daemon. If run
-as a daemon then just run the command "rsync --daemon" from a suitable
-startup script.
+You can launch it either via inetd, as a stand-alone daemon, or from
+an rsync client via a remote shell. If run as a stand-alone daemon then
+just run the command "bf(rsync --daemon)" from a suitable startup script.
+If run from an rsync client via a remote shell (by specifying both the
+bf(--rsh) (bf(-e)) option and server mode with "::" or "rsync://"), the bf(--daemon)
+option is automatically passed to the remote side.
When run via inetd you should add a line like this to /etc/services:
-quote(rsync 873/tcp)
+verb( rsync 873/tcp)
and a single line something like this to /etc/inetd.conf:
-quote(rsync stream tcp nowait root /usr/bin/rsync rsyncd --daemon)
+verb( rsync stream tcp nowait root /usr/bin/rsync rsyncd --daemon)
Replace "/usr/bin/rsync" with the path to where you have rsync installed on
your system. You will then need to send inetd a HUP signal to tell it to
reread its config file.
Note that you should not send the rsync server a HUP signal to force
-it to reread the tt(/etc/rsyncd.conf). The file is re-read on each client
+it to reread the tt(rsyncd.conf) file. The file is re-read on each client
connection.
manpagesection(GLOBAL OPTIONS)
chrooted programs.
dit(bf(pid file)) The "pid file" option tells the rsync daemon to write
-its process id to that file.
+its process ID to that file.
dit(bf(syslog facility)) The "syslog facility" option allows you to
specify the syslog facility name to use when logging messages from the
dit(bf(path)) The "path" option specifies the directory in the servers
filesystem to make available in this module. You must specify this option
-for each module in tt(/etc/rsyncd.conf).
+for each module in tt(rsyncd.conf).
dit(bf(use chroot)) If "use chroot" is true, the rsync server will chroot
to the "path" before starting the file transfer with the client. This has
the advantage of extra protection against possible implementation security
holes, but it has the disadvantages of requiring super-user privileges,
-of not being able to follow symbolic links outside of the new root path
-when reading, and of implying the --numeric-ids option because /etc/passwd
-becomes inaccessible. When "use chroot" is false, for security reasons
+of not being able to follow symbolic links that are either absolute or outside
+of the new root path, and of complicating the preservation of usernames and groups
+(see below). When "use chroot" is false, for security reasons,
symlinks may only be relative paths pointing to other files within the root
-path, and leading slashes are removed from absolute paths. The default for
-"use chroot" is true.
+path, and leading slashes are removed from most absolute paths (options
+such as bf(--backup-dir), bf(--compare-dest), etc. interpret an absolute path as
+rooted in the module's "path" dir, just as if chroot was specified).
+The default for "use chroot" is true.
+
+In order to preserve usernames and groupnames, rsync needs to be able to
+use the standard library functions for looking up names and IDs (i.e.
+getpwuid(), getgrgid(), getpwname(), and getgrnam()). This means a
+process in the chroot namespace will need to have access to the resources
+used by these library functions (traditionally /etc/passwd and
+/etc/group). If these resources are not available, rsync will only be
+able to copy the IDs, just as if the bf(--numeric-ids) option had been
+specified.
+
+Note that you are free to setup user/group information in the chroot area
+differently from your normal system. For example, you could abbreviate
+the list of users and groups. Also, you can protect this information from
+being downloaded/uploaded by adding an exclude rule to the rsync.conf file
+(e.g. "exclude = /etc/**"). Note that having the exclusion affect uploads
+is a relatively new feature in rsync, so make sure your server is running
+at least 2.6.3 to effect this. Also note that it is safest to exclude a
+directory and all its contents combining the rule "/some/dir/" with the
+rule "/some/dir/**" just to be sure that rsync will not allow deeper
+access to some of the excluded files inside the directory (rsync tries to
+do this automatically, but you might as well specify both to be extra
+sure).
+
+dit(bf(port)) You can override the default port the daemon will listen on
+by specifying this value (defaults to 873). This is ignored if the daemon
+is being run by inetd, and is superseded by the bf(--port) command-line option.
+
+dit(bf(address)) You can override the default IP address the daemon
+will listen on by specifying this value. This is ignored if the daemon is
+being run by inetd, and is superseded by the bf(--address) command-line option.
dit(bf(max connections)) The "max connections" option allows you to
specify the maximum number of simultaneous connections you will allow.
message telling them to try later. The default is 0 which means no limit.
See also the "lock file" option.
+dit(bf(max verbosity)) The "max verbosity" option allows you to control
+the maximum amount of verbose information that you'll allow the daemon to
+generate (since the information goes into the log file). The default is 1,
+which allows the client to request one level of verbosity.
+
dit(bf(lock file)) The "lock file" option specifies the file to use to
support the "max connections" option. The rsync server uses record
locking on this file to ensure that the max connections limit is not
be possible if file permissions on the server allow them. The default
is for all modules to be read only.
+dit(bf(write only)) The "write only" option determines whether clients
+will be able to download files or not. If "write only" is true then any
+attempted downloads will fail. If "write only" is false then downloads
+will be possible if file permissions on the server allow them. The
+default is for this option to be disabled.
+
dit(bf(list)) The "list" option determines if this module should be
listed when the client asks for a listing of available modules. By
setting this to false you can create hidden modules. The default is
for modules to be listable.
-dit(bf(uid)) The "uid" option specifies the user name or user id that
+dit(bf(uid)) The "uid" option specifies the user name or user ID that
file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon
was run as root. In combination with the "gid" option this determines what
file permissions are available. The default is uid -2, which is normally
the user "nobody".
-dit(bf(gid)) The "gid" option specifies the group name or group id that
+dit(bf(gid)) The "gid" option specifies the group name or group ID that
file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon
was run as root. This complements the "uid" option. The default is gid -2,
which is normally the group "nobody".
-dit(bf(exclude)) The "exclude" option allows you to specify a space
-separated list of patterns to add to the exclude list. This is equivalent
-to the client specifying these patterns with the --exclude option, except
-that the exclude list is not passed to the client and thus only applies on
+dit(bf(filter)) The "filter" option allows you to specify a space-separated
+list of filter rules that the server will not allow to be read or written.
+This is only superficially equivalent to the client specifying these
+patterns with the bf(--filter) option. Only one "filter" option may be
+specified, but it may contain as many rules as you like, including
+merge-file rules. Note that per-directory merge-file rules do not provide
+as much protection as global rules, but they can be used to make bf(--delete)
+work better when a client downloads the server's files (if the per-dir
+merge files are included in the transfer).
+
+dit(bf(exclude)) The "exclude" option allows you to specify a
+space-separated list of patterns that the server will not allow to be read
+or written. This is only superficially equivalent to the client
+specifying these patterns with the bf(--exclude) option. Only one "exclude"
+option may be specified, but you can use "-" and "+" before patterns to
+specify exclude/include.
+
+Because this exclude list is not passed to the client it only applies on
the server: that is, it excludes files received by a client when receiving
from a server and files deleted on a server when sending to a server, but
-it doesn't exclude files sent from a client when sending to a server or
-files deleted on a client when receiving from a server.
-Only one "exclude" option may be specified, but
-you can use "-" and "+" before patterns to specify exclude/include.
-
-Note that this option is not designed with strong security in
-mind, it is quite possible that a client may find a way to bypass this
-exclude list. If you want to absolutely ensure that certain files
-cannot be accessed then use the uid/gid options in combination with
-file permissions.
+it doesn't exclude files from being deleted on a client when receiving
+from a server.
dit(bf(exclude from)) The "exclude from" option specifies a filename
-on the server that contains exclude patterns, one per line. This is
-equivalent to the client specifying the --exclude-from option with a
-equivalent file except that it applies only on the server. See also
-the "exclude" option above.
-
-dit(bf(include)) The "include" option allows you to specify a space
-separated list of patterns which rsync should not exclude. This is
-equivalent to the client specifying these patterns with the --include
-option except that it applies only on the server. This is useful as it
-allows you to build up quite complex exclude/include rules. Only one
-"include" option may be specified, but you can use "+" and "-" before
-patterns to switch include/exclude. See also the "exclude" option above.
+on the server that contains exclude patterns, one per line.
+This is only superficially equivalent
+to the client specifying the bf(--exclude-from) option with an equivalent file.
+See the "exclude" option above.
+
+dit(bf(include)) The "include" option allows you to specify a
+space-separated list of patterns which rsync should not exclude. This is
+only superficially equivalent to the client specifying these patterns with
+the bf(--include) option because it applies only on the server. This is
+useful as it allows you to build up quite complex exclude/include rules.
+Only one "include" option may be specified, but you can use "+" and "-"
+before patterns to switch include/exclude. See the "exclude" option
+above.
dit(bf(include from)) The "include from" option specifies a filename
on the server that contains include patterns, one per line. This is
-equivalent to the client specifying the --include-from option with a
-equivalent file except that it applies only on the server. See also
-the "exclude" option above.
+only superficially equivalent to the client specifying the
+bf(--include-from) option with a equivalent file.
+See the "exclude" option above.
dit(bf(auth users)) The "auth users" option specifies a comma and
-space separated list of usernames that will be allowed to connect to
+space-separated list of usernames that will be allowed to connect to
this module. The usernames do not need to exist on the local
system. The usernames may also contain shell wildcard characters. If
"auth users" is set then the client will be challenged to supply a
See also the bf(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL
PROGRAM) section in rsync(1) for information on how handle an
rsyncd.conf-level username that differs from the remote-shell-level
-username when using a remote shell to connect to a rsync server.
+username when using a remote shell to connect to an rsync server.
dit(bf(secrets file)) The "secrets file" option specifies the name of
a file that contains the username:password pairs used for
dit(bf(strict modes)) The "strict modes" option determines whether or not
the permissions on the secrets file will be checked. If "strict modes" is
-true, then the secrets file must not be readable by any user id other
+true, then the secrets file must not be readable by any user ID other
than the one that the rsync daemon is running under. If "strict modes" is
false, the check is not performed. The default is true. This option
was added to accommodate rsync running on the Windows operating system.
Each pattern can be in one of five forms:
-itemize(
- it() a dotted decimal IP address. In this case the incoming machines
- IP address must match exactly.
-
- it() a address/mask in the form a.b.c.d/n were n is the number of
- one bits in in the netmask. All IP addresses which match the masked
- IP address will be allowed in.
-
- it() a address/mask in the form a.b.c.d/e.f.g.h where e.f.g.h is a
- netmask in dotted decimal notation. All IP addresses which match the masked
- IP address will be allowed in.
-
+quote(itemize(
+ it() a dotted decimal IPv4 address of the form a.b.c.d, or an IPv6 address
+ of the form a:b:c::d:e:f. In this case the incoming machine's IP address
+ must match exactly.
+ it() an address/mask in the form ipaddr/n where ipaddr is the IP address
+ and n is the number of one bits in the netmask. All IP addresses which
+ match the masked IP address will be allowed in.
+ it() an address/mask in the form ipaddr/maskaddr where ipaddr is the
+ IP address and maskaddr is the netmask in dotted decimal notation for IPv4,
+ or similar for IPv6, e.g. ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:: instead of /64. All IP
+ addresses which match the masked IP address will be allowed in.
it() a hostname. The hostname as determined by a reverse lookup will
be matched (case insensitive) against the pattern. Only an exact
match is allowed in.
-
it() a hostname pattern using wildcards. These are matched using the
same rules as normal unix filename matching. If the pattern matches
then the client is allowed in.
+))
+
+Note IPv6 link-local addresses can have a scope in the address specification:
+
+quote(
+tt( fe80::1%link1)nl()
+tt( fe80::%link1/64)nl()
+tt( fe80::%link1/ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff::)nl()
)
You can also combine "hosts allow" with a separate "hosts deny"
The default is no "hosts deny" option, which means all hosts can connect.
dit(bf(ignore errors)) The "ignore errors" option tells rsyncd to
-ignore IO errors on the server when deciding whether to run the delete
-phase of the transfer. Normally rsync skips the --delete step if any
-IO errors have occurred in order to prevent disasterous deletion due
-to a temporary resource shortage or other IO error. In some cases this
+ignore I/O errors on the server when deciding whether to run the delete
+phase of the transfer. Normally rsync skips the bf(--delete) step if any
+I/O errors have occurred in order to prevent disastrous deletion due
+to a temporary resource shortage or other I/O error. In some cases this
test is counter productive so you can use this option to turn off this
-behaviour.
+behavior.
dit(bf(ignore nonreadable)) This tells the rsync server to completely
ignore files that are not readable by the user. This is useful for
dit(bf(transfer logging)) The "transfer logging" option enables per-file
logging of downloads and uploads in a format somewhat similar to that
-used by ftp daemons. If you want to customize the log formats look at
-the log format option.
+used by ftp daemons. The server always logs the transfer at the end, so
+if a transfer is aborted, no mention will be made in the log file.
+
+If you want to customize the log lines, see the "log format" option.
dit(bf(log format)) The "log format" option allows you to specify the
-format used for logging file transfers when transfer logging is
-enabled. The format is a text string containing embedded single
-character escape sequences prefixed with a percent (%) character.
+format used for logging file transfers when transfer logging is enabled.
+The format is a text string containing embedded single-character escape
+sequences prefixed with a percent (%) character. An optional numeric
+field width may also be specified between the percent and the escape
+letter (e.g. "%-50n %8l %07p").
-The prefixes that are understood are:
+The default log format is "%o %h [%a] %m (%u) %f %l", and a "%t [%p] "
+is always prefixed when using the "log file" option.
+(A perl script that will summarize this default log format is included
+in the rsync source code distribution in the "support" subdirectory:
+rsyncstats.)
+
+The single-character escapes that are understood are as follows:
-itemize(
+quote(itemize(
it() %h for the remote host name
it() %a for the remote IP address
it() %l for the length of the file in bytes
- it() %p for the process id of this rsync session
- it() %o for the operation, which is either "send" or "recv"
- it() %f for the filename
+ it() %p for the process ID of this rsync session
+ it() %o for the operation, which is "send", "recv", or "del."
+ (the latter includes the trailing period)
+ it() %f for the filename (long form on sender; no trailing "/")
+ it() %n for the filename (short form; trailing "/" on dir)
+ it() %L either the string " -> SYMLINK", or " => HARDLINK" or an
+ empty string (where bf(SYMLINK) or bf(HARDLINK) is a filename)
it() %P for the module path
it() %m for the module name
it() %t for the current date time
it() %b for the number of bytes actually transferred
it() %c when sending files this gives the number of checksum bytes
received for this file
-)
+ it() %i an itemized list of what is being updated
+))
-The default log format is "%o %h [%a] %m (%u) %f %l", and a "%t [%p] "
-is always added to the beginning when using the "log file" option.
+For a list of what the characters mean that are output by "%i", see the
+bf(--itemize-changes) option in the rsync manpage.
-A perl script called rsyncstats to summarize this format is included
-in the rsync source code distribution.
+Note that some of the logged output changes when talking with older
+rsync versions. For instance, deleted files were only output as verbose
+messages prior to rsync 2.6.4.
dit(bf(timeout)) The "timeout" option allows you to override the
-clients choice for IO timeout for this module. Using this option you
+clients choice for I/O timeout for this module. Using this option you
can ensure that rsync won't wait on a dead client forever. The timeout
is specified in seconds. A value of zero means no timeout and is the
default. A good choice for anonymous rsync servers may be 600 (giving
a 10 minute timeout).
dit(bf(refuse options)) The "refuse options" option allows you to
-specify a space separated list of rsync command line options that will
-be refused by your rsync server. The full names of the options must be
-used (i.e., you must use "checksum" not "c" to disable checksumming).
+specify a space-separated list of rsync command line options that will
+be refused by your rsync server.
+You may specify the full option name, its one-letter abbreviation, or a
+wild-card string that matches multiple options.
+For example, this would refuse bf(--checksum) (bf(-c)) and all the various
+delete options:
+
+quote(tt( refuse options = c delete))
+
+The reason the above refuses all delete options is that the options imply
+bf(--delete), and implied options are refused just like explicit options.
+As an additional safety feature, the refusal of "delete" also refuses
+bf(remove-sent-files) when the daemon is the sender; if you want the latter
+without the former, instead refuse "delete-*" -- that refuses all the
+delete modes without affecting bf(--remove-sent-files).
+
When an option is refused, the server prints an error message and exits.
To prevent all compression, you can use "dont compress = *" (see below)
instead of "refuse options = compress" to avoid returning an error to a
is usually good to not try to compress files that won't compress well,
such as already compressed files.
-The "dont compress" option takes a space separated list of
+The "dont compress" option takes a space-separated list of
case-insensitive wildcard patterns. Any source filename matching one
of the patterns will not be compressed during transfer.
-The default setting is verb(*.gz *.tgz *.zip *.z *.rpm *.deb *.iso *.bz2 *.tbz)
+The default setting is tt(*.gz *.tgz *.zip *.z *.rpm *.deb *.iso *.bz2 *.tbz)
enddit()
quality security then I recommend that you run rsync over ssh.
Also note that the rsync server protocol does not currently provide any
-encryption of the data that is transferred over the link. Only
+encryption of the data that is transferred over the connection. Only
authentication is provided. Use ssh as the transport if you want
encryption.
Future versions of rsync may support SSL for better authentication and
encryption, but that is still being investigated.
+manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)
+
+If rsync is run with both the bf(--daemon) and bf(--rsh) (bf(-e)) options, it will
+spawn an rsync daemon using a remote shell connection. Several
+configuration options will not be available unless the remote user is
+root (e.g. chroot, setuid/setgid, etc.). There is no need to configure
+inetd or the services map to include the rsync server port if you run an
+rsync server only via a remote shell program.
+
+ADVANCED: To run an rsync server out of a single-use ssh key, use the
+"command=em(COMMAND)" syntax in the remote user's authorized_keys entry,
+where command would be
+
+quote(tt(rsync --server --daemon .))
+
+NOTE: rsync's argument parsing expects the trailing ".", so make sure
+that it's there. If you want to use an rsyncd.conf(5)-style
+configuration file other than the default, you can added a
+bf(--config) option to the em(command):
+
+quote(tt(rsync --server --daemon --config=em(file) .))
+
+Note that the "--server" here is the internal option that rsync uses to
+run the remote version of rsync that it communicates with, and thus you
+should not be using the bf(--server) option under normal circumstances.
+
manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
A simple rsyncd.conf file that allow anonymous rsync to a ftp area at
comment = ftp export area
)
-
A more sophisticated example would be:
-uid = nobody nl()
-gid = nobody nl()
-use chroot = no nl()
-max connections = 4 nl()
-syslog facility = local5 nl()
+verb(
+uid = nobody
+gid = nobody
+use chroot = no
+max connections = 4
+syslog facility = local5
pid file = /var/run/rsyncd.pid
-verb([ftp]
+[ftp]
path = /var/ftp/pub
comment = whole ftp area (approx 6.1 GB)
The /etc/rsyncd.secrets file would look something like this:
-tridge:mypass nl()
-susan:herpass
+quote(
+tt(tridge:mypass)nl()
+tt(susan:herpass)nl()
+)
manpagefiles()
-/etc/rsyncd.conf
+/etc/rsyncd.conf or rsyncd.conf
manpageseealso()
url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
manpagesection(VERSION)
-This man page is current for version 2.0 of rsync
+This man page is current for version 2.x of rsync.
manpagesection(CREDITS)
manpageauthor()
-rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras. They may be
-contacted via email at tridge@samba.org and
-Paul.Mackerras@cs.anu.edu.au
+rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras.
+Many people have later contributed to it.
+Mailing lists for support and development are available at
+url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)
git.samba.org / rsync.git / blobdiff