1 mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
2 manpage(rsyncd.conf)(5)(28 Jan 2018)()()
3 manpagename(rsyncd.conf)(configuration file for rsync in daemon mode)
10 The rsyncd.conf file is the runtime configuration file for rsync when
11 run as an rsync daemon.
13 The rsyncd.conf file controls authentication, access, logging and
16 manpagesection(FILE FORMAT)
18 The file consists of modules and parameters. A module begins with the
19 name of the module in square brackets and continues until the next
20 module begins. Modules contain parameters of the form "name = value".
22 The file is line-based -- that is, each newline-terminated line represents
23 either a comment, a module name or a parameter.
25 Only the first equals sign in a parameter is significant. Whitespace before
26 or after the first equals sign is discarded. Leading, trailing and internal
27 whitespace in module and parameter names is irrelevant. Leading and
28 trailing whitespace in a parameter value is discarded. Internal whitespace
29 within a parameter value is retained verbatim.
31 Any line bf(beginning) with a hash (#) is ignored, as are lines containing
32 only whitespace. (If a hash occurs after anything other than leading
33 whitespace, it is considered a part of the line's content.)
35 Any line ending in a \ is "continued" on the next line in the
36 customary UNIX fashion.
38 The values following the equals sign in parameters are all either a string
39 (no quotes needed) or a boolean, which may be given as yes/no, 0/1 or
40 true/false. Case is not significant in boolean values, but is preserved
43 manpagesection(LAUNCHING THE RSYNC DAEMON)
45 The rsync daemon is launched by specifying the bf(--daemon) option to
48 The daemon must run with root privileges if you wish to use chroot, to
49 bind to a port numbered under 1024 (as is the default 873), or to set
50 file ownership. Otherwise, it must just have permission to read and
51 write the appropriate data, log, and lock files.
53 You can launch it either via inetd, as a stand-alone daemon, or from
54 an rsync client via a remote shell. If run as a stand-alone daemon then
55 just run the command "bf(rsync --daemon)" from a suitable startup script.
57 When run via inetd you should add a line like this to /etc/services:
61 and a single line something like this to /etc/inetd.conf:
63 verb( rsync stream tcp nowait root /usr/bin/rsync rsyncd --daemon)
65 Replace "/usr/bin/rsync" with the path to where you have rsync installed on
66 your system. You will then need to send inetd a HUP signal to tell it to
67 reread its config file.
69 Note that you should bf(not) send the rsync daemon a HUP signal to force
70 it to reread the tt(rsyncd.conf) file. The file is re-read on each client
73 manpagesection(GLOBAL PARAMETERS)
75 The first parameters in the file (before a [module] header) are the
77 Rsync also allows for the use of a "[global]" module name to indicate the
78 start of one or more global-parameter sections (the name must be lower case).
80 You may also include any module parameters in the global part of the
81 config file in which case the supplied value will override the
82 default for that parameter.
84 You may use references to environment variables in the values of parameters.
85 String parameters will have %VAR% references expanded as late as possible (when
86 the string is first used in the program), allowing for the use of variables that
87 rsync sets at connection time, such as RSYNC_USER_NAME. Non-string parameters
88 (such as true/false settings) are expanded when read from the config file. If
89 a variable does not exist in the environment, or if a sequence of characters is
90 not a valid reference (such as an un-paired percent sign), the raw characters
91 are passed through unchanged. This helps with backward compatibility and
92 safety (e.g. expanding a non-existent %VAR% to an empty string in a path could
93 result in a very unsafe path). The safest way to insert a literal % into a
98 dit(bf(motd file)) This parameter allows you to specify a
99 "message of the day" to display to clients on each connect. This
100 usually contains site information and any legal notices. The default
102 This can be overridden by the bf(--dparam=motdfile=FILE)
103 command-line option when starting the daemon.
105 dit(bf(pid file)) This parameter tells the rsync daemon to write
106 its process ID to that file. The rsync keeps the file locked so that
107 it can know when it is safe to overwrite an existing file.
109 The filename can be overridden by the bf(--dparam=pidfile=FILE)
110 command-line option when starting the daemon.
112 dit(bf(port)) You can override the default port the daemon will listen on
113 by specifying this value (defaults to 873). This is ignored if the daemon
114 is being run by inetd, and is superseded by the bf(--port) command-line option.
116 dit(bf(address)) You can override the default IP address the daemon
117 will listen on by specifying this value. This is ignored if the daemon is
118 being run by inetd, and is superseded by the bf(--address) command-line option.
120 dit(bf(socket options)) This parameter can provide endless fun for people
121 who like to tune their systems to the utmost degree. You can set all
122 sorts of socket options which may make transfers faster (or
123 slower!). Read the man page for the code(setsockopt()) system call for
124 details on some of the options you may be able to set. By default no
125 special socket options are set. These settings can also be specified
126 via the bf(--sockopts) command-line option.
128 dit(bf(listen backlog)) You can override the default backlog value when the
129 daemon listens for connections. It defaults to 5.
133 manpagesection(MODULE PARAMETERS)
135 After the global parameters you should define a number of modules, each
136 module exports a directory tree as a symbolic name. Modules are
137 exported by specifying a module name in square brackets [module]
138 followed by the parameters for that module.
139 The module name cannot contain a slash or a closing square bracket. If the
140 name contains whitespace, each internal sequence of whitespace will be
141 changed into a single space, while leading or trailing whitespace will be
143 Also, the name cannot be "global" as that exact name indicates that
144 global parameters follow (see above).
146 As with GLOBAL PARAMETERS, you may use references to environment variables in
147 the values of parameters. See the GLOBAL PARAMETERS section for more details.
151 dit(bf(comment)) This parameter specifies a description string
152 that is displayed next to the module name when clients obtain a list
153 of available modules. The default is no comment.
155 dit(bf(path)) This parameter specifies the directory in the daemon's
156 filesystem to make available in this module. You must specify this parameter
157 for each module in tt(rsyncd.conf).
159 You may base the path's value off of an environment variable by surrounding
160 the variable name with percent signs. You can even reference a variable
161 that is set by rsync when the user connects.
162 For example, this would use the authorizing user's name in the path:
164 verb( path = /home/%RSYNC_USER_NAME% )
166 It is fine if the path includes internal spaces -- they will be retained
167 verbatim (which means that you shouldn't try to escape them). If your final
168 directory has a trailing space (and this is somehow not something you wish to
169 fix), append a trailing slash to the path to avoid losing the trailing
172 dit(bf(use chroot)) If "use chroot" is true, the rsync daemon will chroot
173 to the "path" before starting the file transfer with the client. This has
174 the advantage of extra protection against possible implementation security
175 holes, but it has the disadvantages of requiring super-user privileges,
176 of not being able to follow symbolic links that are either absolute or outside
177 of the new root path, and of complicating the preservation of users and groups
180 As an additional safety feature, you can specify a dot-dir in the module's
181 "path" to indicate the point where the chroot should occur. This allows rsync
182 to run in a chroot with a non-"/" path for the top of the transfer hierarchy.
183 Doing this guards against unintended library loading (since those absolute
184 paths will not be inside the transfer hierarchy unless you have used an unwise
185 pathname), and lets you setup libraries for the chroot that are outside of the
186 transfer. For example, specifying "/var/rsync/./module1" will chroot to the
187 "/var/rsync" directory and set the inside-chroot path to "/module1". If you
188 had omitted the dot-dir, the chroot would have used the whole path, and the
189 inside-chroot path would have been "/".
191 When both "use chroot" and "daemon chroot" are false, OR the inside-chroot path
192 of "use chroot" is not "/", rsync will: (1) munge symlinks by
193 default for security reasons (see "munge symlinks" for a way to turn this
194 off, but only if you trust your users), (2) substitute leading slashes in
195 absolute paths with the module's path (so that options such as
196 bf(--backup-dir), bf(--compare-dest), etc. interpret an absolute path as
197 rooted in the module's "path" dir), and (3) trim ".." path elements from
198 args if rsync believes they would escape the module hierarchy.
199 The default for "use chroot" is true, and is the safer choice (especially
200 if the module is not read-only).
202 When this parameter is enabled, the "numeric-ids" option will also default to
203 being enabled (disabling name lookups). See below for what a chroot needs in
204 order for name lookups to succeed.
206 If you copy library resources into the module's chroot area, you
207 should protect them through your OS's normal user/group or ACL settings (to
208 prevent the rsync module's user from being able to change them), and then
209 hide them from the user's view via "exclude" (see how in the discussion of
210 that parameter). At that point it will be safe to enable the mapping of users
211 and groups by name using the "numeric ids" daemon parameter (see below).
213 Note also that you are free to setup custom user/group information in the
214 chroot area that is different from your normal system. For example, you
215 could abbreviate the list of users and groups.
217 dit(bf(daemon chroot)) This parameter specifies a path to which the daemon will
218 chroot before beginning communication with clients. Module paths (and any "use
219 chroot" settings) will then be related to this one. This lets you choose if you
220 want the whole daemon to be chrooted (with this setting), just the transfers to
221 be chrooted (with "use chroot"), or both. Keep in mind that the "daemon chroot"
222 area may need various OS/lib/etc files installed to allow the daemon to function.
223 By default the daemon runs without any chrooting.
225 dit(bf(numeric ids)) Enabling this parameter disables the mapping
226 of users and groups by name for the current daemon module. This prevents
227 the daemon from trying to load any user/group-related files or libraries.
228 This enabling makes the transfer behave as if the client had passed
229 the bf(--numeric-ids) command-line option. By default, this parameter is
230 enabled for chroot modules and disabled for non-chroot modules.
231 Also keep in mind that uid/gid preservation requires the module to be
232 running as root (see "uid") or for "fake super" to be configured.
234 A chroot-enabled module should not have this parameter enabled unless you've
235 taken steps to ensure that the module has the necessary resources it needs
236 to translate names, and that it is not possible for a user to change those
237 resources. That includes being the code being able to call functions like
238 code(getpwuid()), code(getgrgid()), code(getpwname()), and code(getgrnam()).
239 You should test what libraries and config files are required for your OS
240 and get those setup before starting to test name mapping in rsync.
242 dit(bf(munge symlinks)) This parameter tells rsync to modify
243 all symlinks in the same way as the (non-daemon-affecting)
244 bf(--munge-links) command-line option (using a method described below).
245 This should help protect your files from user trickery when
246 your daemon module is writable. The default is disabled when "use chroot"
247 is on with an inside-chroot path of "/", OR if "daemon chroot" is on,
248 otherwise it is enabled.
250 If you disable this parameter on a daemon that is not read-only, there
251 are tricks that a user can play with uploaded symlinks to access
252 daemon-excluded items (if your module has any), and, if "use chroot"
253 is off, rsync can even be tricked into showing or changing data that
254 is outside the module's path (as access-permissions allow).
256 The way rsync disables the use of symlinks is to prefix each one with
257 the string "/rsyncd-munged/". This prevents the links from being used
258 as long as that directory does not exist. When this parameter is enabled,
259 rsync will refuse to run if that path is a directory or a symlink to
260 a directory. When using the "munge symlinks" parameter in a chroot area
261 that has an inside-chroot path of "/", you should add "/rsyncd-munged/"
262 to the exclude setting for the module so that
263 a user can't try to create it.
265 Note: rsync makes no attempt to verify that any pre-existing symlinks in
266 the module's hierarchy are as safe as you want them to be (unless, of
267 course, it just copied in the whole hierarchy). If you setup an rsync
268 daemon on a new area or locally add symlinks, you can manually protect your
269 symlinks from being abused by prefixing "/rsyncd-munged/" to the start of
270 every symlink's value. There is a perl script in the support directory
271 of the source code named "munge-symlinks" that can be used to add or remove
272 this prefix from your symlinks.
274 When this parameter is disabled on a writable module and "use chroot" is off
275 (or the inside-chroot path is not "/"),
276 incoming symlinks will be modified to drop a leading slash and to remove ".."
277 path elements that rsync believes will allow a symlink to escape the module's
278 hierarchy. There are tricky ways to work around this, though, so you had
279 better trust your users if you choose this combination of parameters.
281 dit(bf(charset)) This specifies the name of the character set in which the
282 module's filenames are stored. If the client uses an bf(--iconv) option,
283 the daemon will use the value of the "charset" parameter regardless of the
284 character set the client actually passed. This allows the daemon to
285 support charset conversion in a chroot module without extra files in the
286 chroot area, and also ensures that name-translation is done in a consistent
287 manner. If the "charset" parameter is not set, the bf(--iconv) option is
288 refused, just as if "iconv" had been specified via "refuse options".
290 If you wish to force users to always use bf(--iconv) for a particular
291 module, add "no-iconv" to the "refuse options" parameter. Keep in mind
292 that this will restrict access to your module to very new rsync clients.
294 dit(bf(max connections)) This parameter allows you to
295 specify the maximum number of simultaneous connections you will allow.
296 Any clients connecting when the maximum has been reached will receive a
297 message telling them to try later. The default is 0, which means no limit.
298 A negative value disables the module.
299 See also the "lock file" parameter.
301 dit(bf(log file)) When the "log file" parameter is set to a non-empty
302 string, the rsync daemon will log messages to the indicated file rather
303 than using syslog. This is particularly useful on systems (such as AIX)
304 where code(syslog()) doesn't work for chrooted programs. The file is
305 opened before code(chroot()) is called, allowing it to be placed outside
306 the transfer. If this value is set on a per-module basis instead of
307 globally, the global log will still contain any authorization failures
308 or config-file error messages.
310 If the daemon fails to open the specified file, it will fall back to
311 using syslog and output an error about the failure. (Note that the
312 failure to open the specified log file used to be a fatal error.)
314 This setting can be overridden by using the bf(--log-file=FILE) or
315 bf(--dparam=logfile=FILE) command-line options. The former overrides
316 all the log-file parameters of the daemon and all module settings.
317 The latter sets the daemon's log file and the default for all the
318 modules, which still allows modules to override the default setting.
320 dit(bf(syslog facility)) This parameter allows you to
321 specify the syslog facility name to use when logging messages from the
322 rsync daemon. You may use any standard syslog facility name which is
323 defined on your system. Common names are auth, authpriv, cron, daemon,
324 ftp, kern, lpr, mail, news, security, syslog, user, uucp, local0,
325 local1, local2, local3, local4, local5, local6 and local7. The default
326 is daemon. This setting has no effect if the "log file" setting is a
327 non-empty string (either set in the per-modules settings, or inherited
328 from the global settings).
330 dit(bf(syslog tag)) This parameter allows you to specify the syslog
331 tag to use when logging messages from the rsync daemon. The default is
332 "rsyncd". This setting has no effect if the "log file" setting is a
333 non-empty string (either set in the per-modules settings, or inherited
334 from the global settings).
336 For example, if you wanted each authenticated user's name to be
337 included in the syslog tag, you could do something like this:
339 verb( syslog tag = rsyncd.%RSYNC_USER_NAME%)
341 dit(bf(max verbosity)) This parameter allows you to control
342 the maximum amount of verbose information that you'll allow the daemon to
343 generate (since the information goes into the log file). The default is 1,
344 which allows the client to request one level of verbosity.
346 This also affects the user's ability to request higher levels of bf(--info) and
347 bf(--debug) logging. If the max value is 2, then no info and/or debug value
348 that is higher than what would be set by bf(-vv) will be honored by the daemon
349 in its logging. To see how high of a verbosity level you need to accept for a
350 particular info/debug level, refer to "rsync --info=help" and "rsync --debug=help".
351 For instance, it takes max-verbosity 4 to be able to output debug TIME2 and FLIST3.
353 dit(bf(lock file)) This parameter specifies the file to use to
354 support the "max connections" parameter. The rsync daemon uses record
355 locking on this file to ensure that the max connections limit is not
356 exceeded for the modules sharing the lock file.
357 The default is tt(/var/run/rsyncd.lock).
359 dit(bf(read only)) This parameter determines whether clients
360 will be able to upload files or not. If "read only" is true then any
361 attempted uploads will fail. If "read only" is false then uploads will
362 be possible if file permissions on the daemon side allow them. The default
363 is for all modules to be read only.
365 Note that "auth users" can override this setting on a per-user basis.
367 dit(bf(write only)) This parameter determines whether clients
368 will be able to download files or not. If "write only" is true then any
369 attempted downloads will fail. If "write only" is false then downloads
370 will be possible if file permissions on the daemon side allow them. The
371 default is for this parameter to be disabled.
373 Helpful hint: you probably want to specify "refuse options = delete" for a
379 dit(bf(list)) This parameter determines whether this module is
380 listed when the client asks for a listing of available modules. In addition,
381 if this is false, the daemon will pretend the module does not exist
382 when a client denied by "hosts allow" or "hosts deny" attempts to access it.
383 Realize that if "reverse lookup" is disabled globally but enabled for the
384 module, the resulting reverse lookup to a potentially client-controlled DNS
385 server may still reveal to the client that it hit an existing module.
386 The default is for modules to be listable.
388 dit(bf(uid)) This parameter specifies the user name or user ID that
389 file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon
390 was run as root. In combination with the "gid" parameter this determines what
391 file permissions are available. The default when run by a super-user is to
392 switch to the system's "nobody" user. The default for a non-super-user is to
393 not try to change the user. See also the "gid" parameter.
395 The RSYNC_USER_NAME environment variable may be used to request that rsync run
396 as the authorizing user. For example, if you want a rsync to run as the same
397 user that was received for the rsync authentication, this setup is useful:
399 verb( uid = %RSYNC_USER_NAME%
402 dit(bf(gid)) This parameter specifies one or more group names/IDs that will be
403 used when accessing the module. The first one will be the default group, and
404 any extra ones be set as supplemental groups. You may also specify a "*" as
405 the first gid in the list, which will be replaced by all the normal groups for
406 the transfer's user (see "uid"). The default when run by a super-user is to
407 switch to your OS's "nobody" (or perhaps "nogroup") group with no other
408 supplementary groups. The default for a non-super-user is to not change any
409 group attributes (and indeed, your OS may not allow a non-super-user to try to
410 change their group settings).
412 The specified list is normally split into tokens based on spaces and commas.
413 However, if the list starts with a comma, then the list is only split on
414 commas, which allows a group name to contain a space. In either case any
415 leading and/or trailing whitespace is removed from the tokens and empty tokens
418 dit(bf(daemon uid)) This parameter specifies a uid under which the daemon will
419 run. The daemon usually runs as user root, and when this is left unset the user
420 is left unchanged. See also the "uid" parameter.
422 dit(bf(daemon gid)) This parameter specifies a gid under which the daemon will
423 run. The daemon usually runs as group root, and when this is left unset, the
424 group is left unchanged. See also the "gid" parameter.
426 dit(bf(fake super)) Setting "fake super = yes" for a module causes the
427 daemon side to behave as if the bf(--fake-super) command-line option had
428 been specified. This allows the full attributes of a file to be stored
429 without having to have the daemon actually running as root.
431 dit(bf(filter)) The daemon has its own filter chain that determines what files
432 it will let the client access. This chain is not sent to the client and is
433 independent of any filters the client may have specified. Files excluded by
434 the daemon filter chain (bf(daemon-excluded) files) are treated as non-existent
435 if the client tries to pull them, are skipped with an error message if the
436 client tries to push them (triggering exit code 23), and are never deleted from
437 the module. You can use daemon filters to prevent clients from downloading or
438 tampering with private administrative files, such as files you may add to
439 support uid/gid name translations.
441 The daemon filter chain is built from the "filter", "include from", "include",
442 "exclude from", and "exclude" parameters, in that order of priority. Anchored
443 patterns are anchored at the root of the module. To prevent access to an
444 entire subtree, for example, "/secret", you em(must) exclude everything in the
445 subtree; the easiest way to do this is with a triple-star pattern like
448 The "filter" parameter takes a space-separated list of daemon filter rules,
449 though it is smart enough to know not to split a token at an internal space in
450 a rule (e.g. "- /foo - /bar" is parsed as two rules). You may specify one or
451 more merge-file rules using the normal syntax. Only one "filter" parameter can
452 apply to a given module in the config file, so put all the rules you want in a
453 single parameter. Note that per-directory merge-file rules do not provide as
454 much protection as global rules, but they can be used to make bf(--delete) work
455 better during a client download operation if the per-dir merge files are
456 included in the transfer and the client requests that they be used.
458 dit(bf(exclude)) This parameter takes a space-separated list of daemon
459 exclude patterns. As with the client bf(--exclude) option, patterns can be
460 qualified with "- " or "+ " to explicitly indicate exclude/include. Only one
461 "exclude" parameter can apply to a given module. See the "filter" parameter
462 for a description of how excluded files affect the daemon.
464 dit(bf(include)) Use an "include" to override the effects of the "exclude"
465 parameter. Only one "include" parameter can apply to a given module. See the
466 "filter" parameter for a description of how excluded files affect the daemon.
468 dit(bf(exclude from)) This parameter specifies the name of a file
469 on the daemon that contains daemon exclude patterns, one per line. Only one
470 "exclude from" parameter can apply to a given module; if you have multiple
471 exclude-from files, you can specify them as a merge file in the "filter"
472 parameter. See the "filter" parameter for a description of how excluded files
475 dit(bf(include from)) Analogue of "exclude from" for a file of daemon include
476 patterns. Only one "include from" parameter can apply to a given module. See
477 the "filter" parameter for a description of how excluded files affect the
480 dit(bf(incoming chmod)) This parameter allows you to specify a set of
481 comma-separated chmod strings that will affect the permissions of all
482 incoming files (files that are being received by the daemon). These
483 changes happen after all other permission calculations, and this will
484 even override destination-default and/or existing permissions when the
485 client does not specify bf(--perms).
486 See the description of the bf(--chmod) rsync option and the bf(chmod)(1)
487 manpage for information on the format of this string.
489 dit(bf(outgoing chmod)) This parameter allows you to specify a set of
490 comma-separated chmod strings that will affect the permissions of all
491 outgoing files (files that are being sent out from the daemon). These
492 changes happen first, making the sent permissions appear to be different
493 than those stored in the filesystem itself. For instance, you could
494 disable group write permissions on the server while having it appear to
495 be on to the clients.
496 See the description of the bf(--chmod) rsync option and the bf(chmod)(1)
497 manpage for information on the format of this string.
499 dit(bf(auth users)) This parameter specifies a comma and/or space-separated
500 list of authorization rules. In its simplest form, you list the usernames
501 that will be allowed to connect to
502 this module. The usernames do not need to exist on the local
503 system. The rules may contain shell wildcard characters that will be matched
504 against the username provided by the client for authentication. If
505 "auth users" is set then the client will be challenged to supply a
506 username and password to connect to the module. A challenge response
507 authentication protocol is used for this exchange. The plain text
508 usernames and passwords are stored in the file specified by the
509 "secrets file" parameter. The default is for all users to be able to
510 connect without a password (this is called "anonymous rsync").
512 In addition to username matching, you can specify groupname matching via a '@'
513 prefix. When using groupname matching, the authenticating username must be a
514 real user on the system, or it will be assumed to be a member of no groups.
515 For example, specifying "@rsync" will match the authenticating user if the
516 named user is a member of the rsync group.
518 Finally, options may be specified after a colon (:). The options allow you to
519 "deny" a user or a group, set the access to "ro" (read-only), or set the access
520 to "rw" (read/write). Setting an auth-rule-specific ro/rw setting overrides
521 the module's "read only" setting.
523 Be sure to put the rules in the order you want them to be matched, because the
524 checking stops at the first matching user or group, and that is the only auth
525 that is checked. For example:
527 verb( auth users = joe:deny @guest:deny admin:rw @rsync:ro susan joe sam )
529 In the above rule, user joe will be denied access no matter what. Any user
530 that is in the group "guest" is also denied access. The user "admin" gets
531 access in read/write mode, but only if the admin user is not in group "guest"
532 (because the admin user-matching rule would never be reached if the user is in
533 group "guest"). Any other user who is in group "rsync" will get read-only
534 access. Finally, users susan, joe, and sam get the ro/rw setting of the
535 module, but only if the user didn't match an earlier group-matching rule.
537 If you need to specify a user or group name with a space in it, start your list
538 with a comma to indicate that the list should only be split on commas (though
539 leading and trailing whitespace will also be removed, and empty entries are
540 just ignored). For example:
542 verb( auth users = , joe:deny, @Some Group:deny, admin:rw, @RO Group:ro )
544 See the description of the secrets file for how you can have per-user passwords
545 as well as per-group passwords. It also explains how a user can authenticate
546 using their user password or (when applicable) a group password, depending on
547 what rule is being authenticated.
549 See also the section entitled "USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A REMOTE
550 SHELL CONNECTION" in bf(rsync)(1) for information on how handle an
551 rsyncd.conf-level username that differs from the remote-shell-level
552 username when using a remote shell to connect to an rsync daemon.
554 dit(bf(secrets file)) This parameter specifies the name of a file that contains
555 the username:password and/or @groupname:password pairs used for authenticating
556 this module. This file is only consulted if the "auth users" parameter is
557 specified. The file is line-based and contains one name:password pair per
558 line. Any line has a hash (#) as the very first character on the line is
559 considered a comment and is skipped. The passwords can contain any characters
560 but be warned that many operating systems limit the length of passwords that
561 can be typed at the client end, so you may find that passwords longer than 8
562 characters don't work.
564 The use of group-specific lines are only relevant when the module is being
565 authorized using a matching "@groupname" rule. When that happens, the user
566 can be authorized via either their "username:password" line or the
567 "@groupname:password" line for the group that triggered the authentication.
569 It is up to you what kind of password entries you want to include, either
570 users, groups, or both. The use of group rules in "auth users" does not
571 require that you specify a group password if you do not want to use shared
574 There is no default for the "secrets file" parameter, you must choose a name
575 (such as tt(/etc/rsyncd.secrets)). The file must normally not be readable
576 by "other"; see "strict modes". If the file is not found or is rejected, no
577 logins for a "user auth" module will be possible.
579 dit(bf(strict modes)) This parameter determines whether or not
580 the permissions on the secrets file will be checked. If "strict modes" is
581 true, then the secrets file must not be readable by any user ID other
582 than the one that the rsync daemon is running under. If "strict modes" is
583 false, the check is not performed. The default is true. This parameter
584 was added to accommodate rsync running on the Windows operating system.
589 dit(bf(hosts allow)) This parameter allows you to specify a list of comma-
590 and/or whitespace-separated patterns that are matched against a connecting
591 client's hostname and IP address. If none of the patterns match, then the
592 connection is rejected.
594 Each pattern can be in one of five forms:
597 it() a dotted decimal IPv4 address of the form a.b.c.d, or an IPv6 address
598 of the form a:b:c::d:e:f. In this case the incoming machine's IP address
600 it() an address/mask in the form ipaddr/n where ipaddr is the IP address
601 and n is the number of one bits in the netmask. All IP addresses which
602 match the masked IP address will be allowed in.
603 it() an address/mask in the form ipaddr/maskaddr where ipaddr is the
604 IP address and maskaddr is the netmask in dotted decimal notation for IPv4,
605 or similar for IPv6, e.g. ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:: instead of /64. All IP
606 addresses which match the masked IP address will be allowed in.
607 it() a hostname pattern using wildcards. If the hostname of the connecting IP
608 (as determined by a reverse lookup) matches the wildcarded name (using the
609 same rules as normal unix filename matching), the client is allowed in. This
610 only works if "reverse lookup" is enabled (the default).
611 it() a hostname. A plain hostname is matched against the reverse DNS of the
612 connecting IP (if "reverse lookup" is enabled), and/or the IP of the given
613 hostname is matched against the connecting IP (if "forward lookup" is
614 enabled, as it is by default). Any match will be allowed in.
617 Note IPv6 link-local addresses can have a scope in the address specification:
620 tt( fe80::1%link1)nl()
621 tt( fe80::%link1/64)nl()
622 tt( fe80::%link1/ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff::)nl()
625 You can also combine "hosts allow" with a separate "hosts deny"
626 parameter. If both parameters are specified then the "hosts allow" parameter is
627 checked first and a match results in the client being able to
628 connect. The "hosts deny" parameter is then checked and a match means
629 that the host is rejected. If the host does not match either the
630 "hosts allow" or the "hosts deny" patterns then it is allowed to
633 The default is no "hosts allow" parameter, which means all hosts can connect.
635 dit(bf(hosts deny)) This parameter allows you to specify a list of comma-
636 and/or whitespace-separated patterns that are matched against a connecting
637 clients hostname and IP address. If the pattern matches then the connection is
638 rejected. See the "hosts allow" parameter for more information.
640 The default is no "hosts deny" parameter, which means all hosts can connect.
642 dit(bf(reverse lookup)) Controls whether the daemon performs a reverse lookup
643 on the client's IP address to determine its hostname, which is used for
644 "hosts allow"/"hosts deny" checks and the "%h" log escape. This is enabled by
645 default, but you may wish to disable it to save time if you know the lookup will
646 not return a useful result, in which case the daemon will use the name
647 "UNDETERMINED" instead.
649 If this parameter is enabled globally (even by default), rsync performs the
650 lookup as soon as a client connects, so disabling it for a module will not
651 avoid the lookup. Thus, you probably want to disable it globally and then
652 enable it for modules that need the information.
654 dit(bf(forward lookup)) Controls whether the daemon performs a forward lookup
655 on any hostname specified in an hosts allow/deny setting. By default this is
656 enabled, allowing the use of an explicit hostname that would not be returned
657 by reverse DNS of the connecting IP.
659 dit(bf(ignore errors)) This parameter tells rsyncd to
660 ignore I/O errors on the daemon when deciding whether to run the delete
661 phase of the transfer. Normally rsync skips the bf(--delete) step if any
662 I/O errors have occurred in order to prevent disastrous deletion due
663 to a temporary resource shortage or other I/O error. In some cases this
664 test is counter productive so you can use this parameter to turn off this
667 dit(bf(ignore nonreadable)) This tells the rsync daemon to completely
668 ignore files that are not readable by the user. This is useful for
669 public archives that may have some non-readable files among the
670 directories, and the sysadmin doesn't want those files to be seen at all.
672 dit(bf(transfer logging)) This parameter enables per-file
673 logging of downloads and uploads in a format somewhat similar to that
674 used by ftp daemons. The daemon always logs the transfer at the end, so
675 if a transfer is aborted, no mention will be made in the log file.
677 If you want to customize the log lines, see the "log format" parameter.
679 dit(bf(log format)) This parameter allows you to specify the
680 format used for logging file transfers when transfer logging is enabled.
681 The format is a text string containing embedded single-character escape
682 sequences prefixed with a percent (%) character. An optional numeric
683 field width may also be specified between the percent and the escape
684 letter (e.g. "bf(%-50n %8l %07p)").
685 In addition, one or more apostrophes may be specified prior to a numerical
686 escape to indicate that the numerical value should be made more human-readable.
687 The 3 supported levels are the same as for the bf(--human-readable)
688 command-line option, though the default is for human-readability to be off.
689 Each added apostrophe increases the level (e.g. "bf(%''l %'b %f)").
691 The default log format is "%o %h [%a] %m (%u) %f %l", and a "%t [%p] "
692 is always prefixed when using the "log file" parameter.
693 (A perl script that will summarize this default log format is included
694 in the rsync source code distribution in the "support" subdirectory:
697 The single-character escapes that are understood are as follows:
700 it() %a the remote IP address (only available for a daemon)
701 it() %b the number of bytes actually transferred
702 it() %B the permission bits of the file (e.g. rwxrwxrwt)
703 it() %c the total size of the block checksums received for the basis file (only when sending)
704 it() %C the full-file checksum if it is known for the file. For older rsync protocols/versions, the checksum was salted, and is thus not a useful value (and is not displayed when that is the case). For the checksum to output for a file, either the bf(--checksum) option must be in-effect or the file must have been transferred without a salted checksum being used. See the bf(--checksum-choice) option for a way to choose the algorithm.
705 it() %f the filename (long form on sender; no trailing "/")
706 it() %G the gid of the file (decimal) or "DEFAULT"
707 it() %h the remote host name (only available for a daemon)
708 it() %i an itemized list of what is being updated
709 it() %l the length of the file in bytes
710 it() %L the string " -> SYMLINK", " => HARDLINK", or "" (where bf(SYMLINK) or bf(HARDLINK) is a filename)
711 it() %m the module name
712 it() %M the last-modified time of the file
713 it() %n the filename (short form; trailing "/" on dir)
714 it() %o the operation, which is "send", "recv", or "del." (the latter includes the trailing period)
715 it() %p the process ID of this rsync session
716 it() %P the module path
717 it() %t the current date time
718 it() %u the authenticated username or an empty string
719 it() %U the uid of the file (decimal)
722 For a list of what the characters mean that are output by "%i", see the
723 bf(--itemize-changes) option in the rsync manpage.
725 Note that some of the logged output changes when talking with older
726 rsync versions. For instance, deleted files were only output as verbose
727 messages prior to rsync 2.6.4.
732 dit(bf(timeout)) This parameter allows you to override the
733 clients choice for I/O timeout for this module. Using this parameter you
734 can ensure that rsync won't wait on a dead client forever. The timeout
735 is specified in seconds. A value of zero means no timeout and is the
736 default. A good choice for anonymous rsync daemons may be 600 (giving
737 a 10 minute timeout).
739 dit(bf(refuse options)) This parameter allows you to specify a space-separated
740 list of rsync command-line options that will be refused by your rsync daemon.
741 You may specify the full option name, its one-letter abbreviation, or a
742 wild-card string that matches multiple options. Beginning in 3.2.0, you can
743 also negate a match term by starting it with a "!".
745 When an option is refused, the daemon prints an error message and exits.
747 For example, this would refuse bf(--checksum) (bf(-c)) and all the various
750 verb( refuse options = c delete)
752 The reason the above refuses all delete options is that the options imply
753 bf(--delete), and implied options are refused just like explicit options.
755 The use of a negated match allows you to fine-tune your refusals after a
756 wild-card, such as this:
758 verb( refuse options = delete-* !delete-during)
760 Negated matching can also turn your list of refused options into a list of
761 accepted options. To do this, begin the list with a "*" (to refuse all options)
762 and then specify one or more negated matches to accept. For example:
764 verb( refuse options = * !a !v !compress*)
766 Don't worry that the "*" will refuse certain vital options such as bf(--dry-run),
767 bf(--server), bf(--no-iconv), bf(--protect-args), etc. These important options
768 are not matched by wild-card, so they must be overridden by their exact name.
769 For instance, if you're forcing iconv transfers you could use something like
772 verb( refuse options = * no-iconv !a !v)
774 As an additional aid (beginning in 3.2.0), refusing (or "!refusing") the "a" or
775 "archive" option also affects all the options that the bf(--archive) option
776 implies (bf(-rdlptgoD)), but only if the option is matched explicitly (not
777 using a wildcard). If you want to do something tricky, you can use "archive*"
778 to avoid this side-effect, but keep in mind that no normal rsync client ever
779 sends the actual archive option to the server.
781 As an additional safety feature, the refusal of "delete" also refuses
782 bf(remove-source-files) when the daemon is the sender; if you want the latter
783 without the former, instead refuse "delete-*" as that refuses all the delete
784 modes without affecting bf(--remove-source-files). (Keep in mind that the
785 client's bf(--delete) option typically results in bf(--delete-during).)
787 When un-refusing delete options, you should either specify "!delete*" (to
788 accept all delete options) or specify a limited set that includes "delete",
791 verb( refuse options = * !a !delete !delete-during)
793 ... whereas this accepts any delete option except bf(--delete-after):
795 verb( refuse options = * !a !delete* delete-after)
797 A note on refusing "compress" -- it is better to set the "dont compress" daemon
798 parameter to "*" because that disables compression silently instead of returning
799 an error that forces the client to remove the bf(-z) option.
801 If you are un-refusing the compress option, you probably want to match
802 "!compress*" so that you also accept the bf(--compress-level) option.
804 Note that the "write-devices" option is refused by default, but can be
805 explicitly accepted with "!write-devices". The options "log-file" and
806 "log-file-format" are forcibly refused and cannot be accepted.
808 Here are all the options that are not matched by wild-cards:
811 it() bf(--server): Required for rsync to even work.
812 it() bf(-e): Required to convey compatibility flags to the server.
813 it() bf(--log-format): This is required to convey things like bf(--itemize-changes) to a remote receiver. Is an older name for bf(--out-format) that is still passed to the server for improved backward compatibility and should not be confused with bf(--log-file-format).
814 it() bf(--sender): Use "write only" parameter instead of refusing this.
815 it() bf(-n, --dry-run): Who would want to disable this?
816 it() bf(-s, --protect-args): This actually makes transfers safer.
817 it() bf(-0, --from0): Make it easier to accept/refuse bf(--files-from) without affecting this modifier.
818 it() bf(--iconv): This is auto-disabled based on "charset" parameter.
819 it() bf(--no-iconv): Most transfers use this option.
820 it() bf(--checksum-seed): Is a fairly rare, safe option.
821 it() bf(--write-devices): Is non-wild but also auto-disabled.
824 dit(bf(dont compress)) This parameter allows you to select
825 filenames based on wildcard patterns that should not be compressed
826 when pulling files from the daemon (no analogous parameter exists to
827 govern the pushing of files to a daemon).
828 Compression can be expensive in terms of CPU usage, so it
829 is usually good to not try to compress files that won't compress well,
830 such as already compressed files.
832 The "dont compress" parameter takes a space-separated list of
833 case-insensitive wildcard patterns. Any source filename matching one
834 of the patterns will be compressed as little as possible during the
836 If the compression algorithm has an "off" level (such as zlib/zlibx) then no
837 compression occurs for those files. Other algorithms have the level minimized
838 to reduces the CPU usage as much as possible.
840 See the bf(--skip-compress) parameter in the bf(rsync)(1) manpage for the list
841 of file suffixes that are not compressed by default. Specifying a value
842 for the "dont compress" parameter changes the default when the daemon is
848 dit(bf(pre-xfer exec), bf(post-xfer exec)) You may specify a command to be run
849 before and/or after the transfer. If the bf(pre-xfer exec) command fails, the
850 transfer is aborted before it begins. Any output from the script on stdout (up
851 to several KB) will be displayed to the user when aborting, but is NOT
852 displayed if the script returns success. Any output from the script on stderr
853 goes to the daemon's stderr, which is typically discarded (though see
854 --no-detatch option for a way to see the stderr output, which can assist with
857 The following environment variables will be set, though some are
858 specific to the pre-xfer or the post-xfer environment:
861 it() bf(RSYNC_MODULE_NAME): The name of the module being accessed.
862 it() bf(RSYNC_MODULE_PATH): The path configured for the module.
863 it() bf(RSYNC_HOST_ADDR): The accessing host's IP address.
864 it() bf(RSYNC_HOST_NAME): The accessing host's name.
865 it() bf(RSYNC_USER_NAME): The accessing user's name (empty if no user).
866 it() bf(RSYNC_PID): A unique number for this transfer.
867 it() bf(RSYNC_REQUEST): (pre-xfer only) The module/path info specified
868 by the user. Note that the user can specify multiple source files,
869 so the request can be something like "mod/path1 mod/path2", etc.
870 it() bf(RSYNC_ARG#): (pre-xfer only) The pre-request arguments are set
871 in these numbered values. RSYNC_ARG0 is always "rsyncd", followed by
872 the options that were used in RSYNC_ARG1, and so on. There will be a
873 value of "." indicating that the options are done and the path args
874 are beginning -- these contain similar information to RSYNC_REQUEST,
875 but with values separated and the module name stripped off.
876 it() bf(RSYNC_EXIT_STATUS): (post-xfer only) the server side's exit value.
877 This will be 0 for a successful run, a positive value for an error that the
878 server generated, or a -1 if rsync failed to exit properly. Note that an
879 error that occurs on the client side does not currently get sent to the
880 server side, so this is not the final exit status for the whole transfer.
881 it() bf(RSYNC_RAW_STATUS): (post-xfer only) the raw exit value from code(waitpid()).
884 Even though the commands can be associated with a particular module, they
885 are run using the permissions of the user that started the daemon (not the
886 module's uid/gid setting) without any chroot restrictions.
888 These settings honor 2 environment variables: use RSYNC_SHELL to set a shell to
889 use when running the command (which otherwise uses your code(system()) call's default
890 shell), and use RSYNC_NO_XFER_EXEC to disable both options completely.
894 manpagesection(CONFIG DIRECTIVES)
896 There are currently two config directives available that allow a config file to
897 incorporate the contents of other files: bf(&include) and bf(&merge). Both
898 allow a reference to either a file or a directory. They differ in how
899 segregated the file's contents are considered to be.
901 The bf(&include) directive treats each file as more distinct, with each one
902 inheriting the defaults of the parent file, starting the parameter parsing
903 as globals/defaults, and leaving the defaults unchanged for the parsing of
904 the rest of the parent file.
906 The bf(&merge) directive, on the other hand, treats the file's contents as
907 if it were simply inserted in place of the directive, and thus it can set
908 parameters in a module started in another file, can affect the defaults for
911 When an bf(&include) or bf(&merge) directive refers to a directory, it will read
912 in all the bf(*.conf) or bf(*.inc) files (respectively) that are contained inside
913 that directory (without any
914 recursive scanning), with the files sorted into alpha order. So, if you have a
915 directory named "rsyncd.d" with the files "foo.conf", "bar.conf", and
916 "baz.conf" inside it, this directive:
918 verb( &include /path/rsyncd.d )
920 would be the same as this set of directives:
922 verb( &include /path/rsyncd.d/bar.conf
923 &include /path/rsyncd.d/baz.conf
924 &include /path/rsyncd.d/foo.conf )
926 except that it adjusts as files are added and removed from the directory.
928 The advantage of the bf(&include) directive is that you can define one or more
929 modules in a separate file without worrying about unintended side-effects
930 between the self-contained module files.
932 The advantage of the bf(&merge) directive is that you can load config snippets
933 that can be included into multiple module definitions, and you can also set
934 global values that will affect connections (such as bf(motd file)), or globals
935 that will affect other include files.
937 For example, this is a useful /etc/rsyncd.conf file:
940 log file = /var/log/rsync.log
941 pid file = /var/lock/rsync.lock
944 &include /etc/rsyncd.d )
946 This would merge any /etc/rsyncd.d/*.inc files (for global values that should
947 stay in effect), and then include any /etc/rsyncd.d/*.conf files (defining
948 modules without any global-value cross-talk).
950 manpagesection(AUTHENTICATION STRENGTH)
952 The authentication protocol used in rsync is a 128 bit MD4 based
953 challenge response system. This is fairly weak protection, though (with
954 at least one brute-force hash-finding algorithm publicly available), so
955 if you want really top-quality security, then I recommend that you run
956 rsync over ssh. (Yes, a future version of rsync will switch over to a
957 stronger hashing method.)
959 Also note that the rsync daemon protocol does not currently provide any
960 encryption of the data that is transferred over the connection. Only
961 authentication is provided. Use ssh as the transport if you want
964 Future versions of rsync may support SSL for better authentication and
965 encryption, but that is still being investigated.
967 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
969 A simple rsyncd.conf file that allow anonymous rsync to a ftp area at
970 tt(/home/ftp) would be:
975 comment = ftp export area
978 A more sophisticated example would be:
985 syslog facility = local5
986 pid file = /var/run/rsyncd.pid
989 path = /var/ftp/./pub
990 comment = whole ftp area (approx 6.1 GB)
993 path = /var/ftp/./pub/samba
994 comment = Samba ftp area (approx 300 MB)
997 path = /var/ftp/./pub/rsync
998 comment = rsync ftp area (approx 6 MB)
1001 path = /public_html/samba
1002 comment = Samba WWW pages (approx 240 MB)
1006 comment = CVS repository (requires authentication)
1007 auth users = tridge, susan
1008 secrets file = /etc/rsyncd.secrets
1011 The /etc/rsyncd.secrets file would look something like this:
1014 tt(tridge:mypass)nl()
1015 tt(susan:herpass)nl()
1020 /etc/rsyncd.conf or rsyncd.conf
1024 bf(rsync)(1), bf(rsync-ssl)(1)
1028 Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at
1029 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
1031 manpagesection(VERSION)
1033 This man page is current for version 3.1.3 of rsync.
1035 manpagesection(CREDITS)
1037 rsync is distributed under the GNU General Public License. See the file
1038 COPYING for details.
1040 The primary ftp site for rsync is
1041 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
1043 A WEB site is available at
1044 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
1046 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
1048 This program uses the zlib compression library written by Jean-loup
1049 Gailly and Mark Adler.
1051 manpagesection(THANKS)
1053 Thanks to Warren Stanley for his original idea and patch for the rsync
1054 daemon. Thanks to Karsten Thygesen for his many suggestions and
1059 rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras.
1060 Many people have later contributed to it.
1062 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
1063 url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)