4 rsync is a replacement for rcp that has many more features.
6 rsync uses the "rsync algorithm" which provides a very fast method for
7 bringing remote files into sync. It does this by sending just the
8 differences in the files across the link, without requiring that both
9 sets of files are present at one of the ends of the link beforehand.
10 At first glance this may seem impossible because the calculation of
11 diffs between two files normally requires local access to both
14 A technical report describing the rsync algorithm is included with
21 Basically you use rsync just like rcp, but rsync has many additional options.
23 Here is a brief description of available options:
26 -v, --verbose increase verbosity
27 -c, --checksum always checksum
28 -a, --archive archive mode (same as -rlptDog)
29 -r, --recursive recurse into directories
30 -R, --relative use relative path names
31 -b, --backup make backups (default ~ extension)
32 -u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files)
33 -l, --links preserve soft links
34 -L, --copy-links treat soft links like regular files
35 -H, --hard-links preserve hard links
36 -p, --perms preserve permissions
37 -o, --owner preserve owner (root only)
38 -g, --group preserve group
39 -D, --devices preserve devices (root only)
40 -t, --times preserve times
41 -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently
42 -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred
43 -W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks
44 -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
45 -B, --block-size SIZE checksum blocking size
46 -e, --rsh COMMAND specify rsh replacement
47 --rsync-path PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine
48 -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does
49 --delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side
50 --force force deletion of directories even if not empty
51 --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
52 --timeout TIME set IO timeout in seconds
53 -I, --ignore-times don't exclude files that match length and time
54 -T --temp-dir DIR create temporary files in directory DIR
55 -z, --compress compress file data
56 --exclude FILE exclude file FILE
57 --exclude-from FILE exclude files listed in FILE
58 --suffix SUFFIX override backup suffix
59 --version print version number
65 Rsync uses rsh or ssh for communication. It does not need to be setuid
66 and requires no special privilages for installation. It does not
67 require a inetd entry or a daemon. You must, however, have a working
68 rsh or ssh system. Using ssh is recommended for its security
71 To install rsync, first run the "configure" script. This will create a
72 Makefile and config.h appropriate for your system. Then type
75 Once built put a copy of rsync in your search path on the local and
76 remote systems (or use "make install"). That's it!
82 There is a mailing list for the discussion of rsync and its
83 applications. It is open to anyone to join. I will announce new
84 versions on this list.
86 To join the mailing list send mail to listproc@samba.anu.edu.au with
87 no subject and a body of "subscribe rsync Your Name".
89 To send mail to everyone on the list send it to rsync@samba.anu.edu.au
95 If you have web access then please look at
96 http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/
98 This will give you access to the bug tracking system used by the
99 developers of rsync and will allow you to look at other bug reports or
100 submit a new bug report.
102 If you don't have web access then mail bug reports to
103 rsync-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au or (if you think it will be of interest to
104 lots of people) send it to rsync@samba.anu.edu.au
110 If you want to get the very latest version of rsync direct from the
111 source code repository then you can use anonymous cvs. You will need a
112 recent version of cvs then use the following commands:
114 cvs -d :pserver:cvs@samba.anu.edu.au:/cvsroot login
117 cvs -d :pserver:cvs@samba.anu.edu.au:/cvsroot co rsync
119 Look at the cvs documentation for more details.
125 Rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras, and is
126 available under the Gnu Public License.
128 tridge@samba.anu.edu.au
135 The main ftp site for rsync is ftp://samba.anu.edu.au/pub/rsync
137 Mirrors are available at:
139 ftp://sunsite.auc.dk/pub/unix/rsync
140 ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/unix/admin/rsync
141 ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pub/unix/network/rsync/