4 Rsync is a fast and extraordinarily versatile file copying tool for
5 both remote and local files.
7 Rsync uses a delta-transfer algorithm which provides a very fast method
8 for bringing remote files into sync. It does this by sending just the
9 differences in the files across the link, without requiring that both
10 sets of files are present at one of the ends of the link beforehand. At
11 first glance this may seem impossible because the calculation of diffs
12 between two files normally requires local access to both files.
14 A technical report describing the rsync algorithm is included with this
21 Basically you use rsync just like scp, but rsync has many additional
22 options. To get a complete list of supported options type:
26 See the manpage for more detailed information.
32 Rsync normally uses ssh or rsh for communication with remote systems.
33 It does not need to be setuid and requires no special privileges for
34 installation. You must, however, have a working ssh or rsh system.
35 Using ssh is recommended for its security features.
37 Alternatively, rsync can run in `daemon' mode, listening on a socket.
38 This is generally used for public file distribution, although
39 authentication and access control are available.
41 To install rsync, first run the "configure" script. This will create a
42 Makefile and config.h appropriate for your system. Then type "make".
44 Note that on some systems you will have to force configure not to use
45 gcc because gcc may not support some features (such as 64 bit file
46 offsets) that your system may support. Set the environment variable CC
47 to the name of your native compiler before running configure in this
50 Once built put a copy of rsync in your search path on the local and
51 remote systems (or use "make install"). That's it!
57 Rsync can also talk to "rsync daemons" which can provide anonymous or
58 authenticated rsync. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man page for details on how
59 to setup an rsync daemon. See the rsync(1) man page for info on how to
60 connect to an rsync daemon.
66 The main rsync web site is here:
68 http://rsync.samba.org/
70 You'll find a FAQ list, downloads, resources, HTML versions of the
77 There is a mailing list for the discussion of rsync and its applications
78 that is open to anyone to join. New releases are announced on this
79 list, and there is also an announcement-only mailing list for those that
80 want official announcements. See the mailing-list page for full
83 http://rsync.samba.org/lists.html
89 To visit this web page for full the details on bug reporting:
91 http://rsync.samba.org/bugzilla.html
93 That page contains links to the current bug list, and information on how
94 to report a bug well. You might also like to try searching the Internet
95 for the error message you've received, or looking in the mailing list
98 http://mail-archive.com/rsync@lists.samba.org/
100 To send a bug report, follow the instructions on the bug-tracking
101 page of the web site.
103 Alternately, email your bug report to rsync@lists.samba.org .
109 If you want to get the very latest version of rsync direct from the
110 source code repository then you can use git:
112 git clone git://git.samba.org/rsync.git
114 See the download page for full details on all the ways to grab the
115 source, including nightly tar files, web-browsing of the git repository,
118 http://rsync.samba.org/download.html
124 Rsync was originally written by Andrew Tridgell and is currently
125 maintained by Wayne Davison. It has been improved by many developers
126 from around the world.
128 Rsync may be used, modified and redistributed only under the terms of
129 the GNU General Public License, found in the file COPYING in this
132 http://www.fsf.org/licenses/gpl.html
138 The main web site for rsync is http://rsync.samba.org/
139 The main ftp site is ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync/
140 This is also available as rsync://rsync.samba.org/rsyncftp/