rsync - Easily Transfer and Synchronize Files Between Computers
rsync is a great utility that can be use for transferring files to and from a remote computer. It can be use to sync files between the computers as well.
rsync can be installed from the package manager on a Debian system:
sudo apt install rsync -y
The basic syntax for rsync is as follows:
rysnc -optional-flags soruce-file-location destination-file-locationOne of the rsync command I prefer to use is the following:
#Sync file from source to destination, keeping source file attributes, show human readable progress,
#and delete files afterwards from destination if file exisits in destination but not in source
rsync -ah -r --progress source-file destination-file --delete-afterrsync Flags Reference
rsync have many possible flags to use. Below are a list of the flags according to the official manual:
| Flags | Shorthand |
Description |
| --verbose |
-v |
increase verbosity |
| --quiet | -q | suppress non-error messages |
| --no-motd | suppress daemon-mode MOTD (see caveat) |
|
| --checksum | -c | skip based on checksum, not mod-time & size |
| --archive | -a | archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X) |
| --no-OPTION | turn off an implied OPTION (e.g. --no-D) |
|
| --recursive | -r | recurse into directories |
| --relative | -R | use relative path names |
| --no-implied-dirs | don't send implied dirs with --relative |
|
| --backup | -b | make backups (see --suffix & --backup-dir) |
| --backup-dir=DIR | make backups into hierarchy based in DIR |
|
| --suffix=SUFFIX | backup suffix (default ~ w/o --backup-dir) |
|
| --update | -u | skip files that are newer on the receiver |
| --inplace | update destination files in-place |
|
| --append | append data onto shorter files |
|
| --append-verify | --append w/old data in file checksum |
|
| --dirs | -d | transfer directories without recursing |
| --links | -l | copy symlinks as symlinks |
| --copy-links | -L | transform symlink into referent file/dir |
| --copy-unsafe-links | only "unsafe" symlinks are transformed |
|
| --safe-links | ignore symlinks that point outside the tree |
|
| --copy-dirlinks | -k | transform symlink to dir into referent dir |
| --keep-dirlinks | -K | treat symlinked dir on receiver as dir |
| --hard-links | -H | preserve hard links |
| --perms | -p | preserve permissions |
| --executability | -E | preserve executability |
| --chmod=CHMOD | affect file and/or directory permissions |
|
| --acls | -A | preserve ACLs (implies -p) |
| --xattrs | -X | preserve extended attributes |
| --owner | -o | preserve owner (super-user only) |
| --group | -g | preserve group |
| --devices | preserve device files (super-user only) |
|
| --specials | preserve special files |
|
| -D | same as --devices --specials |
|
| --times | -t | preserve modification times |
| --omit-dir-times | -O | omit directories from --times |
| --super | receiver attempts super-user activities |
|
| --fake-super | ||
| --sparse | -S | |
| --dry-run | -n | |
| --whole-file | -W | |
| --one-file-system | -x | |
| --block-size=SIZE | -B | |
| --rsh=COMMAND | -e | |
| --rsync-path=PROGRAM | ||
| --existing | ||
| --ignore-existing | ||
| --remove-source-files | ||
| --del | ||
| --delete | ||
| --delete-before | ||
| --delete-during | ||
| --delete-delay | ||
| --delete-after | ||
| --delete-excluded | ||
| --ignore-errors | ||
| --force | ||
| --max-delete=NUM | ||
| --max-size=SIZE | ||
| --min-size=SIZE | ||
| --partial | ||
| --partial-dir=DIR | ||
| --delay-updates | ||
| --prune-empty-dirs | -m | |
| --numeric-ids | ||
| --timeout=SECONDS | ||
| --contimeout=SECONDS | ||
| --ignore-times | -I | |
| --size-only | ||
| --modify-window=NUM | ||
| --temp-dir=DIR | -T | |
| --fuzzy | -y | |
| --compare-dest=DIR | ||
| --copy-dest=DIR | ||
| --link-dest=DIR | ||
| --compress | -z | |
| --compress-level=NUM | ||
| --skip-compress=LIST | ||
| --cvs-exclude | -C | |
| --filter=RULE | -f | |
| -F | ||
| --exclude=PATTERN | ||
| --exclude-from=FILE | ||
| --include=PATTERN | ||
| --include-from=FILE | ||
| --files-from=FILE | ||
| --from0 | -0 | |
| --protect-args | -s | |
| --address=ADDRESS | ||
| --port=PORT | ||
| --sockopts=OPTIONS | ||
| --blocking-io | ||
| --stats | ||
| --8-bit-output | -8 | |
| --human-readable | -h | |
| --progress | ||
| -P | ||
| --itemize-changes | -i | |
| --out-format=FORMAT | ||
| --log-file=FILE | ||
| --log-file-format=FMT | ||
| --password-file=FILE | ||
| --list-only | ||
| --bwlimit=KBPS | ||
| --write-batch=FILE | ||
| --only-write-batch=FILE | ||
| --read-batch=FILE | ||
| --protocol=NUM | ||
| --iconv=CONVERT_SPEC | ||
| --checksum-seed=NUM | ||
| --ipv4 | -4 | |
| --ipv6 | -6 |
|
| --version | ||
| --help | (-h) |