rsync

Rsync is a fast and extraordinarily versatile file copying tool for both remote and local files. Rsync uses a delta-transfer algorithm which provides a very fast method for bringing remote files into sync. It does this by sending just the differences in the files across the link, without requiring that both sets of files are present at one of the ends of the link beforehand. At first glance this may seem impossible because the calculation of diffs between two files normally requires local access to both files. A technical report describing the rsync algorithm is included with this package. Basically you use rsync just like scp, but rsync has many additional options. To get a complete list of supported options type: If you need to build rsync yourself, check out the [INSTALL][1] page for information on what libraries and packages you can use to get the maximum features in your build. Rsync normally uses ssh or rsh for communication with remote systems. It does not need to be setuid and requires no special privileges for installation. You must, however, have a working ssh or rsh system. Using ssh is recommended for its security features. Alternatively, rsync can run in daemon' mode, listening on a socket. This is generally used for public file distribution, although authentication and access control are available. To install rsync, first run the "configure" script. This will create a Makefile and config.h appropriate for your system. Then type "make". Note that on some systems you will have to force configure not to use gcc because gcc may not support some features (such as 64 bit file offsets) that your system may support. Set the environment variable CC to the name of your native compiler before running configure in this case. Rsync can also talk to "rsync daemons" which can provide anonymous or authenticated rsync. See the rsyncd.conf(5) manpage for details on how to setup an rsync daemon. See the rsync(1) manpage for info on how to connect to an rsync daemon. You'll find a FAQ list, downloads, resources, HTML versions of the manpages, etc. There is a mailing list for the discussion of rsync and its applications that is open to anyone to join. New releases are announced on this list, and there is also an announcement-only mailing list for those that want official announcements. See the [mailing-list page][3] for full details. There is also an rsync [Discord server][d] for real-time chat about rsync and its development. To send a bug report, follow the instructions on the bug-tracking page of the web site. If you want to get the very latest version of rsync direct from the source code repository, then you will need to use git. The git repo is hosted [on GitHub][6] and [on Samba's site][7]. See [the download page][8] for full details on all the ways to grab the source. Rsync was originally written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras. Many people from around the world have helped to maintain and improve it.