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rsync is remote file copy program under Linux. It synchronize file trees across local disks, directories or across a network. It has several advantage over bulky backup software that consume lot of system resources and slow down your pc. rsync uses the remote-update protocol to speed up file transfers when the destination file already exists. The rsync remote-update protocol allows you to transfer differences between two sets of files using an efficient checksum-search algorithm. rsync Features:

• support for copying links, devices, owners, groups and permissions
• exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar
• a CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore
• can use any transparent remote shell, including rsh or ssh
• does not require root privileges
• pipelining of file transfers to minimize latency costs
• support for anonymous or authenticated rsync servers (ideal for mirroring)

Usage: You need to specify a source and a destination in which one may be remote. rsync *.php foo:src/ this would transfer all files matching the pattern *.php from the current directory to the directory src on the machine foo. If any of the files already exist on the remote system then the sync remote-update protocol is used to update the file by sending only the differences. rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp this would recursively transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the machine foo into the /data/tmp/bar directory on the local machine. The files are transferred in "archive" mode, which ensures that symbolic links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownerships etc are preserved in the transfer. rsync -avz foo:src/bar/ /data/tmp a trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to transfer all files from the directory src/bar on the machine foo into the /data/tmp/. A trailing / on a source name means "copy the contents of this directory". Without a trailing slash it means "copy the directory". This difference becomes particularly important when using the --delete option. rsync somehost.mydomain.com:: this would list all the anonymous rsync modules available on the host somehost.mydomain.com. Available Options -v, --verbose increase verbosity -q, --quiet decrease verbosity -c, --checksum always checksum -a, --archive archive mode -r, --recursive recurse into directories -R, --relative use relative path names -b, --backup make backups (default ~ suffix) --backup-dir make backups into this directory --suffix=SUFFIX override backup suffix -u, --update update only (don't overwrite newer files) -l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks -L, --copy-links copy the referent of symlinks --copy-unsafe-links copy links outside the source tree --safe-links ignore links outside the destination tree -H, --hard-links preserve hard links -p, --perms preserve permissions -o, --owner preserve owner (root only) -g, --group preserve group -D, --devices preserve devices (root only) -t, --times preserve times -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently -n, --dry-run show what would have been transferred -W, --whole-file copy whole files, no incremental checks --no-whole-file turn off --whole-file -x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries -B, --block-size=SIZE checksum blocking size (default 700) -e, --rsh=COMMAND specify rsh replacement --rsync-path=PATH specify path to rsync on the remote machine -C, --cvs-exclude auto ignore files in the same way CVS does --existing only update files that already exist --ignore-existing ignore files that already exist on the receiving side --delete delete files that don't exist on the sending side --delete-excluded also delete excluded files on the receiving side --delete-after delete after transferring, not before --ignore-errors delete even if there are IO errors --max-delete=NUM don't delete more than NUM files --partial keep partially transferred files --force force deletion of directories even if not empty --numeric-ids don't map uid/gid values by user/group name --timeout=TIME set IO timeout in seconds -I, --ignore-times don't exclude files that match length and time --size-only only use file size when determining if a file should be transferred --modify-window=NUM Timestamp window (seconds) for file match (default=0) -T --temp-dir=DIR create temporary files in directory DIR --compare-dest=DIR also compare destination files relative to DIR -P equivalent to --partial --progress -z, --compress compress file data --exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN --exclude-from=FILE exclude patterns listed in FILE --include=PATTERN don't exclude files matching PATTERN --include-from=FILE don't exclude patterns listed in FILE --version print version number --daemon run as a rsync daemon --no-detach do not detach from the parent --address=ADDRESS bind to the specified address --config=FILE specify alternate rsyncd.conf file --port=PORT specify alternate rsyncd port number --blocking-io use blocking IO for the remote shell --no-blocking-io turn off --blocking-io --stats give some file transfer stats --progress show progress during transfer --log-format=FORMAT log file transfers using specified format --password-file=FILE get password from FILE --bwlimit=KBPS limit I/O bandwidth, KBytes per second --read-batch=PREFIX read batch fileset starting with PREFIX --write-batch=PREFIX write batch fileset starting with PREFIX -h, --help show this help screen Environment Variables CVSIGNORE : The CVSIGNORE environment variable supplements any ignore patterns in .cvsignore files. See the --cvs-exclude option for more details. RSYNC_RSH : The RSYNC_RSH environment variable allows you to override the default shell used as the transport for rsync. This can be used instead of the -e option. RSYNC_PROXY : The RSYNC_PROXY environment variable allows you to redirect your rsync client to use a web proxy when connecting to a rsync daemon. You should set RSYNC_PROXY to a hostname:port pair. RSYNC_PASSWORD : Setting RSYNC_PASSWORD to the required password allows you to run authenticated rsync connections to a rsync daemon without user intervention. Note that this does not supply a password to a shell transport such as ssh. USER or LOGNAME : The USER or LOGNAME environment variables are used to determine the default username sent to a rsync server. HOME : The HOME environment variable is used to find the user's default .cvsignore file. Exit Values RERR_SYNTAX 1 - Syntax or usage error RERR_PROTOCOL 2 - Protocol incompatibility RERR_FILESELECT 3 - Errors selecting input/output files, dirs RERR_UNSUPPORTED 4 - Requested action not supported: an attempt was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support them; or an option was speciifed that is supported by the client and not by the server. RERR_SOCKETIO 10 - Error in socket IO RERR_FILEIO 11 - Error in file IO RERR_STREAMIO 12 - Error in rsync protocol data stream RERR_MESSAGEIO 13 - Errors with program diagnostics RERR_IPC 14 - Error in IPC code RERR_SIGNAL 20 - Received SIGUSR1 or SIGINT RERR_WAITCHILD 21 - Some error returned by waitpid() RERR_MALLOC 22 - Error allocating core memory buffers RERR_TIMEOUT 30 - Timeout in data send/receive