Linux – rsync : transferring files in one direction only

linuxrsyncsynchronization

Is it possible to use rsync to copy files in one direction only?

For example, suppose we have:

left/a.txt

right/a.txt

where the files are initially identical.

If one then modifies right/a.txt, then:

rsync -avv left/ right/

will copy right/a.txt onto left/a.txt.

Is it possible to restrict rsync to only copying from left/ to right/ (i.e. prevent it from copying from right/ to left/)?

Best Answer

You misunderstand rsync. This command:

rsync -avv left/ right/

will not sync anything in right to left. It will, as @atbg says, only sync left to right. Rsync is not a bi-directional syncer. It syncs the dest with the source.

Man page for reference: http://linux.die.net/man/1/rsync

Related Solutions

Get rsync to generate a patch file instead of copying across files

There might be a better way, but this might work, albeit not that efficiently:

 rsync -vrn / dest:/ > ~/file_list

Then edit test to remove the stats, then:

while read file; do
    diff $file <(ssh dest "cat $file")
done < ~/edited_file_list

Another Option:
You might also consider mounting the file system with something like sshfs/fuse, and then just using diff.

Rsync -c -i flags identical files as different

Since "-a" is equivalent to "-rlptgoD" then yes it's still looking at mod times (the "-t").

Try replacing the "-a" with "-rlpgoD" and see how that goes.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Get rsync to generate a patch file instead of copying across files

Rsync -c -i flags identical files as different

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