Beyond Linux® From Scratch (System V Edition) - Version r12.2-814

Chapter 15. Networking Programs

rsync-3.3.0

Introduction to rsync

The rsync package contains the rsync utility. This is useful for synchronizing large file archives over a network.

[Note]

Note

Development versions of BLFS may not build or run some packages properly if LFS or dependencies have been updated since the most recent stable versions of the books.

Package Information

  • Download (HTTP): https://www.samba.org/ftp/rsync/src/rsync-3.3.0.tar.gz

  • Download MD5 sum: f5c17f9c9164ef9e60d9d8c96b23da06

  • Download size: 1.2 MB

  • Estimated disk space required: 9.2 MB (with tests; add 24 MB for HTML API documentation)

  • Estimated build time: 0.7 SBU (with tests)

rsync Dependencies

Recommended

popt-1.19

Optional

Doxygen-1.12.0 and xxhash

Installation of rsync

For security reasons, running the rsync server as an unprivileged user and group is encouraged. If you intend to run rsync as a daemon, create the rsyncd user and group with the following commands issued by the root user: 

groupadd -g 48 rsyncd &&
useradd -c "rsyncd Daemon" -m -d /home/rsync -g rsyncd \
    -s /bin/false -u 48 rsyncd

Install rsync by running the following commands: 

./configure --prefix=/usr    \
            --disable-xxhash \
            --without-included-zlib &&
make

If you have Doxygen-1.12.0 installed and wish to build HTML API documentation, issue: 

doxygen

To test the results, issue: make check.

Now, as the root user: 

make install

If you built the documentation, install it using the following commands as the root user: 

install -v -m755 -d          /usr/share/doc/rsync-3.3.0/api &&
install -v -m644 dox/html/*  /usr/share/doc/rsync-3.3.0/api

Command Explanations

--disable-xxhash: This switch disables advanced xxhash checksum support. Remove this switch if you have installed xxhash.

--without-included-zlib: This switch enables compilation with the system-installed zlib library.

Configuring rsync

Config Files

/etc/rsyncd.conf

Configuration Information

For client access to remote files, you may need to install the OpenSSH-9.9p1 package to connect to the remote server.

This is a simple download-only configuration to set up running rsync as a server. See the rsyncd.conf(5) man-page for additional options (i.e., user authentication). 

cat > /etc/rsyncd.conf << "EOF"
# This is a basic rsync configuration file
# It exports a single module without user authentication.

motd file = /home/rsync/welcome.msg
use chroot = yes

[localhost]
    path = /home/rsync
    comment = Default rsync module
    read only = yes
    list = yes
    uid = rsyncd
    gid = rsyncd

EOF

You can find additional configuration information and general documentation about rsync at https://rsync.samba.org/documentation.html.

Boot Script

Note that you only need to start the rsync server if you want to provide an rsync archive on your local machine. You don't need this script to run the rsync client.

Install the /etc/rc.d/init.d/rsyncd init script included in the blfs-bootscripts-20241209 package. 

make install-rsyncd

Contents

Installed Program: rsync and rsync-ssl
Installed Libraries: None
Installed Directories: Optionally, /usr/share/doc/rsync-3.3.0

Short Descriptions

rsync

is a replacement for rcp (and scp) that has many more features. It uses the “rsync algorithm” which provides a very fast method of syncing remote files. 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 end of the link beforehand

rsync-ssl

is a helper script used when connecting to an rsync daemon that has SSL support built in