A summary hint of rsync-related information

Jul 21, '03 09:03:00AM

Contributed by: olve

I have been trying to make an OS X version of an off-site backup system I currently run on Linux boxes using rsync and an rsync server. In the process, I figured out a number ofthings about OSX rsync that I though would be worthwhile to clarify in a single post.

If you do not know about rsync, it is a great utility for mirroring two mounted volumes or mirroring to a remote "rsync server." You can find the details and useful links at rsync website on samba.org.

Things to be aware of:

  1. 1: For Mac HFS+ volumes, you need a special version to accomodate the resource forks on Mac files. This version is known as "RsyncX" and/or rsync_hfs - please see the detials below for further information.

  2. If you are using rsync via an SSH tunnel to mirror to a remote Mac, make sure both machines are running the same HFS+ aware version of rsync.

  3. There is a posted configuration for an rsync server in the macosxhints archive, but I could not get it to work. Digging a little deeper, it seems that rsync does not run in server mode under OS X. Here is an email I received from the RsyncX team:
    rsync binaries currently do not support the "--daemon" mode of operation in OS X. This is true of any binary release, and not just RsyncX. The rsync maintainers are aware of the problem, but have not found a suitable fix.
Read the rest of the article for more info on rsync...

Information: Here is a summary of what I managed to figure out and confirm on the status of rsync for OS X. I'm pretty sure it is all correct.

  1. Both RsyncX and rsync_hfs are written and/or managed by Kevin Boyd.
  2. RsyncX includes a OS X GUI wrapper, while rsync_hfs is only command line. Installing RsyncX will also install rsync_hfs into /usr/local/bin/rsync.
  3. rsync_hfs may be (and as of July 14th 2003 is) slightly more up to date than RsyncX with respect to the rsync core code.
  4. OS X 10.2 install includes the following rsync versions:
    /usr/bin/rsync
    /usr/bin/rsync.2.3.1
    /usr/bin/rsync.2.5.2
    /usr/bin/rsync.hfs.2.4.6
    
    In this list, /usr/bin/rsync is equivalent to rsync 2.5.5 protocol 26 with HFS+ support, which is the same things that is installed by RsyncX 1.7 in /usr/local/bin/rsync.
  5. If you want to use the most recent rsync_hfs, you have to download and compile it yourself form the OpenDarwin projects.
[robg adds: I've never used rsync, but thought this might be useful to someone out there...]

Comments (12)


Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20030716130537269