Beyond Linux From Scratch - Version 6.1

Chapter 24. Other Server Software

rsync-2.6.5

Introduction to rsync

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

Package Information

rsync Dependencies

Optional

popt-1.7-5 and DocBook-utils-0.6.14

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" -d /home/rsync -g rsyncd \
    -s /bin/false -u 48 rsyncd

Install rsync by running the following commands: 

./configure --prefix=/usr &&
make

If you have DocBook-Utils installed and wish to build HTML documentation, issue: 

cd doc &&
docbook2html rsync.sgml &&
cd ..

To test the results, issue: make check.

Now, as the root user: 

make install

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

install -v -m755 -d /usr/share/doc/rsync-2.6.5 &&
install -v -m644 doc/*.html /usr/share/doc/rsync-2.6.5

Configuring rsync

Config Files

/etc/rsyncd.conf

Configuration Information

For client access to remote files, you may need to install the OpenSSH-4.1p1 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 http://rsync.samba.org/documentation.html.

Boot Script

Note that you only want 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-6.1 package. 

make install-rsyncd

Contents

Installed Program: rsync
Installed Libraries: None
Installed Directories: Optionally, /usr/share/doc/rsync-2.6.5

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.

Last updated on 2005-08-14 15:03:38 -0600