Commit 9ec5422c authored by Martin Pool's avatar Martin Pool

Try adding some FAQs from the FoM

parent 1935e11c
......@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-v</term>
<term><option>-v</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>Be verbose. Primarily, display the name of each file as it is copied.</para>
</listitem>
......@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-a
<term><option>-a</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Reproduce the structure and attributes of the origin files as exactly
......@@ -201,4 +201,130 @@ running rsync giving the network directory.
</para>
</section>
</chapter>
<chapter>
<title>Frequently asked questions</title>
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<qandaset>
<!-- one of (QANDADIV QANDAENTRY) -->
<qandaentry>
<question>
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<para>Are there mailing lists for rsync?
</question>
<answer>
<para>Yes, and you can subscribe and unsubscribe through a
web interface at
<ulink
url="http://lists.samba.org/">http://lists.samba.org/</ulink>
</para>
<para>
If you are having trouble with the mailing list, please
send mail to the administrator
<email>rsync-admin@lists.samba.org</email>
not to the list itself.
</para>
<para>
The mailing list archives are searchable. Use
<ulink url="http://google.com/">Google</ulink> and prepend
the search with <userinput>site:lists.samba.org
rsync</userinput>, plus relevant keywords.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry>
<question>
Is rsync useful for a single large file like an ISO image?
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Yes, but note the following:
<para>
Background: A common use of rsync is to update a file (or set of files) in one location from a more
correct or up-to-date copy in another location, taking advantage of portions of the files that are
identical to speed up the process. (Note that rsync will transfer a file in its entirety if no copy
exists at the destination.)
<para>
(This discussion is written in terms of updating a local copy of a file from a correct file in a
remote location, although rsync can work in either direction.)
<para>
The file to be updated (the local file) must be in a destination directory that has enough space for
two copies of the file. (In addition, keep an extra copy of the file to be updated in a different
location for safety -- see the discussion (below) about rsync's behavior when the rsync process is
interrupted before completion.)
<para>
The local file must have the same name as the remote file being sync'd to (I think?). If you are
trying to upgrade an iso from, for example, beta1 to beta2, rename the local file to the same name
as the beta2 file. *(This is a useful thing to do -- only the changed portions will be
transmitted.)*
<para>
The extra copy of the local file kept in a different location is because of rsync's behavior if
interrupted before completion:
<para>
* If you specify the --partial option and rsync is interrupted, rsync will save the partially
rsync'd file and throw away the original local copy. (The partially rsync'd file is correct but
truncated.) If rsync is restarted, it will not have a local copy of the file to check for duplicate
blocks beyond the section of the file that has already been rsync'd, thus the remainder of the rsync
process will be a "pure transfer" of the file rather than taking advantage of the rsync algorithm.
<para>
* If you don't specify the --partial option and rsync is interrupted, rsync will throw away the
partially rsync'd file, and, when rsync is restarted starts the rsync process over from the
beginning.
<para>
Which of these is most desirable depends on the degree of commonality between the local and remote
copies of the file *and how much progress was made before the interruption*.
<para>
The ideal approach after an interruption would be to create a new file by taking the original file
and deleting a portion equal in size to the portion already rsync'd and then appending *the
remaining* portion to the portion of the file that has already been rsync'd. (There has been some
discussion about creating an option to do this automatically.)
The --compare-dest option is useful when transferring multiple files, but is of no benefit in
transferring a single file. (AFAIK)
*Other potentially useful information can be found at:
-[3]http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Wikilearn/RsyncingALargeFile
This answer, formatted with "real" bullets, can be found at:
-[4]http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Wikilearn/RsyncingALargeFileFAQ*
Note: I modified this on Oct. 9. 2001 -- I marked the changes with asterisks. The only deletion
without a corresponding correction was the deletion of an "(IIRC)".
2001-Oct-09 7:47am rhkramerATfastDOTnet
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
</qandaset>
</chapter>
</book>
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