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rsyn-ssl

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 15 Jan 2025
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NAME

rsyn-ssl - a helper script for connecting to an ssl rsync daemon

SYNOPSIS

rsyn-ssl -type=SSL_TYPE] RSYNC_ARGS

The online version of this manpage (that includes cros-linking of topics) is available at

DESCRIPTION

The rsyn-ssl script helps you to run an rsync copy to/from an rsync daemon that requires ssl connections. The script requires that you specify an rsyn-daemon arg in the style of either hostname:: (with 2 colons) or rsync://hostname/. The default port used for connecting is 874 (one higher than the normal 873) unless overridden in the environment. You can specify an overriding port via --port or by including it in the normal spot in the URL format, though both of those require your rsync version to be at least 3.2.0.

OPTIONS

If the first arg is a --type=SSL_TYPE option, the script will only use that particular program to open an ssl connection instead of trying to find an openssl or stunnel executable via a simple heuristic (assuming that the RSYNC_SSL_TYPE environment variable is not set as well -- see below). This option must specify one of openssl or stunnel. The equal sign is required for this particular option. All the other options are passed through to the rsync command, so consult the rsync(1) manpage for more information on how it works.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

The ssl helper scripts are affected by the following environment variables:

RSYNC_SSL_TYPE: Specifies the program type that should be used to open the ssl connection. It must be one of openssl or stunnel. The --type=SSL_TYPE option overrides this, when specified.
RSYNC_SSL_PORT: If specified, the value is the port number that is used as the default when the user does not specify a port in their rsync command. When not specified, the default port number is 874. (Note that older rsync versions (prior to 3.2.0) did not communicate an overriding port number value to the helper script.)
RSYNC_SSL_CERT: If specified, the value is a filename that contains a certificate to use for the connection.
RSYNC_SSL_KEY: If specified, the value is a filename that contains a key for the provided certificate to use for the connection.
RSYNC_SSL_CA_CERT: If specified, the value is a filename that contains a certificate authority certificate that is used to validate the connection.
RSYNC_SSL_OPENSSL: Specifies the openssl executable to run when the connection type is set to openssl. If unspecified, the $PATH is searched for "openssl".
RSYNC_SSL_GNUTLS: Specifies the gnutl-cli executable to run when the connection type is set to gnutls. If unspecified, the $PATH is searched for "gnutl-cli".
RSYNC_SSL_STUNNEL: Specifies the stunnel executable to run when the connection type is set to stunnel. If unspecified, the $PATH is searched first for "stunnel4" and then for "stunnel".

EXAMPLES

rsyn-ssl-aiv example.com::mod/ dest

rsyn-ssl-type=openssl-aiv example.com::mod/ dest

rsyn-ssl-aiv-port 9874 example.com::mod/ dest

rsyn-ssl-aiv rsync://example.com:9874/mod/ dest

THE SERVER SIDE

For help setting up an SSL/TLS supporting rsync, see the instructions in rsyncd.conf.

CAVEATS

Note that using an stunnel connection requires at least version 4 of stunnel, which should be the case on modern systems. Also, it does not verify a connection against the CA certificate collection, so it only encrypts the connection without any cert validation unless you have specified the certificate environment options. This script also supports a --type=gnutls option, but at the time of this release the gnutl-cli command was dropping output, making it unusable. If that bug has been fixed in your version, feel free to put gnutls into an exported RSYNC_SSL_TYPE environment variable to make its use the default.

BUGS

Please report bugs! See the web site at

VERSION

This manpage is current for version 3.4.1 of rsync.

CREDITS

Rsync is distributed under the GNU General Public License. See the file COPYING for details. A web site is available at The site includes an FA--Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this manual page.

AUTHOR

This manpage was written by Wayne Davison. Mailing lists for support and development are available at