RDIFFDIR(1) manual page

Table of Contents

Name

rdiffdir - compute and apply signatures and diffs to directories

Synopsis

rdiffdir [options] sig[nature] basis_dir signature_file

rdiffdir [options] delta full_sigtar {incr_sigtar} new_dir delta_file

rdiffdir [options] patch basis_dir delta_file

rdiffdir [options] tar basis_dir

tar_file

If signature_file or delta_file are "-", the data will be read from stdin or written to stdout as appropriate.

Description

rdiffdir is supposed to be like rdiff, but can operate on directories. See rdiff(1) for more information. The syntax is similar.

Regarding the delta command, the full_sigtar operand is a signature_file written by an earlier signature or tar command (the latter using the --write-sig-to option). The optional incr_sigtar operands are signature files written by earlier delta commands using the --write-sig-to option. This way the Nth invocation of the delta command can parse (and extend) the signature chain that has been founded by the first signature or tar command with a full signature, and then extended by the subsequent N-1 delta invocations with incremental signatures. It is the responsibility of the user to specify the sigtar operands in logical increment order.

Options

--write-sig-to sigfile: This option is only used in delta and tar modes. When specified, rdiffdir will write a signature of the directory it is processing to sigfile. The end result will be a delta and a new signature calculated over the same data.
-z, --gzip-compress: Enable gzip compression and decompression of signature and delta files.

Selection Options

In signature and delta modes, rdiffdir accepts duplicity-like selection options including --exclude, --exclude-filelist, etc. See the duplicity(1) manual page for more information.

Bugs

Hard links are currently unsupported (they will be treated as non-linked regular files).

Bad signatures will be treated as empty instead of logging appropriate error message.

Author

Original Author - Ben Escoto <bescoto@stanford.edu>
Current Maintainer - Kenneth Loafman <kenneth@loafman.com>
Continuous Contributors: Edgar Soldin, Mike Terry

Also we’d like to thank everybody posting issues to the mailing list or on launchpad, sending in patches or contributing otherwise. Duplicity wouldn’t be as stable and useful if it weren’t for you.

A special thanks goes to rsync.net, a Cloud Storage provider with explicit support for duplicity, for several monetary donations and for providing a special "duplicity friends" rate for their offsite backup service. Email info@rsync.net for details.