NAME

File::Rsync - perl module interface to rsync(1) http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/

SYNOPSIS

use File::Rsync;

$obj = File::Rsync->new( { archive => 1, compress => 1, rsh => '/usr/local/bin/ssh', 'rsync-path' => '/usr/local/bin/rsync' } );

$obj->exec( { src => 'localdir', dest => 'rhost:remdir' } ) or warn "rsync failed\n";

DESCRIPTION

Perl Convenience wrapper for the rsync(1) program. Written for rsync-2.3.2 and updated for rsync-2.4.6 but should perform properly with most recent versions.

File::Rsync::new

$obj = new File::Rsync;

   or

$obj = File::Rsync->new;

   or

$obj = File::Rsync->new(@options);

   or

$obj = File::Rsync->new(\%options);

Create a File::Rsync object. Any options passed at creation are stored in the object as defaults for all future exec call on that object. Options may be passed in the form of a hash and are the same as the long options in rsync with the leading double-dash removed. An additional option of path-to-rsync also exists which can be used to override the hardcoded path to the rsync binary that is defined when the module is installed, and debug which causes the module methods to print some debugging information to STDERR. The outfun and errfun options take a function reference. The function is called once for each line of output from the rsync program with the output line passed in as the first argument, the second arg is either 'out' or 'err' depending on the source. This makes it possible to use the same function for both and still determine where the output came from. Options may also be passed as a reference to a hash. The exclude option needs an array reference as its value, since there cannot be duplicate keys in a hash. There is an equivalent include option. Only an exclude or include option should be used, not both. Use the '+ ' or '- ' prefix trick to put includes in an exclude array, or to put excludes in an include array (see rsync for details). Include/exclude options form an ordered list. The order must be retained for proper execution. There are also source and dest keys. The key src is also accepted as an equivalent to source, and dst or destination may be used as equivalents to dest. The source option may take a scalar or an array reference. If the source is the local system then multiple source paths are allowed. In this case an array reference should be used. There is also a method for passing multiple source paths to a remote system. This method may be triggered in this module by passing the remote hostname to the srchost key and passing an array reference to the source key. If the source host is being accessed via an Rsync server, the remote hostname should have a single trailing colon on the name. When rsync is called, the srchost value and the values in the source array will be joined with a colon resulting in the double-colon required for server access. The dest key only takes a scalar since rsync only accepts a single destination path.

File::Rsync::defopts

$obj->defopts(@options);

   or

$obj->defopts(\%options);

Set default options for future exec calls for the object. See rsync for a complete list of valid options. This is really the internal method that new calls but you can use it too. The verbose and quiet options to rsync are actually counters. When assigning the perl hash-style options you may specify the counter value directly and the module will pass the proper number of options to rsync.

File::Rsync::exec

$obj->exec(@options) or warn "rsync failed\n";

   or

$obj->exec(\%options) or warn "rsync failed\n";

This is the method that does the real work. Any options passed to this routine are appended to any pre-set options and are not saved. They effect the current execution of rsync only. In the case of conflicts, the options passed directly to exec take precedence. It returns 1 if the return status was zero (or true), if the rsync return status was non-zero it returns 0 and stores the return status. You can examine the return status from rsync and any output to stdout and stderr with the methods listed below.

File::Rsync::list

$out = $obj->list(@options);

   or

$out = $obj->list(%options);

   or

@out = $obj->list(%options);

This is a wrapper for exec called without a destination to get a listing. It returns the output of stdout like the out function below. When no destination is given rsync returns the equivalent of 'ls -l' or 'ls -lr' modified by any include/exclude parameters you specify. This is useful for manual comparison without actual changes to the destination or for comparing against another listing taken at a different point in time.

File::Rsync::status

$rval = $obj->status;

Returns the status from last exec call right shifted 8 bits.

File::Rsync::realstatus

$rval = $obj->realstatus;

Returns the real status from last exec call (not right shifted).

File::Rsync::err

$aref = $obj->err;

In a scalar context this method will return a reference to an array containing all output to stderr from the last exec call, or zero (false) if there was no output. In an array context it will return an array of all output to stderr or an empty list. The scalar context can be used to efficiently test for the existance of output. rsync sends all messages from the remote rsync process and any error messages to stderr. This method's purpose is to make it easier for you to parse that output for appropriate information.

File::Rsync::out

$aref = $obj->out;

Similar to the err method, in a scalar context it returns a reference to an array containing all output to stdout from the last exec call, or zero (false) if there was no output. In an array context it returns an array of all output to stdout or an empty list. rsync sends all informational messages (verbose option) from the local rsync process to stdout.

File::Rsync::lastcmd

$aref = $obj->lastcmd;

Returns the actual system command used by the last exec call, or '' before any calls to exec for the object. This can be useful in the case of an error condition to give a more informative message or for debugging purposes. In an array context it return an array of args as passed to the system, in a scalar context it returns a space-seperated string.

Author

Lee Eakin <leakin@nostrum.com>

Credits

The following people have contributed ideas, bug fixes, and code to improve this module since it's release. See the Changelog for details:

Greg Ward

Boris Goldowsky

James Mello

Andreas Koenig

Joe Smith

Jonathan Pelletier

Inspiration and Assistance

Gerard Hickey PGP::Pipe

Russ Allbery PGP::Sign

Graham Barr Net::*

Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras rsync(1)

John Steele <steele@nostrum.com>

Philip Kizer <pckizer@nostrum.com>

Larry Wall perl(1)

I borrowed many clues on wrapping an external program from the PGP modules, and I would not have had such a useful tool to wrap except for the great work of the rsync authors. Thanks also to Graham Barr, the author of the libnet modules and many others, for looking over this code. Of course I must mention the other half of my brain, John Steele, and his good friend Philip Kizer for finding rsync and bringing it to my attention. And I would not have been able to enjoy writing useful tools if not for the creator of the perl language.

Copyrights

      Copyright (c) 1999 Lee Eakin.  All rights reserved.
 
      This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
      it under the same terms as Perl itself. 

cpanm File::Rsync

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install File::Rsync