There have been a number of people who want to copy only changed files using the OpenSSH toolkit. Please add the following text to the FAQ and the scp man page, so that people will know how to do it: How can I copy just the changed files? One way to copy only the changed files using OpenSSH is by using another package named "rsync". rsync can transfer just the differences between two sets of files, and can use "ssh" to implement it. For example, to copy the changed files from the local directory /home/joe/stuff (and its descendants) to the user joeuser at computer joe.com, directory /home/joeuser/stuff, do this: rsync -a --rsh="ssh" /home/joe/stuff joeuser@joe.com:/home/joeuser/stuff The "-a" option tries to make everything the same on the remote system (including symbolic links, permissions, and timestamps), and the "--rsh" option indicates that ssh should be used as the (secure) transport. Especially useful rsync options include -C (which skips copying certain useless files), -z (which compresses before sending over a network), -v (verbose status information), and --progress (show status of the file transfer). Note that this only works if the remote system has an ssh server, permits the user to log in using ssh, and is at least somewhat Unix-like.
I don't think the scp manpage is an appropriate place for this (maybe in the 'see also' section) and the FAQ is more for troubleshooting. We don't yet have a good HOWTO-style document for OpenSSH. If we did, we could put the text there
The FAQ currently emphasizes troubleshooting, but that's not necessary. A FAQ is for "frequently asked questions", and since "how do I synchronize" can be viewed as a frequent question, I think it's reasonable to add this information to the FAQ. In fact, PLEASE add the text I proposed to the FAQ, since it would help many people immediately. As far as the man page goes, changing the scp man page so that the "SEE ALSO" section mentioned rsync would be an improvement. But using rsync's "--rsh" flag really involves a combination of both ssh and rsync, and some mention in the scp man page on how to use them together would make the combination easier to use. Besides modifying scp's "SEE ALSO" man page section, could you at leat add a sentence mentioning this important use? Many people only look at the man pages, so it's important to give them a hint there. Here's my proposal; just add this text to the end of the scp man page "DESCRIPTION": If you want to only copy changed files using ssh's security features, use rsync(1) with the option --rsh="ssh", e.g., rsync -a --rsh="ssh" /home/joe/stuff joeuser@joe.com:/home/joeuser/stuff It's short, it's simple, and it shows people how to do it. If you don't like the example, drop everything after the "e.g.", but at least tell people about rsync, what it does, and its --rsh option. Just a "see also" to rsync won't tell people WHY they should also see that program. Thanks. I'm just trying to make sure that users can use this great tool (OpenSSH) using only the documentation they get... :-).
wontfix
Mass change of RESOLVED bugs to CLOSED