DiskPushDiskPush

Getting started

Requirements

DiskPush drives rsync and SSH rather than reimplementing them, so both need to exist:

  • On this machine: rsync and an SSH client.
  • On any server you transfer to or from: rsync.
# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install rsync openssh-client

Linux is the reference platform. macOS works; its system rsync is old enough that a Homebrew rsync is worth having for zstd compression and --mkpath.

Your first transfer

Nothing needs to be configured to move files between two local paths, which is a good way to see the defaults work:

diskpush ./photos/ /mnt/backup/photos/

Run it twice. The second run transfers nothing, because nothing changed. That is the whole idea.

Adding a server

diskpush connections add production deploy@example.com --port 22 --path /srv/app

Or import what you already have:

diskpush connections import

Then check it end to end:

diskpush connections test production

SSH                 ok    deploy@example.com:22
SFTP browsing       ok    available
Remote rsync        ok    3.2.7
zstd compression    ok    supported
ACL preservation    ok    supported
xattr preservation  ok    supported
Home directory      ok    /home/deploy

The first connection to a host shows its fingerprint and asks once. After that the key is remembered, and a change to it blocks the connection rather than asking again.

This command also records what that server's rsync can do, so later transfers gate options on the remote's real capabilities instead of assuming yours apply to both ends.

Look before you leap

diskpush ls production:/srv/app
diskpush ./dist/ production:/srv/app/ --dry-run

The dry run prints the change set: what would be added, updated, and left alone. Nothing moves.

Transfer

diskpush ./dist/ production:/srv/app/

To see exactly what is being run, at any time:

diskpush ./dist/ production:/srv/app/ --print-args

Excluding things

diskpush ./site/ production:/var/www/site/ \
  --exclude-preset node \
  --exclude-preset git \
  --exclude 'private/'

Saving it

diskpush profiles save website ./site/ production:/var/www/site/ \
  --exclude-preset node --exclude-preset git

diskpush profile run website

Profiles are shared with the desktop app: one saved here shows up there.

Deleting stale files

sync never deletes. When you do want the destination to match the source exactly, that is mirror, and it will show you the list first:

diskpush mirror ./site/ production:/var/www/site/

Action     Files
---------  -----
Add        12
Update     3
Unchanged  8442
Delete     87

These destination files would be deleted:
  old/2019-promo.html
  ...

Delete 87 files at the destination? [y/N]

In a script, --yes confirms and --non-interactive guarantees it will exit 66 rather than wait for someone who is not there.

Server to server

diskpush media-01:/srv/media/ backup-02:/data/media/

The files move directly between those two servers. See direct-server-to-server.md.

When something stops

An interrupted transfer is reported as resumable, not failed. Re-run the same command; rsync picks up from the partial file:

diskpush jobs
diskpush ./big-media/ backup-02:/data/media/   # continues