rsync 2.5.5 consuming memory and spirals server down

[Werner Maier]

Hi there,

I've a problem with rsync - see below.
(by the way: I'm using rsync since 2 years now, good work!)

my environment:

- linux, 2.4, Dual-PIII-1.2GHz, 1 GB RAM. more of these machines.
- rsync 2.5.5
- openssh 3.3

the machines are on a lan, so bandwith is not a problem.

I sync large directories (about 6 GB growing) between the machines,
no problem - memory consumtion of rsync is normal if not pressed cntrl-c,
see below.

for rsync I use

rsync -cvrlpgo \
      --delete \
      --exclude=... \
      [more of them]
      -e ssh \
      server:/path /path

machines are configured to do rsa-pubkey authentication on ssh, so
this can be done by a cron job.

but: if I try it manually and stop rsync using cntrl-C, while
it prints "receiving file list..." the rsync server process
on the other machine immediately grabbs all memory
in seconds (about 100 Meg per Second), spiraling the machine down
if 2 Gig swap and 1 Gig RAM are used.

But the best (Coders will be happy): it comes EVERY time I use cntrl-C,
even if it's a very small directory to sync.

any hints? (maybe setting ulimit for this ssh-connection could help,
I haven't tried it yet - just discovered the "bug/strange behaviour"
in my environment quite now and have been able to reproduce it).

If You need additional info, I'll try to provide it.

best regards.

Werner Maier.
--
Werner Maier, Dipl.-Ing. Univ.        E-Mail: maier at fidion.de
fidion GmbH                           Berner Straße 2, 97084 Würzburg