using rsync to backup windows workstations

[Lapo Luchini]

As officially I'm the mantainer of cygwin's rsync package I feel I must add
something.. 0=)

> a) rsync binaries for win32/cygwin are now available from the binaries
>    section of the rsync web pages, maintained by someone at redhat I think

Maintained by me, I don't work for redhat, and sadly I have a bit too little time
to maintain it as I should...

> b) the version attached is so old that you really shouldn't attempt to use  it.
>    Get the latest CVS version and add Wayne Davison's patches (see
>    mailing list archives), in particular for use with Windoze systems,
>    then compile it yourself with cygwin

...but not so little not to compile it with Wayne's patches (actual patch is the
latest anti-hang available at the date of the release of cygwin's rsync-2.4.6-2
package) ;-)

If there's some patch that I missed (I read this mailing list since when I began to
mantain that package, but reading only headers of most messages maybe I missed
something...) please point it to me and I'll release a new verison shortly =)

Please note that I'm not an "expert programmer" of rsync, just a person that likes
and uses it (and wants maybe to become such an expert, btw): in cygwin one package
can't exist in the distribution if there's not a mantainer... so I hope that the
effort I put in it is not wasted, even if it's maybe not enough... [I've got a bit
of guild for that eheh]

> c) it's easy to compile under cygwin, and cygwin is easy to install, so I
>    strongly recommend doing that

That's true, it compiles out-of-the box.
The main problem is that in winsocks if the socket is closed a RST is sent, not
flushing the cache.
This creates many errors at the end of trasnfer, especially in the daemon mode
(which is not addressed by the patch I used, I bet).

> d) also install openssh which compiles cleanly under cygwin and is much
>    more reliable than the ssh that is attached here

Compiles cleanly and is available as a binary.

If anyone wants to ask some more question.. feel free, even if I don't know nothing
"special" about it, as I said I had not had the time to completely study and
understand rsync source...

C ya,
Lapo

--
Lapo Luchini
lapo at lapo.it (PGP & X.509 keys available)
http://www.lapo.it (ICQ UIN: 529796)