NAME
    ftpsync - FTP sync or copy tool. Synchronize a remote arborescence from
    a local directory by using FTP.

    $Revision: 1.81 $

INSTALL
     Get ftpsync at http://www.linux-france.org/prj/ftpsync/dist/
     tar xzvf  ftpsync-x.xx.tgz  # x.xx is the version number
     Read the INSTALL file.
     freshmeat record: http://freshmeat.net/projects/ftpsync/

SYNOPSIS
      ftpsync [options] SOURCE DEST

      ftpsync [--host server] [--port <num>]
              [--user <string>] [--passfile <string>] 
              [--pattern <string>] 
              [--excludelist <file>]
              [--hash] [--force] 
              [--delete]
              [--norecursive]
              [--nostat]
              [--dry]
              [--debug] [--debugftp]
              [--version]
              SOURCE DEST

      ftpsync --help
      ftpsync
  
DESCRIPTION
    The command ftpsync is a tool allowing incremental and recursive FTP
    transfer from a local directory to a remote FTP-served directory.

    We sometimes need to mirror a set of files on a remote ftp server. The
    perfect tool (rsync) is not always available.

    Developing a script invoking a standard FTP client software will cause
    useless transfers (all files again and again even if they have not
    changed), and taking subdirectories into account will not be easy.

    ftpsync is the adequate tool because it reduces the amount of data
    transfered by not transfering a given local file if the remote copy has
    an newer date (so the copy is already done and up to date) and the same
    size (transfert completely done). The difference between system clocks
    is taken into account using the ftp protocol. ftpsync is somewhat "like"
    the rsync command but it uses the FTP protocol and only transfers local
    files to a remote FTP server. Moreover it implements the missing
    'recursive PUT' FTP command.

OPTIONS
    Invoke: ftpsync --help

HISTORY
    I wrote ftpsync because I could not find a good working ftp client able
    to recursively update remote ftp servers from a local directory. Several
    softwares tested were buggy. They can get (remote to local) recursively
    (ftpsync can't and won't be able to do that) but can not easily put
    (local to remote) recursively.

EXAMPLES
    While working on ftpsync parameters please run ftpsync in dry mode (no
    modification induced) with the --dry option. Nothing bad can be done
    this way.

    To copy recursively directory d1/ on remote ftp server ftp.foo.org:

     ftpsync --host ftp.foo.org --user bob --passfile /etc/secret \
             dir1 /pub/mystuff/dir1

    or use the following syntax (URI syntax in DEST):

     ftpsync --user bob --passfile /etc/secret \\
             dir1 ftp://ftp.foo.org/pub/mystuff/dir1

    Then, you will have /pub/mystuff/dir1/ content on the remote server
    updated from the local directory dir1/

    You can remove recursively a directory (or several) with the --del
    option:

     ftpsync --user bob --passfile /etc/secret --host ftp.foo.org \\
             --del /pub/mystuff/dir1 --del /pub/mystuff/dir2 

EXIT STATUS
    ftpsync will exit with a 0 status (return code) if everything went good.
    Otherwise, it exits with a non-zero status.

    So if you have a buggy internet connection, you can use this loop in a
    Bourne shell:

            while ! ftpsync ...; do 
                  echo ftpsync not complete
            done

SPECIAL BEHAVIOR
    If you want a special behavior (passive etc.) then use environment
    variables as documented in the Net::FTP manual (run command "perldoc
    Net::FTP" then read :-)) For example:

     FTP_PASSIVE=1; export FTP_PASSIVE
     ftpsync ...

AUTHOR
    Gilles LAMIRAL lamiral@linux-france.org

LICENSE
    ftpsync is free, gratis and open source software cover by the GNU
    General Public License. See the GPL file included in the distribution or
    the web site http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html

BUGS
    The FTP protocol can not create remote hard or symbolic links, nor
    special file like devices etc. ftpsync can only do what ftp also can.
    Symbolic links are ignored. Hard links are treated like normal files
    since they are normal files.

    If the system clocks on both side are very different then you can
    encounter problems since ftpsync use the modification time to determine
    if a remote file has to be updated. This problem only occurs if files on
    both side are the same size. This problem is fixed since release 1.65
    but I leave this comment here in case you encounter it again.

    Some ftp proxies don't like the "-a" option with the dir() function. Fix
    ftpsync by removing -a and test...

    Report any bugs to the author: lamiral@linux-france.org

SIMILAR SOFTWARES
    Recently Nat found similar free open and gratis tools. See also (I did
    not test them): http://sourceforge.net/projects/ftpsync/
    http://www.geocities.com/z_design_studio/ftpsync.html Feedback will be
    welcome.

    $Id: ftpsync,v 1.81 2006/10/29 04:24:38 gilles Exp gilles $