Adventures with #rsync

I wrote up a post about how I get around silly macOS security stuff to run rsync jobs from cron by embedding shell commands inside of Automator applications...

https://rasterweb.net/raster/2025/03/17/scheduling-rsync-in-macos/

I forgot you can't just run a shell script with rsync calls via cron on macOS because of... security. I think my workaround will do though.

I write a shell script and then create an Automator application that calls the shell script. I then add a cron job to open the application.

I need to check if it runs when the screen is locked. I'm pretty sure it does but I will test again.

Did you know? My https://github.com/gokrazy/rsync module can be used as a library — both its client and its server accept the io.ReadWriter interface type :)

To demonstrate that this works and to show the flexibility this enables, I put together an rsync-over-gRPC demo:

https://github.com/stapelberg/rsync-over-grpc

To be clear, this isn’t starting the samba rsync program in the background or anything like that; it’s a 100% Go implementation; memory-safe and fast! Standalone and cross-architecture!

The rsync manpage claims there are two different ways to use rsync, and then explains that there are two exceptions.

After studying the code, I think it’s clearer to think about 4 ways to use rsync, as I try to show in this diagram.

What backup system for Linux is most like Apple's Time Machine backup?

I've seen a few posts about using rsync for a "Time Machine" like experience, but I'm wondering what people actually use.

@thestrangelet I use Hetzner's Storage Box (https://www.hetzner.com/storage/storage-box/) with plain #rsync

~2003 I asked my friend about good Linux backup software.

He told me to use rsync in a script, with cron or whatever, and basically roll a solution myself. I thought that was such a hack-y way of doing it.

But he was right. Rsync rules.

Also, software using rsync like rsnapshot and BackupPC, and countless others, are very good.

This Week in Security: Rsync, SSO, and Pentesting Mushrooms - Up first, go check your machines for the rsync version, and your servers for an ex... - https://hackaday.com/2025/01/17/this-week-in-security-rsync-sso-and-pentesting-mushrooms/ #thisweekinsecurity #hackadaycolumns #securityhacks #pentesting #rsync #news #sso

Why exactly does my #NixOS want to rebuilt my #Linux kernel if I use #rsync from nixpkgs-master?

Ubuntu Patches Major Security Vulnerabilities in Rsync #news #app_updates #canonical #rsync #security
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2025/01/rsync-secuity-bugs-ubuntu-updates

Neat to know. #debian fixed a critical issue with #rsync (RCE, CVSS 9.8, CVE-2024-12084) back in December already. Awesome.

There is a critical #security #vulnerability in #rsync, update ASAP.

On #Debian stable, check your version:

apt show rsync

the problems have been fixed in the version 3.2.7-1+deb12u1 if you have an earlier version upgrade

also check this if you didn't manually install rsync it is a dependency of many packages.

for details, see this post: https://mastodon.social/@nixCraft/113833699519818054

6 vulnerabilities discovered in rsync server, including one critical flaw that allows remote code execution (RCE) on the server. Anonymous rsync servers are affected.

https://vulnerability.circl.lu/bundle/d938dc28-6877-40db-ad5f-25f3051288e6

#rsync vulnerability CVE-2024-12085 is fully mitigated by default on #HardenedBSD due to our default use of -ftrivial-var-auto-init=zero.

https://kb.cert.org/vuls/id/952657

#TIL if you want to #rsync file(s) from a remote machine and #sudo is required for access you can simply do a `rsync -avz --rsync-path="sudo rsync" user@host:/path target/` #linux