Giving the password of the server within the command?

Question

Is it possible to give the server password within the rsync command?

rsync -zvr source destination password

I am developing a web application in Django using rsync protocol. I use a form to take password input from the user. I want to use that password like this in the rsync command itself? How can I do it? I am sure there's a way using stdin, pipe or something like that. Thanks

Answer 1

From man rsync:

Some modules on the remote daemon may require authentication. If so, you will receive a password prompt when you connect. You can avoid the password prompt by setting the environment variable RSYNC_PASSWORD to the password you want to use or using the --password-file option. This may be useful when scripting rsync.

And regarding --password-file:

This option allows you to provide a password in a file for accessing a remote rsync daemon. Note that this option is only useful when accessing an rsync daemon using the built in transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport. The file must not be world readable. It should contain just the password as a single line.

So, either set the RSYNC_PASSWORD environment variable before calling rsync, or use a temporary file and pass it to the command; The first option is probably easier, using env:

env RSYNC_PASSWORD=PASSWORD rsync -zvr source destination

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Update: Note this little nugget under --password-file:

Note that this option is only useful when accessing an rsync daemon using the built in transport, not when using a remote shell as the transport.

If you're not using the rsync built-in transport, but perhaps SSH, you cannot use this method to "automatically" authenticate. If you're using SSH, you should use public/private keys, or possibly the ASK_SSHPASS trick (See this).