rclone(1) User Manual

Nick Craig-Wood

Mar 18, 2022

Rclone syncs your files to cloud storage

rclone logo

About rclone

Rclone is a command-line program to manage files on cloud storage. It is a feature-rich alternative to cloud vendors' web storage interfaces. Over 40 cloud storage products support rclone including S3 object stores, business & consumer file storage services, as well as standard transfer protocols.

Rclone has powerful cloud equivalents to the unix commands rsync, cp, mv, mount, ls, ncdu, tree, rm, and cat. Rclone's familiar syntax includes shell pipeline support, and --dry-run protection. It is used at the command line, in scripts or via its API.

Users call rclone "The Swiss army knife of cloud storage", and "Technology indistinguishable from magic".

Rclone really looks after your data. It preserves timestamps and verifies checksums at all times. Transfers over limited bandwidth; intermittent connections, or subject to quota can be restarted, from the last good file transferred. You can check the integrity of your files. Where possible, rclone employs server-side transfers to minimise local bandwidth use and transfers from one provider to another without using local disk.

Virtual backends wrap local and cloud file systems to apply encryption, compression, chunking, hashing and joining.

Rclone mounts any local, cloud or virtual filesystem as a disk on Windows, macOS, linux and FreeBSD, and also serves these over SFTP, HTTP, WebDAV, FTP and DLNA.

Rclone is mature, open-source software originally inspired by rsync and written in Go. The friendly support community is familiar with varied use cases. Official Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Brew and Chocolatey repos. include rclone. For the latest version downloading from rclone.org is recommended.

Rclone is widely used on Linux, Windows and Mac. Third-party developers create innovative backup, restore, GUI and business process solutions using the rclone command line or API.

Rclone does the heavy lifting of communicating with cloud storage.

What can rclone do for you?

Rclone helps you:

Features

Supported providers

(There are many others, built on standard protocols such as WebDAV or S3, that work out of the box.)

Links

Install

Rclone is a Go program and comes as a single binary file.

Quickstart

See below for some expanded Linux / macOS instructions.

See the usage docs for how to use rclone, or run rclone -h.

Already installed rclone can be easily updated to the latest version using the rclone selfupdate command.

Script installation

To install rclone on Linux/macOS/BSD systems, run:

curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash

For beta installation, run:

curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash -s beta

Note that this script checks the version of rclone installed first and won't re-download if not needed.

Linux installation from precompiled binary

Fetch and unpack

curl -O https://downloads.rclone.org/rclone-current-linux-amd64.zip
unzip rclone-current-linux-amd64.zip
cd rclone-*-linux-amd64

Copy binary file

sudo cp rclone /usr/bin/
sudo chown root:root /usr/bin/rclone
sudo chmod 755 /usr/bin/rclone

Install manpage

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/share/man/man1
sudo cp rclone.1 /usr/local/share/man/man1/
sudo mandb

Run rclone config to setup. See rclone config docs for more details.

rclone config

macOS installation with brew

brew install rclone

NOTE: This version of rclone will not support mount any more (see #5373). If mounting is wanted on macOS, either install a precompiled binary or enable the relevant option when installing from source.

macOS installation from precompiled binary, using curl

To avoid problems with macOS gatekeeper enforcing the binary to be signed and notarized it is enough to download with curl.

Download the latest version of rclone.

cd && curl -O https://downloads.rclone.org/rclone-current-osx-amd64.zip

Unzip the download and cd to the extracted folder.

unzip -a rclone-current-osx-amd64.zip && cd rclone-*-osx-amd64

Move rclone to your $PATH. You will be prompted for your password.

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
sudo mv rclone /usr/local/bin/

(the mkdir command is safe to run, even if the directory already exists).

Remove the leftover files.

cd .. && rm -rf rclone-*-osx-amd64 rclone-current-osx-amd64.zip

Run rclone config to setup. See rclone config docs for more details.

rclone config

macOS installation from precompiled binary, using a web browser

When downloading a binary with a web browser, the browser will set the macOS gatekeeper quarantine attribute. Starting from Catalina, when attempting to run rclone, a pop-up will appear saying:

“rclone” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified.
macOS cannot verify that this app is free from malware.

The simplest fix is to run

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine rclone

Install with docker

The rclone maintains a docker image for rclone. These images are autobuilt by docker hub from the rclone source based on a minimal Alpine linux image.

The :latest tag will always point to the latest stable release. You can use the :beta tag to get the latest build from master. You can also use version tags, e.g. :1.49.1, :1.49 or :1.

$ docker pull rclone/rclone:latest
latest: Pulling from rclone/rclone
Digest: sha256:0e0ced72671989bb837fea8e88578b3fc48371aa45d209663683e24cfdaa0e11
...
$ docker run --rm rclone/rclone:latest version
rclone v1.49.1
- os/arch: linux/amd64
- go version: go1.12.9

There are a few command line options to consider when starting an rclone Docker container from the rclone image.

Here are some commands tested on an Ubuntu 18.04.3 host:

# config on host at ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf
# data on host at ~/data

# make sure the config is ok by listing the remotes
docker run --rm \
    --volume ~/.config/rclone:/config/rclone \
    --volume ~/data:/data:shared \
    --user $(id -u):$(id -g) \
    rclone/rclone \
    listremotes

# perform mount inside Docker container, expose result to host
mkdir -p ~/data/mount
docker run --rm \
    --volume ~/.config/rclone:/config/rclone \
    --volume ~/data:/data:shared \
    --user $(id -u):$(id -g) \
    --volume /etc/passwd:/etc/passwd:ro --volume /etc/group:/etc/group:ro \
    --device /dev/fuse --cap-add SYS_ADMIN --security-opt apparmor:unconfined \
    rclone/rclone \
    mount dropbox:Photos /data/mount &
ls ~/data/mount
kill %1

Install from source

Make sure you have at least Go go1.15 installed. Download go if necessary. The latest release is recommended. Then

git clone https://github.com/rclone/rclone.git
cd rclone
go build
# If on macOS and mount is wanted, instead run: make GOTAGS=cmount
./rclone version

This will leave you a checked out version of rclone you can modify and send pull requests with. If you use make instead of go build then the rclone build will have the correct version information in it.

You can also build the latest stable rclone with:

go get github.com/rclone/rclone

or the latest version (equivalent to the beta) with

go get github.com/rclone/rclone@master

These will build the binary in $(go env GOPATH)/bin (~/go/bin/rclone by default) after downloading the source to the go module cache. Note - do not use the -u flag here. This causes go to try to update the dependencies that rclone uses and sometimes these don't work with the current version of rclone.

Installation with Ansible

This can be done with Stefan Weichinger's ansible role.

Instructions

  1. git clone https://github.com/stefangweichinger/ansible-rclone.git into your local roles-directory
  2. add the role to the hosts you want rclone installed to:
    - hosts: rclone-hosts
      roles:
          - rclone

Portable installation

As mentioned above, rclone is single executable (rclone, or rclone.exe on Windows) that you can download as a zip archive and extract into a location of your choosing. When executing different commands, it may create files in different locations, such as a configuration file and various temporary files. By default the locations for these are according to your operating system, e.g. configuration file in your user profile directory and temporary files in the standard temporary directory, but you can customize all of them, e.g. to make a completely self-contained, portable installation.

Run the config paths command to see the locations that rclone will use.

To override them set the corresponding options (as command-line arguments, or as environment variables): - --config - --cache-dir - --temp-dir

Autostart

After installing and configuring rclone, as described above, you are ready to use rclone as an interactive command line utility. If your goal is to perform periodic operations, such as a regular sync, you will probably want to configure your rclone command in your operating system's scheduler. If you need to expose service-like features, such as remote control, GUI, serve or mount, you will often want an rclone command always running in the background, and configuring it to run in a service infrastructure may be a better option. Below are some alternatives on how to achieve this on different operating systems.

NOTE: Before setting up autorun it is highly recommended that you have tested your command manually from a Command Prompt first.

Autostart on Windows

The most relevant alternatives for autostart on Windows are: - Run at user log on using the Startup folder - Run at user log on, at system startup or at schedule using Task Scheduler - Run at system startup using Windows service

Running in background

Rclone is a console application, so if not starting from an existing Command Prompt, e.g. when starting rclone.exe from a shortcut, it will open a Command Prompt window. When configuring rclone to run from task scheduler and windows service you are able to set it to run hidden in background. From rclone version 1.54 you can also make it run hidden from anywhere by adding option --no-console (it may still flash briefly when the program starts). Since rclone normally writes information and any error messages to the console, you must redirect this to a file to be able to see it. Rclone has a built-in option --log-file for that.

Example command to run a sync in background:

c:\rclone\rclone.exe sync c:\files remote:/files --no-console --log-file c:\rclone\logs\sync_files.txt

User account

As mentioned in the mount documentation, mounted drives created as Administrator are not visible to other accounts, not even the account that was elevated as Administrator. By running the mount command as the built-in SYSTEM user account, it will create drives accessible for everyone on the system. Both scheduled task and Windows service can be used to achieve this.

NOTE: Remember that when rclone runs as the SYSTEM user, the user profile that it sees will not be yours. This means that if you normally run rclone with configuration file in the default location, to be able to use the same configuration when running as the system user you must explicitely tell rclone where to find it with the --config option, or else it will look in the system users profile path (C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile). To test your command manually from a Command Prompt, you can run it with the PsExec utility from Microsoft's Sysinternals suite, which takes option -s to execute commands as the SYSTEM user.

Start from Startup folder

To quickly execute an rclone command you can simply create a standard Windows Explorer shortcut for the complete rclone command you want to run. If you store this shortcut in the special "Startup" start-menu folder, Windows will automatically run it at login. To open this folder in Windows Explorer, enter path %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup, or C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp if you want the command to start for every user that logs in.

This is the easiest approach to autostarting of rclone, but it offers no functionality to set it to run as different user, or to set conditions or actions on certain events. Setting up a scheduled task as described below will often give you better results.

Start from Task Scheduler

Task Scheduler is an administrative tool built into Windows, and it can be used to configure rclone to be started automatically in a highly configurable way, e.g. periodically on a schedule, on user log on, or at system startup. It can run be configured to run as the current user, or for a mount command that needs to be available to all users it can run as the SYSTEM user. For technical information, see https://docs.microsoft.com/windows/win32/taskschd/task-scheduler-start-page.

Run as service

For running rclone at system startup, you can create a Windows service that executes your rclone command, as an alternative to scheduled task configured to run at startup.

Mount command built-in service integration

For mount commands, Rclone has a built-in Windows service integration via the third-party WinFsp library it uses. Registering as a regular Windows service easy, as you just have to execute the built-in PowerShell command New-Service (requires administrative privileges).

Example of a PowerShell command that creates a Windows service for mounting some remote:/files as drive letter X:, for all users (service will be running as the local system account):

New-Service -Name Rclone -BinaryPathName 'c:\rclone\rclone.exe mount remote:/files X: --config c:\rclone\config\rclone.conf --log-file c:\rclone\logs\mount.txt'

The WinFsp service infrastructure supports incorporating services for file system implementations, such as rclone, into its own launcher service, as kind of "child services". This has the additional advantage that it also implements a network provider that integrates into Windows standard methods for managing network drives. This is currently not officially supported by Rclone, but with WinFsp version 2019.3 B2 / v1.5B2 or later it should be possible through path rewriting as described here.

Third-party service integration

To Windows service running any rclone command, the excellent third-party utility NSSM, the "Non-Sucking Service Manager", can be used. It includes some advanced features such as adjusting process periority, defining process environment variables, redirect to file anything written to stdout, and customized response to different exit codes, with a GUI to configure everything from (although it can also be used from command line ).

There are also several other alternatives. To mention one more, WinSW, "Windows Service Wrapper", is worth checking out. It requires .NET Framework, but it is preinstalled on newer versions of Windows, and it also provides alternative standalone distributions which includes necessary runtime (.NET 5). WinSW is a command-line only utility, where you have to manually create an XML file with service configuration. This may be a drawback for some, but it can also be an advantage as it is easy to back up and re-use the configuration settings, without having go through manual steps in a GUI. One thing to note is that by default it does not restart the service on error, one have to explicit enable this in the configuration file (via the "onfailure" parameter).

Autostart on Linux

Start as a service

To always run rclone in background, relevant for mount commands etc, you can use systemd to set up rclone as a system or user service. Running as a system service ensures that it is run at startup even if the user it is running as has no active session. Running rclone as a user service ensures that it only starts after the configured user has logged into the system.

Run periodically from cron

To run a periodic command, such as a copy/sync, you can set up a cron job.

Usage

Rclone is a command line program to manage files on cloud storage. After download and install, continue here to learn how to use it: Initial configuration, what the basic syntax looks like, describes the various subcommands, the various options, and more.

Configure

First, you'll need to configure rclone. As the object storage systems have quite complicated authentication these are kept in a config file. (See the --config entry for how to find the config file and choose its location.)

The easiest way to make the config is to run rclone with the config option:

rclone config

See the following for detailed instructions for

Basic syntax

Rclone syncs a directory tree from one storage system to another.

Its syntax is like this

Syntax: [options] subcommand <parameters> <parameters...>

Source and destination paths are specified by the name you gave the storage system in the config file then the sub path, e.g. "drive:myfolder" to look at "myfolder" in Google drive.

You can define as many storage paths as you like in the config file.

Please use the -i / --interactive flag while learning rclone to avoid accidental data loss.

Subcommands

rclone uses a system of subcommands. For example

rclone ls remote:path # lists a remote
rclone copy /local/path remote:path # copies /local/path to the remote
rclone sync -i /local/path remote:path # syncs /local/path to the remote

rclone config

Enter an interactive configuration session.

Synopsis

Enter an interactive configuration session where you can setup new remotes and manage existing ones. You may also set or remove a password to protect your configuration.

rclone config [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for config

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone copy

Copy files from source to dest, skipping identical files.

Synopsis

Copy the source to the destination. Does not transfer files that are identical on source and destination, testing by size and modification time or MD5SUM. Doesn't delete files from the destination.

Note that it is always the contents of the directory that is synced, not the directory so when source:path is a directory, it's the contents of source:path that are copied, not the directory name and contents.

If dest:path doesn't exist, it is created and the source:path contents go there.

For example

rclone copy source:sourcepath dest:destpath

Let's say there are two files in sourcepath

sourcepath/one.txt
sourcepath/two.txt

This copies them to

destpath/one.txt
destpath/two.txt

Not to

destpath/sourcepath/one.txt
destpath/sourcepath/two.txt

If you are familiar with rsync, rclone always works as if you had written a trailing / - meaning "copy the contents of this directory". This applies to all commands and whether you are talking about the source or destination.

See the --no-traverse option for controlling whether rclone lists the destination directory or not. Supplying this option when copying a small number of files into a large destination can speed transfers up greatly.

For example, if you have many files in /path/to/src but only a few of them change every day, you can copy all the files which have changed recently very efficiently like this:

rclone copy --max-age 24h --no-traverse /path/to/src remote:

Note: Use the -P/--progress flag to view real-time transfer statistics.

Note: Use the --dry-run or the --interactive/-i flag to test without copying anything.

rclone copy source:path dest:path [flags]

Options

      --create-empty-src-dirs   Create empty source dirs on destination after copy
  -h, --help                    help for copy

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone sync

Make source and dest identical, modifying destination only.

Synopsis

Sync the source to the destination, changing the destination only. Doesn't transfer files that are identical on source and destination, testing by size and modification time or MD5SUM. Destination is updated to match source, including deleting files if necessary (except duplicate objects, see below).

Important: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the --dry-run or the --interactive/-i flag.

rclone sync -i SOURCE remote:DESTINATION

Note that files in the destination won't be deleted if there were any errors at any point. Duplicate objects (files with the same name, on those providers that support it) are also not yet handled.

It is always the contents of the directory that is synced, not the directory so when source:path is a directory, it's the contents of source:path that are copied, not the directory name and contents. See extended explanation in the copy command above if unsure.

If dest:path doesn't exist, it is created and the source:path contents go there.

Note: Use the -P/--progress flag to view real-time transfer statistics

Note: Use the rclone dedupe command to deal with "Duplicate object/directory found in source/destination - ignoring" errors. See this forum post for more info.

rclone sync source:path dest:path [flags]

Options

      --create-empty-src-dirs   Create empty source dirs on destination after sync
  -h, --help                    help for sync

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone move

Move files from source to dest.

Synopsis

Moves the contents of the source directory to the destination directory. Rclone will error if the source and destination overlap and the remote does not support a server-side directory move operation.

If no filters are in use and if possible this will server-side move source:path into dest:path. After this source:path will no longer exist.

Otherwise for each file in source:path selected by the filters (if any) this will move it into dest:path. If possible a server-side move will be used, otherwise it will copy it (server-side if possible) into dest:path then delete the original (if no errors on copy) in source:path.

If you want to delete empty source directories after move, use the --delete-empty-src-dirs flag.

See the --no-traverse option for controlling whether rclone lists the destination directory or not. Supplying this option when moving a small number of files into a large destination can speed transfers up greatly.

Important: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the --dry-run or the --interactive/-i flag.

Note: Use the -P/--progress flag to view real-time transfer statistics.

rclone move source:path dest:path [flags]

Options

      --create-empty-src-dirs   Create empty source dirs on destination after move
      --delete-empty-src-dirs   Delete empty source dirs after move
  -h, --help                    help for move

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone delete

Remove the files in path.

Synopsis

Remove the files in path. Unlike purge it obeys include/exclude filters so can be used to selectively delete files.

rclone delete only deletes files but leaves the directory structure alone. If you want to delete a directory and all of its contents use the purge command.

If you supply the --rmdirs flag, it will remove all empty directories along with it. You can also use the separate command rmdir or rmdirs to delete empty directories only.

For example, to delete all files bigger than 100 MiB, you may first want to check what would be deleted (use either):

rclone --min-size 100M lsl remote:path
rclone --dry-run --min-size 100M delete remote:path

Then proceed with the actual delete:

rclone --min-size 100M delete remote:path

That reads "delete everything with a minimum size of 100 MiB", hence delete all files bigger than 100 MiB.

Important: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the --dry-run or the --interactive/-i flag.

rclone delete remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help     help for delete
      --rmdirs   rmdirs removes empty directories but leaves root intact

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone purge

Remove the path and all of its contents.

Synopsis

Remove the path and all of its contents. Note that this does not obey include/exclude filters - everything will be removed. Use the delete command if you want to selectively delete files. To delete empty directories only, use command rmdir or rmdirs.

Important: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the --dry-run or the --interactive/-i flag.

rclone purge remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for purge

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone mkdir

Make the path if it doesn't already exist.

rclone mkdir remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for mkdir

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone rmdir

Remove the empty directory at path.

Synopsis

This removes empty directory given by path. Will not remove the path if it has any objects in it, not even empty subdirectories. Use command rmdirs (or delete with option --rmdirs) to do that.

To delete a path and any objects in it, use purge command.

rclone rmdir remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for rmdir

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone check

Checks the files in the source and destination match.

Synopsis

Checks the files in the source and destination match. It compares sizes and hashes (MD5 or SHA1) and logs a report of files that don't match. It doesn't alter the source or destination.

If you supply the --size-only flag, it will only compare the sizes not the hashes as well. Use this for a quick check.

If you supply the --download flag, it will download the data from both remotes and check them against each other on the fly. This can be useful for remotes that don't support hashes or if you really want to check all the data.

If you supply the --checkfile HASH flag with a valid hash name, the source:path must point to a text file in the SUM format.

If you supply the --one-way flag, it will only check that files in the source match the files in the destination, not the other way around. This means that extra files in the destination that are not in the source will not be detected.

The --differ, --missing-on-dst, --missing-on-src, --match and --error flags write paths, one per line, to the file name (or stdout if it is -) supplied. What they write is described in the help below. For example --differ will write all paths which are present on both the source and destination but different.

The --combined flag will write a file (or stdout) which contains all file paths with a symbol and then a space and then the path to tell you what happened to it. These are reminiscent of diff files.

rclone check source:path dest:path [flags]

Options

  -C, --checkfile string        Treat source:path as a SUM file with hashes of given type
      --combined string         Make a combined report of changes to this file
      --differ string           Report all non-matching files to this file
      --download                Check by downloading rather than with hash
      --error string            Report all files with errors (hashing or reading) to this file
  -h, --help                    help for check
      --match string            Report all matching files to this file
      --missing-on-dst string   Report all files missing from the destination to this file
      --missing-on-src string   Report all files missing from the source to this file
      --one-way                 Check one way only, source files must exist on remote

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone ls

List the objects in the path with size and path.

Synopsis

Lists the objects in the source path to standard output in a human readable format with size and path. Recurses by default.

Eg

$ rclone ls swift:bucket
    60295 bevajer5jef
    90613 canole
    94467 diwogej7
    37600 fubuwic

Any of the filtering options can be applied to this command.

There are several related list commands

ls,lsl,lsd are designed to be human-readable. lsf is designed to be human and machine-readable. lsjson is designed to be machine-readable.

Note that ls and lsl recurse by default - use --max-depth 1 to stop the recursion.

The other list commands lsd,lsf,lsjson do not recurse by default - use -R to make them recurse.

Listing a non-existent directory will produce an error except for remotes which can't have empty directories (e.g. s3, swift, or gcs - the bucket-based remotes).

rclone ls remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for ls

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone lsd

List all directories/containers/buckets in the path.

Synopsis

Lists the directories in the source path to standard output. Does not recurse by default. Use the -R flag to recurse.

This command lists the total size of the directory (if known, -1 if not), the modification time (if known, the current time if not), the number of objects in the directory (if known, -1 if not) and the name of the directory, Eg

$ rclone lsd swift:
      494000 2018-04-26 08:43:20     10000 10000files
          65 2018-04-26 08:43:20         1 1File

Or

$ rclone lsd drive:test
          -1 2016-10-17 17:41:53        -1 1000files
          -1 2017-01-03 14:40:54        -1 2500files
          -1 2017-07-08 14:39:28        -1 4000files

If you just want the directory names use "rclone lsf --dirs-only".

Any of the filtering options can be applied to this command.

There are several related list commands

ls,lsl,lsd are designed to be human-readable. lsf is designed to be human and machine-readable. lsjson is designed to be machine-readable.

Note that ls and lsl recurse by default - use --max-depth 1 to stop the recursion.

The other list commands lsd,lsf,lsjson do not recurse by default - use -R to make them recurse.

Listing a non-existent directory will produce an error except for remotes which can't have empty directories (e.g. s3, swift, or gcs - the bucket-based remotes).

rclone lsd remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help        help for lsd
  -R, --recursive   Recurse into the listing

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone lsl

List the objects in path with modification time, size and path.

Synopsis

Lists the objects in the source path to standard output in a human readable format with modification time, size and path. Recurses by default.

Eg

$ rclone lsl swift:bucket
    60295 2016-06-25 18:55:41.062626927 bevajer5jef
    90613 2016-06-25 18:55:43.302607074 canole
    94467 2016-06-25 18:55:43.046609333 diwogej7
    37600 2016-06-25 18:55:40.814629136 fubuwic

Any of the filtering options can be applied to this command.

There are several related list commands

ls,lsl,lsd are designed to be human-readable. lsf is designed to be human and machine-readable. lsjson is designed to be machine-readable.

Note that ls and lsl recurse by default - use --max-depth 1 to stop the recursion.

The other list commands lsd,lsf,lsjson do not recurse by default - use -R to make them recurse.

Listing a non-existent directory will produce an error except for remotes which can't have empty directories (e.g. s3, swift, or gcs - the bucket-based remotes).

rclone lsl remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for lsl

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone md5sum

Produces an md5sum file for all the objects in the path.

Synopsis

Produces an md5sum file for all the objects in the path. This is in the same format as the standard md5sum tool produces.

By default, the hash is requested from the remote. If MD5 is not supported by the remote, no hash will be returned. With the download flag, the file will be downloaded from the remote and hashed locally enabling MD5 for any remote.

This command can also hash data received on standard input (stdin), by not passing a remote:path, or by passing a hyphen as remote:path when there is data to read (if not, the hypen will be treated literaly, as a relative path).

rclone md5sum remote:path [flags]

Options

      --base64               Output base64 encoded hashsum
  -C, --checkfile string     Validate hashes against a given SUM file instead of printing them
      --download             Download the file and hash it locally; if this flag is not specified, the hash is requested from the remote
  -h, --help                 help for md5sum
      --output-file string   Output hashsums to a file rather than the terminal

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone sha1sum

Produces an sha1sum file for all the objects in the path.

Synopsis

Produces an sha1sum file for all the objects in the path. This is in the same format as the standard sha1sum tool produces.

By default, the hash is requested from the remote. If SHA-1 is not supported by the remote, no hash will be returned. With the download flag, the file will be downloaded from the remote and hashed locally enabling SHA-1 for any remote.

This command can also hash data received on standard input (stdin), by not passing a remote:path, or by passing a hyphen as remote:path when there is data to read (if not, the hypen will be treated literaly, as a relative path).

This command can also hash data received on STDIN, if not passing a remote:path.

rclone sha1sum remote:path [flags]

Options

      --base64               Output base64 encoded hashsum
  -C, --checkfile string     Validate hashes against a given SUM file instead of printing them
      --download             Download the file and hash it locally; if this flag is not specified, the hash is requested from the remote
  -h, --help                 help for sha1sum
      --output-file string   Output hashsums to a file rather than the terminal

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone size

Prints the total size and number of objects in remote:path.

rclone size remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for size
      --json   Format output as JSON

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone version

Show the version number.

Synopsis

Show the rclone version number, the go version, the build target OS and architecture, the runtime OS and kernel version and bitness, build tags and the type of executable (static or dynamic).

For example:

$ rclone version
rclone v1.55.0
- os/version: ubuntu 18.04 (64 bit)
- os/kernel: 4.15.0-136-generic (x86_64)
- os/type: linux
- os/arch: amd64
- go/version: go1.16
- go/linking: static
- go/tags: none

Note: before rclone version 1.55 the os/type and os/arch lines were merged, and the "go/version" line was tagged as "go version".

If you supply the --check flag, then it will do an online check to compare your version with the latest release and the latest beta.

$ rclone version --check
yours:  1.42.0.6
latest: 1.42          (released 2018-06-16)
beta:   1.42.0.5      (released 2018-06-17)

Or

$ rclone version --check
yours:  1.41
latest: 1.42          (released 2018-06-16)
  upgrade: https://downloads.rclone.org/v1.42
beta:   1.42.0.5      (released 2018-06-17)
  upgrade: https://beta.rclone.org/v1.42-005-g56e1e820
rclone version [flags]

Options

      --check   Check for new version
  -h, --help    help for version

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone cleanup

Clean up the remote if possible.

Synopsis

Clean up the remote if possible. Empty the trash or delete old file versions. Not supported by all remotes.

rclone cleanup remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for cleanup

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone dedupe

Interactively find duplicate filenames and delete/rename them.

Synopsis

By default dedupe interactively finds files with duplicate names and offers to delete all but one or rename them to be different. This is known as deduping by name.

Deduping by name is only useful with a small group of backends (e.g. Google Drive, Opendrive) that can have duplicate file names. It can be run on wrapping backends (e.g. crypt) if they wrap a backend which supports duplicate file names.

However if --by-hash is passed in then dedupe will find files with duplicate hashes instead which will work on any backend which supports at least one hash. This can be used to find files with duplicate content. This is known as deduping by hash.

If deduping by name, first rclone will merge directories with the same name. It will do this iteratively until all the identically named directories have been merged.

Next, if deduping by name, for every group of duplicate file names / hashes, it will delete all but one identical file it finds without confirmation. This means that for most duplicated files the dedupe command will not be interactive.

dedupe considers files to be identical if they have the same file path and the same hash. If the backend does not support hashes (e.g. crypt wrapping Google Drive) then they will never be found to be identical. If you use the --size-only flag then files will be considered identical if they have the same size (any hash will be ignored). This can be useful on crypt backends which do not support hashes.

Next rclone will resolve the remaining duplicates. Exactly which action is taken depends on the dedupe mode. By default, rclone will interactively query the user for each one.

Important: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the --dry-run or the --interactive/-i flag.

Here is an example run.

Before - with duplicates

$ rclone lsl drive:dupes
  6048320 2016-03-05 16:23:16.798000000 one.txt
  6048320 2016-03-05 16:23:11.775000000 one.txt
   564374 2016-03-05 16:23:06.731000000 one.txt
  6048320 2016-03-05 16:18:26.092000000 one.txt
  6048320 2016-03-05 16:22:46.185000000 two.txt
  1744073 2016-03-05 16:22:38.104000000 two.txt
   564374 2016-03-05 16:22:52.118000000 two.txt

Now the dedupe session

$ rclone dedupe drive:dupes
2016/03/05 16:24:37 Google drive root 'dupes': Looking for duplicates using interactive mode.
one.txt: Found 4 files with duplicate names
one.txt: Deleting 2/3 identical duplicates (MD5 "1eedaa9fe86fd4b8632e2ac549403b36")
one.txt: 2 duplicates remain
  1:      6048320 bytes, 2016-03-05 16:23:16.798000000, MD5 1eedaa9fe86fd4b8632e2ac549403b36
  2:       564374 bytes, 2016-03-05 16:23:06.731000000, MD5 7594e7dc9fc28f727c42ee3e0749de81
s) Skip and do nothing
k) Keep just one (choose which in next step)
r) Rename all to be different (by changing file.jpg to file-1.jpg)
s/k/r> k
Enter the number of the file to keep> 1
one.txt: Deleted 1 extra copies
two.txt: Found 3 files with duplicate names
two.txt: 3 duplicates remain
  1:       564374 bytes, 2016-03-05 16:22:52.118000000, MD5 7594e7dc9fc28f727c42ee3e0749de81
  2:      6048320 bytes, 2016-03-05 16:22:46.185000000, MD5 1eedaa9fe86fd4b8632e2ac549403b36
  3:      1744073 bytes, 2016-03-05 16:22:38.104000000, MD5 851957f7fb6f0bc4ce76be966d336802
s) Skip and do nothing
k) Keep just one (choose which in next step)
r) Rename all to be different (by changing file.jpg to file-1.jpg)
s/k/r> r
two-1.txt: renamed from: two.txt
two-2.txt: renamed from: two.txt
two-3.txt: renamed from: two.txt

The result being

$ rclone lsl drive:dupes
  6048320 2016-03-05 16:23:16.798000000 one.txt
   564374 2016-03-05 16:22:52.118000000 two-1.txt
  6048320 2016-03-05 16:22:46.185000000 two-2.txt
  1744073 2016-03-05 16:22:38.104000000 two-3.txt

Dedupe can be run non interactively using the --dedupe-mode flag or by using an extra parameter with the same value

For example, to rename all the identically named photos in your Google Photos directory, do

rclone dedupe --dedupe-mode rename "drive:Google Photos"

Or

rclone dedupe rename "drive:Google Photos"
rclone dedupe [mode] remote:path [flags]

Options

      --by-hash              Find identical hashes rather than names
      --dedupe-mode string   Dedupe mode interactive|skip|first|newest|oldest|largest|smallest|rename (default "interactive")
  -h, --help                 help for dedupe

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone about

Get quota information from the remote.

Synopsis

rclone about prints quota information about a remote to standard output. The output is typically used, free, quota and trash contents.

E.g. Typical output from rclone about remote: is:

Total:   17 GiB
Used:    7.444 GiB
Free:    1.315 GiB
Trashed: 100.000 MiB
Other:   8.241 GiB

Where the fields are:

All sizes are in number of bytes.

Applying a --full flag to the command prints the bytes in full, e.g.

Total:   18253611008
Used:    7993453766
Free:    1411001220
Trashed: 104857602
Other:   8849156022

A --json flag generates conveniently machine-readable output, e.g.

{
    "total": 18253611008,
    "used": 7993453766,
    "trashed": 104857602,
    "other": 8849156022,
    "free": 1411001220
}

Not all backends print all fields. Information is not included if it is not provided by a backend. Where the value is unlimited it is omitted.

Some backends does not support the rclone about command at all, see complete list in documentation.

rclone about remote: [flags]

Options

      --full   Full numbers instead of human-readable
  -h, --help   help for about
      --json   Format output as JSON

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone authorize

Remote authorization.

Synopsis

Remote authorization. Used to authorize a remote or headless rclone from a machine with a browser - use as instructed by rclone config.

Use the --auth-no-open-browser to prevent rclone to open auth link in default browser automatically.

rclone authorize [flags]

Options

      --auth-no-open-browser   Do not automatically open auth link in default browser
  -h, --help                   help for authorize

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone backend

Run a backend-specific command.

Synopsis

This runs a backend-specific command. The commands themselves (except for "help" and "features") are defined by the backends and you should see the backend docs for definitions.

You can discover what commands a backend implements by using

rclone backend help remote:
rclone backend help <backendname>

You can also discover information about the backend using (see operations/fsinfo in the remote control docs for more info).

rclone backend features remote:

Pass options to the backend command with -o. This should be key=value or key, e.g.:

rclone backend stats remote:path stats -o format=json -o long

Pass arguments to the backend by placing them on the end of the line

rclone backend cleanup remote:path file1 file2 file3

Note to run these commands on a running backend then see backend/command in the rc docs.

rclone backend <command> remote:path [opts] <args> [flags]

Options

  -h, --help                 help for backend
      --json                 Always output in JSON format
  -o, --option stringArray   Option in the form name=value or name

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone bisync

Perform bidirectonal synchronization between two paths.

Synopsis

Perform bidirectonal synchronization between two paths.

Bisync provides a bidirectional cloud sync solution in rclone. It retains the Path1 and Path2 filesystem listings from the prior run. On each successive run it will: - list files on Path1 and Path2, and check for changes on each side. Changes include New, Newer, Older, and Deleted files. - Propagate changes on Path1 to Path2, and vice-versa.

See full bisync description for details.

rclone bisync remote1:path1 remote2:path2 [flags]

Options

      --check-access            Ensure expected RCLONE_TEST files are found on both Path1 and Path2 filesystems, else abort.
      --check-filename string   Filename for --check-access (default: RCLONE_TEST)
      --check-sync string       Controls comparison of final listings: true|false|only (default: true) (default "true")
      --filters-file string     Read filtering patterns from a file
      --force                   Bypass --max-delete safety check and run the sync. Consider using with --verbose
  -h, --help                    help for bisync
      --localtime               Use local time in listings (default: UTC)
      --no-cleanup              Retain working files (useful for troubleshooting and testing).
      --remove-empty-dirs       Remove empty directories at the final cleanup step.
  -1, --resync                  Performs the resync run. Path1 files may overwrite Path2 versions. Consider using --verbose or --dry-run first.
      --workdir string          Use custom working dir - useful for testing. (default: $HOME/.cache/rclone/bisync)

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone cat

Concatenates any files and sends them to stdout.

Synopsis

rclone cat sends any files to standard output.

You can use it like this to output a single file

rclone cat remote:path/to/file

Or like this to output any file in dir or its subdirectories.

rclone cat remote:path/to/dir

Or like this to output any .txt files in dir or its subdirectories.

rclone --include "*.txt" cat remote:path/to/dir

Use the --head flag to print characters only at the start, --tail for the end and --offset and --count to print a section in the middle. Note that if offset is negative it will count from the end, so --offset -1 --count 1 is equivalent to --tail 1.

rclone cat remote:path [flags]

Options

      --count int    Only print N characters (default -1)
      --discard      Discard the output instead of printing
      --head int     Only print the first N characters
  -h, --help         help for cat
      --offset int   Start printing at offset N (or from end if -ve)
      --tail int     Only print the last N characters

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone checksum

Checks the files in the source against a SUM file.

Synopsis

Checks that hashsums of source files match the SUM file. It compares hashes (MD5, SHA1, etc) and logs a report of files which don't match. It doesn't alter the file system.

If you supply the --download flag, it will download the data from remote and calculate the contents hash on the fly. This can be useful for remotes that don't support hashes or if you really want to check all the data.

Note that hash values in the SUM file are treated as case insensitive.

If you supply the --one-way flag, it will only check that files in the source match the files in the destination, not the other way around. This means that extra files in the destination that are not in the source will not be detected.

The --differ, --missing-on-dst, --missing-on-src, --match and --error flags write paths, one per line, to the file name (or stdout if it is -) supplied. What they write is described in the help below. For example --differ will write all paths which are present on both the source and destination but different.

The --combined flag will write a file (or stdout) which contains all file paths with a symbol and then a space and then the path to tell you what happened to it. These are reminiscent of diff files.

rclone checksum <hash> sumfile src:path [flags]

Options

      --combined string         Make a combined report of changes to this file
      --differ string           Report all non-matching files to this file
      --download                Check by hashing the contents
      --error string            Report all files with errors (hashing or reading) to this file
  -h, --help                    help for checksum
      --match string            Report all matching files to this file
      --missing-on-dst string   Report all files missing from the destination to this file
      --missing-on-src string   Report all files missing from the source to this file
      --one-way                 Check one way only, source files must exist on remote

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone completion

generate the autocompletion script for the specified shell

Synopsis

Generate the autocompletion script for rclone for the specified shell. See each sub-command's help for details on how to use the generated script.

Options

  -h, --help   help for completion

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone completion bash

generate the autocompletion script for bash

Synopsis

Generate the autocompletion script for the bash shell.

This script depends on the 'bash-completion' package. If it is not installed already, you can install it via your OS's package manager.

To load completions in your current shell session: $ source <(rclone completion bash)

To load completions for every new session, execute once: Linux: $ rclone completion bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/rclone MacOS: $ rclone completion bash > /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/rclone

You will need to start a new shell for this setup to take effect.

rclone completion bash

Options

  -h, --help              help for bash
      --no-descriptions   disable completion descriptions

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone completion fish

generate the autocompletion script for fish

Synopsis

Generate the autocompletion script for the fish shell.

To load completions in your current shell session: $ rclone completion fish | source

To load completions for every new session, execute once: $ rclone completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/rclone.fish

You will need to start a new shell for this setup to take effect.

rclone completion fish [flags]

Options

  -h, --help              help for fish
      --no-descriptions   disable completion descriptions

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone completion powershell

generate the autocompletion script for powershell

Synopsis

Generate the autocompletion script for powershell.

To load completions in your current shell session: PS C:> rclone completion powershell | Out-String | Invoke-Expression

To load completions for every new session, add the output of the above command to your powershell profile.

rclone completion powershell [flags]

Options

  -h, --help              help for powershell
      --no-descriptions   disable completion descriptions

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone completion zsh

generate the autocompletion script for zsh

Synopsis

Generate the autocompletion script for the zsh shell.

If shell completion is not already enabled in your environment you will need to enable it. You can execute the following once:

$ echo "autoload -U compinit; compinit" >> ~/.zshrc

To load completions for every new session, execute once: # Linux: $ rclone completion zsh > "${fpath[1]}/_rclone" # macOS: $ rclone completion zsh > /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/_rclone

You will need to start a new shell for this setup to take effect.

rclone completion zsh [flags]

Options

  -h, --help              help for zsh
      --no-descriptions   disable completion descriptions

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config create

Create a new remote with name, type and options.

Synopsis

Create a new remote of name with type and options. The options should be passed in pairs of key value or as key=value.

For example, to make a swift remote of name myremote using auto config you would do:

rclone config create myremote swift env_auth true
rclone config create myremote swift env_auth=true

So for example if you wanted to configure a Google Drive remote but using remote authorization you would do this:

rclone config create mydrive drive config_is_local=false

Note that if the config process would normally ask a question the default is taken (unless --non-interactive is used). Each time that happens rclone will print or DEBUG a message saying how to affect the value taken.

If any of the parameters passed is a password field, then rclone will automatically obscure them if they aren't already obscured before putting them in the config file.

NB If the password parameter is 22 characters or longer and consists only of base64 characters then rclone can get confused about whether the password is already obscured or not and put unobscured passwords into the config file. If you want to be 100% certain that the passwords get obscured then use the --obscure flag, or if you are 100% certain you are already passing obscured passwords then use --no-obscure. You can also set obscured passwords using the rclone config password command.

The flag --non-interactive is for use by applications that wish to configure rclone themeselves, rather than using rclone's text based configuration questions. If this flag is set, and rclone needs to ask the user a question, a JSON blob will be returned with the question in it.

This will look something like (some irrelevant detail removed):

{
    "State": "*oauth-islocal,teamdrive,,",
    "Option": {
        "Name": "config_is_local",
        "Help": "Use auto config?\n * Say Y if not sure\n * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine\n",
        "Default": true,
        "Examples": [
            {
                "Value": "true",
                "Help": "Yes"
            },
            {
                "Value": "false",
                "Help": "No"
            }
        ],
        "Required": false,
        "IsPassword": false,
        "Type": "bool",
        "Exclusive": true,
    },
    "Error": "",
}

The format of Option is the same as returned by rclone config providers. The question should be asked to the user and returned to rclone as the --result option along with the --state parameter.

The keys of Option are used as follows:

If Error is set then it should be shown to the user at the same time as the question.

rclone config update name --continue --state "*oauth-islocal,teamdrive,," --result "true"

Note that when using --continue all passwords should be passed in the clear (not obscured). Any default config values should be passed in with each invocation of --continue.

At the end of the non interactive process, rclone will return a result with State as empty string.

If --all is passed then rclone will ask all the config questions, not just the post config questions. Any parameters are used as defaults for questions as usual.

Note that bin/config.py in the rclone source implements this protocol as a readable demonstration.

rclone config create name type [key value]* [flags]

Options

      --all               Ask the full set of config questions
      --continue          Continue the configuration process with an answer
  -h, --help              help for create
      --no-obscure        Force any passwords not to be obscured
      --non-interactive   Don't interact with user and return questions
      --obscure           Force any passwords to be obscured
      --result string     Result - use with --continue
      --state string      State - use with --continue

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config delete

Delete an existing remote.

rclone config delete name [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for delete

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config disconnect

Disconnects user from remote

Synopsis

This disconnects the remote: passed in to the cloud storage system.

This normally means revoking the oauth token.

To reconnect use "rclone config reconnect".

rclone config disconnect remote: [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for disconnect

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config dump

Dump the config file as JSON.

rclone config dump [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for dump

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config edit

Enter an interactive configuration session.

Synopsis

Enter an interactive configuration session where you can setup new remotes and manage existing ones. You may also set or remove a password to protect your configuration.

rclone config edit [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for edit

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config file

Show path of configuration file in use.

rclone config file [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for file

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config password

Update password in an existing remote.

Synopsis

Update an existing remote's password. The password should be passed in pairs of key password or as key=password. The password should be passed in in clear (unobscured).

For example, to set password of a remote of name myremote you would do:

rclone config password myremote fieldname mypassword
rclone config password myremote fieldname=mypassword

This command is obsolete now that "config update" and "config create" both support obscuring passwords directly.

rclone config password name [key value]+ [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for password

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config paths

Show paths used for configuration, cache, temp etc.

rclone config paths [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for paths

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config providers

List in JSON format all the providers and options.

rclone config providers [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for providers

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config reconnect

Re-authenticates user with remote.

Synopsis

This reconnects remote: passed in to the cloud storage system.

To disconnect the remote use "rclone config disconnect".

This normally means going through the interactive oauth flow again.

rclone config reconnect remote: [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for reconnect

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config show

Print (decrypted) config file, or the config for a single remote.

rclone config show [<remote>] [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for show

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config touch

Ensure configuration file exists.

rclone config touch [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for touch

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config update

Update options in an existing remote.

Synopsis

Update an existing remote's options. The options should be passed in pairs of key value or as key=value.

For example, to update the env_auth field of a remote of name myremote you would do:

rclone config update myremote env_auth true
rclone config update myremote env_auth=true

If the remote uses OAuth the token will be updated, if you don't require this add an extra parameter thus:

rclone config update myremote env_auth=true config_refresh_token=false

Note that if the config process would normally ask a question the default is taken (unless --non-interactive is used). Each time that happens rclone will print or DEBUG a message saying how to affect the value taken.

If any of the parameters passed is a password field, then rclone will automatically obscure them if they aren't already obscured before putting them in the config file.

NB If the password parameter is 22 characters or longer and consists only of base64 characters then rclone can get confused about whether the password is already obscured or not and put unobscured passwords into the config file. If you want to be 100% certain that the passwords get obscured then use the --obscure flag, or if you are 100% certain you are already passing obscured passwords then use --no-obscure. You can also set obscured passwords using the rclone config password command.

The flag --non-interactive is for use by applications that wish to configure rclone themeselves, rather than using rclone's text based configuration questions. If this flag is set, and rclone needs to ask the user a question, a JSON blob will be returned with the question in it.

This will look something like (some irrelevant detail removed):

{
    "State": "*oauth-islocal,teamdrive,,",
    "Option": {
        "Name": "config_is_local",
        "Help": "Use auto config?\n * Say Y if not sure\n * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine\n",
        "Default": true,
        "Examples": [
            {
                "Value": "true",
                "Help": "Yes"
            },
            {
                "Value": "false",
                "Help": "No"
            }
        ],
        "Required": false,
        "IsPassword": false,
        "Type": "bool",
        "Exclusive": true,
    },
    "Error": "",
}

The format of Option is the same as returned by rclone config providers. The question should be asked to the user and returned to rclone as the --result option along with the --state parameter.

The keys of Option are used as follows:

If Error is set then it should be shown to the user at the same time as the question.

rclone config update name --continue --state "*oauth-islocal,teamdrive,," --result "true"

Note that when using --continue all passwords should be passed in the clear (not obscured). Any default config values should be passed in with each invocation of --continue.

At the end of the non interactive process, rclone will return a result with State as empty string.

If --all is passed then rclone will ask all the config questions, not just the post config questions. Any parameters are used as defaults for questions as usual.

Note that bin/config.py in the rclone source implements this protocol as a readable demonstration.

rclone config update name [key value]+ [flags]

Options

      --all               Ask the full set of config questions
      --continue          Continue the configuration process with an answer
  -h, --help              help for update
      --no-obscure        Force any passwords not to be obscured
      --non-interactive   Don't interact with user and return questions
      --obscure           Force any passwords to be obscured
      --result string     Result - use with --continue
      --state string      State - use with --continue

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone config userinfo

Prints info about logged in user of remote.

Synopsis

This prints the details of the person logged in to the cloud storage system.

rclone config userinfo remote: [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for userinfo
      --json   Format output as JSON

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone copyto

Copy files from source to dest, skipping identical files.

Synopsis

If source:path is a file or directory then it copies it to a file or directory named dest:path.

This can be used to upload single files to other than their current name. If the source is a directory then it acts exactly like the copy command.

So

rclone copyto src dst

where src and dst are rclone paths, either remote:path or /path/to/local or C:.

This will:

if src is file
    copy it to dst, overwriting an existing file if it exists
if src is directory
    copy it to dst, overwriting existing files if they exist
    see copy command for full details

This doesn't transfer files that are identical on src and dst, testing by size and modification time or MD5SUM. It doesn't delete files from the destination.

Note: Use the -P/--progress flag to view real-time transfer statistics

rclone copyto source:path dest:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for copyto

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone copyurl

Copy url content to dest.

Synopsis

Download a URL's content and copy it to the destination without saving it in temporary storage.

Setting --auto-filename will cause the file name to be retrieved from the URL (after any redirections) and used in the destination path. With --print-filename in addition, the resulting file name will be printed.

Setting --no-clobber will prevent overwriting file on the destination if there is one with the same name.

Setting --stdout or making the output file name - will cause the output to be written to standard output.

rclone copyurl https://example.com dest:path [flags]

Options

  -a, --auto-filename    Get the file name from the URL and use it for destination file path
  -h, --help             help for copyurl
      --no-clobber       Prevent overwriting file with same name
  -p, --print-filename   Print the resulting name from --auto-filename
      --stdout           Write the output to stdout rather than a file

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone cryptcheck

Cryptcheck checks the integrity of a crypted remote.

Synopsis

rclone cryptcheck checks a remote against a crypted remote. This is the equivalent of running rclone check, but able to check the checksums of the crypted remote.

For it to work the underlying remote of the cryptedremote must support some kind of checksum.

It works by reading the nonce from each file on the cryptedremote: and using that to encrypt each file on the remote:. It then checks the checksum of the underlying file on the cryptedremote: against the checksum of the file it has just encrypted.

Use it like this

rclone cryptcheck /path/to/files encryptedremote:path

You can use it like this also, but that will involve downloading all the files in remote:path.

rclone cryptcheck remote:path encryptedremote:path

After it has run it will log the status of the encryptedremote:.

If you supply the --one-way flag, it will only check that files in the source match the files in the destination, not the other way around. This means that extra files in the destination that are not in the source will not be detected.

The --differ, --missing-on-dst, --missing-on-src, --match and --error flags write paths, one per line, to the file name (or stdout if it is -) supplied. What they write is described in the help below. For example --differ will write all paths which are present on both the source and destination but different.

The --combined flag will write a file (or stdout) which contains all file paths with a symbol and then a space and then the path to tell you what happened to it. These are reminiscent of diff files.

rclone cryptcheck remote:path cryptedremote:path [flags]

Options

      --combined string         Make a combined report of changes to this file
      --differ string           Report all non-matching files to this file
      --error string            Report all files with errors (hashing or reading) to this file
  -h, --help                    help for cryptcheck
      --match string            Report all matching files to this file
      --missing-on-dst string   Report all files missing from the destination to this file
      --missing-on-src string   Report all files missing from the source to this file
      --one-way                 Check one way only, source files must exist on remote

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone cryptdecode

Cryptdecode returns unencrypted file names.

Synopsis

rclone cryptdecode returns unencrypted file names when provided with a list of encrypted file names. List limit is 10 items.

If you supply the --reverse flag, it will return encrypted file names.

use it like this

rclone cryptdecode encryptedremote: encryptedfilename1 encryptedfilename2

rclone cryptdecode --reverse encryptedremote: filename1 filename2

Another way to accomplish this is by using the rclone backend encode (or decode)command. See the documentation on the crypt overlay for more info.

rclone cryptdecode encryptedremote: encryptedfilename [flags]

Options

  -h, --help      help for cryptdecode
      --reverse   Reverse cryptdecode, encrypts filenames

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone deletefile

Remove a single file from remote.

Synopsis

Remove a single file from remote. Unlike delete it cannot be used to remove a directory and it doesn't obey include/exclude filters - if the specified file exists, it will always be removed.

rclone deletefile remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for deletefile

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone genautocomplete

Output completion script for a given shell.

Synopsis

Generates a shell completion script for rclone. Run with --help to list the supported shells.

Options

  -h, --help   help for genautocomplete

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone genautocomplete bash

Output bash completion script for rclone.

Synopsis

Generates a bash shell autocompletion script for rclone.

This writes to /etc/bash_completion.d/rclone by default so will probably need to be run with sudo or as root, e.g.

sudo rclone genautocomplete bash

Logout and login again to use the autocompletion scripts, or source them directly

. /etc/bash_completion

If you supply a command line argument the script will be written there.

If output_file is "-", then the output will be written to stdout.

rclone genautocomplete bash [output_file] [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for bash

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone genautocomplete fish

Output fish completion script for rclone.

Synopsis

Generates a fish autocompletion script for rclone.

This writes to /etc/fish/completions/rclone.fish by default so will probably need to be run with sudo or as root, e.g.

sudo rclone genautocomplete fish

Logout and login again to use the autocompletion scripts, or source them directly

. /etc/fish/completions/rclone.fish

If you supply a command line argument the script will be written there.

If output_file is "-", then the output will be written to stdout.

rclone genautocomplete fish [output_file] [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for fish

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone genautocomplete zsh

Output zsh completion script for rclone.

Synopsis

Generates a zsh autocompletion script for rclone.

This writes to /usr/share/zsh/vendor-completions/_rclone by default so will probably need to be run with sudo or as root, e.g.

sudo rclone genautocomplete zsh

Logout and login again to use the autocompletion scripts, or source them directly

autoload -U compinit && compinit

If you supply a command line argument the script will be written there.

If output_file is "-", then the output will be written to stdout.

rclone genautocomplete zsh [output_file] [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for zsh

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone gendocs

Output markdown docs for rclone to the directory supplied.

Synopsis

This produces markdown docs for the rclone commands to the directory supplied. These are in a format suitable for hugo to render into the rclone.org website.

rclone gendocs output_directory [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for gendocs

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone hashsum

Produces a hashsum file for all the objects in the path.

Synopsis

Produces a hash file for all the objects in the path using the hash named. The output is in the same format as the standard md5sum/sha1sum tool.

By default, the hash is requested from the remote. If the hash is not supported by the remote, no hash will be returned. With the download flag, the file will be downloaded from the remote and hashed locally enabling any hash for any remote.

This command can also hash data received on standard input (stdin), by not passing a remote:path, or by passing a hyphen as remote:path when there is data to read (if not, the hypen will be treated literaly, as a relative path).

Run without a hash to see the list of all supported hashes, e.g.

$ rclone hashsum
Supported hashes are:
  * md5
  * sha1
  * whirlpool
  * crc32
  * sha256
  * dropbox
  * mailru
  * quickxor

Then

$ rclone hashsum MD5 remote:path

Note that hash names are case insensitive and values are output in lower case.

rclone hashsum <hash> remote:path [flags]

Options

      --base64               Output base64 encoded hashsum
  -C, --checkfile string     Validate hashes against a given SUM file instead of printing them
      --download             Download the file and hash it locally; if this flag is not specified, the hash is requested from the remote
  -h, --help                 help for hashsum
      --output-file string   Output hashsums to a file rather than the terminal

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone link

Generate public link to file/folder.

Synopsis

rclone link will create, retrieve or remove a public link to the given file or folder.

rclone link remote:path/to/file
rclone link remote:path/to/folder/
rclone link --unlink remote:path/to/folder/
rclone link --expire 1d remote:path/to/file

If you supply the --expire flag, it will set the expiration time otherwise it will use the default (100 years). Note not all backends support the --expire flag - if the backend doesn't support it then the link returned won't expire.

Use the --unlink flag to remove existing public links to the file or folder. Note not all backends support "--unlink" flag - those that don't will just ignore it.

If successful, the last line of the output will contain the link. Exact capabilities depend on the remote, but the link will always by default be created with the least constraints – e.g. no expiry, no password protection, accessible without account.

rclone link remote:path [flags]

Options

      --expire Duration   The amount of time that the link will be valid (default off)
  -h, --help              help for link
      --unlink            Remove existing public link to file/folder

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone listremotes

List all the remotes in the config file.

Synopsis

rclone listremotes lists all the available remotes from the config file.

When uses with the -l flag it lists the types too.

rclone listremotes [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for listremotes
      --long   Show the type as well as names

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone lsf

List directories and objects in remote:path formatted for parsing.

Synopsis

List the contents of the source path (directories and objects) to standard output in a form which is easy to parse by scripts. By default this will just be the names of the objects and directories, one per line. The directories will have a / suffix.

Eg

$ rclone lsf swift:bucket
bevajer5jef
canole
diwogej7
ferejej3gux/
fubuwic

Use the --format option to control what gets listed. By default this is just the path, but you can use these parameters to control the output:

p - path
s - size
t - modification time
h - hash
i - ID of object
o - Original ID of underlying object
m - MimeType of object if known
e - encrypted name
T - tier of storage if known, e.g. "Hot" or "Cool"

So if you wanted the path, size and modification time, you would use --format "pst", or maybe --format "tsp" to put the path last.

Eg

$ rclone lsf  --format "tsp" swift:bucket
2016-06-25 18:55:41;60295;bevajer5jef
2016-06-25 18:55:43;90613;canole
2016-06-25 18:55:43;94467;diwogej7
2018-04-26 08:50:45;0;ferejej3gux/
2016-06-25 18:55:40;37600;fubuwic

If you specify "h" in the format you will get the MD5 hash by default, use the "--hash" flag to change which hash you want. Note that this can be returned as an empty string if it isn't available on the object (and for directories), "ERROR" if there was an error reading it from the object and "UNSUPPORTED" if that object does not support that hash type.

For example, to emulate the md5sum command you can use

rclone lsf -R --hash MD5 --format hp --separator "  " --files-only .

Eg

$ rclone lsf -R --hash MD5 --format hp --separator "  " --files-only swift:bucket
7908e352297f0f530b84a756f188baa3  bevajer5jef
cd65ac234e6fea5925974a51cdd865cc  canole
03b5341b4f234b9d984d03ad076bae91  diwogej7
8fd37c3810dd660778137ac3a66cc06d  fubuwic
99713e14a4c4ff553acaf1930fad985b  gixacuh7ku

(Though "rclone md5sum ." is an easier way of typing this.)

By default the separator is ";" this can be changed with the --separator flag. Note that separators aren't escaped in the path so putting it last is a good strategy.

Eg

$ rclone lsf  --separator "," --format "tshp" swift:bucket
2016-06-25 18:55:41,60295,7908e352297f0f530b84a756f188baa3,bevajer5jef
2016-06-25 18:55:43,90613,cd65ac234e6fea5925974a51cdd865cc,canole
2016-06-25 18:55:43,94467,03b5341b4f234b9d984d03ad076bae91,diwogej7
2018-04-26 08:52:53,0,,ferejej3gux/
2016-06-25 18:55:40,37600,8fd37c3810dd660778137ac3a66cc06d,fubuwic

You can output in CSV standard format. This will escape things in " if they contain ,

Eg

$ rclone lsf --csv --files-only --format ps remote:path
test.log,22355
test.sh,449
"this file contains a comma, in the file name.txt",6

Note that the --absolute parameter is useful for making lists of files to pass to an rclone copy with the --files-from-raw flag.

For example, to find all the files modified within one day and copy those only (without traversing the whole directory structure):

rclone lsf --absolute --files-only --max-age 1d /path/to/local > new_files
rclone copy --files-from-raw new_files /path/to/local remote:path

Any of the filtering options can be applied to this command.

There are several related list commands

ls,lsl,lsd are designed to be human-readable. lsf is designed to be human and machine-readable. lsjson is designed to be machine-readable.

Note that ls and lsl recurse by default - use --max-depth 1 to stop the recursion.

The other list commands lsd,lsf,lsjson do not recurse by default - use -R to make them recurse.

Listing a non-existent directory will produce an error except for remotes which can't have empty directories (e.g. s3, swift, or gcs - the bucket-based remotes).

rclone lsf remote:path [flags]

Options

      --absolute           Put a leading / in front of path names
      --csv                Output in CSV format
  -d, --dir-slash          Append a slash to directory names (default true)
      --dirs-only          Only list directories
      --files-only         Only list files
  -F, --format string      Output format - see  help for details (default "p")
      --hash h             Use this hash when h is used in the format MD5|SHA-1|DropboxHash (default "md5")
  -h, --help               help for lsf
  -R, --recursive          Recurse into the listing
  -s, --separator string   Separator for the items in the format (default ";")

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone lsjson

List directories and objects in the path in JSON format.

Synopsis

List directories and objects in the path in JSON format.

The output is an array of Items, where each Item looks like this

{ "Hashes" : { "SHA-1" : "f572d396fae9206628714fb2ce00f72e94f2258f", "MD5" : "b1946ac92492d2347c6235b4d2611184", "DropboxHash" : "ecb65bb98f9d905b70458986c39fcbad7715e5f2fcc3b1f07767d7c83e2438cc" }, "ID": "y2djkhiujf83u33", "OrigID": "UYOJVTUW00Q1RzTDA", "IsBucket" : false, "IsDir" : false, "MimeType" : "application/octet-stream", "ModTime" : "2017-05-31T16:15:57.034468261+01:00", "Name" : "file.txt", "Encrypted" : "v0qpsdq8anpci8n929v3uu9338", "EncryptedPath" : "kja9098349023498/v0qpsdq8anpci8n929v3uu9338", "Path" : "full/path/goes/here/file.txt", "Size" : 6, "Tier" : "hot", }

If --hash is not specified the Hashes property won't be emitted. The types of hash can be specified with the --hash-type parameter (which may be repeated). If --hash-type is set then it implies --hash.

If --no-modtime is specified then ModTime will be blank. This can speed things up on remotes where reading the ModTime takes an extra request (e.g. s3, swift).

If --no-mimetype is specified then MimeType will be blank. This can speed things up on remotes where reading the MimeType takes an extra request (e.g. s3, swift).

If --encrypted is not specified the Encrypted won't be emitted.

If --dirs-only is not specified files in addition to directories are returned

If --files-only is not specified directories in addition to the files will be returned.

if --stat is set then a single JSON blob will be returned about the item pointed to. This will return an error if the item isn't found. However on bucket based backends (like s3, gcs, b2, azureblob etc) if the item isn't found it will return an empty directory as it isn't possible to tell empty directories from missing directories there.

The Path field will only show folders below the remote path being listed. If "remote:path" contains the file "subfolder/file.txt", the Path for "file.txt" will be "subfolder/file.txt", not "remote:path/subfolder/file.txt". When used without --recursive the Path will always be the same as Name.

If the directory is a bucket in a bucket-based backend, then "IsBucket" will be set to true. This key won't be present unless it is "true".

The time is in RFC3339 format with up to nanosecond precision. The number of decimal digits in the seconds will depend on the precision that the remote can hold the times, so if times are accurate to the nearest millisecond (e.g. Google Drive) then 3 digits will always be shown ("2017-05-31T16:15:57.034+01:00") whereas if the times are accurate to the nearest second (Dropbox, Box, WebDav, etc.) no digits will be shown ("2017-05-31T16:15:57+01:00").

The whole output can be processed as a JSON blob, or alternatively it can be processed line by line as each item is written one to a line.

Any of the filtering options can be applied to this command.

There are several related list commands

ls,lsl,lsd are designed to be human-readable. lsf is designed to be human and machine-readable. lsjson is designed to be machine-readable.

Note that ls and lsl recurse by default - use --max-depth 1 to stop the recursion.

The other list commands lsd,lsf,lsjson do not recurse by default - use -R to make them recurse.

Listing a non-existent directory will produce an error except for remotes which can't have empty directories (e.g. s3, swift, or gcs - the bucket-based remotes).

rclone lsjson remote:path [flags]

Options

      --dirs-only               Show only directories in the listing
  -M, --encrypted               Show the encrypted names
      --files-only              Show only files in the listing
      --hash                    Include hashes in the output (may take longer)
      --hash-type stringArray   Show only this hash type (may be repeated)
  -h, --help                    help for lsjson
      --no-mimetype             Don't read the mime type (can speed things up)
      --no-modtime              Don't read the modification time (can speed things up)
      --original                Show the ID of the underlying Object
  -R, --recursive               Recurse into the listing
      --stat                    Just return the info for the pointed to file

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone mount

Mount the remote as file system on a mountpoint.

Synopsis

rclone mount allows Linux, FreeBSD, macOS and Windows to mount any of Rclone's cloud storage systems as a file system with FUSE.

First set up your remote using rclone config. Check it works with rclone ls etc.

On Linux and macOS, you can run mount in either foreground or background (aka daemon) mode. Mount runs in foreground mode by default. Use the --daemon flag to force background mode. On Windows you can run mount in foreground only, the flag is ignored.

In background mode rclone acts as a generic Unix mount program: the main program starts, spawns background rclone process to setup and maintain the mount, waits until success or timeout and exits with appropriate code (killing the child process if it fails).

On Linux/macOS/FreeBSD start the mount like this, where /path/to/local/mount is an empty existing directory:

rclone mount remote:path/to/files /path/to/local/mount

On Windows you can start a mount in different ways. See below for details. If foreground mount is used interactively from a console window, rclone will serve the mount and occupy the console so another window should be used to work with the mount until rclone is interrupted e.g. by pressing Ctrl-C.

The following examples will mount to an automatically assigned drive, to specific drive letter X:, to path C:\path\parent\mount (where parent directory or drive must exist, and mount must not exist, and is not supported when mounting as a network drive), and the last example will mount as network share \\cloud\remote and map it to an automatically assigned drive:

rclone mount remote:path/to/files *
rclone mount remote:path/to/files X:
rclone mount remote:path/to/files C:\path\parent\mount
rclone mount remote:path/to/files \\cloud\remote

When the program ends while in foreground mode, either via Ctrl+C or receiving a SIGINT or SIGTERM signal, the mount should be automatically stopped.

When running in background mode the user will have to stop the mount manually:

# Linux
fusermount -u /path/to/local/mount
# OS X
umount /path/to/local/mount

The umount operation can fail, for example when the mountpoint is busy. When that happens, it is the user's responsibility to stop the mount manually.

The size of the mounted file system will be set according to information retrieved from the remote, the same as returned by the rclone about command. Remotes with unlimited storage may report the used size only, then an additional 1 PiB of free space is assumed. If the remote does not support the about feature at all, then 1 PiB is set as both the total and the free size.

Installing on Windows

To run rclone mount on Windows, you will need to download and install WinFsp.

WinFsp is an open-source Windows File System Proxy which makes it easy to write user space file systems for Windows. It provides a FUSE emulation layer which rclone uses combination with cgofuse. Both of these packages are by Bill Zissimopoulos who was very helpful during the implementation of rclone mount for Windows.

Mounting modes on windows

Unlike other operating systems, Microsoft Windows provides a different filesystem type for network and fixed drives. It optimises access on the assumption fixed disk drives are fast and reliable, while network drives have relatively high latency and less reliability. Some settings can also be differentiated between the two types, for example that Windows Explorer should just display icons and not create preview thumbnails for image and video files on network drives.

In most cases, rclone will mount the remote as a normal, fixed disk drive by default. However, you can also choose to mount it as a remote network drive, often described as a network share. If you mount an rclone remote using the default, fixed drive mode and experience unexpected program errors, freezes or other issues, consider mounting as a network drive instead.

When mounting as a fixed disk drive you can either mount to an unused drive letter, or to a path representing a non-existent subdirectory of an existing parent directory or drive. Using the special value * will tell rclone to automatically assign the next available drive letter, starting with Z: and moving backward. Examples:

rclone mount remote:path/to/files *
rclone mount remote:path/to/files X:
rclone mount remote:path/to/files C:\path\parent\mount
rclone mount remote:path/to/files X:

Option --volname can be used to set a custom volume name for the mounted file system. The default is to use the remote name and path.

To mount as network drive, you can add option --network-mode to your mount command. Mounting to a directory path is not supported in this mode, it is a limitation Windows imposes on junctions, so the remote must always be mounted to a drive letter.

rclone mount remote:path/to/files X: --network-mode

A volume name specified with --volname will be used to create the network share path. A complete UNC path, such as \\cloud\remote, optionally with path \\cloud\remote\madeup\path, will be used as is. Any other string will be used as the share part, after a default prefix \\server\. If no volume name is specified then \\server\share will be used. You must make sure the volume name is unique when you are mounting more than one drive, or else the mount command will fail. The share name will treated as the volume label for the mapped drive, shown in Windows Explorer etc, while the complete \\server\share will be reported as the remote UNC path by net use etc, just like a normal network drive mapping.

If you specify a full network share UNC path with --volname, this will implicitely set the --network-mode option, so the following two examples have same result:

rclone mount remote:path/to/files X: --network-mode
rclone mount remote:path/to/files X: --volname \\server\share

You may also specify the network share UNC path as the mountpoint itself. Then rclone will automatically assign a drive letter, same as with * and use that as mountpoint, and instead use the UNC path specified as the volume name, as if it were specified with the --volname option. This will also implicitely set the --network-mode option. This means the following two examples have same result:

rclone mount remote:path/to/files \\cloud\remote
rclone mount remote:path/to/files * --volname \\cloud\remote

There is yet another way to enable network mode, and to set the share path, and that is to pass the "native" libfuse/WinFsp option directly: --fuse-flag --VolumePrefix=\server\share. Note that the path must be with just a single backslash prefix in this case.

Note: In previous versions of rclone this was the only supported method.

Read more about drive mapping

See also Limitations section below.

Windows filesystem permissions

The FUSE emulation layer on Windows must convert between the POSIX-based permission model used in FUSE, and the permission model used in Windows, based on access-control lists (ACL).

The mounted filesystem will normally get three entries in its access-control list (ACL), representing permissions for the POSIX permission scopes: Owner, group and others. By default, the owner and group will be taken from the current user, and the built-in group "Everyone" will be used to represent others. The user/group can be customized with FUSE options "UserName" and "GroupName", e.g. -o UserName=user123 -o GroupName="Authenticated Users". The permissions on each entry will be set according to options --dir-perms and --file-perms, which takes a value in traditional numeric notation.

The default permissions corresponds to --file-perms 0666 --dir-perms 0777, i.e. read and write permissions to everyone. This means you will not be able to start any programs from the the mount. To be able to do that you must add execute permissions, e.g. --file-perms 0777 --dir-perms 0777 to add it to everyone. If the program needs to write files, chances are you will have to enable VFS File Caching as well (see also limitations).

Note that the mapping of permissions is not always trivial, and the result you see in Windows Explorer may not be exactly like you expected. For example, when setting a value that includes write access, this will be mapped to individual permissions "write attributes", "write data" and "append data", but not "write extended attributes". Windows will then show this as basic permission "Special" instead of "Write", because "Write" includes the "write extended attributes" permission.

If you set POSIX permissions for only allowing access to the owner, using --file-perms 0600 --dir-perms 0700, the user group and the built-in "Everyone" group will still be given some special permissions, such as "read attributes" and "read permissions", in Windows. This is done for compatibility reasons, e.g. to allow users without additional permissions to be able to read basic metadata about files like in UNIX. One case that may arise is that other programs (incorrectly) interprets this as the file being accessible by everyone. For example an SSH client may warn about "unprotected private key file".

WinFsp 2021 (version 1.9) introduces a new FUSE option "FileSecurity", that allows the complete specification of file security descriptors using SDDL. With this you can work around issues such as the mentioned "unprotected private key file" by specifying -o FileSecurity="D:P(A;;FA;;;OW)", for file all access (FA) to the owner (OW).

Windows caveats

Drives created as Administrator are not visible to other accounts, not even an account that was elevated to Administrator with the User Account Control (UAC) feature. A result of this is that if you mount to a drive letter from a Command Prompt run as Administrator, and then try to access the same drive from Windows Explorer (which does not run as Administrator), you will not be able to see the mounted drive.

If you don't need to access the drive from applications running with administrative privileges, the easiest way around this is to always create the mount from a non-elevated command prompt.

To make mapped drives available to the user account that created them regardless if elevated or not, there is a special Windows setting called linked connections that can be enabled.

It is also possible to make a drive mount available to everyone on the system, by running the process creating it as the built-in SYSTEM account. There are several ways to do this: One is to use the command-line utility PsExec, from Microsoft's Sysinternals suite, which has option -s to start processes as the SYSTEM account. Another alternative is to run the mount command from a Windows Scheduled Task, or a Windows Service, configured to run as the SYSTEM account. A third alternative is to use the WinFsp.Launcher infrastructure). Note that when running rclone as another user, it will not use the configuration file from your profile unless you tell it to with the --config option. Read more in the install documentation.

Note that mapping to a directory path, instead of a drive letter, does not suffer from the same limitations.

Limitations

Without the use of --vfs-cache-mode this can only write files sequentially, it can only seek when reading. This means that many applications won't work with their files on an rclone mount without --vfs-cache-mode writes or --vfs-cache-mode full. See the VFS File Caching section for more info.

The bucket-based remotes (e.g. Swift, S3, Google Compute Storage, B2, Hubic) do not support the concept of empty directories, so empty directories will have a tendency to disappear once they fall out of the directory cache.

When rclone mount is invoked on Unix with --daemon flag, the main rclone program will wait for the background mount to become ready or until the timeout specified by the --daemon-wait flag. On Linux it can check mount status using ProcFS so the flag in fact sets maximum time to wait, while the real wait can be less. On macOS / BSD the time to wait is constant and the check is performed only at the end. We advise you to set wait time on macOS reasonably.

Only supported on Linux, FreeBSD, OS X and Windows at the moment.

rclone mount vs rclone sync/copy

File systems expect things to be 100% reliable, whereas cloud storage systems are a long way from 100% reliable. The rclone sync/copy commands cope with this with lots of retries. However rclone mount can't use retries in the same way without making local copies of the uploads. Look at the VFS File Caching for solutions to make mount more reliable.

Attribute caching

You can use the flag --attr-timeout to set the time the kernel caches the attributes (size, modification time, etc.) for directory entries.

The default is 1s which caches files just long enough to avoid too many callbacks to rclone from the kernel.

In theory 0s should be the correct value for filesystems which can change outside the control of the kernel. However this causes quite a few problems such as rclone using too much memory, rclone not serving files to samba and excessive time listing directories.

The kernel can cache the info about a file for the time given by --attr-timeout. You may see corruption if the remote file changes length during this window. It will show up as either a truncated file or a file with garbage on the end. With --attr-timeout 1s this is very unlikely but not impossible. The higher you set --attr-timeout the more likely it is. The default setting of "1s" is the lowest setting which mitigates the problems above.

If you set it higher (10s or 1m say) then the kernel will call back to rclone less often making it more efficient, however there is more chance of the corruption issue above.

If files don't change on the remote outside of the control of rclone then there is no chance of corruption.

This is the same as setting the attr_timeout option in mount.fuse.

Filters

Note that all the rclone filters can be used to select a subset of the files to be visible in the mount.

systemd

When running rclone mount as a systemd service, it is possible to use Type=notify. In this case the service will enter the started state after the mountpoint has been successfully set up. Units having the rclone mount service specified as a requirement will see all files and folders immediately in this mode.

Note that systemd runs mount units without any environment variables including PATH or HOME. This means that tilde (~) expansion will not work and you should provide --config and --cache-dir explicitly as absolute paths via rclone arguments. Since mounting requires the fusermount program, rclone will use the fallback PATH of /bin:/usr/bin in this scenario. Please ensure that fusermount is present on this PATH.

Rclone as Unix mount helper

The core Unix program /bin/mount normally takes the -t FSTYPE argument then runs the /sbin/mount.FSTYPE helper program passing it mount options as -o key=val,... or --opt=.... Automount (classic or systemd) behaves in a similar way.

rclone by default expects GNU-style flags --key val. To run it as a mount helper you should symlink rclone binary to /sbin/mount.rclone and optionally /usr/bin/rclonefs, e.g. ln -s /usr/bin/rclone /sbin/mount.rclone. rclone will detect it and translate command-line arguments appropriately.

Now you can run classic mounts like this:

mount sftp1:subdir /mnt/data -t rclone -o vfs_cache_mode=writes,sftp_key_file=/path/to/pem

or create systemd mount units:

# /etc/systemd/system/mnt-data.mount
[Unit]
After=network-online.target
[Mount]
Type=rclone
What=sftp1:subdir
Where=/mnt/data
Options=rw,allow_other,args2env,vfs-cache-mode=writes,config=/etc/rclone.conf,cache-dir=/var/rclone

optionally accompanied by systemd automount unit

# /etc/systemd/system/mnt-data.automount
[Unit]
After=network-online.target
Before=remote-fs.target
[Automount]
Where=/mnt/data
TimeoutIdleSec=600
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

or add in /etc/fstab a line like

sftp1:subdir /mnt/data rclone rw,noauto,nofail,_netdev,x-systemd.automount,args2env,vfs_cache_mode=writes,config=/etc/rclone.conf,cache_dir=/var/cache/rclone 0 0

or use classic Automountd. Remember to provide explicit config=...,cache-dir=... as a workaround for mount units being run without HOME.

Rclone in the mount helper mode will split -o argument(s) by comma, replace _ by - and prepend -- to get the command-line flags. Options containing commas or spaces can be wrapped in single or double quotes. Any inner quotes inside outer quotes of the same type should be doubled.

Mount option syntax includes a few extra options treated specially:

VFS - Virtual File System

This command uses the VFS layer. This adapts the cloud storage objects that rclone uses into something which looks much more like a disk filing system.

Cloud storage objects have lots of properties which aren't like disk files - you can't extend them or write to the middle of them, so the VFS layer has to deal with that. Because there is no one right way of doing this there are various options explained below.

The VFS layer also implements a directory cache - this caches info about files and directories (but not the data) in memory.

VFS Directory Cache

Using the --dir-cache-time flag, you can control how long a directory should be considered up to date and not refreshed from the backend. Changes made through the mount will appear immediately or invalidate the cache.

--dir-cache-time duration   Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
--poll-interval duration    Time to wait between polling for changes. Must be smaller than dir-cache-time. Only on supported remotes. Set to 0 to disable (default 1m0s)

However, changes made directly on the cloud storage by the web interface or a different copy of rclone will only be picked up once the directory cache expires if the backend configured does not support polling for changes. If the backend supports polling, changes will be picked up within the polling interval.

You can send a SIGHUP signal to rclone for it to flush all directory caches, regardless of how old they are. Assuming only one rclone instance is running, you can reset the cache like this:

kill -SIGHUP $(pidof rclone)

If you configure rclone with a remote control then you can use rclone rc to flush the whole directory cache:

rclone rc vfs/forget

Or individual files or directories:

rclone rc vfs/forget file=path/to/file dir=path/to/dir

VFS File Buffering

The --buffer-size flag determines the amount of memory, that will be used to buffer data in advance.

Each open file will try to keep the specified amount of data in memory at all times. The buffered data is bound to one open file and won't be shared.

This flag is a upper limit for the used memory per open file. The buffer will only use memory for data that is downloaded but not not yet read. If the buffer is empty, only a small amount of memory will be used.

The maximum memory used by rclone for buffering can be up to --buffer-size * open files.

VFS File Caching

These flags control the VFS file caching options. File caching is necessary to make the VFS layer appear compatible with a normal file system. It can be disabled at the cost of some compatibility.

For example you'll need to enable VFS caching if you want to read and write simultaneously to a file. See below for more details.

Note that the VFS cache is separate from the cache backend and you may find that you need one or the other or both.

--cache-dir string                   Directory rclone will use for caching.
--vfs-cache-mode CacheMode           Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
--vfs-cache-max-age duration         Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
--vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix      Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
--vfs-cache-poll-interval duration   Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
--vfs-write-back duration            Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)

If run with -vv rclone will print the location of the file cache. The files are stored in the user cache file area which is OS dependent but can be controlled with --cache-dir or setting the appropriate environment variable.

The cache has 4 different modes selected by --vfs-cache-mode. The higher the cache mode the more compatible rclone becomes at the cost of using disk space.

Note that files are written back to the remote only when they are closed and if they haven't been accessed for --vfs-write-back seconds. If rclone is quit or dies with files that haven't been uploaded, these will be uploaded next time rclone is run with the same flags.

If using --vfs-cache-max-size note that the cache may exceed this size for two reasons. Firstly because it is only checked every --vfs-cache-poll-interval. Secondly because open files cannot be evicted from the cache.

You should not run two copies of rclone using the same VFS cache with the same or overlapping remotes if using --vfs-cache-mode > off. This can potentially cause data corruption if you do. You can work around this by giving each rclone its own cache hierarchy with --cache-dir. You don't need to worry about this if the remotes in use don't overlap.

--vfs-cache-mode off

In this mode (the default) the cache will read directly from the remote and write directly to the remote without caching anything on disk.

This will mean some operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode minimal

This is very similar to "off" except that files opened for read AND write will be buffered to disk. This means that files opened for write will be a lot more compatible, but uses the minimal disk space.

These operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode writes

In this mode files opened for read only are still read directly from the remote, write only and read/write files are buffered to disk first.

This mode should support all normal file system operations.

If an upload fails it will be retried at exponentially increasing intervals up to 1 minute.

--vfs-cache-mode full

In this mode all reads and writes are buffered to and from disk. When data is read from the remote this is buffered to disk as well.

In this mode the files in the cache will be sparse files and rclone will keep track of which bits of the files it has downloaded.

So if an application only reads the starts of each file, then rclone will only buffer the start of the file. These files will appear to be their full size in the cache, but they will be sparse files with only the data that has been downloaded present in them.

This mode should support all normal file system operations and is otherwise identical to --vfs-cache-mode writes.

When reading a file rclone will read --buffer-size plus --vfs-read-ahead bytes ahead. The --buffer-size is buffered in memory whereas the --vfs-read-ahead is buffered on disk.

When using this mode it is recommended that --buffer-size is not set too large and --vfs-read-ahead is set large if required.

IMPORTANT not all file systems support sparse files. In particular FAT/exFAT do not. Rclone will perform very badly if the cache directory is on a filesystem which doesn't support sparse files and it will log an ERROR message if one is detected.

VFS Chunked Reading

When rclone reads files from a remote it reads them in chunks. This means that rather than requesting the whole file rclone reads the chunk specified. This can reduce the used download quota for some remotes by requesting only chunks from the remote that are actually read, at the cost of an increased number of requests.

These flags control the chunking:

--vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix        Read the source objects in chunks (default 128M)
--vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix  Max chunk doubling size (default off)

Rclone will start reading a chunk of size --vfs-read-chunk-size, and then double the size for each read. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit is specified, and greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, the chunk size for each open file will get doubled only until the specified value is reached. If the value is "off", which is the default, the limit is disabled and the chunk size will grow indefinitely.

With --vfs-read-chunk-size 100M and --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 0 the following parts will be downloaded: 0-100M, 100M-200M, 200M-300M, 300M-400M and so on. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 500M is specified, the result would be 0-100M, 100M-300M, 300M-700M, 700M-1200M, 1200M-1700M and so on.

Setting --vfs-read-chunk-size to 0 or "off" disables chunked reading.

VFS Performance

These flags may be used to enable/disable features of the VFS for performance or other reasons. See also the chunked reading feature.

In particular S3 and Swift benefit hugely from the --no-modtime flag (or use --use-server-modtime for a slightly different effect) as each read of the modification time takes a transaction.

--no-checksum     Don't compare checksums on up/download.
--no-modtime      Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up).
--no-seek         Don't allow seeking in files.
--read-only       Mount read-only.

Sometimes rclone is delivered reads or writes out of order. Rather than seeking rclone will wait a short time for the in sequence read or write to come in. These flags only come into effect when not using an on disk cache file.

--vfs-read-wait duration   Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
--vfs-write-wait duration  Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)

When using VFS write caching (--vfs-cache-mode with value writes or full), the global flag --transfers can be set to adjust the number of parallel uploads of modified files from cache (the related global flag --checkers have no effect on mount).

--transfers int  Number of file transfers to run in parallel (default 4)

VFS Case Sensitivity

Linux file systems are case-sensitive: two files can differ only by case, and the exact case must be used when opening a file.

File systems in modern Windows are case-insensitive but case-preserving: although existing files can be opened using any case, the exact case used to create the file is preserved and available for programs to query. It is not allowed for two files in the same directory to differ only by case.

Usually file systems on macOS are case-insensitive. It is possible to make macOS file systems case-sensitive but that is not the default.

The --vfs-case-insensitive mount flag controls how rclone handles these two cases. If its value is "false", rclone passes file names to the mounted file system as-is. If the flag is "true" (or appears without a value on command line), rclone may perform a "fixup" as explained below.

The user may specify a file name to open/delete/rename/etc with a case different than what is stored on mounted file system. If an argument refers to an existing file with exactly the same name, then the case of the existing file on the disk will be used. However, if a file name with exactly the same name is not found but a name differing only by case exists, rclone will transparently fixup the name. This fixup happens only when an existing file is requested. Case sensitivity of file names created anew by rclone is controlled by an underlying mounted file system.

Note that case sensitivity of the operating system running rclone (the target) may differ from case sensitivity of a file system mounted by rclone (the source). The flag controls whether "fixup" is performed to satisfy the target.

If the flag is not provided on the command line, then its default value depends on the operating system where rclone runs: "true" on Windows and macOS, "false" otherwise. If the flag is provided without a value, then it is "true".

Alternate report of used bytes

Some backends, most notably S3, do not report the amount of bytes used. If you need this information to be available when running df on the filesystem, then pass the flag --vfs-used-is-size to rclone. With this flag set, instead of relying on the backend to report this information, rclone will scan the whole remote similar to rclone size and compute the total used space itself.

WARNING. Contrary to rclone size, this flag ignores filters so that the result is accurate. However, this is very inefficient and may cost lots of API calls resulting in extra charges. Use it as a last resort and only with caching.

rclone mount remote:path /path/to/mountpoint [flags]

Options

      --allow-non-empty                        Allow mounting over a non-empty directory (not supported on Windows)
      --allow-other                            Allow access to other users (not supported on Windows)
      --allow-root                             Allow access to root user (not supported on Windows)
      --async-read                             Use asynchronous reads (not supported on Windows) (default true)
      --attr-timeout duration                  Time for which file/directory attributes are cached (default 1s)
      --daemon                                 Run mount in background and exit parent process (as background output is suppressed, use --log-file with --log-format=pid,... to monitor) (not supported on Windows)
      --daemon-timeout duration                Time limit for rclone to respond to kernel (not supported on Windows)
      --daemon-wait duration                   Time to wait for ready mount from daemon (maximum time on Linux, constant sleep time on OSX/BSD) (not supported on Windows) (default 1m0s)
      --debug-fuse                             Debug the FUSE internals - needs -v
      --default-permissions                    Makes kernel enforce access control based on the file mode (not supported on Windows)
      --devname string                         Set the device name - default is remote:path
      --dir-cache-time duration                Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
      --dir-perms FileMode                     Directory permissions (default 0777)
      --file-perms FileMode                    File permissions (default 0666)
      --fuse-flag stringArray                  Flags or arguments to be passed direct to libfuse/WinFsp (repeat if required)
      --gid uint32                             Override the gid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
  -h, --help                                   help for mount
      --max-read-ahead SizeSuffix              The number of bytes that can be prefetched for sequential reads (not supported on Windows) (default 128Ki)
      --network-mode                           Mount as remote network drive, instead of fixed disk drive (supported on Windows only)
      --no-checksum                            Don't compare checksums on up/download
      --no-modtime                             Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up)
      --no-seek                                Don't allow seeking in files
      --noappledouble                          Ignore Apple Double (._) and .DS_Store files (supported on OSX only) (default true)
      --noapplexattr                           Ignore all "com.apple.*" extended attributes (supported on OSX only)
  -o, --option stringArray                     Option for libfuse/WinFsp (repeat if required)
      --poll-interval duration                 Time to wait between polling for changes, must be smaller than dir-cache-time and only on supported remotes (set 0 to disable) (default 1m0s)
      --read-only                              Mount read-only
      --uid uint32                             Override the uid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
      --umask int                              Override the permission bits set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 2)
      --vfs-cache-max-age duration             Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
      --vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix          Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
      --vfs-cache-mode CacheMode               Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
      --vfs-cache-poll-interval duration       Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
      --vfs-case-insensitive                   If a file name not found, find a case insensitive match
      --vfs-read-ahead SizeSuffix              Extra read ahead over --buffer-size when using cache-mode full
      --vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix         Read the source objects in chunks (default 128Mi)
      --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix   If greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, double the chunk size after each chunk read, until the limit is reached ('off' is unlimited) (default off)
      --vfs-read-wait duration                 Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
      --vfs-used-is-size rclone size           Use the rclone size algorithm for Used size
      --vfs-write-back duration                Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)
      --vfs-write-wait duration                Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)
      --volname string                         Set the volume name (supported on Windows and OSX only)
      --write-back-cache                       Makes kernel buffer writes before sending them to rclone (without this, writethrough caching is used) (not supported on Windows)

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone moveto

Move file or directory from source to dest.

Synopsis

If source:path is a file or directory then it moves it to a file or directory named dest:path.

This can be used to rename files or upload single files to other than their existing name. If the source is a directory then it acts exactly like the move command.

So

rclone moveto src dst

where src and dst are rclone paths, either remote:path or /path/to/local or C:.

This will:

if src is file
    move it to dst, overwriting an existing file if it exists
if src is directory
    move it to dst, overwriting existing files if they exist
    see move command for full details

This doesn't transfer files that are identical on src and dst, testing by size and modification time or MD5SUM. src will be deleted on successful transfer.

Important: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the --dry-run or the --interactive/-i flag.

Note: Use the -P/--progress flag to view real-time transfer statistics.

rclone moveto source:path dest:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for moveto

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone ncdu

Explore a remote with a text based user interface.

Synopsis

This displays a text based user interface allowing the navigation of a remote. It is most useful for answering the question - "What is using all my disk space?".

To make the user interface it first scans the entire remote given and builds an in memory representation. rclone ncdu can be used during this scanning phase and you will see it building up the directory structure as it goes along.

Here are the keys - press '?' to toggle the help on and off

 ↑,↓ or k,j to Move
 →,l to enter
 ←,h to return
 c toggle counts
 g toggle graph
 a toggle average size in directory
 u toggle human-readable format
 n,s,C,A sort by name,size,count,average size
 d delete file/directory
 y copy current path to clipboard
 Y display current path
 ^L refresh screen
 ? to toggle help on and off
 q/ESC/c-C to quit

This an homage to the ncdu tool but for rclone remotes. It is missing lots of features at the moment but is useful as it stands.

Note that it might take some time to delete big files/folders. The UI won't respond in the meantime since the deletion is done synchronously.

rclone ncdu remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for ncdu

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone obscure

Obscure password for use in the rclone config file.

Synopsis

In the rclone config file, human-readable passwords are obscured. Obscuring them is done by encrypting them and writing them out in base64. This is not a secure way of encrypting these passwords as rclone can decrypt them - it is to prevent "eyedropping" - namely someone seeing a password in the rclone config file by accident.

Many equally important things (like access tokens) are not obscured in the config file. However it is very hard to shoulder surf a 64 character hex token.

This command can also accept a password through STDIN instead of an argument by passing a hyphen as an argument. This will use the first line of STDIN as the password not including the trailing newline.

echo "secretpassword" | rclone obscure -

If there is no data on STDIN to read, rclone obscure will default to obfuscating the hyphen itself.

If you want to encrypt the config file then please use config file encryption - see rclone config for more info.

rclone obscure password [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for obscure

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone rc

Run a command against a running rclone.

Synopsis

This runs a command against a running rclone. Use the --url flag to specify an non default URL to connect on. This can be either a ":port" which is taken to mean "http://localhost:port" or a "host:port" which is taken to mean "http://host:port"

A username and password can be passed in with --user and --pass.

Note that --rc-addr, --rc-user, --rc-pass will be read also for --url, --user, --pass.

Arguments should be passed in as parameter=value.

The result will be returned as a JSON object by default.

The --json parameter can be used to pass in a JSON blob as an input instead of key=value arguments. This is the only way of passing in more complicated values.

The -o/--opt option can be used to set a key "opt" with key, value options in the form "-o key=value" or "-o key". It can be repeated as many times as required. This is useful for rc commands which take the "opt" parameter which by convention is a dictionary of strings.

-o key=value -o key2

Will place this in the "opt" value

{"key":"value", "key2","")

The -a/--arg option can be used to set strings in the "arg" value. It can be repeated as many times as required. This is useful for rc commands which take the "arg" parameter which by convention is a list of strings.

-a value -a value2

Will place this in the "arg" value

["value", "value2"]

Use --loopback to connect to the rclone instance running "rclone rc". This is very useful for testing commands without having to run an rclone rc server, e.g.:

rclone rc --loopback operations/about fs=/

Use "rclone rc" to see a list of all possible commands.

rclone rc commands parameter [flags]

Options

  -a, --arg stringArray   Argument placed in the "arg" array
  -h, --help              help for rc
      --json string       Input JSON - use instead of key=value args
      --loopback          If set connect to this rclone instance not via HTTP
      --no-output         If set, don't output the JSON result
  -o, --opt stringArray   Option in the form name=value or name placed in the "opt" array
      --pass string       Password to use to connect to rclone remote control
      --url string        URL to connect to rclone remote control (default "http://localhost:5572/")
      --user string       Username to use to rclone remote control

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone rcat

Copies standard input to file on remote.

Synopsis

rclone rcat reads from standard input (stdin) and copies it to a single remote file.

echo "hello world" | rclone rcat remote:path/to/file
ffmpeg - | rclone rcat remote:path/to/file

If the remote file already exists, it will be overwritten.

rcat will try to upload small files in a single request, which is usually more efficient than the streaming/chunked upload endpoints, which use multiple requests. Exact behaviour depends on the remote. What is considered a small file may be set through --streaming-upload-cutoff. Uploading only starts after the cutoff is reached or if the file ends before that. The data must fit into RAM. The cutoff needs to be small enough to adhere the limits of your remote, please see there. Generally speaking, setting this cutoff too high will decrease your performance.

Use the |--size| flag to preallocate the file in advance at the remote end and actually stream it, even if remote backend doesn't support streaming.

|--size| should be the exact size of the input stream in bytes. If the size of the stream is different in length to the |--size| passed in then the transfer will likely fail.

Note that the upload can also not be retried because the data is not kept around until the upload succeeds. If you need to transfer a lot of data, you're better off caching locally and then rclone move it to the destination.

rclone rcat remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help       help for rcat
      --size int   File size hint to preallocate (default -1)

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone rcd

Run rclone listening to remote control commands only.

Synopsis

This runs rclone so that it only listens to remote control commands.

This is useful if you are controlling rclone via the rc API.

If you pass in a path to a directory, rclone will serve that directory for GET requests on the URL passed in. It will also open the URL in the browser when rclone is run.

See the rc documentation for more info on the rc flags.

rclone rcd <path to files to serve>* [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for rcd

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone rmdirs

Remove empty directories under the path.

Synopsis

This recursively removes any empty directories (including directories that only contain empty directories), that it finds under the path. The root path itself will also be removed if it is empty, unless you supply the --leave-root flag.

Use command rmdir to delete just the empty directory given by path, not recurse.

This is useful for tidying up remotes that rclone has left a lot of empty directories in. For example the delete command will delete files but leave the directory structure (unless used with option --rmdirs).

To delete a path and any objects in it, use purge command.

rclone rmdirs remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help         help for rmdirs
      --leave-root   Do not remove root directory if empty

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone selfupdate

Update the rclone binary.

Synopsis

This command downloads the latest release of rclone and replaces the currently running binary. The download is verified with a hashsum and cryptographically signed signature.

If used without flags (or with implied --stable flag), this command will install the latest stable release. However, some issues may be fixed (or features added) only in the latest beta release. In such cases you should run the command with the --beta flag, i.e. rclone selfupdate --beta. You can check in advance what version would be installed by adding the --check flag, then repeat the command without it when you are satisfied.

Sometimes the rclone team may recommend you a concrete beta or stable rclone release to troubleshoot your issue or add a bleeding edge feature. The --version VER flag, if given, will update to the concrete version instead of the latest one. If you omit micro version from VER (for example 1.53), the latest matching micro version will be used.

Upon successful update rclone will print a message that contains a previous version number. You will need it if you later decide to revert your update for some reason. Then you'll have to note the previous version and run the following command: rclone selfupdate [--beta] OLDVER. If the old version contains only dots and digits (for example v1.54.0) then it's a stable release so you won't need the --beta flag. Beta releases have an additional information similar to v1.54.0-beta.5111.06f1c0c61. (if you are a developer and use a locally built rclone, the version number will end with -DEV, you will have to rebuild it as it obviously can't be distributed).

If you previously installed rclone via a package manager, the package may include local documentation or configure services. You may wish to update with the flag --package deb or --package rpm (whichever is correct for your OS) to update these too. This command with the default --package zip will update only the rclone executable so the local manual may become inaccurate after it.

The rclone mount command (https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_mount/) may or may not support extended FUSE options depending on the build and OS. selfupdate will refuse to update if the capability would be discarded.

Note: Windows forbids deletion of a currently running executable so this command will rename the old executable to 'rclone.old.exe' upon success.

Please note that this command was not available before rclone version 1.55. If it fails for you with the message unknown command "selfupdate" then you will need to update manually following the install instructions located at https://rclone.org/install/

rclone selfupdate [flags]

Options

      --beta             Install beta release
      --check            Check for latest release, do not download
  -h, --help             help for selfupdate
      --output string    Save the downloaded binary at a given path (default: replace running binary)
      --package string   Package format: zip|deb|rpm (default: zip)
      --stable           Install stable release (this is the default)
      --version string   Install the given rclone version (default: latest)

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone serve

Serve a remote over a protocol.

Synopsis

rclone serve is used to serve a remote over a given protocol. This command requires the use of a subcommand to specify the protocol, e.g.

rclone serve http remote:

Each subcommand has its own options which you can see in their help.

rclone serve <protocol> [opts] <remote> [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for serve

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone serve dlna

Serve remote:path over DLNA

Synopsis

rclone serve dlna is a DLNA media server for media stored in an rclone remote. Many devices, such as the Xbox and PlayStation, can automatically discover this server in the LAN and play audio/video from it. VLC is also supported. Service discovery uses UDP multicast packets (SSDP) and will thus only work on LANs.

Rclone will list all files present in the remote, without filtering based on media formats or file extensions. Additionally, there is no media transcoding support. This means that some players might show files that they are not able to play back correctly.

Server options

Use --addr to specify which IP address and port the server should listen on, e.g. --addr 1.2.3.4:8000 or --addr :8080 to listen to all IPs.

Use --name to choose the friendly server name, which is by default "rclone (hostname)".

Use --log-trace in conjunction with -vv to enable additional debug logging of all UPNP traffic.

VFS - Virtual File System

This command uses the VFS layer. This adapts the cloud storage objects that rclone uses into something which looks much more like a disk filing system.

Cloud storage objects have lots of properties which aren't like disk files - you can't extend them or write to the middle of them, so the VFS layer has to deal with that. Because there is no one right way of doing this there are various options explained below.

The VFS layer also implements a directory cache - this caches info about files and directories (but not the data) in memory.

VFS Directory Cache

Using the --dir-cache-time flag, you can control how long a directory should be considered up to date and not refreshed from the backend. Changes made through the mount will appear immediately or invalidate the cache.

--dir-cache-time duration   Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
--poll-interval duration    Time to wait between polling for changes. Must be smaller than dir-cache-time. Only on supported remotes. Set to 0 to disable (default 1m0s)

However, changes made directly on the cloud storage by the web interface or a different copy of rclone will only be picked up once the directory cache expires if the backend configured does not support polling for changes. If the backend supports polling, changes will be picked up within the polling interval.

You can send a SIGHUP signal to rclone for it to flush all directory caches, regardless of how old they are. Assuming only one rclone instance is running, you can reset the cache like this:

kill -SIGHUP $(pidof rclone)

If you configure rclone with a remote control then you can use rclone rc to flush the whole directory cache:

rclone rc vfs/forget

Or individual files or directories:

rclone rc vfs/forget file=path/to/file dir=path/to/dir

VFS File Buffering

The --buffer-size flag determines the amount of memory, that will be used to buffer data in advance.

Each open file will try to keep the specified amount of data in memory at all times. The buffered data is bound to one open file and won't be shared.

This flag is a upper limit for the used memory per open file. The buffer will only use memory for data that is downloaded but not not yet read. If the buffer is empty, only a small amount of memory will be used.

The maximum memory used by rclone for buffering can be up to --buffer-size * open files.

VFS File Caching

These flags control the VFS file caching options. File caching is necessary to make the VFS layer appear compatible with a normal file system. It can be disabled at the cost of some compatibility.

For example you'll need to enable VFS caching if you want to read and write simultaneously to a file. See below for more details.

Note that the VFS cache is separate from the cache backend and you may find that you need one or the other or both.

--cache-dir string                   Directory rclone will use for caching.
--vfs-cache-mode CacheMode           Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
--vfs-cache-max-age duration         Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
--vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix      Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
--vfs-cache-poll-interval duration   Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
--vfs-write-back duration            Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)

If run with -vv rclone will print the location of the file cache. The files are stored in the user cache file area which is OS dependent but can be controlled with --cache-dir or setting the appropriate environment variable.

The cache has 4 different modes selected by --vfs-cache-mode. The higher the cache mode the more compatible rclone becomes at the cost of using disk space.

Note that files are written back to the remote only when they are closed and if they haven't been accessed for --vfs-write-back seconds. If rclone is quit or dies with files that haven't been uploaded, these will be uploaded next time rclone is run with the same flags.

If using --vfs-cache-max-size note that the cache may exceed this size for two reasons. Firstly because it is only checked every --vfs-cache-poll-interval. Secondly because open files cannot be evicted from the cache.

You should not run two copies of rclone using the same VFS cache with the same or overlapping remotes if using --vfs-cache-mode > off. This can potentially cause data corruption if you do. You can work around this by giving each rclone its own cache hierarchy with --cache-dir. You don't need to worry about this if the remotes in use don't overlap.

--vfs-cache-mode off

In this mode (the default) the cache will read directly from the remote and write directly to the remote without caching anything on disk.

This will mean some operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode minimal

This is very similar to "off" except that files opened for read AND write will be buffered to disk. This means that files opened for write will be a lot more compatible, but uses the minimal disk space.

These operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode writes

In this mode files opened for read only are still read directly from the remote, write only and read/write files are buffered to disk first.

This mode should support all normal file system operations.

If an upload fails it will be retried at exponentially increasing intervals up to 1 minute.

--vfs-cache-mode full

In this mode all reads and writes are buffered to and from disk. When data is read from the remote this is buffered to disk as well.

In this mode the files in the cache will be sparse files and rclone will keep track of which bits of the files it has downloaded.

So if an application only reads the starts of each file, then rclone will only buffer the start of the file. These files will appear to be their full size in the cache, but they will be sparse files with only the data that has been downloaded present in them.

This mode should support all normal file system operations and is otherwise identical to --vfs-cache-mode writes.

When reading a file rclone will read --buffer-size plus --vfs-read-ahead bytes ahead. The --buffer-size is buffered in memory whereas the --vfs-read-ahead is buffered on disk.

When using this mode it is recommended that --buffer-size is not set too large and --vfs-read-ahead is set large if required.

IMPORTANT not all file systems support sparse files. In particular FAT/exFAT do not. Rclone will perform very badly if the cache directory is on a filesystem which doesn't support sparse files and it will log an ERROR message if one is detected.

VFS Chunked Reading

When rclone reads files from a remote it reads them in chunks. This means that rather than requesting the whole file rclone reads the chunk specified. This can reduce the used download quota for some remotes by requesting only chunks from the remote that are actually read, at the cost of an increased number of requests.

These flags control the chunking:

--vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix        Read the source objects in chunks (default 128M)
--vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix  Max chunk doubling size (default off)

Rclone will start reading a chunk of size --vfs-read-chunk-size, and then double the size for each read. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit is specified, and greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, the chunk size for each open file will get doubled only until the specified value is reached. If the value is "off", which is the default, the limit is disabled and the chunk size will grow indefinitely.

With --vfs-read-chunk-size 100M and --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 0 the following parts will be downloaded: 0-100M, 100M-200M, 200M-300M, 300M-400M and so on. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 500M is specified, the result would be 0-100M, 100M-300M, 300M-700M, 700M-1200M, 1200M-1700M and so on.

Setting --vfs-read-chunk-size to 0 or "off" disables chunked reading.

VFS Performance

These flags may be used to enable/disable features of the VFS for performance or other reasons. See also the chunked reading feature.

In particular S3 and Swift benefit hugely from the --no-modtime flag (or use --use-server-modtime for a slightly different effect) as each read of the modification time takes a transaction.

--no-checksum     Don't compare checksums on up/download.
--no-modtime      Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up).
--no-seek         Don't allow seeking in files.
--read-only       Mount read-only.

Sometimes rclone is delivered reads or writes out of order. Rather than seeking rclone will wait a short time for the in sequence read or write to come in. These flags only come into effect when not using an on disk cache file.

--vfs-read-wait duration   Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
--vfs-write-wait duration  Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)

When using VFS write caching (--vfs-cache-mode with value writes or full), the global flag --transfers can be set to adjust the number of parallel uploads of modified files from cache (the related global flag --checkers have no effect on mount).

--transfers int  Number of file transfers to run in parallel (default 4)

VFS Case Sensitivity

Linux file systems are case-sensitive: two files can differ only by case, and the exact case must be used when opening a file.

File systems in modern Windows are case-insensitive but case-preserving: although existing files can be opened using any case, the exact case used to create the file is preserved and available for programs to query. It is not allowed for two files in the same directory to differ only by case.

Usually file systems on macOS are case-insensitive. It is possible to make macOS file systems case-sensitive but that is not the default.

The --vfs-case-insensitive mount flag controls how rclone handles these two cases. If its value is "false", rclone passes file names to the mounted file system as-is. If the flag is "true" (or appears without a value on command line), rclone may perform a "fixup" as explained below.

The user may specify a file name to open/delete/rename/etc with a case different than what is stored on mounted file system. If an argument refers to an existing file with exactly the same name, then the case of the existing file on the disk will be used. However, if a file name with exactly the same name is not found but a name differing only by case exists, rclone will transparently fixup the name. This fixup happens only when an existing file is requested. Case sensitivity of file names created anew by rclone is controlled by an underlying mounted file system.

Note that case sensitivity of the operating system running rclone (the target) may differ from case sensitivity of a file system mounted by rclone (the source). The flag controls whether "fixup" is performed to satisfy the target.

If the flag is not provided on the command line, then its default value depends on the operating system where rclone runs: "true" on Windows and macOS, "false" otherwise. If the flag is provided without a value, then it is "true".

Alternate report of used bytes

Some backends, most notably S3, do not report the amount of bytes used. If you need this information to be available when running df on the filesystem, then pass the flag --vfs-used-is-size to rclone. With this flag set, instead of relying on the backend to report this information, rclone will scan the whole remote similar to rclone size and compute the total used space itself.

WARNING. Contrary to rclone size, this flag ignores filters so that the result is accurate. However, this is very inefficient and may cost lots of API calls resulting in extra charges. Use it as a last resort and only with caching.

rclone serve dlna remote:path [flags]

Options

      --addr string                            The ip:port or :port to bind the DLNA http server to (default ":7879")
      --dir-cache-time duration                Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
      --dir-perms FileMode                     Directory permissions (default 0777)
      --file-perms FileMode                    File permissions (default 0666)
      --gid uint32                             Override the gid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
  -h, --help                                   help for dlna
      --log-trace                              Enable trace logging of SOAP traffic
      --name string                            Name of DLNA server
      --no-checksum                            Don't compare checksums on up/download
      --no-modtime                             Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up)
      --no-seek                                Don't allow seeking in files
      --poll-interval duration                 Time to wait between polling for changes, must be smaller than dir-cache-time and only on supported remotes (set 0 to disable) (default 1m0s)
      --read-only                              Mount read-only
      --uid uint32                             Override the uid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
      --umask int                              Override the permission bits set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 2)
      --vfs-cache-max-age duration             Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
      --vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix          Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
      --vfs-cache-mode CacheMode               Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
      --vfs-cache-poll-interval duration       Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
      --vfs-case-insensitive                   If a file name not found, find a case insensitive match
      --vfs-read-ahead SizeSuffix              Extra read ahead over --buffer-size when using cache-mode full
      --vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix         Read the source objects in chunks (default 128Mi)
      --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix   If greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, double the chunk size after each chunk read, until the limit is reached ('off' is unlimited) (default off)
      --vfs-read-wait duration                 Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
      --vfs-used-is-size rclone size           Use the rclone size algorithm for Used size
      --vfs-write-back duration                Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)
      --vfs-write-wait duration                Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone serve docker

Serve any remote on docker's volume plugin API.

Synopsis

This command implements the Docker volume plugin API allowing docker to use rclone as a data storage mechanism for various cloud providers. rclone provides docker volume plugin based on it.

To create a docker plugin, one must create a Unix or TCP socket that Docker will look for when you use the plugin and then it listens for commands from docker daemon and runs the corresponding code when necessary. Docker plugins can run as a managed plugin under control of the docker daemon or as an independent native service. For testing, you can just run it directly from the command line, for example:

sudo rclone serve docker --base-dir /tmp/rclone-volumes --socket-addr localhost:8787 -vv

Running rclone serve docker will create the said socket, listening for commands from Docker to create the necessary Volumes. Normally you need not give the --socket-addr flag. The API will listen on the unix domain socket at /run/docker/plugins/rclone.sock. In the example above rclone will create a TCP socket and a small file /etc/docker/plugins/rclone.spec containing the socket address. We use sudo because both paths are writeable only by the root user.

If you later decide to change listening socket, the docker daemon must be restarted to reconnect to /run/docker/plugins/rclone.sock or parse new /etc/docker/plugins/rclone.spec. Until you restart, any volume related docker commands will timeout trying to access the old socket. Running directly is supported on Linux only, not on Windows or MacOS. This is not a problem with managed plugin mode described in details in the full documentation.

The command will create volume mounts under the path given by --base-dir (by default /var/lib/docker-volumes/rclone available only to root) and maintain the JSON formatted file docker-plugin.state in the rclone cache directory with book-keeping records of created and mounted volumes.

All mount and VFS options are submitted by the docker daemon via API, but you can also provide defaults on the command line as well as set path to the config file and cache directory or adjust logging verbosity.

VFS - Virtual File System

This command uses the VFS layer. This adapts the cloud storage objects that rclone uses into something which looks much more like a disk filing system.

Cloud storage objects have lots of properties which aren't like disk files - you can't extend them or write to the middle of them, so the VFS layer has to deal with that. Because there is no one right way of doing this there are various options explained below.

The VFS layer also implements a directory cache - this caches info about files and directories (but not the data) in memory.

VFS Directory Cache

Using the --dir-cache-time flag, you can control how long a directory should be considered up to date and not refreshed from the backend. Changes made through the mount will appear immediately or invalidate the cache.

--dir-cache-time duration   Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
--poll-interval duration    Time to wait between polling for changes. Must be smaller than dir-cache-time. Only on supported remotes. Set to 0 to disable (default 1m0s)

However, changes made directly on the cloud storage by the web interface or a different copy of rclone will only be picked up once the directory cache expires if the backend configured does not support polling for changes. If the backend supports polling, changes will be picked up within the polling interval.

You can send a SIGHUP signal to rclone for it to flush all directory caches, regardless of how old they are. Assuming only one rclone instance is running, you can reset the cache like this:

kill -SIGHUP $(pidof rclone)

If you configure rclone with a remote control then you can use rclone rc to flush the whole directory cache:

rclone rc vfs/forget

Or individual files or directories:

rclone rc vfs/forget file=path/to/file dir=path/to/dir

VFS File Buffering

The --buffer-size flag determines the amount of memory, that will be used to buffer data in advance.

Each open file will try to keep the specified amount of data in memory at all times. The buffered data is bound to one open file and won't be shared.

This flag is a upper limit for the used memory per open file. The buffer will only use memory for data that is downloaded but not not yet read. If the buffer is empty, only a small amount of memory will be used.

The maximum memory used by rclone for buffering can be up to --buffer-size * open files.

VFS File Caching

These flags control the VFS file caching options. File caching is necessary to make the VFS layer appear compatible with a normal file system. It can be disabled at the cost of some compatibility.

For example you'll need to enable VFS caching if you want to read and write simultaneously to a file. See below for more details.

Note that the VFS cache is separate from the cache backend and you may find that you need one or the other or both.

--cache-dir string                   Directory rclone will use for caching.
--vfs-cache-mode CacheMode           Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
--vfs-cache-max-age duration         Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
--vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix      Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
--vfs-cache-poll-interval duration   Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
--vfs-write-back duration            Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)

If run with -vv rclone will print the location of the file cache. The files are stored in the user cache file area which is OS dependent but can be controlled with --cache-dir or setting the appropriate environment variable.

The cache has 4 different modes selected by --vfs-cache-mode. The higher the cache mode the more compatible rclone becomes at the cost of using disk space.

Note that files are written back to the remote only when they are closed and if they haven't been accessed for --vfs-write-back seconds. If rclone is quit or dies with files that haven't been uploaded, these will be uploaded next time rclone is run with the same flags.

If using --vfs-cache-max-size note that the cache may exceed this size for two reasons. Firstly because it is only checked every --vfs-cache-poll-interval. Secondly because open files cannot be evicted from the cache.

You should not run two copies of rclone using the same VFS cache with the same or overlapping remotes if using --vfs-cache-mode > off. This can potentially cause data corruption if you do. You can work around this by giving each rclone its own cache hierarchy with --cache-dir. You don't need to worry about this if the remotes in use don't overlap.

--vfs-cache-mode off

In this mode (the default) the cache will read directly from the remote and write directly to the remote without caching anything on disk.

This will mean some operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode minimal

This is very similar to "off" except that files opened for read AND write will be buffered to disk. This means that files opened for write will be a lot more compatible, but uses the minimal disk space.

These operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode writes

In this mode files opened for read only are still read directly from the remote, write only and read/write files are buffered to disk first.

This mode should support all normal file system operations.

If an upload fails it will be retried at exponentially increasing intervals up to 1 minute.

--vfs-cache-mode full

In this mode all reads and writes are buffered to and from disk. When data is read from the remote this is buffered to disk as well.

In this mode the files in the cache will be sparse files and rclone will keep track of which bits of the files it has downloaded.

So if an application only reads the starts of each file, then rclone will only buffer the start of the file. These files will appear to be their full size in the cache, but they will be sparse files with only the data that has been downloaded present in them.

This mode should support all normal file system operations and is otherwise identical to --vfs-cache-mode writes.

When reading a file rclone will read --buffer-size plus --vfs-read-ahead bytes ahead. The --buffer-size is buffered in memory whereas the --vfs-read-ahead is buffered on disk.

When using this mode it is recommended that --buffer-size is not set too large and --vfs-read-ahead is set large if required.

IMPORTANT not all file systems support sparse files. In particular FAT/exFAT do not. Rclone will perform very badly if the cache directory is on a filesystem which doesn't support sparse files and it will log an ERROR message if one is detected.

VFS Chunked Reading

When rclone reads files from a remote it reads them in chunks. This means that rather than requesting the whole file rclone reads the chunk specified. This can reduce the used download quota for some remotes by requesting only chunks from the remote that are actually read, at the cost of an increased number of requests.

These flags control the chunking:

--vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix        Read the source objects in chunks (default 128M)
--vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix  Max chunk doubling size (default off)

Rclone will start reading a chunk of size --vfs-read-chunk-size, and then double the size for each read. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit is specified, and greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, the chunk size for each open file will get doubled only until the specified value is reached. If the value is "off", which is the default, the limit is disabled and the chunk size will grow indefinitely.

With --vfs-read-chunk-size 100M and --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 0 the following parts will be downloaded: 0-100M, 100M-200M, 200M-300M, 300M-400M and so on. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 500M is specified, the result would be 0-100M, 100M-300M, 300M-700M, 700M-1200M, 1200M-1700M and so on.

Setting --vfs-read-chunk-size to 0 or "off" disables chunked reading.

VFS Performance

These flags may be used to enable/disable features of the VFS for performance or other reasons. See also the chunked reading feature.

In particular S3 and Swift benefit hugely from the --no-modtime flag (or use --use-server-modtime for a slightly different effect) as each read of the modification time takes a transaction.

--no-checksum     Don't compare checksums on up/download.
--no-modtime      Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up).
--no-seek         Don't allow seeking in files.
--read-only       Mount read-only.

Sometimes rclone is delivered reads or writes out of order. Rather than seeking rclone will wait a short time for the in sequence read or write to come in. These flags only come into effect when not using an on disk cache file.

--vfs-read-wait duration   Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
--vfs-write-wait duration  Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)

When using VFS write caching (--vfs-cache-mode with value writes or full), the global flag --transfers can be set to adjust the number of parallel uploads of modified files from cache (the related global flag --checkers have no effect on mount).

--transfers int  Number of file transfers to run in parallel (default 4)

VFS Case Sensitivity

Linux file systems are case-sensitive: two files can differ only by case, and the exact case must be used when opening a file.

File systems in modern Windows are case-insensitive but case-preserving: although existing files can be opened using any case, the exact case used to create the file is preserved and available for programs to query. It is not allowed for two files in the same directory to differ only by case.

Usually file systems on macOS are case-insensitive. It is possible to make macOS file systems case-sensitive but that is not the default.

The --vfs-case-insensitive mount flag controls how rclone handles these two cases. If its value is "false", rclone passes file names to the mounted file system as-is. If the flag is "true" (or appears without a value on command line), rclone may perform a "fixup" as explained below.

The user may specify a file name to open/delete/rename/etc with a case different than what is stored on mounted file system. If an argument refers to an existing file with exactly the same name, then the case of the existing file on the disk will be used. However, if a file name with exactly the same name is not found but a name differing only by case exists, rclone will transparently fixup the name. This fixup happens only when an existing file is requested. Case sensitivity of file names created anew by rclone is controlled by an underlying mounted file system.

Note that case sensitivity of the operating system running rclone (the target) may differ from case sensitivity of a file system mounted by rclone (the source). The flag controls whether "fixup" is performed to satisfy the target.

If the flag is not provided on the command line, then its default value depends on the operating system where rclone runs: "true" on Windows and macOS, "false" otherwise. If the flag is provided without a value, then it is "true".

Alternate report of used bytes

Some backends, most notably S3, do not report the amount of bytes used. If you need this information to be available when running df on the filesystem, then pass the flag --vfs-used-is-size to rclone. With this flag set, instead of relying on the backend to report this information, rclone will scan the whole remote similar to rclone size and compute the total used space itself.

WARNING. Contrary to rclone size, this flag ignores filters so that the result is accurate. However, this is very inefficient and may cost lots of API calls resulting in extra charges. Use it as a last resort and only with caching.

rclone serve docker [flags]

Options

      --allow-non-empty                        Allow mounting over a non-empty directory (not supported on Windows)
      --allow-other                            Allow access to other users (not supported on Windows)
      --allow-root                             Allow access to root user (not supported on Windows)
      --async-read                             Use asynchronous reads (not supported on Windows) (default true)
      --attr-timeout duration                  Time for which file/directory attributes are cached (default 1s)
      --base-dir string                        Base directory for volumes (default "/var/lib/docker-volumes/rclone")
      --daemon                                 Run mount in background and exit parent process (as background output is suppressed, use --log-file with --log-format=pid,... to monitor) (not supported on Windows)
      --daemon-timeout duration                Time limit for rclone to respond to kernel (not supported on Windows)
      --daemon-wait duration                   Time to wait for ready mount from daemon (maximum time on Linux, constant sleep time on OSX/BSD) (not supported on Windows) (default 1m0s)
      --debug-fuse                             Debug the FUSE internals - needs -v
      --default-permissions                    Makes kernel enforce access control based on the file mode (not supported on Windows)
      --devname string                         Set the device name - default is remote:path
      --dir-cache-time duration                Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
      --dir-perms FileMode                     Directory permissions (default 0777)
      --file-perms FileMode                    File permissions (default 0666)
      --forget-state                           Skip restoring previous state
      --fuse-flag stringArray                  Flags or arguments to be passed direct to libfuse/WinFsp (repeat if required)
      --gid uint32                             Override the gid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
  -h, --help                                   help for docker
      --max-read-ahead SizeSuffix              The number of bytes that can be prefetched for sequential reads (not supported on Windows) (default 128Ki)
      --network-mode                           Mount as remote network drive, instead of fixed disk drive (supported on Windows only)
      --no-checksum                            Don't compare checksums on up/download
      --no-modtime                             Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up)
      --no-seek                                Don't allow seeking in files
      --no-spec                                Do not write spec file
      --noappledouble                          Ignore Apple Double (._) and .DS_Store files (supported on OSX only) (default true)
      --noapplexattr                           Ignore all "com.apple.*" extended attributes (supported on OSX only)
  -o, --option stringArray                     Option for libfuse/WinFsp (repeat if required)
      --poll-interval duration                 Time to wait between polling for changes, must be smaller than dir-cache-time and only on supported remotes (set 0 to disable) (default 1m0s)
      --read-only                              Mount read-only
      --socket-addr string                     Address <host:port> or absolute path (default: /run/docker/plugins/rclone.sock)
      --socket-gid int                         GID for unix socket (default: current process GID) (default 1000)
      --uid uint32                             Override the uid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
      --umask int                              Override the permission bits set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 2)
      --vfs-cache-max-age duration             Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
      --vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix          Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
      --vfs-cache-mode CacheMode               Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
      --vfs-cache-poll-interval duration       Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
      --vfs-case-insensitive                   If a file name not found, find a case insensitive match
      --vfs-read-ahead SizeSuffix              Extra read ahead over --buffer-size when using cache-mode full
      --vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix         Read the source objects in chunks (default 128Mi)
      --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix   If greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, double the chunk size after each chunk read, until the limit is reached ('off' is unlimited) (default off)
      --vfs-read-wait duration                 Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
      --vfs-used-is-size rclone size           Use the rclone size algorithm for Used size
      --vfs-write-back duration                Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)
      --vfs-write-wait duration                Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)
      --volname string                         Set the volume name (supported on Windows and OSX only)
      --write-back-cache                       Makes kernel buffer writes before sending them to rclone (without this, writethrough caching is used) (not supported on Windows)

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone serve ftp

Serve remote:path over FTP.

Synopsis

rclone serve ftp implements a basic ftp server to serve the remote over FTP protocol. This can be viewed with a ftp client or you can make a remote of type ftp to read and write it.

Server options

Use --addr to specify which IP address and port the server should listen on, e.g. --addr 1.2.3.4:8000 or --addr :8080 to listen to all IPs. By default it only listens on localhost. You can use port :0 to let the OS choose an available port.

If you set --addr to listen on a public or LAN accessible IP address then using Authentication is advised - see the next section for info.

Authentication

By default this will serve files without needing a login.

You can set a single username and password with the --user and --pass flags.

VFS - Virtual File System

This command uses the VFS layer. This adapts the cloud storage objects that rclone uses into something which looks much more like a disk filing system.

Cloud storage objects have lots of properties which aren't like disk files - you can't extend them or write to the middle of them, so the VFS layer has to deal with that. Because there is no one right way of doing this there are various options explained below.

The VFS layer also implements a directory cache - this caches info about files and directories (but not the data) in memory.

VFS Directory Cache

Using the --dir-cache-time flag, you can control how long a directory should be considered up to date and not refreshed from the backend. Changes made through the mount will appear immediately or invalidate the cache.

--dir-cache-time duration   Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
--poll-interval duration    Time to wait between polling for changes. Must be smaller than dir-cache-time. Only on supported remotes. Set to 0 to disable (default 1m0s)

However, changes made directly on the cloud storage by the web interface or a different copy of rclone will only be picked up once the directory cache expires if the backend configured does not support polling for changes. If the backend supports polling, changes will be picked up within the polling interval.

You can send a SIGHUP signal to rclone for it to flush all directory caches, regardless of how old they are. Assuming only one rclone instance is running, you can reset the cache like this:

kill -SIGHUP $(pidof rclone)

If you configure rclone with a remote control then you can use rclone rc to flush the whole directory cache:

rclone rc vfs/forget

Or individual files or directories:

rclone rc vfs/forget file=path/to/file dir=path/to/dir

VFS File Buffering

The --buffer-size flag determines the amount of memory, that will be used to buffer data in advance.

Each open file will try to keep the specified amount of data in memory at all times. The buffered data is bound to one open file and won't be shared.

This flag is a upper limit for the used memory per open file. The buffer will only use memory for data that is downloaded but not not yet read. If the buffer is empty, only a small amount of memory will be used.

The maximum memory used by rclone for buffering can be up to --buffer-size * open files.

VFS File Caching

These flags control the VFS file caching options. File caching is necessary to make the VFS layer appear compatible with a normal file system. It can be disabled at the cost of some compatibility.

For example you'll need to enable VFS caching if you want to read and write simultaneously to a file. See below for more details.

Note that the VFS cache is separate from the cache backend and you may find that you need one or the other or both.

--cache-dir string                   Directory rclone will use for caching.
--vfs-cache-mode CacheMode           Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
--vfs-cache-max-age duration         Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
--vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix      Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
--vfs-cache-poll-interval duration   Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
--vfs-write-back duration            Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)

If run with -vv rclone will print the location of the file cache. The files are stored in the user cache file area which is OS dependent but can be controlled with --cache-dir or setting the appropriate environment variable.

The cache has 4 different modes selected by --vfs-cache-mode. The higher the cache mode the more compatible rclone becomes at the cost of using disk space.

Note that files are written back to the remote only when they are closed and if they haven't been accessed for --vfs-write-back seconds. If rclone is quit or dies with files that haven't been uploaded, these will be uploaded next time rclone is run with the same flags.

If using --vfs-cache-max-size note that the cache may exceed this size for two reasons. Firstly because it is only checked every --vfs-cache-poll-interval. Secondly because open files cannot be evicted from the cache.

You should not run two copies of rclone using the same VFS cache with the same or overlapping remotes if using --vfs-cache-mode > off. This can potentially cause data corruption if you do. You can work around this by giving each rclone its own cache hierarchy with --cache-dir. You don't need to worry about this if the remotes in use don't overlap.

--vfs-cache-mode off

In this mode (the default) the cache will read directly from the remote and write directly to the remote without caching anything on disk.

This will mean some operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode minimal

This is very similar to "off" except that files opened for read AND write will be buffered to disk. This means that files opened for write will be a lot more compatible, but uses the minimal disk space.

These operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode writes

In this mode files opened for read only are still read directly from the remote, write only and read/write files are buffered to disk first.

This mode should support all normal file system operations.

If an upload fails it will be retried at exponentially increasing intervals up to 1 minute.

--vfs-cache-mode full

In this mode all reads and writes are buffered to and from disk. When data is read from the remote this is buffered to disk as well.

In this mode the files in the cache will be sparse files and rclone will keep track of which bits of the files it has downloaded.

So if an application only reads the starts of each file, then rclone will only buffer the start of the file. These files will appear to be their full size in the cache, but they will be sparse files with only the data that has been downloaded present in them.

This mode should support all normal file system operations and is otherwise identical to --vfs-cache-mode writes.

When reading a file rclone will read --buffer-size plus --vfs-read-ahead bytes ahead. The --buffer-size is buffered in memory whereas the --vfs-read-ahead is buffered on disk.

When using this mode it is recommended that --buffer-size is not set too large and --vfs-read-ahead is set large if required.

IMPORTANT not all file systems support sparse files. In particular FAT/exFAT do not. Rclone will perform very badly if the cache directory is on a filesystem which doesn't support sparse files and it will log an ERROR message if one is detected.

VFS Chunked Reading

When rclone reads files from a remote it reads them in chunks. This means that rather than requesting the whole file rclone reads the chunk specified. This can reduce the used download quota for some remotes by requesting only chunks from the remote that are actually read, at the cost of an increased number of requests.

These flags control the chunking:

--vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix        Read the source objects in chunks (default 128M)
--vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix  Max chunk doubling size (default off)

Rclone will start reading a chunk of size --vfs-read-chunk-size, and then double the size for each read. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit is specified, and greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, the chunk size for each open file will get doubled only until the specified value is reached. If the value is "off", which is the default, the limit is disabled and the chunk size will grow indefinitely.

With --vfs-read-chunk-size 100M and --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 0 the following parts will be downloaded: 0-100M, 100M-200M, 200M-300M, 300M-400M and so on. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 500M is specified, the result would be 0-100M, 100M-300M, 300M-700M, 700M-1200M, 1200M-1700M and so on.

Setting --vfs-read-chunk-size to 0 or "off" disables chunked reading.

VFS Performance

These flags may be used to enable/disable features of the VFS for performance or other reasons. See also the chunked reading feature.

In particular S3 and Swift benefit hugely from the --no-modtime flag (or use --use-server-modtime for a slightly different effect) as each read of the modification time takes a transaction.

--no-checksum     Don't compare checksums on up/download.
--no-modtime      Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up).
--no-seek         Don't allow seeking in files.
--read-only       Mount read-only.

Sometimes rclone is delivered reads or writes out of order. Rather than seeking rclone will wait a short time for the in sequence read or write to come in. These flags only come into effect when not using an on disk cache file.

--vfs-read-wait duration   Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
--vfs-write-wait duration  Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)

When using VFS write caching (--vfs-cache-mode with value writes or full), the global flag --transfers can be set to adjust the number of parallel uploads of modified files from cache (the related global flag --checkers have no effect on mount).

--transfers int  Number of file transfers to run in parallel (default 4)

VFS Case Sensitivity

Linux file systems are case-sensitive: two files can differ only by case, and the exact case must be used when opening a file.

File systems in modern Windows are case-insensitive but case-preserving: although existing files can be opened using any case, the exact case used to create the file is preserved and available for programs to query. It is not allowed for two files in the same directory to differ only by case.

Usually file systems on macOS are case-insensitive. It is possible to make macOS file systems case-sensitive but that is not the default.

The --vfs-case-insensitive mount flag controls how rclone handles these two cases. If its value is "false", rclone passes file names to the mounted file system as-is. If the flag is "true" (or appears without a value on command line), rclone may perform a "fixup" as explained below.

The user may specify a file name to open/delete/rename/etc with a case different than what is stored on mounted file system. If an argument refers to an existing file with exactly the same name, then the case of the existing file on the disk will be used. However, if a file name with exactly the same name is not found but a name differing only by case exists, rclone will transparently fixup the name. This fixup happens only when an existing file is requested. Case sensitivity of file names created anew by rclone is controlled by an underlying mounted file system.

Note that case sensitivity of the operating system running rclone (the target) may differ from case sensitivity of a file system mounted by rclone (the source). The flag controls whether "fixup" is performed to satisfy the target.

If the flag is not provided on the command line, then its default value depends on the operating system where rclone runs: "true" on Windows and macOS, "false" otherwise. If the flag is provided without a value, then it is "true".

Alternate report of used bytes

Some backends, most notably S3, do not report the amount of bytes used. If you need this information to be available when running df on the filesystem, then pass the flag --vfs-used-is-size to rclone. With this flag set, instead of relying on the backend to report this information, rclone will scan the whole remote similar to rclone size and compute the total used space itself.

WARNING. Contrary to rclone size, this flag ignores filters so that the result is accurate. However, this is very inefficient and may cost lots of API calls resulting in extra charges. Use it as a last resort and only with caching.

Auth Proxy

If you supply the parameter --auth-proxy /path/to/program then rclone will use that program to generate backends on the fly which then are used to authenticate incoming requests. This uses a simple JSON based protocol with input on STDIN and output on STDOUT.

PLEASE NOTE: --auth-proxy and --authorized-keys cannot be used together, if --auth-proxy is set the authorized keys option will be ignored.

There is an example program bin/test_proxy.py in the rclone source code.

The program's job is to take a user and pass on the input and turn those into the config for a backend on STDOUT in JSON format. This config will have any default parameters for the backend added, but it won't use configuration from environment variables or command line options - it is the job of the proxy program to make a complete config.

This config generated must have this extra parameter - _root - root to use for the backend

And it may have this parameter - _obscure - comma separated strings for parameters to obscure

If password authentication was used by the client, input to the proxy process (on STDIN) would look similar to this:

{
    "user": "me",
    "pass": "mypassword"
}

If public-key authentication was used by the client, input to the proxy process (on STDIN) would look similar to this:

{
    "user": "me",
    "public_key": "AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQDuwESFdAe14hVS6omeyX7edc...JQdf"
}

And as an example return this on STDOUT

{
    "type": "sftp",
    "_root": "",
    "_obscure": "pass",
    "user": "me",
    "pass": "mypassword",
    "host": "sftp.example.com"
}

This would mean that an SFTP backend would be created on the fly for the user and pass/public_key returned in the output to the host given. Note that since _obscure is set to pass, rclone will obscure the pass parameter before creating the backend (which is required for sftp backends).

The program can manipulate the supplied user in any way, for example to make proxy to many different sftp backends, you could make the user be user@example.com and then set the host to example.com in the output and the user to user. For security you'd probably want to restrict the host to a limited list.

Note that an internal cache is keyed on user so only use that for configuration, don't use pass or public_key. This also means that if a user's password or public-key is changed the cache will need to expire (which takes 5 mins) before it takes effect.

This can be used to build general purpose proxies to any kind of backend that rclone supports.

rclone serve ftp remote:path [flags]

Options

      --addr string                            IPaddress:Port or :Port to bind server to (default "localhost:2121")
      --auth-proxy string                      A program to use to create the backend from the auth
      --cert string                            TLS PEM key (concatenation of certificate and CA certificate)
      --dir-cache-time duration                Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
      --dir-perms FileMode                     Directory permissions (default 0777)
      --file-perms FileMode                    File permissions (default 0666)
      --gid uint32                             Override the gid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
  -h, --help                                   help for ftp
      --key string                             TLS PEM Private key
      --no-checksum                            Don't compare checksums on up/download
      --no-modtime                             Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up)
      --no-seek                                Don't allow seeking in files
      --pass string                            Password for authentication (empty value allow every password)
      --passive-port string                    Passive port range to use (default "30000-32000")
      --poll-interval duration                 Time to wait between polling for changes, must be smaller than dir-cache-time and only on supported remotes (set 0 to disable) (default 1m0s)
      --public-ip string                       Public IP address to advertise for passive connections
      --read-only                              Mount read-only
      --uid uint32                             Override the uid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
      --umask int                              Override the permission bits set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 2)
      --user string                            User name for authentication (default "anonymous")
      --vfs-cache-max-age duration             Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
      --vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix          Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
      --vfs-cache-mode CacheMode               Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
      --vfs-cache-poll-interval duration       Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
      --vfs-case-insensitive                   If a file name not found, find a case insensitive match
      --vfs-read-ahead SizeSuffix              Extra read ahead over --buffer-size when using cache-mode full
      --vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix         Read the source objects in chunks (default 128Mi)
      --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix   If greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, double the chunk size after each chunk read, until the limit is reached ('off' is unlimited) (default off)
      --vfs-read-wait duration                 Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
      --vfs-used-is-size rclone size           Use the rclone size algorithm for Used size
      --vfs-write-back duration                Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)
      --vfs-write-wait duration                Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone serve http

Serve the remote over HTTP.

Synopsis

rclone serve http implements a basic web server to serve the remote over HTTP. This can be viewed in a web browser or you can make a remote of type http read from it.

You can use the filter flags (e.g. --include, --exclude) to control what is served.

The server will log errors. Use -v to see access logs.

--bwlimit will be respected for file transfers. Use --stats to control the stats printing.

Server options

Use --addr to specify which IP address and port the server should listen on, eg --addr 1.2.3.4:8000 or --addr :8080 to listen to all IPs. By default it only listens on localhost. You can use port :0 to let the OS choose an available port.

If you set --addr to listen on a public or LAN accessible IP address then using Authentication is advised - see the next section for info.

--server-read-timeout and --server-write-timeout can be used to control the timeouts on the server. Note that this is the total time for a transfer.

--max-header-bytes controls the maximum number of bytes the server will accept in the HTTP header.

--baseurl controls the URL prefix that rclone serves from. By default rclone will serve from the root. If you used --baseurl "/rclone" then rclone would serve from a URL starting with "/rclone/". This is useful if you wish to proxy rclone serve. Rclone automatically inserts leading and trailing "/" on --baseurl, so --baseurl "rclone", --baseurl "/rclone" and --baseurl "/rclone/" are all treated identically.

SSL/TLS

By default this will serve over http. If you want you can serve over https. You will need to supply the --cert and --key flags. If you wish to do client side certificate validation then you will need to supply --client-ca also.

--cert should be a either a PEM encoded certificate or a concatenation of that with the CA certificate. --key should be the PEM encoded private key and --client-ca should be the PEM encoded client certificate authority certificate.

Template

--template allows a user to specify a custom markup template for http and webdav serve functions. The server exports the following markup to be used within the template to server pages:

Parameter Description
.Name The full path of a file/directory.
.Title Directory listing of .Name
.Sort The current sort used. This is changeable via ?sort= parameter
Sort Options: namedirfirst,name,size,time (default namedirfirst)
.Order The current ordering used. This is changeable via ?order= parameter
Order Options: asc,desc (default asc)
.Query Currently unused.
.Breadcrumb Allows for creating a relative navigation
-- .Link The relative to the root link of the Text.
-- .Text The Name of the directory.
.Entries Information about a specific file/directory.
-- .URL The 'url' of an entry.
-- .Leaf Currently same as 'URL' but intended to be 'just' the name.
-- .IsDir Boolean for if an entry is a directory or not.
-- .Size Size in Bytes of the entry.
-- .ModTime The UTC timestamp of an entry.

Authentication

By default this will serve files without needing a login.

You can either use an htpasswd file which can take lots of users, or set a single username and password with the --user and --pass flags.

Use --htpasswd /path/to/htpasswd to provide an htpasswd file. This is in standard apache format and supports MD5, SHA1 and BCrypt for basic authentication. Bcrypt is recommended.

To create an htpasswd file:

touch htpasswd
htpasswd -B htpasswd user
htpasswd -B htpasswd anotherUser

The password file can be updated while rclone is running.

Use --realm to set the authentication realm.

Use --salt to change the password hashing salt from the default.

VFS - Virtual File System

This command uses the VFS layer. This adapts the cloud storage objects that rclone uses into something which looks much more like a disk filing system.

Cloud storage objects have lots of properties which aren't like disk files - you can't extend them or write to the middle of them, so the VFS layer has to deal with that. Because there is no one right way of doing this there are various options explained below.

The VFS layer also implements a directory cache - this caches info about files and directories (but not the data) in memory.

VFS Directory Cache

Using the --dir-cache-time flag, you can control how long a directory should be considered up to date and not refreshed from the backend. Changes made through the mount will appear immediately or invalidate the cache.

--dir-cache-time duration   Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
--poll-interval duration    Time to wait between polling for changes. Must be smaller than dir-cache-time. Only on supported remotes. Set to 0 to disable (default 1m0s)

However, changes made directly on the cloud storage by the web interface or a different copy of rclone will only be picked up once the directory cache expires if the backend configured does not support polling for changes. If the backend supports polling, changes will be picked up within the polling interval.

You can send a SIGHUP signal to rclone for it to flush all directory caches, regardless of how old they are. Assuming only one rclone instance is running, you can reset the cache like this:

kill -SIGHUP $(pidof rclone)

If you configure rclone with a remote control then you can use rclone rc to flush the whole directory cache:

rclone rc vfs/forget

Or individual files or directories:

rclone rc vfs/forget file=path/to/file dir=path/to/dir

VFS File Buffering

The --buffer-size flag determines the amount of memory, that will be used to buffer data in advance.

Each open file will try to keep the specified amount of data in memory at all times. The buffered data is bound to one open file and won't be shared.

This flag is a upper limit for the used memory per open file. The buffer will only use memory for data that is downloaded but not not yet read. If the buffer is empty, only a small amount of memory will be used.

The maximum memory used by rclone for buffering can be up to --buffer-size * open files.

VFS File Caching

These flags control the VFS file caching options. File caching is necessary to make the VFS layer appear compatible with a normal file system. It can be disabled at the cost of some compatibility.

For example you'll need to enable VFS caching if you want to read and write simultaneously to a file. See below for more details.

Note that the VFS cache is separate from the cache backend and you may find that you need one or the other or both.

--cache-dir string                   Directory rclone will use for caching.
--vfs-cache-mode CacheMode           Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
--vfs-cache-max-age duration         Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
--vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix      Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
--vfs-cache-poll-interval duration   Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
--vfs-write-back duration            Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)

If run with -vv rclone will print the location of the file cache. The files are stored in the user cache file area which is OS dependent but can be controlled with --cache-dir or setting the appropriate environment variable.

The cache has 4 different modes selected by --vfs-cache-mode. The higher the cache mode the more compatible rclone becomes at the cost of using disk space.

Note that files are written back to the remote only when they are closed and if they haven't been accessed for --vfs-write-back seconds. If rclone is quit or dies with files that haven't been uploaded, these will be uploaded next time rclone is run with the same flags.

If using --vfs-cache-max-size note that the cache may exceed this size for two reasons. Firstly because it is only checked every --vfs-cache-poll-interval. Secondly because open files cannot be evicted from the cache.

You should not run two copies of rclone using the same VFS cache with the same or overlapping remotes if using --vfs-cache-mode > off. This can potentially cause data corruption if you do. You can work around this by giving each rclone its own cache hierarchy with --cache-dir. You don't need to worry about this if the remotes in use don't overlap.

--vfs-cache-mode off

In this mode (the default) the cache will read directly from the remote and write directly to the remote without caching anything on disk.

This will mean some operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode minimal

This is very similar to "off" except that files opened for read AND write will be buffered to disk. This means that files opened for write will be a lot more compatible, but uses the minimal disk space.

These operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode writes

In this mode files opened for read only are still read directly from the remote, write only and read/write files are buffered to disk first.

This mode should support all normal file system operations.

If an upload fails it will be retried at exponentially increasing intervals up to 1 minute.

--vfs-cache-mode full

In this mode all reads and writes are buffered to and from disk. When data is read from the remote this is buffered to disk as well.

In this mode the files in the cache will be sparse files and rclone will keep track of which bits of the files it has downloaded.

So if an application only reads the starts of each file, then rclone will only buffer the start of the file. These files will appear to be their full size in the cache, but they will be sparse files with only the data that has been downloaded present in them.

This mode should support all normal file system operations and is otherwise identical to --vfs-cache-mode writes.

When reading a file rclone will read --buffer-size plus --vfs-read-ahead bytes ahead. The --buffer-size is buffered in memory whereas the --vfs-read-ahead is buffered on disk.

When using this mode it is recommended that --buffer-size is not set too large and --vfs-read-ahead is set large if required.

IMPORTANT not all file systems support sparse files. In particular FAT/exFAT do not. Rclone will perform very badly if the cache directory is on a filesystem which doesn't support sparse files and it will log an ERROR message if one is detected.

VFS Chunked Reading

When rclone reads files from a remote it reads them in chunks. This means that rather than requesting the whole file rclone reads the chunk specified. This can reduce the used download quota for some remotes by requesting only chunks from the remote that are actually read, at the cost of an increased number of requests.

These flags control the chunking:

--vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix        Read the source objects in chunks (default 128M)
--vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix  Max chunk doubling size (default off)

Rclone will start reading a chunk of size --vfs-read-chunk-size, and then double the size for each read. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit is specified, and greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, the chunk size for each open file will get doubled only until the specified value is reached. If the value is "off", which is the default, the limit is disabled and the chunk size will grow indefinitely.

With --vfs-read-chunk-size 100M and --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 0 the following parts will be downloaded: 0-100M, 100M-200M, 200M-300M, 300M-400M and so on. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 500M is specified, the result would be 0-100M, 100M-300M, 300M-700M, 700M-1200M, 1200M-1700M and so on.

Setting --vfs-read-chunk-size to 0 or "off" disables chunked reading.

VFS Performance

These flags may be used to enable/disable features of the VFS for performance or other reasons. See also the chunked reading feature.

In particular S3 and Swift benefit hugely from the --no-modtime flag (or use --use-server-modtime for a slightly different effect) as each read of the modification time takes a transaction.

--no-checksum     Don't compare checksums on up/download.
--no-modtime      Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up).
--no-seek         Don't allow seeking in files.
--read-only       Mount read-only.

Sometimes rclone is delivered reads or writes out of order. Rather than seeking rclone will wait a short time for the in sequence read or write to come in. These flags only come into effect when not using an on disk cache file.

--vfs-read-wait duration   Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
--vfs-write-wait duration  Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)

When using VFS write caching (--vfs-cache-mode with value writes or full), the global flag --transfers can be set to adjust the number of parallel uploads of modified files from cache (the related global flag --checkers have no effect on mount).

--transfers int  Number of file transfers to run in parallel (default 4)

VFS Case Sensitivity

Linux file systems are case-sensitive: two files can differ only by case, and the exact case must be used when opening a file.

File systems in modern Windows are case-insensitive but case-preserving: although existing files can be opened using any case, the exact case used to create the file is preserved and available for programs to query. It is not allowed for two files in the same directory to differ only by case.

Usually file systems on macOS are case-insensitive. It is possible to make macOS file systems case-sensitive but that is not the default.

The --vfs-case-insensitive mount flag controls how rclone handles these two cases. If its value is "false", rclone passes file names to the mounted file system as-is. If the flag is "true" (or appears without a value on command line), rclone may perform a "fixup" as explained below.

The user may specify a file name to open/delete/rename/etc with a case different than what is stored on mounted file system. If an argument refers to an existing file with exactly the same name, then the case of the existing file on the disk will be used. However, if a file name with exactly the same name is not found but a name differing only by case exists, rclone will transparently fixup the name. This fixup happens only when an existing file is requested. Case sensitivity of file names created anew by rclone is controlled by an underlying mounted file system.

Note that case sensitivity of the operating system running rclone (the target) may differ from case sensitivity of a file system mounted by rclone (the source). The flag controls whether "fixup" is performed to satisfy the target.

If the flag is not provided on the command line, then its default value depends on the operating system where rclone runs: "true" on Windows and macOS, "false" otherwise. If the flag is provided without a value, then it is "true".

Alternate report of used bytes

Some backends, most notably S3, do not report the amount of bytes used. If you need this information to be available when running df on the filesystem, then pass the flag --vfs-used-is-size to rclone. With this flag set, instead of relying on the backend to report this information, rclone will scan the whole remote similar to rclone size and compute the total used space itself.

WARNING. Contrary to rclone size, this flag ignores filters so that the result is accurate. However, this is very inefficient and may cost lots of API calls resulting in extra charges. Use it as a last resort and only with caching.

rclone serve http remote:path [flags]

Options

      --addr string                            IPaddress:Port or :Port to bind server to (default "127.0.0.1:8080")
      --baseurl string                         Prefix for URLs - leave blank for root
      --cert string                            SSL PEM key (concatenation of certificate and CA certificate)
      --client-ca string                       Client certificate authority to verify clients with
      --dir-cache-time duration                Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
      --dir-perms FileMode                     Directory permissions (default 0777)
      --file-perms FileMode                    File permissions (default 0666)
      --gid uint32                             Override the gid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
  -h, --help                                   help for http
      --htpasswd string                        A htpasswd file - if not provided no authentication is done
      --key string                             SSL PEM Private key
      --max-header-bytes int                   Maximum size of request header (default 4096)
      --no-checksum                            Don't compare checksums on up/download
      --no-modtime                             Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up)
      --no-seek                                Don't allow seeking in files
      --pass string                            Password for authentication
      --poll-interval duration                 Time to wait between polling for changes, must be smaller than dir-cache-time and only on supported remotes (set 0 to disable) (default 1m0s)
      --read-only                              Mount read-only
      --realm string                           Realm for authentication
      --salt string                            Password hashing salt (default "dlPL2MqE")
      --server-read-timeout duration           Timeout for server reading data (default 1h0m0s)
      --server-write-timeout duration          Timeout for server writing data (default 1h0m0s)
      --template string                        User-specified template
      --uid uint32                             Override the uid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
      --umask int                              Override the permission bits set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 2)
      --user string                            User name for authentication
      --vfs-cache-max-age duration             Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
      --vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix          Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
      --vfs-cache-mode CacheMode               Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
      --vfs-cache-poll-interval duration       Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
      --vfs-case-insensitive                   If a file name not found, find a case insensitive match
      --vfs-read-ahead SizeSuffix              Extra read ahead over --buffer-size when using cache-mode full
      --vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix         Read the source objects in chunks (default 128Mi)
      --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix   If greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, double the chunk size after each chunk read, until the limit is reached ('off' is unlimited) (default off)
      --vfs-read-wait duration                 Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
      --vfs-used-is-size rclone size           Use the rclone size algorithm for Used size
      --vfs-write-back duration                Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)
      --vfs-write-wait duration                Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone serve restic

Serve the remote for restic's REST API.

Synopsis

rclone serve restic implements restic's REST backend API over HTTP. This allows restic to use rclone as a data storage mechanism for cloud providers that restic does not support directly.

Restic is a command-line program for doing backups.

The server will log errors. Use -v to see access logs.

--bwlimit will be respected for file transfers. Use --stats to control the stats printing.

Setting up rclone for use by restic

First set up a remote for your chosen cloud provider.

Once you have set up the remote, check it is working with, for example "rclone lsd remote:". You may have called the remote something other than "remote:" - just substitute whatever you called it in the following instructions.

Now start the rclone restic server

rclone serve restic -v remote:backup

Where you can replace "backup" in the above by whatever path in the remote you wish to use.

By default this will serve on "localhost:8080" you can change this with use of the "--addr" flag.

You might wish to start this server on boot.

Adding --cache-objects=false will cause rclone to stop caching objects returned from the List call. Caching is normally desirable as it speeds up downloading objects, saves transactions and uses very little memory.

Setting up restic to use rclone

Now you can follow the restic instructions on setting up restic.

Note that you will need restic 0.8.2 or later to interoperate with rclone.

For the example above you will want to use "http://localhost:8080/" as the URL for the REST server.

For example:

$ export RESTIC_REPOSITORY=rest:http://localhost:8080/
$ export RESTIC_PASSWORD=yourpassword
$ restic init
created restic backend 8b1a4b56ae at rest:http://localhost:8080/

Please note that knowledge of your password is required to access
the repository. Losing your password means that your data is
irrecoverably lost.
$ restic backup /path/to/files/to/backup
scan [/path/to/files/to/backup]
scanned 189 directories, 312 files in 0:00
[0:00] 100.00%  38.128 MiB / 38.128 MiB  501 / 501 items  0 errors  ETA 0:00
duration: 0:00
snapshot 45c8fdd8 saved

Multiple repositories

Note that you can use the endpoint to host multiple repositories. Do this by adding a directory name or path after the URL. Note that these must end with /. Eg

$ export RESTIC_REPOSITORY=rest:http://localhost:8080/user1repo/
# backup user1 stuff
$ export RESTIC_REPOSITORY=rest:http://localhost:8080/user2repo/
# backup user2 stuff

Private repositories

The "--private-repos" flag can be used to limit users to repositories starting with a path of /<username>/.

Server options

Use --addr to specify which IP address and port the server should listen on, e.g. --addr 1.2.3.4:8000 or --addr :8080 to listen to all IPs. By default it only listens on localhost. You can use port :0 to let the OS choose an available port.

If you set --addr to listen on a public or LAN accessible IP address then using Authentication is advised - see the next section for info.

--server-read-timeout and --server-write-timeout can be used to control the timeouts on the server. Note that this is the total time for a transfer.

--max-header-bytes controls the maximum number of bytes the server will accept in the HTTP header.

--baseurl controls the URL prefix that rclone serves from. By default rclone will serve from the root. If you used --baseurl "/rclone" then rclone would serve from a URL starting with "/rclone/". This is useful if you wish to proxy rclone serve. Rclone automatically inserts leading and trailing "/" on --baseurl, so --baseurl "rclone", --baseurl "/rclone" and --baseurl "/rclone/" are all treated identically.

--template allows a user to specify a custom markup template for http and webdav serve functions. The server exports the following markup to be used within the template to server pages:

Parameter Description
.Name The full path of a file/directory.
.Title Directory listing of .Name
.Sort The current sort used. This is changeable via ?sort= parameter
Sort Options: namedirfirst,name,size,time (default namedirfirst)
.Order The current ordering used. This is changeable via ?order= parameter
Order Options: asc,desc (default asc)
.Query Currently unused.
.Breadcrumb Allows for creating a relative navigation
-- .Link The relative to the root link of the Text.
-- .Text The Name of the directory.
.Entries Information about a specific file/directory.
-- .URL The 'url' of an entry.
-- .Leaf Currently same as 'URL' but intended to be 'just' the name.
-- .IsDir Boolean for if an entry is a directory or not.
-- .Size Size in Bytes of the entry.
-- .ModTime The UTC timestamp of an entry.

Authentication

By default this will serve files without needing a login.

You can either use an htpasswd file which can take lots of users, or set a single username and password with the --user and --pass flags.

Use --htpasswd /path/to/htpasswd to provide an htpasswd file. This is in standard apache format and supports MD5, SHA1 and BCrypt for basic authentication. Bcrypt is recommended.

To create an htpasswd file:

touch htpasswd
htpasswd -B htpasswd user
htpasswd -B htpasswd anotherUser

The password file can be updated while rclone is running.

Use --realm to set the authentication realm.

SSL/TLS

By default this will serve over http. If you want you can serve over https. You will need to supply the --cert and --key flags. If you wish to do client side certificate validation then you will need to supply --client-ca also.

--cert should be either a PEM encoded certificate or a concatenation of that with the CA certificate. --key should be the PEM encoded private key and --client-ca should be the PEM encoded client certificate authority certificate.

rclone serve restic remote:path [flags]

Options

      --addr string                     IPaddress:Port or :Port to bind server to (default "localhost:8080")
      --append-only                     Disallow deletion of repository data
      --baseurl string                  Prefix for URLs - leave blank for root
      --cache-objects                   Cache listed objects (default true)
      --cert string                     SSL PEM key (concatenation of certificate and CA certificate)
      --client-ca string                Client certificate authority to verify clients with
  -h, --help                            help for restic
      --htpasswd string                 htpasswd file - if not provided no authentication is done
      --key string                      SSL PEM Private key
      --max-header-bytes int            Maximum size of request header (default 4096)
      --pass string                     Password for authentication
      --private-repos                   Users can only access their private repo
      --realm string                    Realm for authentication (default "rclone")
      --server-read-timeout duration    Timeout for server reading data (default 1h0m0s)
      --server-write-timeout duration   Timeout for server writing data (default 1h0m0s)
      --stdio                           Run an HTTP2 server on stdin/stdout
      --template string                 User-specified template
      --user string                     User name for authentication

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone serve sftp

Serve the remote over SFTP.

Synopsis

rclone serve sftp implements an SFTP server to serve the remote over SFTP. This can be used with an SFTP client or you can make a remote of type sftp to use with it.

You can use the filter flags (e.g. --include, --exclude) to control what is served.

The server will log errors. Use -v to see access logs.

--bwlimit will be respected for file transfers. Use --stats to control the stats printing.

You must provide some means of authentication, either with --user/--pass, an authorized keys file (specify location with --authorized-keys - the default is the same as ssh), an --auth-proxy, or set the --no-auth flag for no authentication when logging in.

Note that this also implements a small number of shell commands so that it can provide md5sum/sha1sum/df information for the rclone sftp backend. This means that is can support SHA1SUMs, MD5SUMs and the about command when paired with the rclone sftp backend.

If you don't supply a host --key then rclone will generate rsa, ecdsa and ed25519 variants, and cache them for later use in rclone's cache directory (see "rclone help flags cache-dir") in the "serve-sftp" directory.

By default the server binds to localhost:2022 - if you want it to be reachable externally then supply "--addr :2022" for example.

Note that the default of "--vfs-cache-mode off" is fine for the rclone sftp backend, but it may not be with other SFTP clients.

If --stdio is specified, rclone will serve SFTP over stdio, which can be used with sshd via ~/.ssh/authorized_keys, for example:

restrict,command="rclone serve sftp --stdio ./photos" ssh-rsa ...

On the client you need to set "--transfers 1" when using --stdio. Otherwise multiple instances of the rclone server are started by OpenSSH which can lead to "corrupted on transfer" errors. This is the case because the client chooses indiscriminately which server to send commands to while the servers all have different views of the state of the filing system.

The "restrict" in authorized_keys prevents SHA1SUMs and MD5SUMs from beeing used. Omitting "restrict" and using --sftp-path-override to enable checksumming is possible but less secure and you could use the SFTP server provided by OpenSSH in this case.

VFS - Virtual File System

This command uses the VFS layer. This adapts the cloud storage objects that rclone uses into something which looks much more like a disk filing system.

Cloud storage objects have lots of properties which aren't like disk files - you can't extend them or write to the middle of them, so the VFS layer has to deal with that. Because there is no one right way of doing this there are various options explained below.

The VFS layer also implements a directory cache - this caches info about files and directories (but not the data) in memory.

VFS Directory Cache

Using the --dir-cache-time flag, you can control how long a directory should be considered up to date and not refreshed from the backend. Changes made through the mount will appear immediately or invalidate the cache.

--dir-cache-time duration   Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
--poll-interval duration    Time to wait between polling for changes. Must be smaller than dir-cache-time. Only on supported remotes. Set to 0 to disable (default 1m0s)

However, changes made directly on the cloud storage by the web interface or a different copy of rclone will only be picked up once the directory cache expires if the backend configured does not support polling for changes. If the backend supports polling, changes will be picked up within the polling interval.

You can send a SIGHUP signal to rclone for it to flush all directory caches, regardless of how old they are. Assuming only one rclone instance is running, you can reset the cache like this:

kill -SIGHUP $(pidof rclone)

If you configure rclone with a remote control then you can use rclone rc to flush the whole directory cache:

rclone rc vfs/forget

Or individual files or directories:

rclone rc vfs/forget file=path/to/file dir=path/to/dir

VFS File Buffering

The --buffer-size flag determines the amount of memory, that will be used to buffer data in advance.

Each open file will try to keep the specified amount of data in memory at all times. The buffered data is bound to one open file and won't be shared.

This flag is a upper limit for the used memory per open file. The buffer will only use memory for data that is downloaded but not not yet read. If the buffer is empty, only a small amount of memory will be used.

The maximum memory used by rclone for buffering can be up to --buffer-size * open files.

VFS File Caching

These flags control the VFS file caching options. File caching is necessary to make the VFS layer appear compatible with a normal file system. It can be disabled at the cost of some compatibility.

For example you'll need to enable VFS caching if you want to read and write simultaneously to a file. See below for more details.

Note that the VFS cache is separate from the cache backend and you may find that you need one or the other or both.

--cache-dir string                   Directory rclone will use for caching.
--vfs-cache-mode CacheMode           Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
--vfs-cache-max-age duration         Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
--vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix      Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
--vfs-cache-poll-interval duration   Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
--vfs-write-back duration            Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)

If run with -vv rclone will print the location of the file cache. The files are stored in the user cache file area which is OS dependent but can be controlled with --cache-dir or setting the appropriate environment variable.

The cache has 4 different modes selected by --vfs-cache-mode. The higher the cache mode the more compatible rclone becomes at the cost of using disk space.

Note that files are written back to the remote only when they are closed and if they haven't been accessed for --vfs-write-back seconds. If rclone is quit or dies with files that haven't been uploaded, these will be uploaded next time rclone is run with the same flags.

If using --vfs-cache-max-size note that the cache may exceed this size for two reasons. Firstly because it is only checked every --vfs-cache-poll-interval. Secondly because open files cannot be evicted from the cache.

You should not run two copies of rclone using the same VFS cache with the same or overlapping remotes if using --vfs-cache-mode > off. This can potentially cause data corruption if you do. You can work around this by giving each rclone its own cache hierarchy with --cache-dir. You don't need to worry about this if the remotes in use don't overlap.

--vfs-cache-mode off

In this mode (the default) the cache will read directly from the remote and write directly to the remote without caching anything on disk.

This will mean some operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode minimal

This is very similar to "off" except that files opened for read AND write will be buffered to disk. This means that files opened for write will be a lot more compatible, but uses the minimal disk space.

These operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode writes

In this mode files opened for read only are still read directly from the remote, write only and read/write files are buffered to disk first.

This mode should support all normal file system operations.

If an upload fails it will be retried at exponentially increasing intervals up to 1 minute.

--vfs-cache-mode full

In this mode all reads and writes are buffered to and from disk. When data is read from the remote this is buffered to disk as well.

In this mode the files in the cache will be sparse files and rclone will keep track of which bits of the files it has downloaded.

So if an application only reads the starts of each file, then rclone will only buffer the start of the file. These files will appear to be their full size in the cache, but they will be sparse files with only the data that has been downloaded present in them.

This mode should support all normal file system operations and is otherwise identical to --vfs-cache-mode writes.

When reading a file rclone will read --buffer-size plus --vfs-read-ahead bytes ahead. The --buffer-size is buffered in memory whereas the --vfs-read-ahead is buffered on disk.

When using this mode it is recommended that --buffer-size is not set too large and --vfs-read-ahead is set large if required.

IMPORTANT not all file systems support sparse files. In particular FAT/exFAT do not. Rclone will perform very badly if the cache directory is on a filesystem which doesn't support sparse files and it will log an ERROR message if one is detected.

VFS Chunked Reading

When rclone reads files from a remote it reads them in chunks. This means that rather than requesting the whole file rclone reads the chunk specified. This can reduce the used download quota for some remotes by requesting only chunks from the remote that are actually read, at the cost of an increased number of requests.

These flags control the chunking:

--vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix        Read the source objects in chunks (default 128M)
--vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix  Max chunk doubling size (default off)

Rclone will start reading a chunk of size --vfs-read-chunk-size, and then double the size for each read. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit is specified, and greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, the chunk size for each open file will get doubled only until the specified value is reached. If the value is "off", which is the default, the limit is disabled and the chunk size will grow indefinitely.

With --vfs-read-chunk-size 100M and --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 0 the following parts will be downloaded: 0-100M, 100M-200M, 200M-300M, 300M-400M and so on. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 500M is specified, the result would be 0-100M, 100M-300M, 300M-700M, 700M-1200M, 1200M-1700M and so on.

Setting --vfs-read-chunk-size to 0 or "off" disables chunked reading.

VFS Performance

These flags may be used to enable/disable features of the VFS for performance or other reasons. See also the chunked reading feature.

In particular S3 and Swift benefit hugely from the --no-modtime flag (or use --use-server-modtime for a slightly different effect) as each read of the modification time takes a transaction.

--no-checksum     Don't compare checksums on up/download.
--no-modtime      Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up).
--no-seek         Don't allow seeking in files.
--read-only       Mount read-only.

Sometimes rclone is delivered reads or writes out of order. Rather than seeking rclone will wait a short time for the in sequence read or write to come in. These flags only come into effect when not using an on disk cache file.

--vfs-read-wait duration   Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
--vfs-write-wait duration  Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)

When using VFS write caching (--vfs-cache-mode with value writes or full), the global flag --transfers can be set to adjust the number of parallel uploads of modified files from cache (the related global flag --checkers have no effect on mount).

--transfers int  Number of file transfers to run in parallel (default 4)

VFS Case Sensitivity

Linux file systems are case-sensitive: two files can differ only by case, and the exact case must be used when opening a file.

File systems in modern Windows are case-insensitive but case-preserving: although existing files can be opened using any case, the exact case used to create the file is preserved and available for programs to query. It is not allowed for two files in the same directory to differ only by case.

Usually file systems on macOS are case-insensitive. It is possible to make macOS file systems case-sensitive but that is not the default.

The --vfs-case-insensitive mount flag controls how rclone handles these two cases. If its value is "false", rclone passes file names to the mounted file system as-is. If the flag is "true" (or appears without a value on command line), rclone may perform a "fixup" as explained below.

The user may specify a file name to open/delete/rename/etc with a case different than what is stored on mounted file system. If an argument refers to an existing file with exactly the same name, then the case of the existing file on the disk will be used. However, if a file name with exactly the same name is not found but a name differing only by case exists, rclone will transparently fixup the name. This fixup happens only when an existing file is requested. Case sensitivity of file names created anew by rclone is controlled by an underlying mounted file system.

Note that case sensitivity of the operating system running rclone (the target) may differ from case sensitivity of a file system mounted by rclone (the source). The flag controls whether "fixup" is performed to satisfy the target.

If the flag is not provided on the command line, then its default value depends on the operating system where rclone runs: "true" on Windows and macOS, "false" otherwise. If the flag is provided without a value, then it is "true".

Alternate report of used bytes

Some backends, most notably S3, do not report the amount of bytes used. If you need this information to be available when running df on the filesystem, then pass the flag --vfs-used-is-size to rclone. With this flag set, instead of relying on the backend to report this information, rclone will scan the whole remote similar to rclone size and compute the total used space itself.

WARNING. Contrary to rclone size, this flag ignores filters so that the result is accurate. However, this is very inefficient and may cost lots of API calls resulting in extra charges. Use it as a last resort and only with caching.

Auth Proxy

If you supply the parameter --auth-proxy /path/to/program then rclone will use that program to generate backends on the fly which then are used to authenticate incoming requests. This uses a simple JSON based protocol with input on STDIN and output on STDOUT.

PLEASE NOTE: --auth-proxy and --authorized-keys cannot be used together, if --auth-proxy is set the authorized keys option will be ignored.

There is an example program bin/test_proxy.py in the rclone source code.

The program's job is to take a user and pass on the input and turn those into the config for a backend on STDOUT in JSON format. This config will have any default parameters for the backend added, but it won't use configuration from environment variables or command line options - it is the job of the proxy program to make a complete config.

This config generated must have this extra parameter - _root - root to use for the backend

And it may have this parameter - _obscure - comma separated strings for parameters to obscure

If password authentication was used by the client, input to the proxy process (on STDIN) would look similar to this:

{
    "user": "me",
    "pass": "mypassword"
}

If public-key authentication was used by the client, input to the proxy process (on STDIN) would look similar to this:

{
    "user": "me",
    "public_key": "AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQDuwESFdAe14hVS6omeyX7edc...JQdf"
}

And as an example return this on STDOUT

{
    "type": "sftp",
    "_root": "",
    "_obscure": "pass",
    "user": "me",
    "pass": "mypassword",
    "host": "sftp.example.com"
}

This would mean that an SFTP backend would be created on the fly for the user and pass/public_key returned in the output to the host given. Note that since _obscure is set to pass, rclone will obscure the pass parameter before creating the backend (which is required for sftp backends).

The program can manipulate the supplied user in any way, for example to make proxy to many different sftp backends, you could make the user be user@example.com and then set the host to example.com in the output and the user to user. For security you'd probably want to restrict the host to a limited list.

Note that an internal cache is keyed on user so only use that for configuration, don't use pass or public_key. This also means that if a user's password or public-key is changed the cache will need to expire (which takes 5 mins) before it takes effect.

This can be used to build general purpose proxies to any kind of backend that rclone supports.

rclone serve sftp remote:path [flags]

Options

      --addr string                            IPaddress:Port or :Port to bind server to (default "localhost:2022")
      --auth-proxy string                      A program to use to create the backend from the auth
      --authorized-keys string                 Authorized keys file (default "~/.ssh/authorized_keys")
      --dir-cache-time duration                Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
      --dir-perms FileMode                     Directory permissions (default 0777)
      --file-perms FileMode                    File permissions (default 0666)
      --gid uint32                             Override the gid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
  -h, --help                                   help for sftp
      --key stringArray                        SSH private host key file (Can be multi-valued, leave blank to auto generate)
      --no-auth                                Allow connections with no authentication if set
      --no-checksum                            Don't compare checksums on up/download
      --no-modtime                             Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up)
      --no-seek                                Don't allow seeking in files
      --pass string                            Password for authentication
      --poll-interval duration                 Time to wait between polling for changes, must be smaller than dir-cache-time and only on supported remotes (set 0 to disable) (default 1m0s)
      --read-only                              Mount read-only
      --stdio                                  Run an sftp server on run stdin/stdout
      --uid uint32                             Override the uid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
      --umask int                              Override the permission bits set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 2)
      --user string                            User name for authentication
      --vfs-cache-max-age duration             Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
      --vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix          Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
      --vfs-cache-mode CacheMode               Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
      --vfs-cache-poll-interval duration       Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
      --vfs-case-insensitive                   If a file name not found, find a case insensitive match
      --vfs-read-ahead SizeSuffix              Extra read ahead over --buffer-size when using cache-mode full
      --vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix         Read the source objects in chunks (default 128Mi)
      --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix   If greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, double the chunk size after each chunk read, until the limit is reached ('off' is unlimited) (default off)
      --vfs-read-wait duration                 Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
      --vfs-used-is-size rclone size           Use the rclone size algorithm for Used size
      --vfs-write-back duration                Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)
      --vfs-write-wait duration                Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone serve webdav

Serve remote:path over webdav.

Synopsis

rclone serve webdav implements a basic webdav server to serve the remote over HTTP via the webdav protocol. This can be viewed with a webdav client, through a web browser, or you can make a remote of type webdav to read and write it.

Webdav options

--etag-hash

This controls the ETag header. Without this flag the ETag will be based on the ModTime and Size of the object.

If this flag is set to "auto" then rclone will choose the first supported hash on the backend or you can use a named hash such as "MD5" or "SHA-1".

Use "rclone hashsum" to see the full list.

Server options

Use --addr to specify which IP address and port the server should listen on, e.g. --addr 1.2.3.4:8000 or --addr :8080 to listen to all IPs. By default it only listens on localhost. You can use port :0 to let the OS choose an available port.

If you set --addr to listen on a public or LAN accessible IP address then using Authentication is advised - see the next section for info.

--server-read-timeout and --server-write-timeout can be used to control the timeouts on the server. Note that this is the total time for a transfer.

--max-header-bytes controls the maximum number of bytes the server will accept in the HTTP header.

--baseurl controls the URL prefix that rclone serves from. By default rclone will serve from the root. If you used --baseurl "/rclone" then rclone would serve from a URL starting with "/rclone/". This is useful if you wish to proxy rclone serve. Rclone automatically inserts leading and trailing "/" on --baseurl, so --baseurl "rclone", --baseurl "/rclone" and --baseurl "/rclone/" are all treated identically.

--template allows a user to specify a custom markup template for http and webdav serve functions. The server exports the following markup to be used within the template to server pages:

Parameter Description
.Name The full path of a file/directory.
.Title Directory listing of .Name
.Sort The current sort used. This is changeable via ?sort= parameter
Sort Options: namedirfirst,name,size,time (default namedirfirst)
.Order The current ordering used. This is changeable via ?order= parameter
Order Options: asc,desc (default asc)
.Query Currently unused.
.Breadcrumb Allows for creating a relative navigation
-- .Link The relative to the root link of the Text.
-- .Text The Name of the directory.
.Entries Information about a specific file/directory.
-- .URL The 'url' of an entry.
-- .Leaf Currently same as 'URL' but intended to be 'just' the name.
-- .IsDir Boolean for if an entry is a directory or not.
-- .Size Size in Bytes of the entry.
-- .ModTime The UTC timestamp of an entry.

Authentication

By default this will serve files without needing a login.

You can either use an htpasswd file which can take lots of users, or set a single username and password with the --user and --pass flags.

Use --htpasswd /path/to/htpasswd to provide an htpasswd file. This is in standard apache format and supports MD5, SHA1 and BCrypt for basic authentication. Bcrypt is recommended.

To create an htpasswd file:

touch htpasswd
htpasswd -B htpasswd user
htpasswd -B htpasswd anotherUser

The password file can be updated while rclone is running.

Use --realm to set the authentication realm.

SSL/TLS

By default this will serve over http. If you want you can serve over https. You will need to supply the --cert and --key flags. If you wish to do client side certificate validation then you will need to supply --client-ca also.

--cert should be either a PEM encoded certificate or a concatenation of that with the CA certificate. --key should be the PEM encoded private key and --client-ca should be the PEM encoded client certificate authority certificate.

VFS - Virtual File System

This command uses the VFS layer. This adapts the cloud storage objects that rclone uses into something which looks much more like a disk filing system.

Cloud storage objects have lots of properties which aren't like disk files - you can't extend them or write to the middle of them, so the VFS layer has to deal with that. Because there is no one right way of doing this there are various options explained below.

The VFS layer also implements a directory cache - this caches info about files and directories (but not the data) in memory.

VFS Directory Cache

Using the --dir-cache-time flag, you can control how long a directory should be considered up to date and not refreshed from the backend. Changes made through the mount will appear immediately or invalidate the cache.

--dir-cache-time duration   Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
--poll-interval duration    Time to wait between polling for changes. Must be smaller than dir-cache-time. Only on supported remotes. Set to 0 to disable (default 1m0s)

However, changes made directly on the cloud storage by the web interface or a different copy of rclone will only be picked up once the directory cache expires if the backend configured does not support polling for changes. If the backend supports polling, changes will be picked up within the polling interval.

You can send a SIGHUP signal to rclone for it to flush all directory caches, regardless of how old they are. Assuming only one rclone instance is running, you can reset the cache like this:

kill -SIGHUP $(pidof rclone)

If you configure rclone with a remote control then you can use rclone rc to flush the whole directory cache:

rclone rc vfs/forget

Or individual files or directories:

rclone rc vfs/forget file=path/to/file dir=path/to/dir

VFS File Buffering

The --buffer-size flag determines the amount of memory, that will be used to buffer data in advance.

Each open file will try to keep the specified amount of data in memory at all times. The buffered data is bound to one open file and won't be shared.

This flag is a upper limit for the used memory per open file. The buffer will only use memory for data that is downloaded but not not yet read. If the buffer is empty, only a small amount of memory will be used.

The maximum memory used by rclone for buffering can be up to --buffer-size * open files.

VFS File Caching

These flags control the VFS file caching options. File caching is necessary to make the VFS layer appear compatible with a normal file system. It can be disabled at the cost of some compatibility.

For example you'll need to enable VFS caching if you want to read and write simultaneously to a file. See below for more details.

Note that the VFS cache is separate from the cache backend and you may find that you need one or the other or both.

--cache-dir string                   Directory rclone will use for caching.
--vfs-cache-mode CacheMode           Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
--vfs-cache-max-age duration         Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
--vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix      Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
--vfs-cache-poll-interval duration   Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
--vfs-write-back duration            Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)

If run with -vv rclone will print the location of the file cache. The files are stored in the user cache file area which is OS dependent but can be controlled with --cache-dir or setting the appropriate environment variable.

The cache has 4 different modes selected by --vfs-cache-mode. The higher the cache mode the more compatible rclone becomes at the cost of using disk space.

Note that files are written back to the remote only when they are closed and if they haven't been accessed for --vfs-write-back seconds. If rclone is quit or dies with files that haven't been uploaded, these will be uploaded next time rclone is run with the same flags.

If using --vfs-cache-max-size note that the cache may exceed this size for two reasons. Firstly because it is only checked every --vfs-cache-poll-interval. Secondly because open files cannot be evicted from the cache.

You should not run two copies of rclone using the same VFS cache with the same or overlapping remotes if using --vfs-cache-mode > off. This can potentially cause data corruption if you do. You can work around this by giving each rclone its own cache hierarchy with --cache-dir. You don't need to worry about this if the remotes in use don't overlap.

--vfs-cache-mode off

In this mode (the default) the cache will read directly from the remote and write directly to the remote without caching anything on disk.

This will mean some operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode minimal

This is very similar to "off" except that files opened for read AND write will be buffered to disk. This means that files opened for write will be a lot more compatible, but uses the minimal disk space.

These operations are not possible

--vfs-cache-mode writes

In this mode files opened for read only are still read directly from the remote, write only and read/write files are buffered to disk first.

This mode should support all normal file system operations.

If an upload fails it will be retried at exponentially increasing intervals up to 1 minute.

--vfs-cache-mode full

In this mode all reads and writes are buffered to and from disk. When data is read from the remote this is buffered to disk as well.

In this mode the files in the cache will be sparse files and rclone will keep track of which bits of the files it has downloaded.

So if an application only reads the starts of each file, then rclone will only buffer the start of the file. These files will appear to be their full size in the cache, but they will be sparse files with only the data that has been downloaded present in them.

This mode should support all normal file system operations and is otherwise identical to --vfs-cache-mode writes.

When reading a file rclone will read --buffer-size plus --vfs-read-ahead bytes ahead. The --buffer-size is buffered in memory whereas the --vfs-read-ahead is buffered on disk.

When using this mode it is recommended that --buffer-size is not set too large and --vfs-read-ahead is set large if required.

IMPORTANT not all file systems support sparse files. In particular FAT/exFAT do not. Rclone will perform very badly if the cache directory is on a filesystem which doesn't support sparse files and it will log an ERROR message if one is detected.

VFS Chunked Reading

When rclone reads files from a remote it reads them in chunks. This means that rather than requesting the whole file rclone reads the chunk specified. This can reduce the used download quota for some remotes by requesting only chunks from the remote that are actually read, at the cost of an increased number of requests.

These flags control the chunking:

--vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix        Read the source objects in chunks (default 128M)
--vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix  Max chunk doubling size (default off)

Rclone will start reading a chunk of size --vfs-read-chunk-size, and then double the size for each read. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit is specified, and greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, the chunk size for each open file will get doubled only until the specified value is reached. If the value is "off", which is the default, the limit is disabled and the chunk size will grow indefinitely.

With --vfs-read-chunk-size 100M and --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 0 the following parts will be downloaded: 0-100M, 100M-200M, 200M-300M, 300M-400M and so on. When --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 500M is specified, the result would be 0-100M, 100M-300M, 300M-700M, 700M-1200M, 1200M-1700M and so on.

Setting --vfs-read-chunk-size to 0 or "off" disables chunked reading.

VFS Performance

These flags may be used to enable/disable features of the VFS for performance or other reasons. See also the chunked reading feature.

In particular S3 and Swift benefit hugely from the --no-modtime flag (or use --use-server-modtime for a slightly different effect) as each read of the modification time takes a transaction.

--no-checksum     Don't compare checksums on up/download.
--no-modtime      Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up).
--no-seek         Don't allow seeking in files.
--read-only       Mount read-only.

Sometimes rclone is delivered reads or writes out of order. Rather than seeking rclone will wait a short time for the in sequence read or write to come in. These flags only come into effect when not using an on disk cache file.

--vfs-read-wait duration   Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
--vfs-write-wait duration  Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)

When using VFS write caching (--vfs-cache-mode with value writes or full), the global flag --transfers can be set to adjust the number of parallel uploads of modified files from cache (the related global flag --checkers have no effect on mount).

--transfers int  Number of file transfers to run in parallel (default 4)

VFS Case Sensitivity

Linux file systems are case-sensitive: two files can differ only by case, and the exact case must be used when opening a file.

File systems in modern Windows are case-insensitive but case-preserving: although existing files can be opened using any case, the exact case used to create the file is preserved and available for programs to query. It is not allowed for two files in the same directory to differ only by case.

Usually file systems on macOS are case-insensitive. It is possible to make macOS file systems case-sensitive but that is not the default.

The --vfs-case-insensitive mount flag controls how rclone handles these two cases. If its value is "false", rclone passes file names to the mounted file system as-is. If the flag is "true" (or appears without a value on command line), rclone may perform a "fixup" as explained below.

The user may specify a file name to open/delete/rename/etc with a case different than what is stored on mounted file system. If an argument refers to an existing file with exactly the same name, then the case of the existing file on the disk will be used. However, if a file name with exactly the same name is not found but a name differing only by case exists, rclone will transparently fixup the name. This fixup happens only when an existing file is requested. Case sensitivity of file names created anew by rclone is controlled by an underlying mounted file system.

Note that case sensitivity of the operating system running rclone (the target) may differ from case sensitivity of a file system mounted by rclone (the source). The flag controls whether "fixup" is performed to satisfy the target.

If the flag is not provided on the command line, then its default value depends on the operating system where rclone runs: "true" on Windows and macOS, "false" otherwise. If the flag is provided without a value, then it is "true".

Alternate report of used bytes

Some backends, most notably S3, do not report the amount of bytes used. If you need this information to be available when running df on the filesystem, then pass the flag --vfs-used-is-size to rclone. With this flag set, instead of relying on the backend to report this information, rclone will scan the whole remote similar to rclone size and compute the total used space itself.

WARNING. Contrary to rclone size, this flag ignores filters so that the result is accurate. However, this is very inefficient and may cost lots of API calls resulting in extra charges. Use it as a last resort and only with caching.

Auth Proxy

If you supply the parameter --auth-proxy /path/to/program then rclone will use that program to generate backends on the fly which then are used to authenticate incoming requests. This uses a simple JSON based protocol with input on STDIN and output on STDOUT.

PLEASE NOTE: --auth-proxy and --authorized-keys cannot be used together, if --auth-proxy is set the authorized keys option will be ignored.

There is an example program bin/test_proxy.py in the rclone source code.

The program's job is to take a user and pass on the input and turn those into the config for a backend on STDOUT in JSON format. This config will have any default parameters for the backend added, but it won't use configuration from environment variables or command line options - it is the job of the proxy program to make a complete config.

This config generated must have this extra parameter - _root - root to use for the backend

And it may have this parameter - _obscure - comma separated strings for parameters to obscure

If password authentication was used by the client, input to the proxy process (on STDIN) would look similar to this:

{
    "user": "me",
    "pass": "mypassword"
}

If public-key authentication was used by the client, input to the proxy process (on STDIN) would look similar to this:

{
    "user": "me",
    "public_key": "AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQDuwESFdAe14hVS6omeyX7edc...JQdf"
}

And as an example return this on STDOUT

{
    "type": "sftp",
    "_root": "",
    "_obscure": "pass",
    "user": "me",
    "pass": "mypassword",
    "host": "sftp.example.com"
}

This would mean that an SFTP backend would be created on the fly for the user and pass/public_key returned in the output to the host given. Note that since _obscure is set to pass, rclone will obscure the pass parameter before creating the backend (which is required for sftp backends).

The program can manipulate the supplied user in any way, for example to make proxy to many different sftp backends, you could make the user be user@example.com and then set the host to example.com in the output and the user to user. For security you'd probably want to restrict the host to a limited list.

Note that an internal cache is keyed on user so only use that for configuration, don't use pass or public_key. This also means that if a user's password or public-key is changed the cache will need to expire (which takes 5 mins) before it takes effect.

This can be used to build general purpose proxies to any kind of backend that rclone supports.

rclone serve webdav remote:path [flags]

Options

      --addr string                            IPaddress:Port or :Port to bind server to (default "localhost:8080")
      --auth-proxy string                      A program to use to create the backend from the auth
      --baseurl string                         Prefix for URLs - leave blank for root
      --cert string                            SSL PEM key (concatenation of certificate and CA certificate)
      --client-ca string                       Client certificate authority to verify clients with
      --dir-cache-time duration                Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
      --dir-perms FileMode                     Directory permissions (default 0777)
      --disable-dir-list                       Disable HTML directory list on GET request for a directory
      --etag-hash string                       Which hash to use for the ETag, or auto or blank for off
      --file-perms FileMode                    File permissions (default 0666)
      --gid uint32                             Override the gid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
  -h, --help                                   help for webdav
      --htpasswd string                        htpasswd file - if not provided no authentication is done
      --key string                             SSL PEM Private key
      --max-header-bytes int                   Maximum size of request header (default 4096)
      --no-checksum                            Don't compare checksums on up/download
      --no-modtime                             Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up)
      --no-seek                                Don't allow seeking in files
      --pass string                            Password for authentication
      --poll-interval duration                 Time to wait between polling for changes, must be smaller than dir-cache-time and only on supported remotes (set 0 to disable) (default 1m0s)
      --read-only                              Mount read-only
      --realm string                           Realm for authentication (default "rclone")
      --server-read-timeout duration           Timeout for server reading data (default 1h0m0s)
      --server-write-timeout duration          Timeout for server writing data (default 1h0m0s)
      --template string                        User-specified template
      --uid uint32                             Override the uid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1000)
      --umask int                              Override the permission bits set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 2)
      --user string                            User name for authentication
      --vfs-cache-max-age duration             Max age of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
      --vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix          Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
      --vfs-cache-mode CacheMode               Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
      --vfs-cache-poll-interval duration       Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
      --vfs-case-insensitive                   If a file name not found, find a case insensitive match
      --vfs-read-ahead SizeSuffix              Extra read ahead over --buffer-size when using cache-mode full
      --vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix         Read the source objects in chunks (default 128Mi)
      --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix   If greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, double the chunk size after each chunk read, until the limit is reached ('off' is unlimited) (default off)
      --vfs-read-wait duration                 Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
      --vfs-used-is-size rclone size           Use the rclone size algorithm for Used size
      --vfs-write-back duration                Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)
      --vfs-write-wait duration                Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone settier

Changes storage class/tier of objects in remote.

Synopsis

rclone settier changes storage tier or class at remote if supported. Few cloud storage services provides different storage classes on objects, for example AWS S3 and Glacier, Azure Blob storage - Hot, Cool and Archive, Google Cloud Storage, Regional Storage, Nearline, Coldline etc.

Note that, certain tier changes make objects not available to access immediately. For example tiering to archive in azure blob storage makes objects in frozen state, user can restore by setting tier to Hot/Cool, similarly S3 to Glacier makes object inaccessible.true

You can use it to tier single object

rclone settier Cool remote:path/file

Or use rclone filters to set tier on only specific files

rclone --include "*.txt" settier Hot remote:path/dir

Or just provide remote directory and all files in directory will be tiered

rclone settier tier remote:path/dir
rclone settier tier remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for settier

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone test

Run a test command

Synopsis

Rclone test is used to run test commands.

Select which test comand you want with the subcommand, eg

rclone test memory remote:

Each subcommand has its own options which you can see in their help.

NB Be careful running these commands, they may do strange things so reading their documentation first is recommended.

Options

  -h, --help   help for test

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone test changenotify

Log any change notify requests for the remote passed in.

rclone test changenotify remote: [flags]

Options

  -h, --help                     help for changenotify
      --poll-interval duration   Time to wait between polling for changes (default 10s)

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone test histogram

Makes a histogram of file name characters.

Synopsis

This command outputs JSON which shows the histogram of characters used in filenames in the remote:path specified.

The data doesn't contain any identifying information but is useful for the rclone developers when developing filename compression.

rclone test histogram [remote:path] [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for histogram

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone test info

Discovers file name or other limitations for paths.

Synopsis

rclone info discovers what filenames and upload methods are possible to write to the paths passed in and how long they can be. It can take some time. It will write test files into the remote:path passed in. It outputs a bit of go code for each one.

NB this can create undeletable files and other hazards - use with care

rclone test info [remote:path]+ [flags]

Options

      --all                    Run all tests
      --check-control          Check control characters
      --check-length           Check max filename length
      --check-normalization    Check UTF-8 Normalization
      --check-streaming        Check uploads with indeterminate file size
  -h, --help                   help for info
      --upload-wait duration   Wait after writing a file
      --write-json string      Write results to file

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone test makefiles

Make a random file hierarchy in a directory

rclone test makefiles <dir> [flags]

Options

      --files int                  Number of files to create (default 1000)
      --files-per-directory int    Average number of files per directory (default 10)
  -h, --help                       help for makefiles
      --max-file-size SizeSuffix   Maximum size of files to create (default 100)
      --max-name-length int        Maximum size of file names (default 12)
      --min-file-size SizeSuffix   Minimum size of file to create
      --min-name-length int        Minimum size of file names (default 4)
      --seed int                   Seed for the random number generator (0 for random) (default 1)

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone test memory

Load all the objects at remote:path into memory and report memory stats.

rclone test memory remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help   help for memory

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone touch

Create new file or change file modification time.

Synopsis

Set the modification time on file(s) as specified by remote:path to have the current time.

If remote:path does not exist then a zero sized file will be created, unless --no-create or --recursive is provided.

If --recursive is used then recursively sets the modification time on all existing files that is found under the path. Filters are supported, and you can test with the --dry-run or the --interactive flag.

If --timestamp is used then sets the modification time to that time instead of the current time. Times may be specified as one of:

Note that value of --timestamp is in UTC. If you want local time then add the --localtime flag.

rclone touch remote:path [flags]

Options

  -h, --help               help for touch
      --localtime          Use localtime for timestamp, not UTC
  -C, --no-create          Do not create the file if it does not exist (implied with --recursive)
  -R, --recursive          Recursively touch all files
  -t, --timestamp string   Use specified time instead of the current time of day

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

rclone tree

List the contents of the remote in a tree like fashion.

Synopsis

rclone tree lists the contents of a remote in a similar way to the unix tree command.

For example

$ rclone tree remote:path
/
├── file1
├── file2
├── file3
└── subdir
    ├── file4
    └── file5

1 directories, 5 files

You can use any of the filtering options with the tree command (e.g. --include and --exclude). You can also use --fast-list.

The tree command has many options for controlling the listing which are compatible with the tree command. Note that not all of them have short options as they conflict with rclone's short options.

rclone tree remote:path [flags]

Options

  -a, --all             All files are listed (list . files too)
  -C, --color           Turn colorization on always
  -d, --dirs-only       List directories only
      --dirsfirst       List directories before files (-U disables)
      --full-path       Print the full path prefix for each file
  -h, --help            help for tree
      --level int       Descend only level directories deep
  -D, --modtime         Print the date of last modification.
      --noindent        Don't print indentation lines
      --noreport        Turn off file/directory count at end of tree listing
  -o, --output string   Output to file instead of stdout
  -p, --protections     Print the protections for each file.
  -Q, --quote           Quote filenames with double quotes.
  -s, --size            Print the size in bytes of each file.
      --sort string     Select sort: name,version,size,mtime,ctime
      --sort-ctime      Sort files by last status change time
  -t, --sort-modtime    Sort files by last modification time
  -r, --sort-reverse    Reverse the order of the sort
  -U, --unsorted        Leave files unsorted
      --version         Sort files alphanumerically by version

See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

SEE ALSO

Copying single files

rclone normally syncs or copies directories. However, if the source remote points to a file, rclone will just copy that file. The destination remote must point to a directory - rclone will give the error Failed to create file system for "remote:file": is a file not a directory if it isn't.

For example, suppose you have a remote with a file in called test.jpg, then you could copy just that file like this

rclone copy remote:test.jpg /tmp/download

The file test.jpg will be placed inside /tmp/download.

This is equivalent to specifying

rclone copy --files-from /tmp/files remote: /tmp/download

Where /tmp/files contains the single line

test.jpg

It is recommended to use copy when copying individual files, not sync. They have pretty much the same effect but copy will use a lot less memory.

Syntax of remote paths

The syntax of the paths passed to the rclone command are as follows.

/path/to/dir

This refers to the local file system.

On Windows \ may be used instead of / in local paths only, non local paths must use /. See local filesystem documentation for more about Windows-specific paths.

These paths needn't start with a leading / - if they don't then they will be relative to the current directory.

remote:path/to/dir

This refers to a directory path/to/dir on remote: as defined in the config file (configured with rclone config).

remote:/path/to/dir

On most backends this is refers to the same directory as remote:path/to/dir and that format should be preferred. On a very small number of remotes (FTP, SFTP, Dropbox for business) this will refer to a different directory. On these, paths without a leading / will refer to your "home" directory and paths with a leading / will refer to the root.

:backend:path/to/dir

This is an advanced form for creating remotes on the fly. backend should be the name or prefix of a backend (the type in the config file) and all the configuration for the backend should be provided on the command line (or in environment variables).

Here are some examples:

rclone lsd --http-url https://pub.rclone.org :http:

To list all the directories in the root of https://pub.rclone.org/.

rclone lsf --http-url https://example.com :http:path/to/dir

To list files and directories in https://example.com/path/to/dir/

rclone copy --http-url https://example.com :http:path/to/dir /tmp/dir

To copy files and directories in https://example.com/path/to/dir to /tmp/dir.

rclone copy --sftp-host example.com :sftp:path/to/dir /tmp/dir

To copy files and directories from example.com in the relative directory path/to/dir to /tmp/dir using sftp.

Connection strings

The above examples can also be written using a connection string syntax, so instead of providing the arguments as command line parameters --http-url https://pub.rclone.org they are provided as part of the remote specification as a kind of connection string.

rclone lsd ":http,url='https://pub.rclone.org':"
rclone lsf ":http,url='https://example.com':path/to/dir"
rclone copy ":http,url='https://example.com':path/to/dir" /tmp/dir
rclone copy :sftp,host=example.com:path/to/dir /tmp/dir

These can apply to modify existing remotes as well as create new remotes with the on the fly syntax. This example is equivalent to adding the --drive-shared-with-me parameter to the remote gdrive:.

rclone lsf "gdrive,shared_with_me:path/to/dir"

The major advantage to using the connection string style syntax is that it only applies to the remote, not to all the remotes of that type of the command line. A common confusion is this attempt to copy a file shared on google drive to the normal drive which does not work because the --drive-shared-with-me flag applies to both the source and the destination.

rclone copy --drive-shared-with-me gdrive:shared-file.txt gdrive:

However using the connection string syntax, this does work.

rclone copy "gdrive,shared_with_me:shared-file.txt" gdrive:

Note that the connection string only affects the options of the immediate backend. If for example gdriveCrypt is a crypt based on gdrive, then the following command will not work as intended, because shared_with_me is ignored by the crypt backend:

rclone copy "gdriveCrypt,shared_with_me:shared-file.txt" gdriveCrypt:

The connection strings have the following syntax

remote,parameter=value,parameter2=value2:path/to/dir
:backend,parameter=value,parameter2=value2:path/to/dir

If the parameter has a : or , then it must be placed in quotes " or ', so

remote,parameter="colon:value",parameter2="comma,value":path/to/dir
:backend,parameter='colon:value',parameter2='comma,value':path/to/dir

If a quoted value needs to include that quote, then it should be doubled, so

remote,parameter="with""quote",parameter2='with''quote':path/to/dir

This will make parameter be with"quote and parameter2 be with'quote.

If you leave off the =parameter then rclone will substitute =true which works very well with flags. For example, to use s3 configured in the environment you could use:

rclone lsd :s3,env_auth:

Which is equivalent to

rclone lsd :s3,env_auth=true:

Note that on the command line you might need to surround these connection strings with " or ' to stop the shell interpreting any special characters within them.

If you are a shell master then you'll know which strings are OK and which aren't, but if you aren't sure then enclose them in " and use ' as the inside quote. This syntax works on all OSes.

rclone copy ":http,url='https://example.com':path/to/dir" /tmp/dir

On Linux/macOS some characters are still interpreted inside " strings in the shell (notably \ and $ and ") so if your strings contain those you can swap the roles of " and ' thus. (This syntax does not work on Windows.)

rclone copy ':http,url="https://example.com":path/to/dir' /tmp/dir

Connection strings, config and logging

If you supply extra configuration to a backend by command line flag, environment variable or connection string then rclone will add a suffix based on the hash of the config to the name of the remote, eg

rclone -vv lsf --s3-chunk-size 20M s3:

Has the log message

DEBUG : s3: detected overridden config - adding "{Srj1p}" suffix to name

This is so rclone can tell the modified remote apart from the unmodified remote when caching the backends.

This should only be noticeable in the logs.

This means that on the fly backends such as

rclone -vv lsf :s3,env_auth:

Will get their own names

DEBUG : :s3: detected overridden config - adding "{YTu53}" suffix to name

Valid remote names

Remote names are case sensitive, and must adhere to the following rules: - May only contain 0-9, A-Z, a-z, _, -, . and space. - May not start with - or space.

Quoting and the shell

When you are typing commands to your computer you are using something called the command line shell. This interprets various characters in an OS specific way.

Here are some gotchas which may help users unfamiliar with the shell rules

Linux / OSX

If your names have spaces or shell metacharacters (e.g. *, ?, $, ', ", etc.) then you must quote them. Use single quotes ' by default.

rclone copy 'Important files?' remote:backup

If you want to send a ' you will need to use ", e.g.

rclone copy "O'Reilly Reviews" remote:backup

The rules for quoting metacharacters are complicated and if you want the full details you'll have to consult the manual page for your shell.

Windows

If your names have spaces in you need to put them in ", e.g.

rclone copy "E:\folder name\folder name\folder name" remote:backup

If you are using the root directory on its own then don't quote it (see #464 for why), e.g.

rclone copy E:\ remote:backup

Copying files or directories with : in the names

rclone uses : to mark a remote name. This is, however, a valid filename component in non-Windows OSes. The remote name parser will only search for a : up to the first / so if you need to act on a file or directory like this then use the full path starting with a /, or use ./ as a current directory prefix.

So to sync a directory called sync:me to a remote called remote: use

rclone sync -i ./sync:me remote:path

or

rclone sync -i /full/path/to/sync:me remote:path

Server Side Copy

Most remotes (but not all - see the overview) support server-side copy.

This means if you want to copy one folder to another then rclone won't download all the files and re-upload them; it will instruct the server to copy them in place.

Eg

rclone copy s3:oldbucket s3:newbucket

Will copy the contents of oldbucket to newbucket without downloading and re-uploading.

Remotes which don't support server-side copy will download and re-upload in this case.

Server side copies are used with sync and copy and will be identified in the log when using the -v flag. The move command may also use them if remote doesn't support server-side move directly. This is done by issuing a server-side copy then a delete which is much quicker than a download and re-upload.

Server side copies will only be attempted if the remote names are the same.

This can be used when scripting to make aged backups efficiently, e.g.

rclone sync -i remote:current-backup remote:previous-backup
rclone sync -i /path/to/files remote:current-backup

Options

Rclone has a number of options to control its behaviour.

Options that take parameters can have the values passed in two ways, --option=value or --option value. However boolean (true/false) options behave slightly differently to the other options in that --boolean sets the option to true and the absence of the flag sets it to false. It is also possible to specify --boolean=false or --boolean=true. Note that --boolean false is not valid - this is parsed as --boolean and the false is parsed as an extra command line argument for rclone.

Options which use TIME use the go time parser. A duration string is a possibly signed sequence of decimal numbers, each with optional fraction and a unit suffix, such as "300ms", "-1.5h" or "2h45m". Valid time units are "ns", "us" (or "µs"), "ms", "s", "m", "h".

Options which use SIZE use KiB (multiples of 1024 bytes) by default. However, a suffix of B for Byte, K for KiB, M for MiB, G for GiB, T for TiB and P for PiB may be used. These are the binary units, e.g. 1, 2**10, 2**20, 2**30 respectively.

--backup-dir=DIR

When using sync, copy or move any files which would have been overwritten or deleted are moved in their original hierarchy into this directory.

If --suffix is set, then the moved files will have the suffix added to them. If there is a file with the same path (after the suffix has been added) in DIR, then it will be overwritten.

The remote in use must support server-side move or copy and you must use the same remote as the destination of the sync. The backup directory must not overlap the destination directory.

For example

rclone sync -i /path/to/local remote:current --backup-dir remote:old

will sync /path/to/local to remote:current, but for any files which would have been updated or deleted will be stored in remote:old.

If running rclone from a script you might want to use today's date as the directory name passed to --backup-dir to store the old files, or you might want to pass --suffix with today's date.

See --compare-dest and --copy-dest.

--bind string

Local address to bind to for outgoing connections. This can be an IPv4 address (1.2.3.4), an IPv6 address (1234::789A) or host name. If the host name doesn't resolve or resolves to more than one IP address it will give an error.

--bwlimit=BANDWIDTH_SPEC

This option controls the bandwidth limit. For example

--bwlimit 10M

would mean limit the upload and download bandwidth to 10 MiB/s. NB this is bytes per second not bits per second. To use a single limit, specify the desired bandwidth in KiB/s, or use a suffix B|K|M|G|T|P. The default is 0 which means to not limit bandwidth.

The upload and download bandwidth can be specified seperately, as --bwlimit UP:DOWN, so

--bwlimit 10M:100k

would mean limit the upload bandwidth to 10 MiB/s and the download bandwidth to 100 KiB/s. Either limit can be "off" meaning no limit, so to just limit the upload bandwidth you would use

--bwlimit 10M:off

this would limit the upload bandwidth to 10 MiB/s but the download bandwidth would be unlimited.

When specified as above the bandwidth limits last for the duration of run of the rclone binary.

It is also possible to specify a "timetable" of limits, which will cause certain limits to be applied at certain times. To specify a timetable, format your entries as WEEKDAY-HH:MM,BANDWIDTH WEEKDAY-HH:MM,BANDWIDTH... where: WEEKDAY is optional element.

An example of a typical timetable to avoid link saturation during daytime working hours could be:

--bwlimit "08:00,512k 12:00,10M 13:00,512k 18:00,30M 23:00,off"

In this example, the transfer bandwidth will be set to 512 KiB/s at 8am every day. At noon, it will rise to 10 MiB/s, and drop back to 512 KiB/sec at 1pm. At 6pm, the bandwidth limit will be set to 30 MiB/s, and at 11pm it will be completely disabled (full speed). Anything between 11pm and 8am will remain unlimited.

An example of timetable with WEEKDAY could be:

--bwlimit "Mon-00:00,512 Fri-23:59,10M Sat-10:00,1M Sun-20:00,off"

It means that, the transfer bandwidth will be set to 512 KiB/s on Monday. It will rise to 10 MiB/s before the end of Friday. At 10:00 on Saturday it will be set to 1 MiB/s. From 20:00 on Sunday it will be unlimited.

Timeslots without WEEKDAY are extended to the whole week. So this example:

--bwlimit "Mon-00:00,512 12:00,1M Sun-20:00,off"

Is equivalent to this:

--bwlimit "Mon-00:00,512Mon-12:00,1M Tue-12:00,1M Wed-12:00,1M Thu-12:00,1M Fri-12:00,1M Sat-12:00,1M Sun-12:00,1M Sun-20:00,off"

Bandwidth limit apply to the data transfer for all backends. For most backends the directory listing bandwidth is also included (exceptions being the non HTTP backends, ftp, sftp and storj).

Note that the units are Byte/s, not bit/s. Typically connections are measured in bit/s - to convert divide by 8. For example, let's say you have a 10 Mbit/s connection and you wish rclone to use half of it - 5 Mbit/s. This is 5/8 = 0.625 MiB/s so you would use a --bwlimit 0.625M parameter for rclone.

On Unix systems (Linux, macOS, …) the bandwidth limiter can be toggled by sending a SIGUSR2 signal to rclone. This allows to remove the limitations of a long running rclone transfer and to restore it back to the value specified with --bwlimit quickly when needed. Assuming there is only one rclone instance running, you can toggle the limiter like this:

kill -SIGUSR2 $(pidof rclone)

If you configure rclone with a remote control then you can use change the bwlimit dynamically:

rclone rc core/bwlimit rate=1M

--bwlimit-file=BANDWIDTH_SPEC

This option controls per file bandwidth limit. For the options see the --bwlimit flag.

For example use this to allow no transfers to be faster than 1 MiB/s

--bwlimit-file 1M

This can be used in conjunction with --bwlimit.

Note that if a schedule is provided the file will use the schedule in effect at the start of the transfer.

--buffer-size=SIZE

Use this sized buffer to speed up file transfers. Each --transfer will use this much memory for buffering.

When using mount or cmount each open file descriptor will use this much memory for buffering. See the mount documentation for more details.

Set to 0 to disable the buffering for the minimum memory usage.

Note that the memory allocation of the buffers is influenced by the --use-mmap flag.

--cache-dir=DIR

Specify the directory rclone will use for caching, to override the default.

Default value is depending on operating system: - Windows %LocalAppData%\rclone, if LocalAppData is defined. - macOS $HOME/Library/Caches/rclone if HOME is defined. - Unix $XDG_CACHE_HOME/rclone if XDG_CACHE_HOME is defined, else $HOME/.cache/rclone if HOME is defined. - Fallback (on all OS) to $TMPDIR/rclone, where TMPDIR is the value from --temp-dir.

You can use the config paths command to see the current value.

Cache directory is heavily used by the VFS File Caching mount feature, but also by serve, GUI and other parts of rclone.

--check-first

If this flag is set then in a sync, copy or move, rclone will do all the checks to see whether files need to be transferred before doing any of the transfers. Normally rclone would start running transfers as soon as possible.

This flag can be useful on IO limited systems where transfers interfere with checking.

It can also be useful to ensure perfect ordering when using --order-by.

Using this flag can use more memory as it effectively sets --max-backlog to infinite. This means that all the info on the objects to transfer is held in memory before the transfers start.

--checkers=N

The number of checkers to run in parallel. Checkers do the equality checking of files during a sync. For some storage systems (e.g. S3, Swift, Dropbox) this can take a significant amount of time so they are run in parallel.

The default is to run 8 checkers in parallel.

-c, --checksum

Normally rclone will look at modification time and size of files to see if they are equal. If you set this flag then rclone will check the file hash and size to determine if files are equal.

This is useful when the remote doesn't support setting modified time and a more accurate sync is desired than just checking the file size.

This is very useful when transferring between remotes which store the same hash type on the object, e.g. Drive and Swift. For details of which remotes support which hash type see the table in the overview section.

Eg rclone --checksum sync s3:/bucket swift:/bucket would run much quicker than without the --checksum flag.

When using this flag, rclone won't update mtimes of remote files if they are incorrect as it would normally.

--compare-dest=DIR

When using sync, copy or move DIR is checked in addition to the destination for files. If a file identical to the source is found that file is NOT copied from source. This is useful to copy just files that have changed since the last backup.

You must use the same remote as the destination of the sync. The compare directory must not overlap the destination directory.

See --copy-dest and --backup-dir.

--config=CONFIG_FILE

Specify the location of the rclone configuration file, to override the default. E.g. rclone config --config="rclone.conf".

The exact default is a bit complex to describe, due to changes introduced through different versions of rclone while preserving backwards compatibility, but in most cases it is as simple as:

The complete logic is as follows: Rclone will look for an existing configuration file in any of the following locations, in priority order:

  1. rclone.conf (in program directory, where rclone executable is)
  2. %APPDATA%/rclone/rclone.conf (only on Windows)
  3. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/rclone/rclone.conf (on all systems, including Windows)
  4. ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf (see below for explanation of ~ symbol)
  5. ~/.rclone.conf

If no existing configuration file is found, then a new one will be created in the following location:

The ~ symbol in paths above represent the home directory of the current user on any OS, and the value is defined as following:

If you run rclone config file you will see where the default location is for you.

The fact that an existing file rclone.conf in the same directory as the rclone executable is always preferred, means that it is easy to run in "portable" mode by downloading rclone executable to a writable directory and then create an empty file rclone.conf in the same directory.

If the location is set to empty string "" or path to a file with name notfound, or the os null device represented by value NUL on Windows and /dev/null on Unix systems, then rclone will keep the config file in memory only.

The file format is basic INI: Sections of text, led by a [section] header and followed by key=value entries on separate lines. In rclone each remote is represented by its own section, where the section name defines the name of the remote. Options are specified as the key=value entries, where the key is the option name without the --backend- prefix, in lowercase and with _ instead of -. E.g. option --mega-hard-delete corresponds to key hard_delete. Only backend options can be specified. A special, and required, key type identifies the storage system, where the value is the internal lowercase name as returned by command rclone help backends. Comments are indicated by ; or # at the beginning of a line.

Example:

[megaremote]
type = mega
user = you@example.com
pass = PDPcQVVjVtzFY-GTdDFozqBhTdsPg3qH

Note that passwords are in obscured form. Also, many storage systems uses token-based authentication instead of passwords, and this requires additional steps. It is easier, and safer, to use the interactive command rclone config instead of manually editing the configuration file.

The configuration file will typically contain login information, and should therefore have restricted permissions so that only the current user can read it. Rclone tries to ensure this when it writes the file. You may also choose to encrypt the file.

When token-based authentication are used, the configuration file must be writable, because rclone needs to update the tokens inside it.

--contimeout=TIME

Set the connection timeout. This should be in go time format which looks like 5s for 5 seconds, 10m for 10 minutes, or 3h30m.

The connection timeout is the amount of time rclone will wait for a connection to go through to a remote object storage system. It is 1m by default.

--copy-dest=DIR

When using sync, copy or move DIR is checked in addition to the destination for files. If a file identical to the source is found that file is server-side copied from DIR to the destination. This is useful for incremental backup.

The remote in use must support server-side copy and you must use the same remote as the destination of the sync. The compare directory must not overlap the destination directory.

See --compare-dest and --backup-dir.

--dedupe-mode MODE

Mode to run dedupe command in. One of interactive, skip, first, newest, oldest, rename. The default is interactive. See the dedupe command for more information as to what these options mean.

--disable FEATURE,FEATURE,...

This disables a comma separated list of optional features. For example to disable server-side move and server-side copy use:

--disable move,copy

The features can be put in any case.

To see a list of which features can be disabled use:

--disable help

See the overview features and optional features to get an idea of which feature does what.

This flag can be useful for debugging and in exceptional circumstances (e.g. Google Drive limiting the total volume of Server Side Copies to 100 GiB/day).

--disable-http2

This stops rclone from trying to use HTTP/2 if available. This can sometimes speed up transfers due to a problem in the Go standard library.

--dscp VALUE

Specify a DSCP value or name to use in connections. This could help QoS system to identify traffic class. BE, EF, DF, LE, CSx and AFxx are allowed.

See the description of differentiated services to get an idea of this field. Setting this to 1 (LE) to identify the flow to SCAVENGER class can avoid occupying too much bandwidth in a network with DiffServ support (RFC 8622).

For example, if you configured QoS on router to handle LE properly. Running:

rclone copy --dscp LE from:/from to:/to

would make the priority lower than usual internet flows.

This option has no effect on Windows (see golang/go#42728).

-n, --dry-run

Do a trial run with no permanent changes. Use this to see what rclone would do without actually doing it. Useful when setting up the sync command which deletes files in the destination.

--expect-continue-timeout=TIME

This specifies the amount of time to wait for a server's first response headers after fully writing the request headers if the request has an "Expect: 100-continue" header. Not all backends support using this.

Zero means no timeout and causes the body to be sent immediately, without waiting for the server to approve. This time does not include the time to send the request header.

The default is 1s. Set to 0 to disable.

--error-on-no-transfer

By default, rclone will exit with return code 0 if there were no errors.

This option allows rclone to return exit code 9 if no files were transferred between the source and destination. This allows using rclone in scripts, and triggering follow-on actions if data was copied, or skipping if not.

NB: Enabling this option turns a usually non-fatal error into a potentially fatal one - please check and adjust your scripts accordingly!

--fs-cache-expire-duration=TIME

When using rclone via the API rclone caches created remotes for 5 minutes by default in the "fs cache". This means that if you do repeated actions on the same remote then rclone won't have to build it again from scratch, which makes it more efficient.

This flag sets the time that the remotes are cached for. If you set it to 0 (or negative) then rclone won't cache the remotes at all.

Note that if you use some flags, eg --backup-dir and if this is set to 0 rclone may build two remotes (one for the source or destination and one for the --backup-dir where it may have only built one before.

--fs-cache-expire-interval=TIME

This controls how often rclone checks for cached remotes to expire. See the --fs-cache-expire-duration documentation above for more info. The default is 60s, set to 0 to disable expiry.

Add an HTTP header for all transactions. The flag can be repeated to add multiple headers.

If you want to add headers only for uploads use --header-upload and if you want to add headers only for downloads use --header-download.

This flag is supported for all HTTP based backends even those not supported by --header-upload and --header-download so may be used as a workaround for those with care.

rclone ls remote:test --header "X-Rclone: Foo" --header "X-LetMeIn: Yes"

--header-download

Add an HTTP header for all download transactions. The flag can be repeated to add multiple headers.

rclone sync -i s3:test/src ~/dst --header-download "X-Amz-Meta-Test: Foo" --header-download "X-Amz-Meta-Test2: Bar"

See the GitHub issue here for currently supported backends.

--header-upload

Add an HTTP header for all upload transactions. The flag can be repeated to add multiple headers.

rclone sync -i ~/src s3:test/dst --header-upload "Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='cool.html'" --header-upload "X-Amz-Meta-Test: FooBar"

See the GitHub issue here for currently supported backends.

--human-readable

Rclone commands output values for sizes (e.g. number of bytes) and counts (e.g. number of files) either as raw numbers, or in human-readable format.

In human-readable format the values are scaled to larger units, indicated with a suffix shown after the value, and rounded to three decimals. Rclone consistently uses binary units (powers of 2) for sizes and decimal units (powers of 10) for counts. The unit prefix for size is according to IEC standard notation, e.g. Ki for kibi. Used with byte unit, 1 KiB means 1024 Byte. In list type of output, only the unit prefix appended to the value (e.g. 9.762Ki), while in more textual output the full unit is shown (e.g. 9.762 KiB). For counts the SI standard notation is used, e.g. prefix k for kilo. Used with file counts, 1k means 1000 files.

The various list commands output raw numbers by default. Option --human-readable will make them output values in human-readable format instead (with the short unit prefix).

The about command outputs human-readable by default, with a command-specific option --full to output the raw numbers instead.

Command size outputs both human-readable and raw numbers in the same output.

The tree command also considers --human-readable, but it will not use the exact same notation as the other commands: It rounds to one decimal, and uses single letter suffix, e.g. K instead of Ki. The reason for this is that it relies on an external library.

The interactive command ncdu shows human-readable by default, and responds to key u for toggling human-readable format.

--ignore-case-sync

Using this option will cause rclone to ignore the case of the files when synchronizing so files will not be copied/synced when the existing filenames are the same, even if the casing is different.

--ignore-checksum

Normally rclone will check that the checksums of transferred files match, and give an error "corrupted on transfer" if they don't.

You can use this option to skip that check. You should only use it if you have had the "corrupted on transfer" error message and you are sure you might want to transfer potentially corrupted data.

--ignore-existing

Using this option will make rclone unconditionally skip all files that exist on the destination, no matter the content of these files.

While this isn't a generally recommended option, it can be useful in cases where your files change due to encryption. However, it cannot correct partial transfers in case a transfer was interrupted.

When performing a move/moveto command, this flag will leave skipped files in the source location unchanged when a file with the same name exists on the destination.

--ignore-size

Normally rclone will look at modification time and size of files to see if they are equal. If you set this flag then rclone will check only the modification time. If --checksum is set then it only checks the checksum.

It will also cause rclone to skip verifying the sizes are the same after transfer.

This can be useful for transferring files to and from OneDrive which occasionally misreports the size of image files (see #399 for more info).

-I, --ignore-times

Using this option will cause rclone to unconditionally upload all files regardless of the state of files on the destination.

Normally rclone would skip any files that have the same modification time and are the same size (or have the same checksum if using --checksum).

--immutable

Treat source and destination files as immutable and disallow modification.

With this option set, files will be created and deleted as requested, but existing files will never be updated. If an existing file does not match between the source and destination, rclone will give the error Source and destination exist but do not match: immutable file modified.

Note that only commands which transfer files (e.g. sync, copy, move) are affected by this behavior, and only modification is disallowed. Files may still be deleted explicitly (e.g. delete, purge) or implicitly (e.g. sync, move). Use copy --immutable if it is desired to avoid deletion as well as modification.

This can be useful as an additional layer of protection for immutable or append-only data sets (notably backup archives), where modification implies corruption and should not be propagated.

-i / --interactive

This flag can be used to tell rclone that you wish a manual confirmation before destructive operations.

It is recommended that you use this flag while learning rclone especially with rclone sync.

For example

$ rclone delete -i /tmp/dir
rclone: delete "important-file.txt"?
y) Yes, this is OK (default)
n) No, skip this
s) Skip all delete operations with no more questions
!) Do all delete operations with no more questions
q) Exit rclone now.
y/n/s/!/q> n

The options mean

--leave-root

During rmdirs it will not remove root directory, even if it's empty.

--log-file=FILE

Log all of rclone's output to FILE. This is not active by default. This can be useful for tracking down problems with syncs in combination with the -v flag. See the Logging section for more info.

If FILE exists then rclone will append to it.

Note that if you are using the logrotate program to manage rclone's logs, then you should use the copytruncate option as rclone doesn't have a signal to rotate logs.

--log-format LIST

Comma separated list of log format options. Accepted options are date, time, microseconds, pid, longfile, shortfile, UTC. Any other keywords will be silently ignored. pid will tag log messages with process identifier which useful with rclone mount --daemon. Other accepted options are explained in the go documentation. The default log format is "date,time".

--log-level LEVEL

This sets the log level for rclone. The default log level is NOTICE.

DEBUG is equivalent to -vv. It outputs lots of debug info - useful for bug reports and really finding out what rclone is doing.

INFO is equivalent to -v. It outputs information about each transfer and prints stats once a minute by default.

NOTICE is the default log level if no logging flags are supplied. It outputs very little when things are working normally. It outputs warnings and significant events.

ERROR is equivalent to -q. It only outputs error messages.

--use-json-log

This switches the log format to JSON for rclone. The fields of json log are level, msg, source, time.

--low-level-retries NUMBER

This controls the number of low level retries rclone does.

A low level retry is used to retry a failing operation - typically one HTTP request. This might be uploading a chunk of a big file for example. You will see low level retries in the log with the -v flag.

This shouldn't need to be changed from the default in normal operations. However, if you get a lot of low level retries you may wish to reduce the value so rclone moves on to a high level retry (see the --retries flag) quicker.

Disable low level retries with --low-level-retries 1.

--max-backlog=N

This is the maximum allowable backlog of files in a sync/copy/move queued for being checked or transferred.

This can be set arbitrarily large. It will only use memory when the queue is in use. Note that it will use in the order of N KiB of memory when the backlog is in use.

Setting this large allows rclone to calculate how many files are pending more accurately, give a more accurate estimated finish time and make --order-by work more accurately.

Setting this small will make rclone more synchronous to the listings of the remote which may be desirable.

Setting this to a negative number will make the backlog as large as possible.

--max-delete=N

This tells rclone not to delete more than N files. If that limit is exceeded then a fatal error will be generated and rclone will stop the operation in progress.

--max-depth=N

This modifies the recursion depth for all the commands except purge.

So if you do rclone --max-depth 1 ls remote:path you will see only the files in the top level directory. Using --max-depth 2 means you will see all the files in first two directory levels and so on.

For historical reasons the lsd command defaults to using a --max-depth of 1 - you can override this with the command line flag.

You can use this command to disable recursion (with --max-depth 1).

Note that if you use this with sync and --delete-excluded the files not recursed through are considered excluded and will be deleted on the destination. Test first with --dry-run if you are not sure what will happen.

--max-duration=TIME

Rclone will stop scheduling new transfers when it has run for the duration specified.

Defaults to off.

When the limit is reached any existing transfers will complete.

Rclone won't exit with an error if the transfer limit is reached.

--max-transfer=SIZE

Rclone will stop transferring when it has reached the size specified. Defaults to off.

When the limit is reached all transfers will stop immediately.

Rclone will exit with exit code 8 if the transfer limit is reached.

--cutoff-mode=hard|soft|cautious

This modifies the behavior of --max-transfer Defaults to --cutoff-mode=hard.

Specifying --cutoff-mode=hard will stop transferring immediately when Rclone reaches the limit.

Specifying --cutoff-mode=soft will stop starting new transfers when Rclone reaches the limit.

Specifying --cutoff-mode=cautious will try to prevent Rclone from reaching the limit.

--modify-window=TIME

When checking whether a file has been modified, this is the maximum allowed time difference that a file can have and still be considered equivalent.

The default is 1ns unless this is overridden by a remote. For example OS X only stores modification times to the nearest second so if you are reading and writing to an OS X filing system this will be 1s by default.

This command line flag allows you to override that computed default.

--multi-thread-cutoff=SIZE

When downloading files to the local backend above this size, rclone will use multiple threads to download the file (default 250M).

Rclone preallocates the file (using fallocate(FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE) on unix or NTSetInformationFile on Windows both of which takes no time) then each thread writes directly into the file at the correct place. This means that rclone won't create fragmented or sparse files and there won't be any assembly time at the end of the transfer.

The number of threads used to download is controlled by --multi-thread-streams.

Use -vv if you wish to see info about the threads.

This will work with the sync/copy/move commands and friends copyto/moveto. Multi thread downloads will be used with rclone mount and rclone serve if --vfs-cache-mode is set to writes or above.

NB that this only works for a local destination but will work with any source.

NB that multi thread copies are disabled for local to local copies as they are faster without unless --multi-thread-streams is set explicitly.

NB on Windows using multi-thread downloads will cause the resulting files to be sparse. Use --local-no-sparse to disable sparse files (which may cause long delays at the start of downloads) or disable multi-thread downloads with --multi-thread-streams 0

--multi-thread-streams=N

When using multi thread downloads (see above --multi-thread-cutoff) this sets the maximum number of streams to use. Set to 0 to disable multi thread downloads (Default 4).

Exactly how many streams rclone uses for the download depends on the size of the file. To calculate the number of download streams Rclone divides the size of the file by the --multi-thread-cutoff and rounds up, up to the maximum set with --multi-thread-streams.

So if --multi-thread-cutoff 250M and --multi-thread-streams 4 are in effect (the defaults):

--no-check-dest

The --no-check-dest can be used with move or copy and it causes rclone not to check the destination at all when copying files.

This means that:

This flag is useful to minimise the transactions if you know that none of the files are on the destination.

This is a specialized flag which should be ignored by most users!

--no-gzip-encoding

Don't set Accept-Encoding: gzip. This means that rclone won't ask the server for compressed files automatically. Useful if you've set the server to return files with Content-Encoding: gzip but you uploaded compressed files.

There is no need to set this in normal operation, and doing so will decrease the network transfer efficiency of rclone.

--no-traverse

The --no-traverse flag controls whether the destination file system is traversed when using the copy or move commands. --no-traverse is not compatible with sync and will be ignored if you supply it with sync.

If you are only copying a small number of files (or are filtering most of the files) and/or have a large number of files on the destination then --no-traverse will stop rclone listing the destination and save time.

However, if you are copying a large number of files, especially if you are doing a copy where lots of the files under consideration haven't changed and won't need copying then you shouldn't use --no-traverse.

See rclone copy for an example of how to use it.

--no-unicode-normalization

Don't normalize unicode characters in filenames during the sync routine.

Sometimes, an operating system will store filenames containing unicode parts in their decomposed form (particularly macOS). Some cloud storage systems will then recompose the unicode, resulting in duplicate files if the data is ever copied back to a local filesystem.

Using this flag will disable that functionality, treating each unicode character as unique. For example, by default é and é will be normalized into the same character. With --no-unicode-normalization they will be treated as unique characters.

--no-update-modtime

When using this flag, rclone won't update modification times of remote files if they are incorrect as it would normally.

This can be used if the remote is being synced with another tool also (e.g. the Google Drive client).

--order-by string

The --order-by flag controls the order in which files in the backlog are processed in rclone sync, rclone copy and rclone move.

The order by string is constructed like this. The first part describes what aspect is being measured:

This can have a modifier appended with a comma:

If the modifier is mixed then it can have an optional percentage (which defaults to 50), e.g. size,mixed,25 which means that 25% of the threads should be taking the smallest items and 75% the largest. The threads which take the smallest first will always take the smallest first and likewise the largest first threads. The mixed mode can be useful to minimise the transfer time when you are transferring a mixture of large and small files - the large files are guaranteed upload threads and bandwidth and the small files will be processed continuously.

If no modifier is supplied then the order is ascending.

For example

If the --order-by flag is not supplied or it is supplied with an empty string then the default ordering will be used which is as scanned. With --checkers 1 this is mostly alphabetical, however with the default --checkers 8 it is somewhat random.

Limitations

The --order-by flag does not do a separate pass over the data. This means that it may transfer some files out of the order specified if

Rclone will do its best to transfer the best file it has so in practice this should not cause a problem. Think of --order-by as being more of a best efforts flag rather than a perfect ordering.

If you want perfect ordering then you will need to specify --check-first which will find all the files which need transferring first before transferring any.

--password-command SpaceSepList

This flag supplies a program which should supply the config password when run. This is an alternative to rclone prompting for the password or setting the RCLONE_CONFIG_PASS variable.

The argument to this should be a command with a space separated list of arguments. If one of the arguments has a space in then enclose it in ", if you want a literal " in an argument then enclose the argument in " and double the ". See CSV encoding for more info.

Eg

--password-command echo hello
--password-command echo "hello with space"
--password-command echo "hello with ""quotes"" and space"

See the Configuration Encryption for more info.

See a Windows PowerShell example on the Wiki.

-P, --progress

This flag makes rclone update the stats in a static block in the terminal providing a realtime overview of the transfer.

Any log messages will scroll above the static block. Log messages will push the static block down to the bottom of the terminal where it will stay.

Normally this is updated every 500mS but this period can be overridden with the --stats flag.

This can be used with the --stats-one-line flag for a simpler display.

Note: On Windows until this bug is fixed all non-ASCII characters will be replaced with . when --progress is in use.

--progress-terminal-title

This flag, when used with -P/--progress, will print the string ETA: %s to the terminal title.

-q, --quiet

This flag will limit rclone's output to error messages only.

--refresh-times

The --refresh-times flag can be used to update modification times of existing files when they are out of sync on backends which don't support hashes.

This is useful if you uploaded files with the incorrect timestamps and you now wish to correct them.

This flag is only useful for destinations which don't support hashes (e.g. crypt).

This can be used any of the sync commands sync, copy or move.

To use this flag you will need to be doing a modification time sync (so not using --size-only or --checksum). The flag will have no effect when using --size-only or --checksum.

If this flag is used when rclone comes to upload a file it will check to see if there is an existing file on the destination. If this file matches the source with size (and checksum if available) but has a differing timestamp then instead of re-uploading it, rclone will update the timestamp on the destination file. If the checksum does not match rclone will upload the new file. If the checksum is absent (e.g. on a crypt backend) then rclone will update the timestamp.

Note that some remotes can't set the modification time without re-uploading the file so this flag is less useful on them.

Normally if you are doing a modification time sync rclone will update modification times without --refresh-times provided that the remote supports checksums and the checksums match on the file. However if the checksums are absent then rclone will upload the file rather than setting the timestamp as this is the safe behaviour.

--retries int

Retry the entire sync if it fails this many times it fails (default 3).

Some remotes can be unreliable and a few retries help pick up the files which didn't get transferred because of errors.

Disable retries with --retries 1.

--retries-sleep=TIME

This sets the interval between each retry specified by --retries

The default is 0. Use 0 to disable.

--size-only

Normally rclone will look at modification time and size of files to see if they are equal. If you set this flag then rclone will check only the size.

This can be useful transferring files from Dropbox which have been modified by the desktop sync client which doesn't set checksums of modification times in the same way as rclone.

--stats=TIME

Commands which transfer data (sync, copy, copyto, move, moveto) will print data transfer stats at regular intervals to show their progress.

This sets the interval.

The default is 1m. Use 0 to disable.

If you set the stats interval then all commands can show stats. This can be useful when running other commands, check or mount for example.

Stats are logged at INFO level by default which means they won't show at default log level NOTICE. Use --stats-log-level NOTICE or -v to make them show. See the Logging section for more info on log levels.

Note that on macOS you can send a SIGINFO (which is normally ctrl-T in the terminal) to make the stats print immediately.

--stats-file-name-length integer

By default, the --stats output will truncate file names and paths longer than 40 characters. This is equivalent to providing --stats-file-name-length 40. Use --stats-file-name-length 0 to disable any truncation of file names printed by stats.

--stats-log-level string

Log level to show --stats output at. This can be DEBUG, INFO, NOTICE, or ERROR. The default is INFO. This means at the default level of logging which is NOTICE the stats won't show - if you want them to then use --stats-log-level NOTICE. See the Logging section for more info on log levels.

--stats-one-line

When this is specified, rclone condenses the stats into a single line showing the most important stats only.

--stats-one-line-date

When this is specified, rclone enables the single-line stats and prepends the display with a date string. The default is 2006/01/02 15:04:05 -

--stats-one-line-date-format

When this is specified, rclone enables the single-line stats and prepends the display with a user-supplied date string. The date string MUST be enclosed in quotes. Follow golang specs for date formatting syntax.

--stats-unit=bits|bytes

By default, data transfer rates will be printed in bytes per second.

This option allows the data rate to be printed in bits per second.

Data transfer volume will still be reported in bytes.

The rate is reported as a binary unit, not SI unit. So 1 Mbit/s equals 1,048,576 bit/s and not 1,000,000 bit/s.

The default is bytes.

--suffix=SUFFIX

When using sync, copy or move any files which would have been overwritten or deleted will have the suffix added to them. If there is a file with the same path (after the suffix has been added), then it will be overwritten.

The remote in use must support server-side move or copy and you must use the same remote as the destination of the sync.

This is for use with files to add the suffix in the current directory or with --backup-dir. See --backup-dir for more info.

For example

rclone copy -i /path/to/local/file remote:current --suffix .bak

will copy /path/to/local to remote:current, but for any files which would have been updated or deleted have .bak added.

If using rclone sync with --suffix and without --backup-dir then it is recommended to put a filter rule in excluding the suffix otherwise the sync will delete the backup files.

rclone sync -i /path/to/local/file remote:current --suffix .bak --exclude "*.bak"

--suffix-keep-extension

When using --suffix, setting this causes rclone put the SUFFIX before the extension of the files that it backs up rather than after.

So let's say we had --suffix -2019-01-01, without the flag file.txt would be backed up to file.txt-2019-01-01 and with the flag it would be backed up to file-2019-01-01.txt. This can be helpful to make sure the suffixed files can still be opened.

--syslog

On capable OSes (not Windows or Plan9) send all log output to syslog.

This can be useful for running rclone in a script or rclone mount.

--syslog-facility string

If using --syslog this sets the syslog facility (e.g. KERN, USER). See man syslog for a list of possible facilities. The default facility is DAEMON.

--temp-dir=DIR

Specify the directory rclone will use for temporary files, to override the default. Make sure the directory exists and have accessible permissions.

By default the operating system's temp directory will be used: - On Unix systems, $TMPDIR if non-empty, else /tmp. - On Windows, the first non-empty value from %TMP%, %TEMP%, %USERPROFILE%, or the Windows directory.

When overriding the default with this option, the specified path will be set as value of environment variable TMPDIR on Unix systems and TMP and TEMP on Windows.

You can use the config paths command to see the current value.

--tpslimit float

Limit transactions per second to this number. Default is 0 which is used to mean unlimited transactions per second.

A transaction is roughly defined as an API call; its exact meaning will depend on the backend. For HTTP based backends it is an HTTP PUT/GET/POST/etc and its response. For FTP/SFTP it is a round trip transaction over TCP.

For example, to limit rclone to 10 transactions per second use --tpslimit 10, or to 1 transaction every 2 seconds use --tpslimit 0.5.

Use this when the number of transactions per second from rclone is causing a problem with the cloud storage provider (e.g. getting you banned or rate limited).

This can be very useful for rclone mount to control the behaviour of applications using it.

This limit applies to all HTTP based backends and to the FTP and SFTP backends. It does not apply to the local backend or the Storj backend.

See also --tpslimit-burst.

--tpslimit-burst int

Max burst of transactions for --tpslimit (default 1).

Normally --tpslimit will do exactly the number of transaction per second specified. However if you supply --tps-burst then rclone can save up some transactions from when it was idle giving a burst of up to the parameter supplied.

For example if you provide --tpslimit-burst 10 then if rclone has been idle for more than 10*--tpslimit then it can do 10 transactions very quickly before they are limited again.

This may be used to increase performance of --tpslimit without changing the long term average number of transactions per second.

--track-renames

By default, rclone doesn't keep track of renamed files, so if you rename a file locally then sync it to a remote, rclone will delete the old file on the remote and upload a new copy.

If you use this flag, and the remote supports server-side copy or server-side move, and the source and destination have a compatible hash, then this will track renames during sync operations and perform renaming server-side.

Files will be matched by size and hash - if both match then a rename will be considered.

If the destination does not support server-side copy or move, rclone will fall back to the default behaviour and log an error level message to the console.

Encrypted destinations are not currently supported by --track-renames if --track-renames-strategy includes hash.

Note that --track-renames is incompatible with --no-traverse and that it uses extra memory to keep track of all the rename candidates.

Note also that --track-renames is incompatible with --delete-before and will select --delete-after instead of --delete-during.

--track-renames-strategy (hash,modtime,leaf,size)

This option changes the matching criteria for --track-renames.

The matching is controlled by a comma separated selection of these tokens:

So using --track-renames-strategy modtime,leaf would match files based on modification time, the leaf of the file name and the size only.

Using --track-renames-strategy modtime or leaf can enable --track-renames support for encrypted destinations.

If nothing is specified, the default option is matching by hashes.

Note that the hash strategy is not supported with encrypted destinations.

--delete-(before,during,after)

This option allows you to specify when files on your destination are deleted when you sync folders.

Specifying the value --delete-before will delete all files present on the destination, but not on the source before starting the transfer of any new or updated files. This uses two passes through the file systems, one for the deletions and one for the copies.

Specifying --delete-during will delete files while checking and uploading files. This is the fastest option and uses the least memory.

Specifying --delete-after (the default value) will delay deletion of files until all new/updated files have been successfully transferred. The files to be deleted are collected in the copy pass then deleted after the copy pass has completed successfully. The files to be deleted are held in memory so this mode may use more memory. This is the safest mode as it will only delete files if there have been no errors subsequent to that. If there have been errors before the deletions start then you will get the message not deleting files as there were IO errors.

--fast-list

When doing anything which involves a directory listing (e.g. sync, copy, ls - in fact nearly every command), rclone normally lists a directory and processes it before using more directory lists to process any subdirectories. This can be parallelised and works very quickly using the least amount of memory.

However, some remotes have a way of listing all files beneath a directory in one (or a small number) of transactions. These tend to be the bucket-based remotes (e.g. S3, B2, GCS, Swift, Hubic).

If you use the --fast-list flag then rclone will use this method for listing directories. This will have the following consequences for the listing:

rclone should always give identical results with and without --fast-list.

If you pay for transactions and can fit your entire sync listing into memory then --fast-list is recommended. If you have a very big sync to do then don't use --fast-list otherwise you will run out of memory.

If you use --fast-list on a remote which doesn't support it, then rclone will just ignore it.

--timeout=TIME

This sets the IO idle timeout. If a transfer has started but then becomes idle for this long it is considered broken and disconnected.

The default is 5m. Set to 0 to disable.

--transfers=N

The number of file transfers to run in parallel. It can sometimes be useful to set this to a smaller number if the remote is giving a lot of timeouts or bigger if you have lots of bandwidth and a fast remote.

The default is to run 4 file transfers in parallel.

-u, --update

This forces rclone to skip any files which exist on the destination and have a modified time that is newer than the source file.

This can be useful in avoiding needless transfers when transferring to a remote which doesn't support modification times directly (or when using --use-server-modtime to avoid extra API calls) as it is more accurate than a --size-only check and faster than using --checksum. On such remotes (or when using --use-server-modtime) the time checked will be the uploaded time.

If an existing destination file has a modification time older than the source file's, it will be updated if the sizes are different. If the sizes are the same, it will be updated if the checksum is different or not available.

If an existing destination file has a modification time equal (within the computed modify window) to the source file's, it will be updated if the sizes are different. The checksum will not be checked in this case unless the --checksum flag is provided.

In all other cases the file will not be updated.

Consider using the --modify-window flag to compensate for time skews between the source and the backend, for backends that do not support mod times, and instead use uploaded times. However, if the backend does not support checksums, note that sync'ing or copying within the time skew window may still result in additional transfers for safety.

--use-mmap

If this flag is set then rclone will use anonymous memory allocated by mmap on Unix based platforms and VirtualAlloc on Windows for its transfer buffers (size controlled by --buffer-size). Memory allocated like this does not go on the Go heap and can be returned to the OS immediately when it is finished with.

If this flag is not set then rclone will allocate and free the buffers using the Go memory allocator which may use more memory as memory pages are returned less aggressively to the OS.

It is possible this does not work well on all platforms so it is disabled by default; in the future it may be enabled by default.

--use-server-modtime

Some object-store backends (e.g, Swift, S3) do not preserve file modification times (modtime). On these backends, rclone stores the original modtime as additional metadata on the object. By default it will make an API call to retrieve the metadata when the modtime is needed by an operation.

Use this flag to disable the extra API call and rely instead on the server's modified time. In cases such as a local to remote sync using --update, knowing the local file is newer than the time it was last uploaded to the remote is sufficient. In those cases, this flag can speed up the process and reduce the number of API calls necessary.

Using this flag on a sync operation without also using --update would cause all files modified at any time other than the last upload time to be uploaded again, which is probably not what you want.

-v, -vv, --verbose

With -v rclone will tell you about each file that is transferred and a small number of significant events.

With -vv rclone will become very verbose telling you about every file it considers and transfers. Please send bug reports with a log with this setting.

-V, --version

Prints the version number

SSL/TLS options

The outgoing SSL/TLS connections rclone makes can be controlled with these options. For example this can be very useful with the HTTP or WebDAV backends. Rclone HTTP servers have their own set of configuration for SSL/TLS which you can find in their documentation.

--ca-cert string

This loads the PEM encoded certificate authority certificate and uses it to verify the certificates of the servers rclone connects to.

If you have generated certificates signed with a local CA then you will need this flag to connect to servers using those certificates.

--client-cert string

This loads the PEM encoded client side certificate.

This is used for mutual TLS authentication.

The --client-key flag is required too when using this.

--client-key string

This loads the PEM encoded client side private key used for mutual TLS authentication. Used in conjunction with --client-cert.

--no-check-certificate=true/false

--no-check-certificate controls whether a client verifies the server's certificate chain and host name. If --no-check-certificate is true, TLS accepts any certificate presented by the server and any host name in that certificate. In this mode, TLS is susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks.

This option defaults to false.

This should be used only for testing.

Configuration Encryption

Your configuration file contains information for logging in to your cloud services. This means that you should keep your rclone.conf file in a secure location.

If you are in an environment where that isn't possible, you can add a password to your configuration. This means that you will have to supply the password every time you start rclone.

To add a password to your rclone configuration, execute rclone config.

>rclone config
Current remotes:

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/s/q>

Go into s, Set configuration password:

e/n/d/s/q> s
Your configuration is not encrypted.
If you add a password, you will protect your login information to cloud services.
a) Add Password
q) Quit to main menu
a/q> a
Enter NEW configuration password:
password:
Confirm NEW password:
password:
Password set
Your configuration is encrypted.
c) Change Password
u) Unencrypt configuration
q) Quit to main menu
c/u/q>

Your configuration is now encrypted, and every time you start rclone you will have to supply the password. See below for details. In the same menu, you can change the password or completely remove encryption from your configuration.

There is no way to recover the configuration if you lose your password.

rclone uses nacl secretbox which in turn uses XSalsa20 and Poly1305 to encrypt and authenticate your configuration with secret-key cryptography. The password is SHA-256 hashed, which produces the key for secretbox. The hashed password is not stored.

While this provides very good security, we do not recommend storing your encrypted rclone configuration in public if it contains sensitive information, maybe except if you use a very strong password.

If it is safe in your environment, you can set the RCLONE_CONFIG_PASS environment variable to contain your password, in which case it will be used for decrypting the configuration.

You can set this for a session from a script. For unix like systems save this to a file called set-rclone-password:

#!/bin/echo Source this file don't run it

read -s RCLONE_CONFIG_PASS
export RCLONE_CONFIG_PASS

Then source the file when you want to use it. From the shell you would do source set-rclone-password. It will then ask you for the password and set it in the environment variable.

An alternate means of supplying the password is to provide a script which will retrieve the password and print on standard output. This script should have a fully specified path name and not rely on any environment variables. The script is supplied either via --password-command="..." command line argument or via the RCLONE_PASSWORD_COMMAND environment variable.

One useful example of this is using the passwordstore application to retrieve the password:

export RCLONE_PASSWORD_COMMAND="pass rclone/config"

If the passwordstore password manager holds the password for the rclone configuration, using the script method means the password is primarily protected by the passwordstore system, and is never embedded in the clear in scripts, nor available for examination using the standard commands available. It is quite possible with long running rclone sessions for copies of passwords to be innocently captured in log files or terminal scroll buffers, etc. Using the script method of supplying the password enhances the security of the config password considerably.

If you are running rclone inside a script, unless you are using the --password-command method, you might want to disable password prompts. To do that, pass the parameter --ask-password=false to rclone. This will make rclone fail instead of asking for a password if RCLONE_CONFIG_PASS doesn't contain a valid password, and --password-command has not been supplied.

Whenever running commands that may be affected by options in a configuration file, rclone will look for an existing file according to the rules described above, and load any it finds. If an encrypted file is found, this includes decrypting it, with the possible consequence of a password prompt. When executing a command line that you know are not actually using anything from such a configuration file, you can avoid it being loaded by overriding the location, e.g. with one of the documented special values for memory-only configuration. Since only backend options can be stored in configuration files, this is normally unnecessary for commands that do not operate on backends, e.g. genautocomplete. However, it will be relevant for commands that do operate on backends in general, but are used without referencing a stored remote, e.g. listing local filesystem paths, or connection strings: rclone --config="" ls .

Developer options

These options are useful when developing or debugging rclone. There are also some more remote specific options which aren't documented here which are used for testing. These start with remote name e.g. --drive-test-option - see the docs for the remote in question.

--cpuprofile=FILE

Write CPU profile to file. This can be analysed with go tool pprof.

--dump flag,flag,flag

The --dump flag takes a comma separated list of flags to dump info about.

Note that some headers including Accept-Encoding as shown may not be correct in the request and the response may not show Content-Encoding if the go standard libraries auto gzip encoding was in effect. In this case the body of the request will be gunzipped before showing it.

The available flags are:

--dump headers

Dump HTTP headers with Authorization: lines removed. May still contain sensitive info. Can be very verbose. Useful for debugging only.

Use --dump auth if you do want the Authorization: headers.

--dump bodies

Dump HTTP headers and bodies - may contain sensitive info. Can be very verbose. Useful for debugging only.

Note that the bodies are buffered in memory so don't use this for enormous files.

--dump requests

Like --dump bodies but dumps the request bodies and the response headers. Useful for debugging download problems.

--dump responses

Like --dump bodies but dumps the response bodies and the request headers. Useful for debugging upload problems.

--dump auth

Dump HTTP headers - will contain sensitive info such as Authorization: headers - use --dump headers to dump without Authorization: headers. Can be very verbose. Useful for debugging only.

--dump filters

Dump the filters to the output. Useful to see exactly what include and exclude options are filtering on.

--dump goroutines

This dumps a list of the running go-routines at the end of the command to standard output.

--dump openfiles

This dumps a list of the open files at the end of the command. It uses the lsof command to do that so you'll need that installed to use it.

--memprofile=FILE

Write memory profile to file. This can be analysed with go tool pprof.

Filtering

For the filtering options

See the filtering section.

Remote control

For the remote control options and for instructions on how to remote control rclone

See the remote control section.

Logging

rclone has 4 levels of logging, ERROR, NOTICE, INFO and DEBUG.

By default, rclone logs to standard error. This means you can redirect standard error and still see the normal output of rclone commands (e.g. rclone ls).

By default, rclone will produce Error and Notice level messages.

If you use the -q flag, rclone will only produce Error messages.

If you use the -v flag, rclone will produce Error, Notice and Info messages.

If you use the -vv flag, rclone will produce Error, Notice, Info and Debug messages.

You can also control the log levels with the --log-level flag.

If you use the --log-file=FILE option, rclone will redirect Error, Info and Debug messages along with standard error to FILE.

If you use the --syslog flag then rclone will log to syslog and the --syslog-facility control which facility it uses.

Rclone prefixes all log messages with their level in capitals, e.g. INFO which makes it easy to grep the log file for different kinds of information.

Exit Code

If any errors occur during the command execution, rclone will exit with a non-zero exit code. This allows scripts to detect when rclone operations have failed.

During the startup phase, rclone will exit immediately if an error is detected in the configuration. There will always be a log message immediately before exiting.

When rclone is running it will accumulate errors as it goes along, and only exit with a non-zero exit code if (after retries) there were still failed transfers. For every error counted there will be a high priority log message (visible with -q) showing the message and which file caused the problem. A high priority message is also shown when starting a retry so the user can see that any previous error messages may not be valid after the retry. If rclone has done a retry it will log a high priority message if the retry was successful.

List of exit codes

Environment Variables

Rclone can be configured entirely using environment variables. These can be used to set defaults for options or config file entries.

Options

Every option in rclone can have its default set by environment variable.

To find the name of the environment variable, first, take the long option name, strip the leading --, change - to _, make upper case and prepend RCLONE_.

For example, to always set --stats 5s, set the environment variable RCLONE_STATS=5s. If you set stats on the command line this will override the environment variable setting.

Or to always use the trash in drive --drive-use-trash, set RCLONE_DRIVE_USE_TRASH=true.

The same parser is used for the options and the environment variables so they take exactly the same form.

The options set by environment variables can be seen with the -vv flag, e.g. rclone version -vv.

Config file

You can set defaults for values in the config file on an individual remote basis. The names of the config items are documented in the page for each backend.

To find the name of the environment variable, you need to set, take RCLONE_CONFIG_ + name of remote + _ + name of config file option and make it all uppercase.

For example, to configure an S3 remote named mys3: without a config file (using unix ways of setting environment variables):

$ export RCLONE_CONFIG_MYS3_TYPE=s3
$ export RCLONE_CONFIG_MYS3_ACCESS_KEY_ID=XXX
$ export RCLONE_CONFIG_MYS3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=XXX
$ rclone lsd mys3:
          -1 2016-09-21 12:54:21        -1 my-bucket
$ rclone listremotes | grep mys3
mys3:

Note that if you want to create a remote using environment variables you must create the ..._TYPE variable as above.

Note that the name of a remote created using environment variable is case insensitive, in contrast to regular remotes stored in config file as documented above. You must write the name in uppercase in the environment variable, but as seen from example above it will be listed and can be accessed in lowercase, while you can also refer to the same remote in uppercase:

$ rclone lsd mys3:
          -1 2016-09-21 12:54:21        -1 my-bucket
$ rclone lsd MYS3:
          -1 2016-09-21 12:54:21        -1 my-bucket

Note that you can only set the options of the immediate backend, so RCLONE_CONFIG_MYS3CRYPT_ACCESS_KEY_ID has no effect, if myS3Crypt is a crypt remote based on an S3 remote. However RCLONE_S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID will set the access key of all remotes using S3, including myS3Crypt.

Note also that now rclone has connection strings, it is probably easier to use those instead which makes the above example

rclone lsd :s3,access_key_id=XXX,secret_access_key=XXX:

Precedence

The various different methods of backend configuration are read in this order and the first one with a value is used.

So if both --skip-links is supplied on the command line and an environment variable RCLONE_LOCAL_SKIP_LINKS is set, the command line flag will take preference.

The backend configurations set by environment variables can be seen with the -vv flag, e.g. rclone about myRemote: -vv.

For non backend configuration the order is as follows:

Other environment variables

The options set by environment variables can be seen with the -vv and --log-level=DEBUG flags, e.g. rclone version -vv.

Configuring rclone on a remote / headless machine

Some of the configurations (those involving oauth2) require an Internet connected web browser.

If you are trying to set rclone up on a remote or headless box with no browser available on it (e.g. a NAS or a server in a datacenter) then you will need to use an alternative means of configuration. There are two ways of doing it, described below.

Configuring using rclone authorize

On the headless box run rclone config but answer N to the Use auto config? question.

...
Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine
y) Yes (default)
n) No
y/n> n
For this to work, you will need rclone available on a machine that has
a web browser available.

For more help and alternate methods see: https://rclone.org/remote_setup/

Execute the following on the machine with the web browser (same rclone
version recommended):

    rclone authorize "amazon cloud drive"

Then paste the result below:
result>

Then on your main desktop machine

rclone authorize "amazon cloud drive"
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
Paste the following into your remote machine --->
SECRET_TOKEN
<---End paste

Then back to the headless box, paste in the code

result> SECRET_TOKEN
--------------------
[acd12]
client_id = 
client_secret = 
token = SECRET_TOKEN
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d>

Configuring by copying the config file

Rclone stores all of its config in a single configuration file. This can easily be copied to configure a remote rclone.

So first configure rclone on your desktop machine with

rclone config

to set up the config file.

Find the config file by running rclone config file, for example

$ rclone config file
Configuration file is stored at:
/home/user/.rclone.conf

Now transfer it to the remote box (scp, cut paste, ftp, sftp, etc.) and place it in the correct place (use rclone config file on the remote box to find out where).

Filtering, includes and excludes

Filter flags determine which files rclone sync, move, ls, lsl, md5sum, sha1sum, size, delete, check and similar commands apply to.

They are specified in terms of path/file name patterns; path/file lists; file age and size, or presence of a file in a directory. Bucket based remotes without the concept of directory apply filters to object key, age and size in an analogous way.

Rclone purge does not obey filters.

To test filters without risk of damage to data, apply them to rclone ls, or with the --dry-run and -vv flags.

Rclone filter patterns can only be used in filter command line options, not in the specification of a remote.

E.g. rclone copy "remote:dir*.jpg" /path/to/dir does not have a filter effect. rclone copy remote:dir /path/to/dir --include "*.jpg" does.

Important Avoid mixing any two of --include..., --exclude... or --filter... flags in an rclone command. The results may not be what you expect. Instead use a --filter... flag.

Patterns for matching path/file names

Pattern syntax

Here is a formal definition of the pattern syntax, examples are below.

Rclone matching rules follow a glob style:

*         matches any sequence of non-separator (/) characters
**        matches any sequence of characters including / separators
?         matches any single non-separator (/) character
[ [ ! ] { character-range } ]
          character class (must be non-empty)
{ pattern-list }
          pattern alternatives
{{ regexp }}
          regular expression to match
c         matches character c (c != *, **, ?, \, [, {, })
\c        matches reserved character c (c = *, **, ?, \, [, {, }) or character class

character-range:

c         matches character c (c != \, -, ])
\c        matches reserved character c (c = \, -, ])
lo - hi   matches character c for lo <= c <= hi

pattern-list:

pattern { , pattern }
          comma-separated (without spaces) patterns

character classes (see Go regular expression reference) include:

Named character classes (e.g. [\d], [^\d], [\D], [^\D])
Perl character classes (e.g. \s, \S, \w, \W)
ASCII character classes (e.g. [[:alnum:]], [[:alpha:]], [[:punct:]], [[:xdigit:]])

regexp for advanced users to insert a regular expression - see below for more info:

Any re2 regular expression not containing `}}`

If the filter pattern starts with a / then it only matches at the top level of the directory tree, relative to the root of the remote (not necessarily the root of the drive). If it does not start with / then it is matched starting at the end of the path/file name but it only matches a complete path element - it must match from a / separator or the beginning of the path/file.

file.jpg   - matches "file.jpg"
           - matches "directory/file.jpg"
           - doesn't match "afile.jpg"
           - doesn't match "directory/afile.jpg"
/file.jpg  - matches "file.jpg" in the root directory of the remote
           - doesn't match "afile.jpg"
           - doesn't match "directory/file.jpg"

The top level of the remote may not be the top level of the drive.

E.g. for a Microsoft Windows local directory structure

F:
├── bkp
├── data
│   ├── excl
│   │   ├── 123.jpg
│   │   └── 456.jpg
│   ├── incl
│   │   └── document.pdf

To copy the contents of folder data into folder bkp excluding the contents of subfolder exclthe following command treats F:\data and F:\bkp as top level for filtering.

rclone copy F:\data\ F:\bkp\ --exclude=/excl/**

Important Use / in path/file name patterns and not \ even if running on Microsoft Windows.

Simple patterns are case sensitive unless the --ignore-case flag is used.

Without --ignore-case (default)

potato - matches "potato"
       - doesn't match "POTATO"

With --ignore-case

potato - matches "potato"
       - matches "POTATO"

Using regular expressions in filter patterns

The syntax of filter patterns is glob style matching (like bash uses) to make things easy for users. However this does not provide absolute control over the matching, so for advanced users rclone also provides a regular expression syntax.

The regular expressions used are as defined in the Go regular expression reference. Regular expressions should be enclosed in {{ }}. They will match only the last path segment if the glob doesn't start with / or the whole path name if it does.

Here is how the {{regexp}} is transformed into an full regular expression to match the entire path:

{{regexp}}  becomes (^|/)(regexp)$
/{{regexp}} becomes ^(regexp)$

Regexp syntax can be mixed with glob syntax, for example

*.{{jpe?g}} to match file.jpg, file.jpeg but not file.png

You can also use regexp flags - to set case insensitive, for example

*.{{(?i)jpg}} to match file.jpg, file.JPG but not file.png

Be careful with wildcards in regular expressions - you don't want them to match path separators normally. To match any file name starting with start and ending with end write

{{start[^/]*end\.jpg}}

Not

{{start.*end\.jpg}}

Which will match a directory called start with a file called end.jpg in it as the .* will match / characters.

Note that you can use -vv --dump filters to show the filter patterns in regexp format - rclone implements the glob patters by transforming them into regular expressions.

Filter pattern examples

Description Pattern Matches Does not match
Wildcard *.jpg /file.jpg /file.png
/dir/file.jpg /dir/file.png
Rooted /*.jpg /file.jpg /file.png
/file2.jpg /dir/file.jpg
Alternates *.{jpg,png} /file.jpg /file.gif
/dir/file.gif /dir/file.gif
Path Wildcard dir/** /dir/anyfile file.png
/subdir/dir/subsubdir/anyfile /subdir/file.png
Any Char *.t?t /file.txt /file.qxt
/dir/file.tzt /dir/file.png
Range *.[a-z] /file.a /file.0
/dir/file.b /dir/file.1
Escape *.\?\?\? /file.??? /file.abc
/dir/file.??? /dir/file.def
Class *.\d\d\d /file.012 /file.abc
/dir/file.345 /dir/file.def
Regexp *.{{jpe?g}} /file.jpeg /file.png
/dir/file.jpg /dir/file.jpeeg
Rooted Regexp /{{.*\.jpe?g}} /file.jpeg /file.png
/file.jpg /dir/file.jpg

How filter rules are applied to files

Rclone path/file name filters are made up of one or more of the following flags:

There can be more than one instance of individual flags.

Rclone internally uses a combined list of all the include and exclude rules. The order in which rules are processed can influence the result of the filter.

All flags of the same type are processed together in the order above, regardless of what order the different types of flags are included on the command line.

Multiple instances of the same flag are processed from left to right according to their position in the command line.

To mix up the order of processing includes and excludes use --filter... flags.

Within --include-from, --exclude-from and --filter-from flags rules are processed from top to bottom of the referenced file.

If there is an --include or --include-from flag specified, rclone implies a - ** rule which it adds to the bottom of the internal rule list. Specifying a + rule with a --filter... flag does not imply that rule.

Each path/file name passed through rclone is matched against the combined filter list. At first match to a rule the path/file name is included or excluded and no further filter rules are processed for that path/file.

If rclone does not find a match, after testing against all rules (including the implied rule if appropriate), the path/file name is included.

Any path/file included at that stage is processed by the rclone command.

--files-from and --files-from-raw flags over-ride and cannot be combined with other filter options.

To see the internal combined rule list, in regular expression form, for a command add the --dump filters flag. Running an rclone command with --dump filters and -vv flags lists the internal filter elements and shows how they are applied to each source path/file. There is not currently a means provided to pass regular expression filter options into rclone directly though character class filter rules contain character classes. Go regular expression reference

How filter rules are applied to directories

Rclone commands are applied to path/file names not directories. The entire contents of a directory can be matched to a filter by the pattern directory/* or recursively by directory/**.

Directory filter rules are defined with a closing / separator.

E.g. /directory/subdirectory/ is an rclone directory filter rule.

Rclone commands can use directory filter rules to determine whether they recurse into subdirectories. This potentially optimises access to a remote by avoiding listing unnecessary directories. Whether optimisation is desirable depends on the specific filter rules and source remote content.

Directory recursion optimisation occurs if either:

Rclone commands imply directory filter rules from path/file filter rules. To view the directory filter rules rclone has implied for a command specify the --dump filters flag.

E.g. for an include rule

/a/*.jpg

Rclone implies the directory include rule

/a/

Directory filter rules specified in an rclone command can limit the scope of an rclone command but path/file filters still have to be specified.

E.g. rclone ls remote: --include /directory/ will not match any files. Because it is an --include option the --exclude ** rule is implied, and the /directory/ pattern serves only to optimise access to the remote by ignoring everything outside of that directory.

E.g. rclone ls remote: --filter-from filter-list.txt with a file filter-list.txt:

- /dir1/
- /dir2/
+ *.pdf
- **

All files in directories dir1 or dir2 or their subdirectories are completely excluded from the listing. Only files of suffix pdf in the root of remote: or its subdirectories are listed. The - ** rule prevents listing of any path/files not previously matched by the rules above.

Option exclude-if-present creates a directory exclude rule based on the presence of a file in a directory and takes precedence over other rclone directory filter rules.

When using pattern list syntax, if a pattern item contains either / or **, then rclone will not able to imply a directory filter rule from this pattern list.

E.g. for an include rule

{dir1/**,dir2/**}

Rclone will match files below directories dir1 or dir2 only, but will not be able to use this filter to exclude a directory dir3 from being traversed.

Directory recursion optimisation may affect performance, but normally not the result. One exception to this is sync operations with option --create-empty-src-dirs, where any traversed empty directories will be created. With the pattern list example {dir1/**,dir2/**} above, this would create an empty directory dir3 on destination (when it exists on source). Changing the filter to {dir1,dir2}/**, or splitting it into two include rules --include dir1/** --include dir2/**, will match the same files while also filtering directories, with the result that an empty directory dir3 will no longer be created.

--exclude - Exclude files matching pattern

Excludes path/file names from an rclone command based on a single exclude rule.

This flag can be repeated. See above for the order filter flags are processed in.

--exclude should not be used with --include, --include-from, --filter or --filter-from flags.

--exclude has no effect when combined with --files-from or --files-from-raw flags.

E.g. rclone ls remote: --exclude *.bak excludes all .bak files from listing.

E.g. rclone size remote: "--exclude /dir/**" returns the total size of all files on remote: excluding those in root directory dir and sub directories.

E.g. on Microsoft Windows rclone ls remote: --exclude "*\[{JP,KR,HK}\]*" lists the files in remote: with [JP] or [KR] or [HK] in their name. Quotes prevent the shell from interpreting the \ characters.\ characters escape the [ and ] so an rclone filter treats them literally rather than as a character-range. The { and } define an rclone pattern list. For other operating systems single quotes are required ie rclone ls remote: --exclude '*\[{JP,KR,HK}\]*'

--exclude-from - Read exclude patterns from file

Excludes path/file names from an rclone command based on rules in a named file. The file contains a list of remarks and pattern rules.

For an example exclude-file.txt:

# a sample exclude rule file
*.bak
file2.jpg

rclone ls remote: --exclude-from exclude-file.txt lists the files on remote: except those named file2.jpg or with a suffix .bak. That is equivalent to rclone ls remote: --exclude file2.jpg --exclude "*.bak".

This flag can be repeated. See above for the order filter flags are processed in.

The --exclude-from flag is useful where multiple exclude filter rules are applied to an rclone command.

--exclude-from should not be used with --include, --include-from, --filter or --filter-from flags.

--exclude-from has no effect when combined with --files-from or --files-from-raw flags.

--exclude-from followed by - reads filter rules from standard input.

--include - Include files matching pattern

Adds a single include rule based on path/file names to an rclone command.

This flag can be repeated. See above for the order filter flags are processed in.

--include has no effect when combined with --files-from or --files-from-raw flags.

--include implies --exclude ** at the end of an rclone internal filter list. Therefore if you mix --include and --include-from flags with --exclude, --exclude-from, --filter or --filter-from, you must use include rules for all the files you want in the include statement. For more flexibility use the --filter-from flag.

E.g. rclone ls remote: --include "*.{png,jpg}" lists the files on remote: with suffix .png and .jpg. All other files are excluded.

E.g. multiple rclone copy commands can be combined with --include and a pattern-list.

rclone copy /vol1/A remote:A
rclone copy /vol1/B remote:B

is equivalent to:

rclone copy /vol1 remote: --include "{A,B}/**"

E.g. rclone ls remote:/wheat --include "??[^[:punct:]]*" lists the files remote: directory wheat (and subdirectories) whose third character is not punctuation. This example uses an ASCII character class.

--include-from - Read include patterns from file

Adds path/file names to an rclone command based on rules in a named file. The file contains a list of remarks and pattern rules.

For an example include-file.txt:

# a sample include rule file
*.jpg
file2.avi

rclone ls remote: --include-from include-file.txt lists the files on remote: with name file2.avi or suffix .jpg. That is equivalent to rclone ls remote: --include file2.avi --include "*.jpg".

This flag can be repeated. See above for the order filter flags are processed in.

The --include-from flag is useful where multiple include filter rules are applied to an rclone command.

--include-from implies --exclude ** at the end of an rclone internal filter list. Therefore if you mix --include and --include-from flags with --exclude, --exclude-from, --filter or --filter-from, you must use include rules for all the files you want in the include statement. For more flexibility use the --filter-from flag.

--exclude-from has no effect when combined with --files-from or --files-from-raw flags.

--exclude-from followed by - reads filter rules from standard input.

--filter - Add a file-filtering rule

Specifies path/file names to an rclone command, based on a single include or exclude rule, in + or - format.

This flag can be repeated. See above for the order filter flags are processed in.

--filter + differs from --include. In the case of --include rclone implies an --exclude * rule which it adds to the bottom of the internal rule list. --filter...+ does not imply that rule.

--filter has no effect when combined with --files-from or --files-from-raw flags.

--filter should not be used with --include, --include-from, --exclude or --exclude-from flags.

E.g. rclone ls remote: --filter "- *.bak" excludes all .bak files from a list of remote:.

--filter-from - Read filtering patterns from a file

Adds path/file names to an rclone command based on rules in a named file. The file contains a list of remarks and pattern rules. Include rules start with + and exclude rules with -. ! clears existing rules. Rules are processed in the order they are defined.

This flag can be repeated. See above for the order filter flags are processed in.

Arrange the order of filter rules with the most restrictive first and work down.

E.g. for filter-file.txt:

# a sample filter rule file
- secret*.jpg
+ *.jpg
+ *.png
+ file2.avi
- /dir/Trash/**
+ /dir/**
# exclude everything else
- *

rclone ls remote: --filter-from filter-file.txt lists the path/files on remote: including all jpg and png files, excluding any matching secret*.jpg and including file2.avi. It also includes everything in the directory dir at the root of remote, except remote:dir/Trash which it excludes. Everything else is excluded.

E.g. for an alternative filter-file.txt:

- secret*.jpg
+ *.jpg
+ *.png
+ file2.avi
- *

Files file1.jpg, file3.png and file2.avi are listed whilst secret17.jpg and files without the suffix .jpgor.png` are excluded.

E.g. for an alternative filter-file.txt:

+ *.jpg
+ *.gif
!
+ 42.doc
- *

Only file 42.doc is listed. Prior rules are cleared by the !.

--files-from - Read list of source-file names

Adds path/files to an rclone command from a list in a named file. Rclone processes the path/file names in the order of the list, and no others.

Other filter flags (--include, --include-from, --exclude, --exclude-from, --filter and --filter-from) are ignored when --files-from is used.

--files-from expects a list of files as its input. Leading or trailing whitespace is stripped from the input lines. Lines starting with # or ; are ignored.

Rclone commands with a --files-from flag traverse the remote, treating the names in --files-from as a set of filters.

If the --no-traverse and --files-from flags are used together an rclone command does not traverse the remote. Instead it addresses each path/file named in the file individually. For each path/file name, that requires typically 1 API call. This can be efficient for a short --files-from list and a remote containing many files.

Rclone commands do not error if any names in the --files-from file are missing from the source remote.

The --files-from flag can be repeated in a single rclone command to read path/file names from more than one file. The files are read from left to right along the command line.

Paths within the --files-from file are interpreted as starting with the root specified in the rclone command. Leading / separators are ignored. See --files-from-raw if you need the input to be processed in a raw manner.

E.g. for a file files-from.txt:

# comment
file1.jpg
subdir/file2.jpg

rclone copy --files-from files-from.txt /home/me/pics remote:pics copies the following, if they exist, and only those files.

/home/me/pics/file1.jpg        → remote:pics/file1.jpg
/home/me/pics/subdir/file2.jpg → remote:pics/subdir/file2.jpg

E.g. to copy the following files referenced by their absolute paths:

/home/user1/42
/home/user1/dir/ford
/home/user2/prefect

First find a common subdirectory - in this case /home and put the remaining files in files-from.txt with or without leading /, e.g.

user1/42
user1/dir/ford
user2/prefect

Then copy these to a remote:

rclone copy --files-from files-from.txt /home remote:backup

The three files are transferred as follows:

/home/user1/42       → remote:backup/user1/important
/home/user1/dir/ford → remote:backup/user1/dir/file
/home/user2/prefect  → remote:backup/user2/stuff

Alternatively if / is chosen as root files-from.txt will be:

/home/user1/42
/home/user1/dir/ford
/home/user2/prefect

The copy command will be:

rclone copy --files-from files-from.txt / remote:backup

Then there will be an extra home directory on the remote:

/home/user1/42       → remote:backup/home/user1/42
/home/user1/dir/ford → remote:backup/home/user1/dir/ford
/home/user2/prefect  → remote:backup/home/user2/prefect

--files-from-raw - Read list of source-file names without any processing

This flag is the same as --files-from except that input is read in a raw manner. Lines with leading / trailing whitespace, and lines starting with ; or # are read without any processing. rclone lsf has a compatible format that can be used to export file lists from remotes for input to --files-from-raw.

--ignore-case - make searches case insensitive

By default, rclone filter patterns are case sensitive. The --ignore-case flag makes all of the filters patterns on the command line case insensitive.

E.g. --include "zaphod.txt" does not match a file Zaphod.txt. With --ignore-case a match is made.

Quoting shell metacharacters

Rclone commands with filter patterns containing shell metacharacters may not as work as expected in your shell and may require quoting.

E.g. linux, OSX (* metacharacter)

Microsoft Windows expansion is done by the command, not shell, so --include *.jpg does not require quoting.

If the rclone error Command .... needs .... arguments maximum: you provided .... non flag arguments: is encountered, the cause is commonly spaces within the name of a remote or flag value. The fix then is to quote values containing spaces.

Other filters

--min-size - Don't transfer any file smaller than this

Controls the minimum size file within the scope of an rclone command. Default units are KiB but abbreviations K, M, G, T or P are valid.

E.g. rclone ls remote: --min-size 50k lists files on remote: of 50 KiB size or larger.

--max-size - Don't transfer any file larger than this

Controls the maximum size file within the scope of an rclone command. Default units are KiB but abbreviations K, M, G, T or P are valid.

E.g. rclone ls remote: --max-size 1G lists files on remote: of 1 GiB size or smaller.

--max-age - Don't transfer any file older than this

Controls the maximum age of files within the scope of an rclone command. Default units are seconds or the following abbreviations are valid:

--max-age can also be specified as an absolute time in the following formats:

--max-age applies only to files and not to directories.

E.g. rclone ls remote: --max-age 2d lists files on remote: of 2 days old or less.

--min-age - Don't transfer any file younger than this

Controls the minimum age of files within the scope of an rclone command. (see --max-age for valid formats)

--min-age applies only to files and not to directories.

E.g. rclone ls remote: --min-age 2d lists files on remote: of 2 days old or more.

Other flags

--delete-excluded - Delete files on dest excluded from sync

Important this flag is dangerous to your data - use with --dry-run and -v first.

In conjunction with rclone sync, --delete-excluded deletes any files on the destination which are excluded from the command.

E.g. the scope of rclone sync -i A: B: can be restricted:

rclone --min-size 50k --delete-excluded sync A: B:

All files on B: which are less than 50 KiB are deleted because they are excluded from the rclone sync command.

--dump filters - dump the filters to the output

Dumps the defined filters to standard output in regular expression format.

Useful for debugging.

Exclude directory based on a file

The --exclude-if-present flag controls whether a directory is within the scope of an rclone command based on the presence of a named file within it.

This flag has a priority over other filter flags.

E.g. for the following directory structure:

dir1/file1
dir1/dir2/file2
dir1/dir2/dir3/file3
dir1/dir2/dir3/.ignore

The command rclone ls --exclude-if-present .ignore dir1 does not list dir3, file3 or .ignore.

--exclude-if-present can only be used once in an rclone command.

Common pitfalls

The most frequent filter support issues on the rclone forum are:

GUI (Experimental)

Rclone can serve a web based GUI (graphical user interface). This is somewhat experimental at the moment so things may be subject to change.

Run this command in a terminal and rclone will download and then display the GUI in a web browser.

rclone rcd --rc-web-gui

This will produce logs like this and rclone needs to continue to run to serve the GUI:

2019/08/25 11:40:14 NOTICE: A new release for gui is present at https://github.com/rclone/rclone-webui-react/releases/download/v0.0.6/currentbuild.zip
2019/08/25 11:40:14 NOTICE: Downloading webgui binary. Please wait. [Size: 3813937, Path :  /home/USER/.cache/rclone/webgui/v0.0.6.zip]
2019/08/25 11:40:16 NOTICE: Unzipping
2019/08/25 11:40:16 NOTICE: Serving remote control on http://127.0.0.1:5572/

This assumes you are running rclone locally on your machine. It is possible to separate the rclone and the GUI - see below for details.

If you wish to check for updates then you can add --rc-web-gui-update to the command line.

If you find your GUI broken, you may force it to update by add --rc-web-gui-force-update.

By default, rclone will open your browser. Add --rc-web-gui-no-open-browser to disable this feature.

Using the GUI

Once the GUI opens, you will be looking at the dashboard which has an overall overview.

On the left hand side you will see a series of view buttons you can click on:

(More docs and walkthrough video to come!)

How it works

When you run the rclone rcd --rc-web-gui this is what happens

Advanced use

The rclone rcd may use any of the flags documented on the rc page.

The flag --rc-web-gui is shorthand for

These flags can be overridden as desired.

See also the rclone rcd documentation.

Example: Running a public GUI

For example the GUI could be served on a public port over SSL using an htpasswd file using the following flags:

Example: Running a GUI behind a proxy

If you want to run the GUI behind a proxy at /rclone you could use these flags:

Or instead of htpasswd if you just want a single user and password:

Project

The GUI is being developed in the: rclone/rclone-webui-react repository.

Bug reports and contributions are very welcome :-)

If you have questions then please ask them on the rclone forum.

Remote controlling rclone with its API

If rclone is run with the --rc flag then it starts an HTTP server which can be used to remote control rclone using its API.

You can either use the rclone rc command to access the API or use HTTP directly.

If you just want to run a remote control then see the rcd command.

Supported parameters

--rc

Flag to start the http server listen on remote requests

--rc-addr=IP

IPaddress:Port or :Port to bind server to. (default "localhost:5572")

--rc-cert=KEY

SSL PEM key (concatenation of certificate and CA certificate)

--rc-client-ca=PATH

Client certificate authority to verify clients with

--rc-htpasswd=PATH

htpasswd file - if not provided no authentication is done

--rc-key=PATH

SSL PEM Private key

--rc-max-header-bytes=VALUE

Maximum size of request header (default 4096)

--rc-user=VALUE

User name for authentication.

--rc-pass=VALUE

Password for authentication.

--rc-realm=VALUE

Realm for authentication (default "rclone")

--rc-server-read-timeout=DURATION

Timeout for server reading data (default 1h0m0s)

--rc-server-write-timeout=DURATION

Timeout for server writing data (default 1h0m0s)

--rc-serve

Enable the serving of remote objects via the HTTP interface. This means objects will be accessible at http://127.0.0.1:5572/ by default, so you can browse to http://127.0.0.1:5572/ or http://127.0.0.1:5572/* to see a listing of the remotes. Objects may be requested from remotes using this syntax http://127.0.0.1:5572/[remote:path]/path/to/object

Default Off.

--rc-files /path/to/directory

Path to local files to serve on the HTTP server.

If this is set then rclone will serve the files in that directory. It will also open the root in the web browser if specified. This is for implementing browser based GUIs for rclone functions.

If --rc-user or --rc-pass is set then the URL that is opened will have the authorization in the URL in the http://user:pass@localhost/ style.

Default Off.

--rc-enable-metrics

Enable OpenMetrics/Prometheus compatible endpoint at /metrics.

Default Off.

--rc-web-gui

Set this flag to serve the default web gui on the same port as rclone.

Default Off.

--rc-allow-origin

Set the allowed Access-Control-Allow-Origin for rc requests.

Can be used with --rc-web-gui if the rclone is running on different IP than the web-gui.

Default is IP address on which rc is running.

--rc-web-fetch-url

Set the URL to fetch the rclone-web-gui files from.

Default https://api.github.com/repos/rclone/rclone-webui-react/releases/latest.

--rc-web-gui-update

Set this flag to check and update rclone-webui-react from the rc-web-fetch-url.

Default Off.

--rc-web-gui-force-update

Set this flag to force update rclone-webui-react from the rc-web-fetch-url.

Default Off.

--rc-web-gui-no-open-browser

Set this flag to disable opening browser automatically when using web-gui.

Default Off.

--rc-job-expire-duration=DURATION

Expire finished async jobs older than DURATION (default 60s).

--rc-job-expire-interval=DURATION

Interval duration to check for expired async jobs (default 10s).

--rc-no-auth

By default rclone will require authorisation to have been set up on the rc interface in order to use any methods which access any rclone remotes. Eg operations/list is denied as it involved creating a remote as is sync/copy.

If this is set then no authorisation will be required on the server to use these methods. The alternative is to use --rc-user and --rc-pass and use these credentials in the request.

Default Off.

Accessing the remote control via the rclone rc command

Rclone itself implements the remote control protocol in its rclone rc command.

You can use it like this

$ rclone rc rc/noop param1=one param2=two
{
    "param1": "one",
    "param2": "two"
}

Run rclone rc on its own to see the help for the installed remote control commands.

JSON input

rclone rc also supports a --json flag which can be used to send more complicated input parameters.

$ rclone rc --json '{ "p1": [1,"2",null,4], "p2": { "a":1, "b":2 } }' rc/noop
{
    "p1": [
        1,
        "2",
        null,
        4
    ],
    "p2": {
        "a": 1,
        "b": 2
    }
}

If the parameter being passed is an object then it can be passed as a JSON string rather than using the --json flag which simplifies the command line.

rclone rc operations/list fs=/tmp remote=test opt='{"showHash": true}'

Rather than

rclone rc operations/list --json '{"fs": "/tmp", "remote": "test", "opt": {"showHash": true}}'

Special parameters

The rc interface supports some special parameters which apply to all commands. These start with _ to show they are different.

Running asynchronous jobs with _async = true

Each rc call is classified as a job and it is assigned its own id. By default jobs are executed immediately as they are created or synchronously.

If _async has a true value when supplied to an rc call then it will return immediately with a job id and the task will be run in the background. The job/status call can be used to get information of the background job. The job can be queried for up to 1 minute after it has finished.

It is recommended that potentially long running jobs, e.g. sync/sync, sync/copy, sync/move, operations/purge are run with the _async flag to avoid any potential problems with the HTTP request and response timing out.

Starting a job with the _async flag:

$ rclone rc --json '{ "p1": [1,"2",null,4], "p2": { "a":1, "b":2 }, "_async": true }' rc/noop
{
    "jobid": 2
}

Query the status to see if the job has finished. For more information on the meaning of these return parameters see the job/status call.

$ rclone rc --json '{ "jobid":2 }' job/status
{
    "duration": 0.000124163,
    "endTime": "2018-10-27T11:38:07.911245881+01:00",
    "error": "",
    "finished": true,
    "id": 2,
    "output": {
        "_async": true,
        "p1": [
            1,
            "2",
            null,
            4
        ],
        "p2": {
            "a": 1,
            "b": 2
        }
    },
    "startTime": "2018-10-27T11:38:07.911121728+01:00",
    "success": true
}

job/list can be used to show the running or recently completed jobs

$ rclone rc job/list
{
    "jobids": [
        2
    ]
}

Setting config flags with _config

If you wish to set config (the equivalent of the global flags) for the duration of an rc call only then pass in the _config parameter.

This should be in the same format as the config key returned by options/get.

For example, if you wished to run a sync with the --checksum parameter, you would pass this parameter in your JSON blob.

"_config":{"CheckSum": true}

If using rclone rc this could be passed as

rclone rc operations/sync ... _config='{"CheckSum": true}'

Any config parameters you don't set will inherit the global defaults which were set with command line flags or environment variables.

Note that it is possible to set some values as strings or integers - see data types for more info. Here is an example setting the equivalent of --buffer-size in string or integer format.

"_config":{"BufferSize": "42M"}
"_config":{"BufferSize": 44040192}

If you wish to check the _config assignment has worked properly then calling options/local will show what the value got set to.

Setting filter flags with _filter

If you wish to set filters for the duration of an rc call only then pass in the _filter parameter.

This should be in the same format as the filter key returned by options/get.

For example, if you wished to run a sync with these flags

--max-size 1M --max-age 42s --include "a" --include "b"

you would pass this parameter in your JSON blob.

"_filter":{"MaxSize":"1M", "IncludeRule":["a","b"], "MaxAge":"42s"}

If using rclone rc this could be passed as

rclone rc ... _filter='{"MaxSize":"1M", "IncludeRule":["a","b"], "MaxAge":"42s"}'

Any filter parameters you don't set will inherit the global defaults which were set with command line flags or environment variables.

Note that it is possible to set some values as strings or integers - see data types for more info. Here is an example setting the equivalent of --buffer-size in string or integer format.

"_filter":{"MinSize": "42M"}
"_filter":{"MinSize": 44040192}

If you wish to check the _filter assignment has worked properly then calling options/local will show what the value got set to.

Assigning operations to groups with _group = value

Each rc call has its own stats group for tracking its metrics. By default grouping is done by the composite group name from prefix job/ and id of the job like so job/1.

If _group has a value then stats for that request will be grouped under that value. This allows caller to group stats under their own name.

Stats for specific group can be accessed by passing group to core/stats:

$ rclone rc --json '{ "group": "job/1" }' core/stats
{
    "speed": 12345
    ...
}

Data types

When the API returns types, these will mostly be straight forward integer, string or boolean types.

However some of the types returned by the options/get call and taken by the options/set calls as well as the vfsOpt, mountOpt and the _config parameters.

Specifying remotes to work on

Remotes are specified with the fs=, srcFs=, dstFs= parameters depending on the command being used.

The parameters can be a string as per the rest of rclone, eg s3:bucket/path or :sftp:/my/dir. They can also be specified as JSON blobs.

If specifyng a JSON blob it should be a object mapping strings to strings. These values will be used to configure the remote. There are 3 special values which may be set:

One of _name or type should normally be set. If the local backend is desired then type should be set to local. If _root isn't specified then it defaults to the root of the remote.

For example this JSON is equivalent to remote:/tmp

{
    "_name": "remote",
    "_path": "/tmp"
}

And this is equivalent to :sftp,host='example.com':/tmp

{
    "type": "sftp",
    "host": "example.com",
    "_path": "/tmp"
}

And this is equivalent to /tmp/dir

{
    type = "local",
    _ path = "/tmp/dir"
}

Supported commands

backend/command: Runs a backend command.

This takes the following parameters:

Returns:

Example:

rclone rc backend/command command=noop fs=. -o echo=yes -o blue -a path1 -a path2

Returns

{
    "result": {
        "arg": [
            "path1",
            "path2"
        ],
        "name": "noop",
        "opt": {
            "blue": "",
            "echo": "yes"
        }
    }
}

Note that this is the direct equivalent of using this "backend" command:

rclone backend noop . -o echo=yes -o blue path1 path2

Note that arguments must be preceded by the "-a" flag

See the backend command for more information.

Authentication is required for this call.

cache/expire: Purge a remote from cache

Purge a remote from the cache backend. Supports either a directory or a file. Params: - remote = path to remote (required) - withData = true/false to delete cached data (chunks) as well (optional)

Eg

rclone rc cache/expire remote=path/to/sub/folder/
rclone rc cache/expire remote=/ withData=true

cache/fetch: Fetch file chunks

Ensure the specified file chunks are cached on disk.

The chunks= parameter specifies the file chunks to check. It takes a comma separated list of array slice indices. The slice indices are similar to Python slices: start[:end]

start is the 0 based chunk number from the beginning of the file to fetch inclusive. end is 0 based chunk number from the beginning of the file to fetch exclusive. Both values can be negative, in which case they count from the back of the file. The value "-5:" represents the last 5 chunks of a file.

Some valid examples are: ":5,-5:" -> the first and last five chunks "0,-2" -> the first and the second last chunk "0:10" -> the first ten chunks

Any parameter with a key that starts with "file" can be used to specify files to fetch, e.g.

rclone rc cache/fetch chunks=0 file=hello file2=home/goodbye

File names will automatically be encrypted when the a crypt remote is used on top of the cache.

cache/stats: Get cache stats

Show statistics for the cache remote.

config/create: create the config for a remote.

This takes the following parameters:

See the config create command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

config/delete: Delete a remote in the config file.

Parameters:

See the config delete command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

config/dump: Dumps the config file.

Returns a JSON object: - key: value

Where keys are remote names and values are the config parameters.

See the config dump command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

config/get: Get a remote in the config file.

Parameters:

See the config dump command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

config/listremotes: Lists the remotes in the config file.

Returns - remotes - array of remote names

See the listremotes command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

config/password: password the config for a remote.

This takes the following parameters:

See the config password command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

config/providers: Shows how providers are configured in the config file.

Returns a JSON object: - providers - array of objects

See the config providers command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

config/update: update the config for a remote.

This takes the following parameters:

See the config update command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

core/bwlimit: Set the bandwidth limit.

This sets the bandwidth limit to the string passed in. This should be a single bandwidth limit entry or a pair of upload:download bandwidth.

Eg

rclone rc core/bwlimit rate=off
{
    "bytesPerSecond": -1,
    "bytesPerSecondTx": -1,
    "bytesPerSecondRx": -1,
    "rate": "off"
}
rclone rc core/bwlimit rate=1M
{
    "bytesPerSecond": 1048576,
    "bytesPerSecondTx": 1048576,
    "bytesPerSecondRx": 1048576,
    "rate": "1M"
}
rclone rc core/bwlimit rate=1M:100k
{
    "bytesPerSecond": 1048576,
    "bytesPerSecondTx": 1048576,
    "bytesPerSecondRx": 131072,
    "rate": "1M"
}

If the rate parameter is not supplied then the bandwidth is queried

rclone rc core/bwlimit
{
    "bytesPerSecond": 1048576,
    "bytesPerSecondTx": 1048576,
    "bytesPerSecondRx": 1048576,
    "rate": "1M"
}

The format of the parameter is exactly the same as passed to --bwlimit except only one bandwidth may be specified.

In either case "rate" is returned as a human-readable string, and "bytesPerSecond" is returned as a number.

core/command: Run a rclone terminal command over rc.

This takes the following parameters:

Returns:

Example:

rclone rc core/command command=ls -a mydrive:/ -o max-depth=1
rclone rc core/command -a ls -a mydrive:/ -o max-depth=1

Returns:

{
    "error": false,
    "result": "<Raw command line output>"
}

OR 
{
    "error": true,
    "result": "<Raw command line output>"
}

Authentication is required for this call.

core/gc: Runs a garbage collection.

This tells the go runtime to do a garbage collection run. It isn't necessary to call this normally, but it can be useful for debugging memory problems.

core/group-list: Returns list of stats.

This returns list of stats groups currently in memory.

Returns the following values:

{
    "groups":  an array of group names:
        [
            "group1",
            "group2",
            ...
        ]
}

core/memstats: Returns the memory statistics

This returns the memory statistics of the running program. What the values mean are explained in the go docs: https://golang.org/pkg/runtime/#MemStats

The most interesting values for most people are:

core/obscure: Obscures a string passed in.

Pass a clear string and rclone will obscure it for the config file: - clear - string

Returns: - obscured - string

core/pid: Return PID of current process

This returns PID of current process. Useful for stopping rclone process.

core/quit: Terminates the app.

(Optional) Pass an exit code to be used for terminating the app: - exitCode - int

core/stats: Returns stats about current transfers.

This returns all available stats:

rclone rc core/stats

If group is not provided then summed up stats for all groups will be returned.

Parameters

Returns the following values:

{
    "bytes": total transferred bytes since the start of the group,
    "checks": number of files checked,
    "deletes" : number of files deleted,
    "elapsedTime": time in floating point seconds since rclone was started,
    "errors": number of errors,
    "eta": estimated time in seconds until the group completes,
    "fatalError": boolean whether there has been at least one fatal error,
    "lastError": last error string,
    "renames" : number of files renamed,
    "retryError": boolean showing whether there has been at least one non-NoRetryError,
    "speed": average speed in bytes per second since start of the group,
    "totalBytes": total number of bytes in the group,
    "totalChecks": total number of checks in the group,
    "totalTransfers": total number of transfers in the group,
    "transferTime" : total time spent on running jobs,
    "transfers": number of transferred files,
    "transferring": an array of currently active file transfers:
        [
            {
                "bytes": total transferred bytes for this file,
                "eta": estimated time in seconds until file transfer completion
                "name": name of the file,
                "percentage": progress of the file transfer in percent,
                "speed": average speed over the whole transfer in bytes per second,
                "speedAvg": current speed in bytes per second as an exponentially weighted moving average,
                "size": size of the file in bytes
            }
        ],
    "checking": an array of names of currently active file checks
        []
}

Values for "transferring", "checking" and "lastError" are only assigned if data is available. The value for "eta" is null if an eta cannot be determined.

core/stats-delete: Delete stats group.

This deletes entire stats group.

Parameters

core/stats-reset: Reset stats.

This clears counters, errors and finished transfers for all stats or specific stats group if group is provided.

Parameters

core/transferred: Returns stats about completed transfers.

This returns stats about completed transfers:

rclone rc core/transferred

If group is not provided then completed transfers for all groups will be returned.

Note only the last 100 completed transfers are returned.

Parameters

Returns the following values:

{
    "transferred":  an array of completed transfers (including failed ones):
        [
            {
                "name": name of the file,
                "size": size of the file in bytes,
                "bytes": total transferred bytes for this file,
                "checked": if the transfer is only checked (skipped, deleted),
                "timestamp": integer representing millisecond unix epoch,
                "error": string description of the error (empty if successful),
                "jobid": id of the job that this transfer belongs to
            }
        ]
}

core/version: Shows the current version of rclone and the go runtime.

This shows the current version of go and the go runtime:

debug/set-block-profile-rate: Set runtime.SetBlockProfileRate for blocking profiling.

SetBlockProfileRate controls the fraction of goroutine blocking events that are reported in the blocking profile. The profiler aims to sample an average of one blocking event per rate nanoseconds spent blocked.

To include every blocking event in the profile, pass rate = 1. To turn off profiling entirely, pass rate <= 0.

After calling this you can use this to see the blocking profile:

go tool pprof http://localhost:5572/debug/pprof/block

Parameters:

debug/set-mutex-profile-fraction: Set runtime.SetMutexProfileFraction for mutex profiling.

SetMutexProfileFraction controls the fraction of mutex contention events that are reported in the mutex profile. On average 1/rate events are reported. The previous rate is returned.

To turn off profiling entirely, pass rate 0. To just read the current rate, pass rate < 0. (For n>1 the details of sampling may change.)

Once this is set you can look use this to profile the mutex contention:

go tool pprof http://localhost:5572/debug/pprof/mutex

Parameters:

Results:

fscache/clear: Clear the Fs cache.

This clears the fs cache. This is where remotes created from backends are cached for a short while to make repeated rc calls more efficient.

If you change the parameters of a backend then you may want to call this to clear an existing remote out of the cache before re-creating it.

Authentication is required for this call.

fscache/entries: Returns the number of entries in the fs cache.

This returns the number of entries in the fs cache.

Returns - entries - number of items in the cache

Authentication is required for this call.

job/list: Lists the IDs of the running jobs

Parameters: None.

Results:

job/status: Reads the status of the job ID

Parameters:

Results:

job/stop: Stop the running job

Parameters:

mount/listmounts: Show current mount points

This shows currently mounted points, which can be used for performing an unmount.

This takes no parameters and returns

Eg

rclone rc mount/listmounts

Authentication is required for this call.

mount/mount: Create a new mount point

rclone allows Linux, FreeBSD, macOS and Windows to mount any of Rclone's cloud storage systems as a file system with FUSE.

If no mountType is provided, the priority is given as follows: 1. mount 2.cmount 3.mount2

This takes the following parameters:

Example:

rclone rc mount/mount fs=mydrive: mountPoint=/home/<user>/mountPoint
rclone rc mount/mount fs=mydrive: mountPoint=/home/<user>/mountPoint mountType=mount
rclone rc mount/mount fs=TestDrive: mountPoint=/mnt/tmp vfsOpt='{"CacheMode": 2}' mountOpt='{"AllowOther": true}'

The vfsOpt are as described in options/get and can be seen in the the "vfs" section when running and the mountOpt can be seen in the "mount" section:

rclone rc options/get

Authentication is required for this call.

mount/types: Show all possible mount types

This shows all possible mount types and returns them as a list.

This takes no parameters and returns

The mount types are strings like "mount", "mount2", "cmount" and can be passed to mount/mount as the mountType parameter.

Eg

rclone rc mount/types

Authentication is required for this call.

mount/unmount: Unmount selected active mount

rclone allows Linux, FreeBSD, macOS and Windows to mount any of Rclone's cloud storage systems as a file system with FUSE.

This takes the following parameters:

Example:

rclone rc mount/unmount mountPoint=/home/<user>/mountPoint

Authentication is required for this call.

mount/unmountall: Show current mount points

This shows currently mounted points, which can be used for performing an unmount.

This takes no parameters and returns error if unmount does not succeed.

Eg

rclone rc mount/unmountall

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/about: Return the space used on the remote

This takes the following parameters:

The result is as returned from rclone about --json

See the about command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/cleanup: Remove trashed files in the remote or path

This takes the following parameters:

See the cleanup command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/copyfile: Copy a file from source remote to destination remote

This takes the following parameters:

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/copyurl: Copy the URL to the object

This takes the following parameters:

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/delete: Remove files in the path

This takes the following parameters:

See the delete command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/deletefile: Remove the single file pointed to

This takes the following parameters:

See the deletefile command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/fsinfo: Return information about the remote

This takes the following parameters:

This returns info about the remote passed in;

{
    // optional features and whether they are available or not
    "Features": {
        "About": true,
        "BucketBased": false,
        "CanHaveEmptyDirectories": true,
        "CaseInsensitive": false,
        "ChangeNotify": false,
        "CleanUp": false,
        "Copy": false,
        "DirCacheFlush": false,
        "DirMove": true,
        "DuplicateFiles": false,
        "GetTier": false,
        "ListR": false,
        "MergeDirs": false,
        "Move": true,
        "OpenWriterAt": true,
        "PublicLink": false,
        "Purge": true,
        "PutStream": true,
        "PutUnchecked": false,
        "ReadMimeType": false,
        "ServerSideAcrossConfigs": false,
        "SetTier": false,
        "SetWrapper": false,
        "UnWrap": false,
        "WrapFs": false,
        "WriteMimeType": false
    },
    // Names of hashes available
    "Hashes": [
        "MD5",
        "SHA-1",
        "DropboxHash",
        "QuickXorHash"
    ],
    "Name": "local",    // Name as created
    "Precision": 1,     // Precision of timestamps in ns
    "Root": "/",        // Path as created
    "String": "Local file system at /" // how the remote will appear in logs
}

This command does not have a command line equivalent so use this instead:

rclone rc --loopback operations/fsinfo fs=remote:

operations/list: List the given remote and path in JSON format

This takes the following parameters:

Returns:

See the lsjson command for more information on the above and examples.

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/mkdir: Make a destination directory or container

This takes the following parameters:

See the mkdir command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/movefile: Move a file from source remote to destination remote

This takes the following parameters:

Authentication is required for this call.

This takes the following parameters:

Returns:

See the link command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/purge: Remove a directory or container and all of its contents

This takes the following parameters:

See the purge command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/rmdir: Remove an empty directory or container

This takes the following parameters:

See the rmdir command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/rmdirs: Remove all the empty directories in the path

This takes the following parameters:

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/size: Count the number of bytes and files in remote

This takes the following parameters:

Returns:

See the size command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/stat: Give information about the supplied file or directory

This takes the following parameters

The result is

Note that if you are only interested in files then it is much more efficient to set the filesOnly flag in the options.

See the lsjson command for more information on the above and examples.

Authentication is required for this call.

operations/uploadfile: Upload file using multiform/form-data

This takes the following parameters:

Authentication is required for this call.

options/blocks: List all the option blocks

Returns: - options - a list of the options block names

options/get: Get all the global options

Returns an object where keys are option block names and values are an object with the current option values in.

Note that these are the global options which are unaffected by use of the _config and _filter parameters. If you wish to read the parameters set in _config then use options/config and for _filter use options/filter.

This shows the internal names of the option within rclone which should map to the external options very easily with a few exceptions.

options/local: Get the currently active config for this call

Returns an object with the keys "config" and "filter". The "config" key contains the local config and the "filter" key contains the local filters.

Note that these are the local options specific to this rc call. If _config was not supplied then they will be the global options. Likewise with "_filter".

This call is mostly useful for seeing if _config and _filter passing is working.

This shows the internal names of the option within rclone which should map to the external options very easily with a few exceptions.

options/set: Set an option

Parameters:

Repeated as often as required.

Only supply the options you wish to change. If an option is unknown it will be silently ignored. Not all options will have an effect when changed like this.

For example:

This sets DEBUG level logs (-vv) (these can be set by number or string)

rclone rc options/set --json '{"main": {"LogLevel": "DEBUG"}}'
rclone rc options/set --json '{"main": {"LogLevel": 8}}'

And this sets INFO level logs (-v)

rclone rc options/set --json '{"main": {"LogLevel": "INFO"}}'

And this sets NOTICE level logs (normal without -v)

rclone rc options/set --json '{"main": {"LogLevel": "NOTICE"}}'

pluginsctl/addPlugin: Add a plugin using url

Used for adding a plugin to the webgui.

This takes the following parameters:

Example:

rclone rc pluginsctl/addPlugin

Authentication is required for this call.

pluginsctl/getPluginsForType: Get plugins with type criteria

This shows all possible plugins by a mime type.

This takes the following parameters:

Returns:

Example:

rclone rc pluginsctl/getPluginsForType type=video/mp4

Authentication is required for this call.

pluginsctl/listPlugins: Get the list of currently loaded plugins

This allows you to get the currently enabled plugins and their details.

This takes no parameters and returns:

E.g.

rclone rc pluginsctl/listPlugins

Authentication is required for this call.

pluginsctl/listTestPlugins: Show currently loaded test plugins

Allows listing of test plugins with the rclone.test set to true in package.json of the plugin.

This takes no parameters and returns:

E.g.

rclone rc pluginsctl/listTestPlugins

Authentication is required for this call.

pluginsctl/removePlugin: Remove a loaded plugin

This allows you to remove a plugin using it's name.

This takes parameters:

E.g.

rclone rc pluginsctl/removePlugin name=rclone/video-plugin

Authentication is required for this call.

pluginsctl/removeTestPlugin: Remove a test plugin

This allows you to remove a plugin using it's name.

This takes the following parameters:

Example:

rclone rc pluginsctl/removeTestPlugin name=rclone/rclone-webui-react

Authentication is required for this call.

rc/error: This returns an error

This returns an error with the input as part of its error string. Useful for testing error handling.

rc/list: List all the registered remote control commands

This lists all the registered remote control commands as a JSON map in the commands response.

rc/noop: Echo the input to the output parameters

This echoes the input parameters to the output parameters for testing purposes. It can be used to check that rclone is still alive and to check that parameter passing is working properly.

rc/noopauth: Echo the input to the output parameters requiring auth

This echoes the input parameters to the output parameters for testing purposes. It can be used to check that rclone is still alive and to check that parameter passing is working properly.

Authentication is required for this call.

sync/bisync: Perform bidirectonal synchronization between two paths.

This takes the following parameters

See bisync command help and full bisync description for more information.

Authentication is required for this call.

sync/copy: copy a directory from source remote to destination remote

This takes the following parameters:

See the copy command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

sync/move: move a directory from source remote to destination remote

This takes the following parameters:

See the move command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

sync/sync: sync a directory from source remote to destination remote

This takes the following parameters:

See the sync command command for more information on the above.

Authentication is required for this call.

vfs/forget: Forget files or directories in the directory cache.

This forgets the paths in the directory cache causing them to be re-read from the remote when needed.

If no paths are passed in then it will forget all the paths in the directory cache.

rclone rc vfs/forget

Otherwise pass files or dirs in as file=path or dir=path. Any parameter key starting with file will forget that file and any starting with dir will forget that dir, e.g.

rclone rc vfs/forget file=hello file2=goodbye dir=home/junk

This command takes an "fs" parameter. If this parameter is not supplied and if there is only one VFS in use then that VFS will be used. If there is more than one VFS in use then the "fs" parameter must be supplied.

vfs/list: List active VFSes.

This lists the active VFSes.

It returns a list under the key "vfses" where the values are the VFS names that could be passed to the other VFS commands in the "fs" parameter.

vfs/poll-interval: Get the status or update the value of the poll-interval option.

Without any parameter given this returns the current status of the poll-interval setting.

When the interval=duration parameter is set, the poll-interval value is updated and the polling function is notified. Setting interval=0 disables poll-interval.

rclone rc vfs/poll-interval interval=5m

The timeout=duration parameter can be used to specify a time to wait for the current poll function to apply the new value. If timeout is less or equal 0, which is the default, wait indefinitely.

The new poll-interval value will only be active when the timeout is not reached.

If poll-interval is updated or disabled temporarily, some changes might not get picked up by the polling function, depending on the used remote.

This command takes an "fs" parameter. If this parameter is not supplied and if there is only one VFS in use then that VFS will be used. If there is more than one VFS in use then the "fs" parameter must be supplied.

vfs/refresh: Refresh the directory cache.

This reads the directories for the specified paths and freshens the directory cache.

If no paths are passed in then it will refresh the root directory.

rclone rc vfs/refresh

Otherwise pass directories in as dir=path. Any parameter key starting with dir will refresh that directory, e.g.

rclone rc vfs/refresh dir=home/junk dir2=data/misc

If the parameter recursive=true is given the whole directory tree will get refreshed. This refresh will use --fast-list if enabled.

This command takes an "fs" parameter. If this parameter is not supplied and if there is only one VFS in use then that VFS will be used. If there is more than one VFS in use then the "fs" parameter must be supplied.

vfs/stats: Stats for a VFS.

This returns stats for the selected VFS.

{
    // Status of the disk cache - only present if --vfs-cache-mode > off
    "diskCache": {
        "bytesUsed": 0,
        "erroredFiles": 0,
        "files": 0,
        "hashType": 1,
        "outOfSpace": false,
        "path": "/home/user/.cache/rclone/vfs/local/mnt/a",
        "pathMeta": "/home/user/.cache/rclone/vfsMeta/local/mnt/a",
        "uploadsInProgress": 0,
        "uploadsQueued": 0
    },
    "fs": "/mnt/a",
    "inUse": 1,
    // Status of the in memory metadata cache
    "metadataCache": {
        "dirs": 1,
        "files": 0
    },
    // Options as returned by options/get
    "opt": {
        "CacheMaxAge": 3600000000000,
        // ...
        "WriteWait": 1000000000
    }
}

This command takes an "fs" parameter. If this parameter is not supplied and if there is only one VFS in use then that VFS will be used. If there is more than one VFS in use then the "fs" parameter must be supplied.

Accessing the remote control via HTTP

Rclone implements a simple HTTP based protocol.

Each endpoint takes an JSON object and returns a JSON object or an error. The JSON objects are essentially a map of string names to values.

All calls must made using POST.

The input objects can be supplied using URL parameters, POST parameters or by supplying "Content-Type: application/json" and a JSON blob in the body. There are examples of these below using curl.

The response will be a JSON blob in the body of the response. This is formatted to be reasonably human-readable.

Error returns

If an error occurs then there will be an HTTP error status (e.g. 500) and the body of the response will contain a JSON encoded error object, e.g.

{
    "error": "Expecting string value for key \"remote\" (was float64)",
    "input": {
        "fs": "/tmp",
        "remote": 3
    },
    "status": 400
    "path": "operations/rmdir",
}

The keys in the error response are - error - error string - input - the input parameters to the call - status - the HTTP status code - path - the path of the call

CORS

The sever implements basic CORS support and allows all origins for that. The response to a preflight OPTIONS request will echo the requested "Access-Control-Request-Headers" back.

Using POST with URL parameters only

curl -X POST 'http://localhost:5572/rc/noop?potato=1&sausage=2'

Response

{
    "potato": "1",
    "sausage": "2"
}

Here is what an error response looks like:

curl -X POST 'http://localhost:5572/rc/error?potato=1&sausage=2'
{
    "error": "arbitrary error on input map[potato:1 sausage:2]",
    "input": {
        "potato": "1",
        "sausage": "2"
    }
}

Note that curl doesn't return errors to the shell unless you use the -f option

$ curl -f -X POST 'http://localhost:5572/rc/error?potato=1&sausage=2'
curl: (22) The requested URL returned error: 400 Bad Request
$ echo $?
22

Using POST with a form

curl --data "potato=1" --data "sausage=2" http://localhost:5572/rc/noop

Response

{
    "potato": "1",
    "sausage": "2"
}

Note that you can combine these with URL parameters too with the POST parameters taking precedence.

curl --data "potato=1" --data "sausage=2" "http://localhost:5572/rc/noop?rutabaga=3&sausage=4"

Response

{
    "potato": "1",
    "rutabaga": "3",
    "sausage": "4"
}

Using POST with a JSON blob

curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d '{"potato":2,"sausage":1}' http://localhost:5572/rc/noop

response

{
    "password": "xyz",
    "username": "xyz"
}

This can be combined with URL parameters too if required. The JSON blob takes precedence.

curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d '{"potato":2,"sausage":1}' 'http://localhost:5572/rc/noop?rutabaga=3&potato=4'
{
    "potato": 2,
    "rutabaga": "3",
    "sausage": 1
}

Debugging rclone with pprof

If you use the --rc flag this will also enable the use of the go profiling tools on the same port.

To use these, first install go.

Debugging memory use

To profile rclone's memory use you can run:

go tool pprof -web http://localhost:5572/debug/pprof/heap

This should open a page in your browser showing what is using what memory.

You can also use the -text flag to produce a textual summary

$ go tool pprof -text http://localhost:5572/debug/pprof/heap
Showing nodes accounting for 1537.03kB, 100% of 1537.03kB total
      flat  flat%   sum%        cum   cum%
 1024.03kB 66.62% 66.62%  1024.03kB 66.62%  github.com/rclone/rclone/vendor/golang.org/x/net/http2/hpack.addDecoderNode
     513kB 33.38%   100%      513kB 33.38%  net/http.newBufioWriterSize
         0     0%   100%  1024.03kB 66.62%  github.com/rclone/rclone/cmd/all.init
         0     0%   100%  1024.03kB 66.62%  github.com/rclone/rclone/cmd/serve.init
         0     0%   100%  1024.03kB 66.62%  github.com/rclone/rclone/cmd/serve/restic.init
         0     0%   100%  1024.03kB 66.62%  github.com/rclone/rclone/vendor/golang.org/x/net/http2.init
         0     0%   100%  1024.03kB 66.62%  github.com/rclone/rclone/vendor/golang.org/x/net/http2/hpack.init
         0     0%   100%  1024.03kB 66.62%  github.com/rclone/rclone/vendor/golang.org/x/net/http2/hpack.init.0
         0     0%   100%  1024.03kB 66.62%  main.init
         0     0%   100%      513kB 33.38%  net/http.(*conn).readRequest
         0     0%   100%      513kB 33.38%  net/http.(*conn).serve
         0     0%   100%  1024.03kB 66.62%  runtime.main

Debugging go routine leaks

Memory leaks are most often caused by go routine leaks keeping memory alive which should have been garbage collected.

See all active go routines using

curl http://localhost:5572/debug/pprof/goroutine?debug=1

Or go to http://localhost:5572/debug/pprof/goroutine?debug=1 in your browser.

Other profiles to look at

You can see a summary of profiles available at http://localhost:5572/debug/pprof/

Here is how to use some of them:

See the net/http/pprof docs for more info on how to use the profiling and for a general overview see the Go team's blog post on profiling go programs.

The profiling hook is zero overhead unless it is used.

Overview of cloud storage systems

Each cloud storage system is slightly different. Rclone attempts to provide a unified interface to them, but some underlying differences show through.

Features

Here is an overview of the major features of each cloud storage system.

Name Hash ModTime Case Insensitive Duplicate Files MIME Type
1Fichier Whirlpool No No Yes R
Akamai Netstorage MD5, SHA256 Yes No No R
Amazon Drive MD5 No Yes No R
Amazon S3 (or S3 compatible) MD5 Yes No No R/W
Backblaze B2 SHA1 Yes No No R/W
Box SHA1 Yes Yes No -
Citrix ShareFile MD5 Yes Yes No -
Dropbox DBHASH ¹ Yes Yes No -
Enterprise File Fabric - Yes Yes No R/W
FTP - No No No -
Google Cloud Storage MD5 Yes No No R/W
Google Drive MD5 Yes No Yes R/W
Google Photos - No No Yes R
HDFS - Yes No No -
HTTP - No No No R
Hubic MD5 Yes No No R/W
Jottacloud MD5 Yes Yes No R
Koofr MD5 No Yes No -
Mail.ru Cloud Mailru ⁶ Yes Yes No -
Mega - No No Yes -
Memory MD5 Yes No No -
Microsoft Azure Blob Storage MD5 Yes No No R/W
Microsoft OneDrive SHA1 ⁵ Yes Yes No R
OpenDrive MD5 Yes Yes Partial ⁸ -
OpenStack Swift MD5 Yes No No R/W
pCloud MD5, SHA1 ⁷ Yes No No W
premiumize.me - No Yes No R
put.io CRC-32 Yes No Yes R
QingStor MD5 No No No R/W
Seafile - No No No -
SFTP MD5, SHA1 ² Yes Depends No -
Sia - No No No -
SugarSync - No No No -
Storj - Yes No No -
Uptobox - No No Yes -
WebDAV MD5, SHA1 ³ Yes ⁴ Depends No -
Yandex Disk MD5 Yes No No R
Zoho WorkDrive - No No No -
The local filesystem All Yes Depends No -

Notes

¹ Dropbox supports its own custom hash. This is an SHA256 sum of all the 4 MiB block SHA256s.

² SFTP supports checksums if the same login has shell access and md5sum or sha1sum as well as echo are in the remote's PATH.

³ WebDAV supports hashes when used with Owncloud and Nextcloud only.

⁴ WebDAV supports modtimes when used with Owncloud and Nextcloud only.

⁵ Microsoft OneDrive Personal supports SHA1 hashes, whereas OneDrive for business and SharePoint server support Microsoft's own QuickXorHash.

⁶ Mail.ru uses its own modified SHA1 hash

⁷ pCloud only supports SHA1 (not MD5) in its EU region

⁸ Opendrive does not support creation of duplicate files using their web client interface or other stock clients, but the underlying storage platform has been determined to allow duplicate files, and it is possible to create them with rclone. It may be that this is a mistake or an unsupported feature.

Hash

The cloud storage system supports various hash types of the objects. The hashes are used when transferring data as an integrity check and can be specifically used with the --checksum flag in syncs and in the check command.

To use the verify checksums when transferring between cloud storage systems they must support a common hash type.

ModTime

The cloud storage system supports setting modification times on objects. If it does then this enables a using the modification times as part of the sync. If not then only the size will be checked by default, though the MD5SUM can be checked with the --checksum flag.

All cloud storage systems support some kind of date on the object and these will be set when transferring from the cloud storage system.

Case Insensitive

If a cloud storage systems is case sensitive then it is possible to have two files which differ only in case, e.g. file.txt and FILE.txt. If a cloud storage system is case insensitive then that isn't possible.

This can cause problems when syncing between a case insensitive system and a case sensitive system. The symptom of this is that no matter how many times you run the sync it never completes fully.

The local filesystem and SFTP may or may not be case sensitive depending on OS.

Most of the time this doesn't cause any problems as people tend to avoid files whose name differs only by case even on case sensitive systems.

Duplicate files

If a cloud storage system allows duplicate files then it can have two objects with the same name.

This confuses rclone greatly when syncing - use the rclone dedupe command to rename or remove duplicates.

Restricted filenames

Some cloud storage systems might have restrictions on the characters that are usable in file or directory names. When rclone detects such a name during a file upload, it will transparently replace the restricted characters with similar looking Unicode characters. To handle the different sets of restricted characters for different backends, rclone uses something it calls encoding.

This process is designed to avoid ambiguous file names as much as possible and allow to move files between many cloud storage systems transparently.

The name shown by rclone to the user or during log output will only contain a minimal set of replaced characters to ensure correct formatting and not necessarily the actual name used on the cloud storage.

This transformation is reversed when downloading a file or parsing rclone arguments. For example, when uploading a file named my file?.txt to Onedrive, it will be displayed as my file?.txt on the console, but stored as my file?.txt to Onedrive (the ? gets replaced by the similar looking character, the so-called "fullwidth question mark"). The reverse transformation allows to read a file unusual/name.txt from Google Drive, by passing the name unusual/name.txt on the command line (the / needs to be replaced by the similar looking character).

Caveats

The filename encoding system works well in most cases, at least where file names are written in English or similar languages. You might not even notice it: It just works. In some cases it may lead to issues, though. E.g. when file names are written in Chinese, or Japanese, where it is always the Unicode fullwidth variants of the punctuation marks that are used.

On Windows, the characters :, * and ? are examples of restricted characters. If these are used in filenames on a remote that supports it, Rclone will transparently convert them to their fullwidth Unicode variants , and when downloading to Windows, and back again when uploading. This way files with names that are not allowed on Windows can still be stored.

However, if you have files on your Windows system originally with these same Unicode characters in their names, they will be included in the same conversion process. E.g. if you create a file in your Windows filesystem with name Test:1.jpg, where is the Unicode fullwidth colon symbol, and use rclone to upload it to Google Drive, which supports regular : (halfwidth question mark), rclone will replace the fullwidth : with the halfwidth : and store the file as Test:1.jpg in Google Drive. Since both Windows and Google Drive allows the name Test:1.jpg, it would probably be better if rclone just kept the name as is in this case.

With the opposite situation; if you have a file named Test:1.jpg, in your Google Drive, e.g. uploaded from a Linux system where : is valid in file names. Then later use rclone to copy this file to your Windows computer you will notice that on your local disk it gets renamed to Test:1.jpg. The original filename is not legal on Windows, due to the :, and rclone therefore renames it to make the copy possible. That is all good. However, this can also lead to an issue: If you already had a different file named Test:1.jpg on Windows, and then use rclone to copy either way. Rclone will then treat the file originally named Test:1.jpg on Google Drive and the file originally named Test:1.jpg on Windows as the same file, and replace the contents from one with the other.

Its virtually impossible to handle all cases like these correctly in all situations, but by customizing the encoding option, changing the set of characters that rclone should convert, you should be able to create a configuration that works well for your specific situation. See also the example below.

(Windows was used as an example of a file system with many restricted characters, and Google drive a storage system with few.)

Default restricted characters

The table below shows the characters that are replaced by default.

When a replacement character is found in a filename, this character will be escaped with the character to avoid ambiguous file names. (e.g. a file named ␀.txt would shown as ‛␀.txt)

Each cloud storage backend can use a different set of characters, which will be specified in the documentation for each backend.

Character Value Replacement
NUL 0x00
SOH 0x01
STX 0x02
ETX 0x03
EOT 0x04
ENQ 0x05
ACK 0x06
BEL 0x07
BS 0x08
HT 0x09
LF 0x0A
VT 0x0B
FF 0x0C
CR 0x0D
SO 0x0E
SI 0x0F
DLE 0x10
DC1 0x11
DC2 0x12
DC3 0x13
DC4 0x14
NAK 0x15
SYN 0x16
ETB 0x17
CAN 0x18
EM 0x19
SUB 0x1A
ESC 0x1B
FS 0x1C
GS 0x1D
RS 0x1E
US 0x1F
/ 0x2F
DEL 0x7F

The default encoding will also encode these file names as they are problematic with many cloud storage systems.

File name Replacement
.
.. ..

Invalid UTF-8 bytes

Some backends only support a sequence of well formed UTF-8 bytes as file or directory names.

In this case all invalid UTF-8 bytes will be replaced with a quoted representation of the byte value to allow uploading a file to such a backend. For example, the invalid byte 0xFE will be encoded as ‛FE.

A common source of invalid UTF-8 bytes are local filesystems, that store names in a different encoding than UTF-8 or UTF-16, like latin1. See the local filenames section for details.

Encoding option

Most backends have an encoding option, specified as a flag --backend-encoding where backend is the name of the backend, or as a config parameter encoding (you'll need to select the Advanced config in rclone config to see it).

This will have default value which encodes and decodes characters in such a way as to preserve the maximum number of characters (see above).

However this can be incorrect in some scenarios, for example if you have a Windows file system with Unicode fullwidth characters , or , that you want to remain as those characters on the remote rather than being translated to regular (halfwidth) *, ? and :.

The --backend-encoding flags allow you to change that. You can disable the encoding completely with --backend-encoding None or set encoding = None in the config file.

Encoding takes a comma separated list of encodings. You can see the list of all possible values by passing an invalid value to this flag, e.g. --local-encoding "help". The command rclone help flags encoding will show you the defaults for the backends.

Encoding Characters
Asterisk *
BackQuote `
BackSlash \
Colon :
CrLf CR 0x0D, LF 0x0A
Ctl All control characters 0x00-0x1F
Del DEL 0x7F
Dollar $
Dot . or .. as entire string
DoubleQuote "
Hash #
InvalidUtf8 An invalid UTF-8 character (e.g. latin1)
LeftCrLfHtVt CR 0x0D, LF 0x0A,HT 0x09, VT 0x0B on the left of a string
LeftPeriod . on the left of a string
LeftSpace SPACE on the left of a string
LeftTilde ~ on the left of a string
LtGt <, >
None No characters are encoded
Percent %
Pipe |
Question ?
RightCrLfHtVt CR 0x0D, LF 0x0A, HT 0x09, VT 0x0B on the right of a string
RightPeriod . on the right of a string
RightSpace SPACE on the right of a string
SingleQuote '
Slash /
SquareBracket [, ]
Encoding example: FTP

To take a specific example, the FTP backend's default encoding is

--ftp-encoding "Slash,Del,Ctl,RightSpace,Dot"

However, let's say the FTP server is running on Windows and can't have any of the invalid Windows characters in file names. You are backing up Linux servers to this FTP server which do have those characters in file names. So you would add the Windows set which are

Slash,LtGt,DoubleQuote,Colon,Question,Asterisk,Pipe,BackSlash,Ctl,RightSpace,RightPeriod,InvalidUtf8,Dot

to the existing ones, giving:

Slash,LtGt,DoubleQuote,Colon,Question,Asterisk,Pipe,BackSlash,Ctl,RightSpace,RightPeriod,InvalidUtf8,Dot,Del,RightSpace

This can be specified using the --ftp-encoding flag or using an encoding parameter in the config file.

Encoding example: Windows

As a nother example, take a Windows system where there is a file with name Test:1.jpg, where is the Unicode fullwidth colon symbol. When using rclone to copy this to a remote which supports :, the regular (halfwidth) colon (such as Google Drive), you will notice that the file gets renamed to Test:1.jpg.

To avoid this you can change the set of characters rclone should convert for the local filesystem, using command-line argument --local-encoding. Rclone's default behavior on Windows corresponds to

--local-encoding "Slash,LtGt,DoubleQuote,Colon,Question,Asterisk,Pipe,BackSlash,Ctl,RightSpace,RightPeriod,InvalidUtf8,Dot"

If you want to use fullwidth characters , and in your filenames without rclone changing them when uploading to a remote, then set the same as the default value but without Colon,Question,Asterisk:

--local-encoding "Slash,LtGt,DoubleQuote,Pipe,BackSlash,Ctl,RightSpace,RightPeriod,InvalidUtf8,Dot"

Alternatively, you can disable the conversion of any characters with --local-encoding None.

Instead of using command-line argument --local-encoding, you may also set it as environment variable RCLONE_LOCAL_ENCODING, or configure a remote of type local in your config, and set the encoding option there.

The risk by doing this is that if you have a filename with the regular (halfwidth) :, * and ? in your cloud storage, and you try to download it to your Windows filesystem, this will fail. These characters are not valid in filenames on Windows, and you have told rclone not to work around this by converting them to valid fullwidth variants.

MIME Type

MIME types (also known as media types) classify types of documents using a simple text classification, e.g. text/html or application/pdf.

Some cloud storage systems support reading (R) the MIME type of objects and some support writing (W) the MIME type of objects.

The MIME type can be important if you are serving files directly to HTTP from the storage system.

If you are copying from a remote which supports reading (R) to a remote which supports writing (W) then rclone will preserve the MIME types. Otherwise they will be guessed from the extension, or the remote itself may assign the MIME type.

Optional Features

All rclone remotes support a base command set. Other features depend upon backend-specific capabilities.

Name Purge Copy Move DirMove CleanUp ListR StreamUpload LinkSharing About EmptyDir
1Fichier No Yes Yes No No No No Yes No Yes
Amazon Drive Yes No Yes Yes No No No No No Yes
Amazon S3 No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Backblaze B2 No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Box Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ‡‡ No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Citrix ShareFile Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes
Dropbox Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Enterprise File Fabric Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes
FTP No No Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes
Google Cloud Storage Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No
Google Drive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Google Photos No No No No No No No No No No
HDFS Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes
HTTP No No No No No No No No No Yes
Hubic Yes † Yes No No No Yes Yes No Yes No
Jottacloud Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Mail.ru Cloud Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
Mega Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
Memory No Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No
Microsoft Azure Blob Storage Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No
Microsoft OneDrive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
OpenDrive Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Yes
OpenStack Swift Yes † Yes No No No Yes Yes No Yes No
pCloud Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
premiumize.me Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes
put.io Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes
QingStor No Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No
Seafile Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SFTP No No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes
SugarSync Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes
Storj Yes † No Yes No No Yes Yes No No No
Uptobox No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No
WebDAV Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes ‡ No Yes Yes
Yandex Disk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Zoho WorkDrive Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes
The local filesystem Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes

Purge

This deletes a directory quicker than just deleting all the files in the directory.

† Note Swift, Hubic, and Storj implement this in order to delete directory markers but they don't actually have a quicker way of deleting files other than deleting them individually.

‡ StreamUpload is not supported with Nextcloud

Copy

Used when copying an object to and from the same remote. This known as a server-side copy so you can copy a file without downloading it and uploading it again. It is used if you use rclone copy or rclone move if the remote doesn't support Move directly.

If the server doesn't support Copy directly then for copy operations the file is downloaded then re-uploaded.

Move

Used when moving/renaming an object on the same remote. This is known as a server-side move of a file. This is used in rclone move if the server doesn't support DirMove.

If the server isn't capable of Move then rclone simulates it with Copy then delete. If the server doesn't support Copy then rclone will download the file and re-upload it.

DirMove

This is used to implement rclone move to move a directory if possible. If it isn't then it will use Move on each file (which falls back to Copy then download and upload - see Move section).

CleanUp

This is used for emptying the trash for a remote by rclone cleanup.

If the server can't do CleanUp then rclone cleanup will return an error.

‡‡ Note that while Box implements this it has to delete every file individually so it will be slower than emptying the trash via the WebUI

ListR

The remote supports a recursive list to list all the contents beneath a directory quickly. This enables the --fast-list flag to work. See the rclone docs for more details.

StreamUpload

Some remotes allow files to be uploaded without knowing the file size in advance. This allows certain operations to work without spooling the file to local disk first, e.g. rclone rcat.

LinkSharing

Sets the necessary permissions on a file or folder and prints a link that allows others to access them, even if they don't have an account on the particular cloud provider.

About

Rclone about prints quota information for a remote. Typical output includes bytes used, free, quota and in trash.

If a remote lacks about capability rclone about remote:returns an error.

Backends without about capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount, or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See rclone about command

EmptyDir

The remote supports empty directories. See Limitations for details. Most Object/Bucket-based remotes do not support this.

Global Flags

This describes the global flags available to every rclone command split into two groups, non backend and backend flags.

Non Backend Flags

These flags are available for every command.

      --ask-password                         Allow prompt for password for encrypted configuration (default true)
      --auto-confirm                         If enabled, do not request console confirmation
      --backup-dir string                    Make backups into hierarchy based in DIR
      --bind string                          Local address to bind to for outgoing connections, IPv4, IPv6 or name
      --buffer-size SizeSuffix               In memory buffer size when reading files for each --transfer (default 16Mi)
      --bwlimit BwTimetable                  Bandwidth limit in KiB/s, or use suffix B|K|M|G|T|P or a full timetable
      --bwlimit-file BwTimetable             Bandwidth limit per file in KiB/s, or use suffix B|K|M|G|T|P or a full timetable
      --ca-cert string                       CA certificate used to verify servers
      --cache-dir string                     Directory rclone will use for caching (default "$HOME/.cache/rclone")
      --check-first                          Do all the checks before starting transfers
      --checkers int                         Number of checkers to run in parallel (default 8)
  -c, --checksum                             Skip based on checksum (if available) & size, not mod-time & size
      --client-cert string                   Client SSL certificate (PEM) for mutual TLS auth
      --client-key string                    Client SSL private key (PEM) for mutual TLS auth
      --compare-dest stringArray             Include additional comma separated server-side paths during comparison
      --config string                        Config file (default "$HOME/.config/rclone/rclone.conf")
      --contimeout duration                  Connect timeout (default 1m0s)
      --copy-dest stringArray                Implies --compare-dest but also copies files from paths into destination
      --cpuprofile string                    Write cpu profile to file
      --cutoff-mode string                   Mode to stop transfers when reaching the max transfer limit HARD|SOFT|CAUTIOUS (default "HARD")
      --delete-after                         When synchronizing, delete files on destination after transferring (default)
      --delete-before                        When synchronizing, delete files on destination before transferring
      --delete-during                        When synchronizing, delete files during transfer
      --delete-excluded                      Delete files on dest excluded from sync
      --disable string                       Disable a comma separated list of features (use --disable help to see a list)
      --disable-http2                        Disable HTTP/2 in the global transport
  -n, --dry-run                              Do a trial run with no permanent changes
      --dscp string                          Set DSCP value to connections, value or name, e.g. CS1, LE, DF, AF21
      --dump DumpFlags                       List of items to dump from: headers,bodies,requests,responses,auth,filters,goroutines,openfiles
      --dump-bodies                          Dump HTTP headers and bodies - may contain sensitive info
      --dump-headers                         Dump HTTP headers - may contain sensitive info
      --error-on-no-transfer                 Sets exit code 9 if no files are transferred, useful in scripts
      --exclude stringArray                  Exclude files matching pattern
      --exclude-from stringArray             Read exclude patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
      --exclude-if-present string            Exclude directories if filename is present
      --expect-continue-timeout duration     Timeout when using expect / 100-continue in HTTP (default 1s)
      --fast-list                            Use recursive list if available; uses more memory but fewer transactions
      --files-from stringArray               Read list of source-file names from file (use - to read from stdin)
      --files-from-raw stringArray           Read list of source-file names from file without any processing of lines (use - to read from stdin)
  -f, --filter stringArray                   Add a file-filtering rule
      --filter-from stringArray              Read filtering patterns from a file (use - to read from stdin)
      --fs-cache-expire-duration duration    Cache remotes for this long (0 to disable caching) (default 5m0s)
      --fs-cache-expire-interval duration    Interval to check for expired remotes (default 1m0s)
      --header stringArray                   Set HTTP header for all transactions
      --header-download stringArray          Set HTTP header for download transactions
      --header-upload stringArray            Set HTTP header for upload transactions
      --human-readable                       Print numbers in a human-readable format, sizes with suffix Ki|Mi|Gi|Ti|Pi
      --ignore-case                          Ignore case in filters (case insensitive)
      --ignore-case-sync                     Ignore case when synchronizing
      --ignore-checksum                      Skip post copy check of checksums
      --ignore-errors                        Delete even if there are I/O errors
      --ignore-existing                      Skip all files that exist on destination
      --ignore-size                          Ignore size when skipping use mod-time or checksum
  -I, --ignore-times                         Don't skip files that match size and time - transfer all files
      --immutable                            Do not modify files, fail if existing files have been modified
      --include stringArray                  Include files matching pattern
      --include-from stringArray             Read include patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
  -i, --interactive                          Enable interactive mode
      --kv-lock-time duration                Maximum time to keep key-value database locked by process (default 1s)
      --log-file string                      Log everything to this file
      --log-format string                    Comma separated list of log format options (default "date,time")
      --log-level string                     Log level DEBUG|INFO|NOTICE|ERROR (default "NOTICE")
      --log-systemd                          Activate systemd integration for the logger
      --low-level-retries int                Number of low level retries to do (default 10)
      --max-age Duration                     Only transfer files younger than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y (default off)
      --max-backlog int                      Maximum number of objects in sync or check backlog (default 10000)
      --max-delete int                       When synchronizing, limit the number of deletes (default -1)
      --max-depth int                        If set limits the recursion depth to this (default -1)
      --max-duration duration                Maximum duration rclone will transfer data for
      --max-size SizeSuffix                  Only transfer files smaller than this in KiB or suffix B|K|M|G|T|P (default off)
      --max-stats-groups int                 Maximum number of stats groups to keep in memory, on max oldest is discarded (default 1000)
      --max-transfer SizeSuffix              Maximum size of data to transfer (default off)
      --memprofile string                    Write memory profile to file
      --min-age Duration                     Only transfer files older than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y (default off)
      --min-size SizeSuffix                  Only transfer files bigger than this in KiB or suffix B|K|M|G|T|P (default off)
      --modify-window duration               Max time diff to be considered the same (default 1ns)
      --multi-thread-cutoff SizeSuffix       Use multi-thread downloads for files above this size (default 250Mi)
      --multi-thread-streams int             Max number of streams to use for multi-thread downloads (default 4)
      --no-check-certificate                 Do not verify the server SSL certificate (insecure)
      --no-check-dest                        Don't check the destination, copy regardless
      --no-console                           Hide console window (supported on Windows only)
      --no-gzip-encoding                     Don't set Accept-Encoding: gzip
      --no-traverse                          Don't traverse destination file system on copy
      --no-unicode-normalization             Don't normalize unicode characters in filenames
      --no-update-modtime                    Don't update destination mod-time if files identical
      --order-by string                      Instructions on how to order the transfers, e.g. 'size,descending'
      --password-command SpaceSepList        Command for supplying password for encrypted configuration
  -P, --progress                             Show progress during transfer
      --progress-terminal-title              Show progress on the terminal title (requires -P/--progress)
  -q, --quiet                                Print as little stuff as possible
      --rc                                   Enable the remote control server
      --rc-addr string                       IPaddress:Port or :Port to bind server to (default "localhost:5572")
      --rc-allow-origin string               Set the allowed origin for CORS
      --rc-baseurl string                    Prefix for URLs - leave blank for root
      --rc-cert string                       SSL PEM key (concatenation of certificate and CA certificate)
      --rc-client-ca string                  Client certificate authority to verify clients with
      --rc-enable-metrics                    Enable prometheus metrics on /metrics
      --rc-files string                      Path to local files to serve on the HTTP server
      --rc-htpasswd string                   htpasswd file - if not provided no authentication is done
      --rc-job-expire-duration duration      Expire finished async jobs older than this value (default 1m0s)
      --rc-job-expire-interval duration      Interval to check for expired async jobs (default 10s)
      --rc-key string                        SSL PEM Private key
      --rc-max-header-bytes int              Maximum size of request header (default 4096)
      --rc-no-auth                           Don't require auth for certain methods
      --rc-pass string                       Password for authentication
      --rc-realm string                      Realm for authentication (default "rclone")
      --rc-serve                             Enable the serving of remote objects
      --rc-server-read-timeout duration      Timeout for server reading data (default 1h0m0s)
      --rc-server-write-timeout duration     Timeout for server writing data (default 1h0m0s)
      --rc-template string                   User-specified template
      --rc-user string                       User name for authentication
      --rc-web-fetch-url string              URL to fetch the releases for webgui (default "https://api.github.com/repos/rclone/rclone-webui-react/releases/latest")
      --rc-web-gui                           Launch WebGUI on localhost
      --rc-web-gui-force-update              Force update to latest version of web gui
      --rc-web-gui-no-open-browser           Don't open the browser automatically
      --rc-web-gui-update                    Check and update to latest version of web gui
      --refresh-times                        Refresh the modtime of remote files
      --retries int                          Retry operations this many times if they fail (default 3)
      --retries-sleep duration               Interval between retrying operations if they fail, e.g. 500ms, 60s, 5m (0 to disable)
      --size-only                            Skip based on size only, not mod-time or checksum
      --stats duration                       Interval between printing stats, e.g. 500ms, 60s, 5m (0 to disable) (default 1m0s)
      --stats-file-name-length int           Max file name length in stats (0 for no limit) (default 45)
      --stats-log-level string               Log level to show --stats output DEBUG|INFO|NOTICE|ERROR (default "INFO")
      --stats-one-line                       Make the stats fit on one line
      --stats-one-line-date                  Enable --stats-one-line and add current date/time prefix
      --stats-one-line-date-format string    Enable --stats-one-line-date and use custom formatted date: Enclose date string in double quotes ("), see https://golang.org/pkg/time/#Time.Format
      --stats-unit string                    Show data rate in stats as either 'bits' or 'bytes' per second (default "bytes")
      --streaming-upload-cutoff SizeSuffix   Cutoff for switching to chunked upload if file size is unknown, upload starts after reaching cutoff or when file ends (default 100Ki)
      --suffix string                        Suffix to add to changed files
      --suffix-keep-extension                Preserve the extension when using --suffix
      --syslog                               Use Syslog for logging
      --syslog-facility string               Facility for syslog, e.g. KERN,USER,... (default "DAEMON")
      --temp-dir string                      Directory rclone will use for temporary files (default "/tmp")
      --timeout duration                     IO idle timeout (default 5m0s)
      --tpslimit float                       Limit HTTP transactions per second to this
      --tpslimit-burst int                   Max burst of transactions for --tpslimit (default 1)
      --track-renames                        When synchronizing, track file renames and do a server-side move if possible
      --track-renames-strategy string        Strategies to use when synchronizing using track-renames hash|modtime|leaf (default "hash")
      --transfers int                        Number of file transfers to run in parallel (default 4)
  -u, --update                               Skip files that are newer on the destination
      --use-cookies                          Enable session cookiejar
      --use-json-log                         Use json log format
      --use-mmap                             Use mmap allocator (see docs)
      --use-server-modtime                   Use server modified time instead of object metadata
      --user-agent string                    Set the user-agent to a specified string (default "rclone/v1.58.0")
  -v, --verbose count                        Print lots more stuff (repeat for more)

Backend Flags

These flags are available for every command. They control the backends and may be set in the config file.

      --acd-auth-url string                          Auth server URL
      --acd-client-id string                         OAuth Client Id
      --acd-client-secret string                     OAuth Client Secret
      --acd-encoding MultiEncoder                    The encoding for the backend (default Slash,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --acd-templink-threshold SizeSuffix            Files >= this size will be downloaded via their tempLink (default 9Gi)
      --acd-token string                             OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob
      --acd-token-url string                         Token server url
      --acd-upload-wait-per-gb Duration              Additional time per GiB to wait after a failed complete upload to see if it appears (default 3m0s)
      --alias-remote string                          Remote or path to alias
      --azureblob-access-tier string                 Access tier of blob: hot, cool or archive
      --azureblob-account string                     Storage Account Name
      --azureblob-archive-tier-delete                Delete archive tier blobs before overwriting
      --azureblob-chunk-size SizeSuffix              Upload chunk size (default 4Mi)
      --azureblob-disable-checksum                   Don't store MD5 checksum with object metadata
      --azureblob-encoding MultiEncoder              The encoding for the backend (default Slash,BackSlash,Del,Ctl,RightPeriod,InvalidUtf8)
      --azureblob-endpoint string                    Endpoint for the service
      --azureblob-key string                         Storage Account Key
      --azureblob-list-chunk int                     Size of blob list (default 5000)
      --azureblob-memory-pool-flush-time Duration    How often internal memory buffer pools will be flushed (default 1m0s)
      --azureblob-memory-pool-use-mmap               Whether to use mmap buffers in internal memory pool
      --azureblob-msi-client-id string               Object ID of the user-assigned MSI to use, if any
      --azureblob-msi-mi-res-id string               Azure resource ID of the user-assigned MSI to use, if any
      --azureblob-msi-object-id string               Object ID of the user-assigned MSI to use, if any
      --azureblob-no-head-object                     If set, do not do HEAD before GET when getting objects
      --azureblob-public-access string               Public access level of a container: blob or container
      --azureblob-sas-url string                     SAS URL for container level access only
      --azureblob-service-principal-file string      Path to file containing credentials for use with a service principal
      --azureblob-upload-concurrency int             Concurrency for multipart uploads (default 16)
      --azureblob-upload-cutoff string               Cutoff for switching to chunked upload (<= 256 MiB) (deprecated)
      --azureblob-use-emulator                       Uses local storage emulator if provided as 'true'
      --azureblob-use-msi                            Use a managed service identity to authenticate (only works in Azure)
      --b2-account string                            Account ID or Application Key ID
      --b2-chunk-size SizeSuffix                     Upload chunk size (default 96Mi)
      --b2-copy-cutoff SizeSuffix                    Cutoff for switching to multipart copy (default 4Gi)
      --b2-disable-checksum                          Disable checksums for large (> upload cutoff) files
      --b2-download-auth-duration Duration           Time before the authorization token will expire in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d (default 1w)
      --b2-download-url string                       Custom endpoint for downloads
      --b2-encoding MultiEncoder                     The encoding for the backend (default Slash,BackSlash,Del,Ctl,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --b2-endpoint string                           Endpoint for the service
      --b2-hard-delete                               Permanently delete files on remote removal, otherwise hide files
      --b2-key string                                Application Key
      --b2-memory-pool-flush-time Duration           How often internal memory buffer pools will be flushed (default 1m0s)
      --b2-memory-pool-use-mmap                      Whether to use mmap buffers in internal memory pool
      --b2-test-mode string                          A flag string for X-Bz-Test-Mode header for debugging
      --b2-upload-cutoff SizeSuffix                  Cutoff for switching to chunked upload (default 200Mi)
      --b2-versions                                  Include old versions in directory listings
      --box-access-token string                      Box App Primary Access Token
      --box-auth-url string                          Auth server URL
      --box-box-config-file string                   Box App config.json location
      --box-box-sub-type string                       (default "user")
      --box-client-id string                         OAuth Client Id
      --box-client-secret string                     OAuth Client Secret
      --box-commit-retries int                       Max number of times to try committing a multipart file (default 100)
      --box-encoding MultiEncoder                    The encoding for the backend (default Slash,BackSlash,Del,Ctl,RightSpace,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --box-list-chunk int                           Size of listing chunk 1-1000 (default 1000)
      --box-owned-by string                          Only show items owned by the login (email address) passed in
      --box-root-folder-id string                    Fill in for rclone to use a non root folder as its starting point
      --box-token string                             OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob
      --box-token-url string                         Token server url
      --box-upload-cutoff SizeSuffix                 Cutoff for switching to multipart upload (>= 50 MiB) (default 50Mi)
      --cache-chunk-clean-interval Duration          How often should the cache perform cleanups of the chunk storage (default 1m0s)
      --cache-chunk-no-memory                        Disable the in-memory cache for storing chunks during streaming
      --cache-chunk-path string                      Directory to cache chunk files (default "$HOME/.cache/rclone/cache-backend")
      --cache-chunk-size SizeSuffix                  The size of a chunk (partial file data) (default 5Mi)
      --cache-chunk-total-size SizeSuffix            The total size that the chunks can take up on the local disk (default 10Gi)
      --cache-db-path string                         Directory to store file structure metadata DB (default "$HOME/.cache/rclone/cache-backend")
      --cache-db-purge                               Clear all the cached data for this remote on start
      --cache-db-wait-time Duration                  How long to wait for the DB to be available - 0 is unlimited (default 1s)
      --cache-info-age Duration                      How long to cache file structure information (directory listings, file size, times, etc.) (default 6h0m0s)
      --cache-plex-insecure string                   Skip all certificate verification when connecting to the Plex server
      --cache-plex-password string                   The password of the Plex user (obscured)
      --cache-plex-url string                        The URL of the Plex server
      --cache-plex-username string                   The username of the Plex user
      --cache-read-retries int                       How many times to retry a read from a cache storage (default 10)
      --cache-remote string                          Remote to cache
      --cache-rps int                                Limits the number of requests per second to the source FS (-1 to disable) (default -1)
      --cache-tmp-upload-path string                 Directory to keep temporary files until they are uploaded
      --cache-tmp-wait-time Duration                 How long should files be stored in local cache before being uploaded (default 15s)
      --cache-workers int                            How many workers should run in parallel to download chunks (default 4)
      --cache-writes                                 Cache file data on writes through the FS
      --chunker-chunk-size SizeSuffix                Files larger than chunk size will be split in chunks (default 2Gi)
      --chunker-fail-hard                            Choose how chunker should handle files with missing or invalid chunks
      --chunker-hash-type string                     Choose how chunker handles hash sums (default "md5")
      --chunker-remote string                        Remote to chunk/unchunk
      --compress-level int                           GZIP compression level (-2 to 9) (default -1)
      --compress-mode string                         Compression mode (default "gzip")
      --compress-ram-cache-limit SizeSuffix          Some remotes don't allow the upload of files with unknown size (default 20Mi)
      --compress-remote string                       Remote to compress
  -L, --copy-links                                   Follow symlinks and copy the pointed to item
      --crypt-directory-name-encryption              Option to either encrypt directory names or leave them intact (default true)
      --crypt-filename-encoding string               How to encode the encrypted filename to text string (default "base32")
      --crypt-filename-encryption string             How to encrypt the filenames (default "standard")
      --crypt-no-data-encryption                     Option to either encrypt file data or leave it unencrypted
      --crypt-password string                        Password or pass phrase for encryption (obscured)
      --crypt-password2 string                       Password or pass phrase for salt (obscured)
      --crypt-remote string                          Remote to encrypt/decrypt
      --crypt-server-side-across-configs             Allow server-side operations (e.g. copy) to work across different crypt configs
      --crypt-show-mapping                           For all files listed show how the names encrypt
      --drive-acknowledge-abuse                      Set to allow files which return cannotDownloadAbusiveFile to be downloaded
      --drive-allow-import-name-change               Allow the filetype to change when uploading Google docs
      --drive-auth-owner-only                        Only consider files owned by the authenticated user
      --drive-auth-url string                        Auth server URL
      --drive-chunk-size SizeSuffix                  Upload chunk size (default 8Mi)
      --drive-client-id string                       Google Application Client Id
      --drive-client-secret string                   OAuth Client Secret
      --drive-copy-shortcut-content                  Server side copy contents of shortcuts instead of the shortcut
      --drive-disable-http2                          Disable drive using http2 (default true)
      --drive-encoding MultiEncoder                  The encoding for the backend (default InvalidUtf8)
      --drive-export-formats string                  Comma separated list of preferred formats for downloading Google docs (default "docx,xlsx,pptx,svg")
      --drive-formats string                         Deprecated: See export_formats
      --drive-impersonate string                     Impersonate this user when using a service account
      --drive-import-formats string                  Comma separated list of preferred formats for uploading Google docs
      --drive-keep-revision-forever                  Keep new head revision of each file forever
      --drive-list-chunk int                         Size of listing chunk 100-1000, 0 to disable (default 1000)
      --drive-pacer-burst int                        Number of API calls to allow without sleeping (default 100)
      --drive-pacer-min-sleep Duration               Minimum time to sleep between API calls (default 100ms)
      --drive-root-folder-id string                  ID of the root folder
      --drive-scope string                           Scope that rclone should use when requesting access from drive
      --drive-server-side-across-configs             Allow server-side operations (e.g. copy) to work across different drive configs
      --drive-service-account-credentials string     Service Account Credentials JSON blob
      --drive-service-account-file string            Service Account Credentials JSON file path
      --drive-shared-with-me                         Only show files that are shared with me
      --drive-size-as-quota                          Show sizes as storage quota usage, not actual size
      --drive-skip-checksum-gphotos                  Skip MD5 checksum on Google photos and videos only
      --drive-skip-dangling-shortcuts                If set skip dangling shortcut files
      --drive-skip-gdocs                             Skip google documents in all listings
      --drive-skip-shortcuts                         If set skip shortcut files
      --drive-starred-only                           Only show files that are starred
      --drive-stop-on-download-limit                 Make download limit errors be fatal
      --drive-stop-on-upload-limit                   Make upload limit errors be fatal
      --drive-team-drive string                      ID of the Shared Drive (Team Drive)
      --drive-token string                           OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob
      --drive-token-url string                       Token server url
      --drive-trashed-only                           Only show files that are in the trash
      --drive-upload-cutoff SizeSuffix               Cutoff for switching to chunked upload (default 8Mi)
      --drive-use-created-date                       Use file created date instead of modified date
      --drive-use-shared-date                        Use date file was shared instead of modified date
      --drive-use-trash                              Send files to the trash instead of deleting permanently (default true)
      --drive-v2-download-min-size SizeSuffix        If Object's are greater, use drive v2 API to download (default off)
      --dropbox-auth-url string                      Auth server URL
      --dropbox-batch-commit-timeout Duration        Max time to wait for a batch to finish comitting (default 10m0s)
      --dropbox-batch-mode string                    Upload file batching sync|async|off (default "sync")
      --dropbox-batch-size int                       Max number of files in upload batch
      --dropbox-batch-timeout Duration               Max time to allow an idle upload batch before uploading (default 0s)
      --dropbox-chunk-size SizeSuffix                Upload chunk size (< 150Mi) (default 48Mi)
      --dropbox-client-id string                     OAuth Client Id
      --dropbox-client-secret string                 OAuth Client Secret
      --dropbox-encoding MultiEncoder                The encoding for the backend (default Slash,BackSlash,Del,RightSpace,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --dropbox-impersonate string                   Impersonate this user when using a business account
      --dropbox-shared-files                         Instructs rclone to work on individual shared files
      --dropbox-shared-folders                       Instructs rclone to work on shared folders
      --dropbox-token string                         OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob
      --dropbox-token-url string                     Token server url
      --fichier-api-key string                       Your API Key, get it from https://1fichier.com/console/params.pl
      --fichier-encoding MultiEncoder                The encoding for the backend (default Slash,LtGt,DoubleQuote,SingleQuote,BackQuote,Dollar,BackSlash,Del,Ctl,LeftSpace,RightSpace,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --fichier-file-password string                 If you want to download a shared file that is password protected, add this parameter (obscured)
      --fichier-folder-password string               If you want to list the files in a shared folder that is password protected, add this parameter (obscured)
      --fichier-shared-folder string                 If you want to download a shared folder, add this parameter
      --filefabric-encoding MultiEncoder             The encoding for the backend (default Slash,Del,Ctl,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --filefabric-permanent-token string            Permanent Authentication Token
      --filefabric-root-folder-id string             ID of the root folder
      --filefabric-token string                      Session Token
      --filefabric-token-expiry string               Token expiry time
      --filefabric-url string                        URL of the Enterprise File Fabric to connect to
      --filefabric-version string                    Version read from the file fabric
      --ftp-ask-password                             Allow asking for FTP password when needed
      --ftp-close-timeout Duration                   Maximum time to wait for a response to close (default 1m0s)
      --ftp-concurrency int                          Maximum number of FTP simultaneous connections, 0 for unlimited
      --ftp-disable-epsv                             Disable using EPSV even if server advertises support
      --ftp-disable-mlsd                             Disable using MLSD even if server advertises support
      --ftp-disable-tls13                            Disable TLS 1.3 (workaround for FTP servers with buggy TLS)
      --ftp-encoding MultiEncoder                    The encoding for the backend (default Slash,Del,Ctl,RightSpace,Dot)
      --ftp-explicit-tls                             Use Explicit FTPS (FTP over TLS)
      --ftp-host string                              FTP host to connect to
      --ftp-idle-timeout Duration                    Max time before closing idle connections (default 1m0s)
      --ftp-no-check-certificate                     Do not verify the TLS certificate of the server
      --ftp-pass string                              FTP password (obscured)
      --ftp-port int                                 FTP port number (default 21)
      --ftp-shut-timeout Duration                    Maximum time to wait for data connection closing status (default 1m0s)
      --ftp-tls                                      Use Implicit FTPS (FTP over TLS)
      --ftp-tls-cache-size int                       Size of TLS session cache for all control and data connections (default 32)
      --ftp-user string                              FTP username (default "$USER")
      --ftp-writing-mdtm                             Use MDTM to set modification time (VsFtpd quirk)
      --gcs-anonymous                                Access public buckets and objects without credentials
      --gcs-auth-url string                          Auth server URL
      --gcs-bucket-acl string                        Access Control List for new buckets
      --gcs-bucket-policy-only                       Access checks should use bucket-level IAM policies
      --gcs-client-id string                         OAuth Client Id
      --gcs-client-secret string                     OAuth Client Secret
      --gcs-encoding MultiEncoder                    The encoding for the backend (default Slash,CrLf,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --gcs-location string                          Location for the newly created buckets
      --gcs-object-acl string                        Access Control List for new objects
      --gcs-project-number string                    Project number
      --gcs-service-account-file string              Service Account Credentials JSON file path
      --gcs-storage-class string                     The storage class to use when storing objects in Google Cloud Storage
      --gcs-token string                             OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob
      --gcs-token-url string                         Token server url
      --gphotos-auth-url string                      Auth server URL
      --gphotos-client-id string                     OAuth Client Id
      --gphotos-client-secret string                 OAuth Client Secret
      --gphotos-encoding MultiEncoder                The encoding for the backend (default Slash,CrLf,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --gphotos-include-archived                     Also view and download archived media
      --gphotos-read-only                            Set to make the Google Photos backend read only
      --gphotos-read-size                            Set to read the size of media items
      --gphotos-start-year int                       Year limits the photos to be downloaded to those which are uploaded after the given year (default 2000)
      --gphotos-token string                         OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob
      --gphotos-token-url string                     Token server url
      --hasher-auto-size SizeSuffix                  Auto-update checksum for files smaller than this size (disabled by default)
      --hasher-hashes CommaSepList                   Comma separated list of supported checksum types (default md5,sha1)
      --hasher-max-age Duration                      Maximum time to keep checksums in cache (0 = no cache, off = cache forever) (default off)
      --hasher-remote string                         Remote to cache checksums for (e.g. myRemote:path)
      --hdfs-data-transfer-protection string         Kerberos data transfer protection: authentication|integrity|privacy
      --hdfs-encoding MultiEncoder                   The encoding for the backend (default Slash,Colon,Del,Ctl,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --hdfs-namenode string                         Hadoop name node and port
      --hdfs-service-principal-name string           Kerberos service principal name for the namenode
      --hdfs-username string                         Hadoop user name
      --http-headers CommaSepList                    Set HTTP headers for all transactions
      --http-no-head                                 Don't use HEAD requests
      --http-no-slash                                Set this if the site doesn't end directories with /
      --http-url string                              URL of http host to connect to
      --hubic-auth-url string                        Auth server URL
      --hubic-chunk-size SizeSuffix                  Above this size files will be chunked into a _segments container (default 5Gi)
      --hubic-client-id string                       OAuth Client Id
      --hubic-client-secret string                   OAuth Client Secret
      --hubic-encoding MultiEncoder                  The encoding for the backend (default Slash,InvalidUtf8)
      --hubic-no-chunk                               Don't chunk files during streaming upload
      --hubic-token string                           OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob
      --hubic-token-url string                       Token server url
      --jottacloud-encoding MultiEncoder             The encoding for the backend (default Slash,LtGt,DoubleQuote,Colon,Question,Asterisk,Pipe,Del,Ctl,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --jottacloud-hard-delete                       Delete files permanently rather than putting them into the trash
      --jottacloud-md5-memory-limit SizeSuffix       Files bigger than this will be cached on disk to calculate the MD5 if required (default 10Mi)
      --jottacloud-no-versions                       Avoid server side versioning by deleting files and recreating files instead of overwriting them
      --jottacloud-trashed-only                      Only show files that are in the trash
      --jottacloud-upload-resume-limit SizeSuffix    Files bigger than this can be resumed if the upload fail's (default 10Mi)
      --koofr-encoding MultiEncoder                  The encoding for the backend (default Slash,BackSlash,Del,Ctl,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --koofr-endpoint string                        The Koofr API endpoint to use
      --koofr-mountid string                         Mount ID of the mount to use
      --koofr-password string                        Your password for rclone (generate one at https://app.koofr.net/app/admin/preferences/password) (obscured)
      --koofr-provider string                        Choose your storage provider
      --koofr-setmtime                               Does the backend support setting modification time (default true)
      --koofr-user string                            Your user name
  -l, --links                                        Translate symlinks to/from regular files with a '.rclonelink' extension
      --local-case-insensitive                       Force the filesystem to report itself as case insensitive
      --local-case-sensitive                         Force the filesystem to report itself as case sensitive
      --local-encoding MultiEncoder                  The encoding for the backend (default Slash,Dot)
      --local-no-check-updated                       Don't check to see if the files change during upload
      --local-no-preallocate                         Disable preallocation of disk space for transferred files
      --local-no-set-modtime                         Disable setting modtime
      --local-no-sparse                              Disable sparse files for multi-thread downloads
      --local-nounc string                           Disable UNC (long path names) conversion on Windows
      --local-unicode-normalization                  Apply unicode NFC normalization to paths and filenames
      --local-zero-size-links                        Assume the Stat size of links is zero (and read them instead) (deprecated)
      --mailru-check-hash                            What should copy do if file checksum is mismatched or invalid (default true)
      --mailru-encoding MultiEncoder                 The encoding for the backend (default Slash,LtGt,DoubleQuote,Colon,Question,Asterisk,Pipe,BackSlash,Del,Ctl,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --mailru-pass string                           Password (obscured)
      --mailru-speedup-enable                        Skip full upload if there is another file with same data hash (default true)
      --mailru-speedup-file-patterns string          Comma separated list of file name patterns eligible for speedup (put by hash) (default "*.mkv,*.avi,*.mp4,*.mp3,*.zip,*.gz,*.rar,*.pdf")
      --mailru-speedup-max-disk SizeSuffix           This option allows you to disable speedup (put by hash) for large files (default 3Gi)
      --mailru-speedup-max-memory SizeSuffix         Files larger than the size given below will always be hashed on disk (default 32Mi)
      --mailru-user string                           User name (usually email)
      --mega-debug                                   Output more debug from Mega
      --mega-encoding MultiEncoder                   The encoding for the backend (default Slash,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --mega-hard-delete                             Delete files permanently rather than putting them into the trash
      --mega-pass string                             Password (obscured)
      --mega-user string                             User name
      --netstorage-account string                    Set the NetStorage account name
      --netstorage-host string                       Domain+path of NetStorage host to connect to
      --netstorage-protocol string                   Select between HTTP or HTTPS protocol (default "https")
      --netstorage-secret string                     Set the NetStorage account secret/G2O key for authentication (obscured)
  -x, --one-file-system                              Don't cross filesystem boundaries (unix/macOS only)
      --onedrive-auth-url string                     Auth server URL
      --onedrive-chunk-size SizeSuffix               Chunk size to upload files with - must be multiple of 320k (327,680 bytes) (default 10Mi)
      --onedrive-client-id string                    OAuth Client Id
      --onedrive-client-secret string                OAuth Client Secret
      --onedrive-disable-site-permission             Disable the request for Sites.Read.All permission
      --onedrive-drive-id string                     The ID of the drive to use
      --onedrive-drive-type string                   The type of the drive (personal | business | documentLibrary)
      --onedrive-encoding MultiEncoder               The encoding for the backend (default Slash,LtGt,DoubleQuote,Colon,Question,Asterisk,Pipe,BackSlash,Del,Ctl,LeftSpace,LeftTilde,RightSpace,RightPeriod,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --onedrive-expose-onenote-files                Set to make OneNote files show up in directory listings
      --onedrive-link-password string                Set the password for links created by the link command
      --onedrive-link-scope string                   Set the scope of the links created by the link command (default "anonymous")
      --onedrive-link-type string                    Set the type of the links created by the link command (default "view")
      --onedrive-list-chunk int                      Size of listing chunk (default 1000)
      --onedrive-no-versions                         Remove all versions on modifying operations
      --onedrive-region string                       Choose national cloud region for OneDrive (default "global")
      --onedrive-root-folder-id string               ID of the root folder
      --onedrive-server-side-across-configs          Allow server-side operations (e.g. copy) to work across different onedrive configs
      --onedrive-token string                        OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob
      --onedrive-token-url string                    Token server url
      --opendrive-chunk-size SizeSuffix              Files will be uploaded in chunks this size (default 10Mi)
      --opendrive-encoding MultiEncoder              The encoding for the backend (default Slash,LtGt,DoubleQuote,Colon,Question,Asterisk,Pipe,BackSlash,LeftSpace,LeftCrLfHtVt,RightSpace,RightCrLfHtVt,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --opendrive-password string                    Password (obscured)
      --opendrive-username string                    Username
      --pcloud-auth-url string                       Auth server URL
      --pcloud-client-id string                      OAuth Client Id
      --pcloud-client-secret string                  OAuth Client Secret
      --pcloud-encoding MultiEncoder                 The encoding for the backend (default Slash,BackSlash,Del,Ctl,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --pcloud-hostname string                       Hostname to connect to (default "api.pcloud.com")
      --pcloud-root-folder-id string                 Fill in for rclone to use a non root folder as its starting point (default "d0")
      --pcloud-token string                          OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob
      --pcloud-token-url string                      Token server url
      --premiumizeme-encoding MultiEncoder           The encoding for the backend (default Slash,DoubleQuote,BackSlash,Del,Ctl,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --putio-encoding MultiEncoder                  The encoding for the backend (default Slash,BackSlash,Del,Ctl,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --qingstor-access-key-id string                QingStor Access Key ID
      --qingstor-chunk-size SizeSuffix               Chunk size to use for uploading (default 4Mi)
      --qingstor-connection-retries int              Number of connection retries (default 3)
      --qingstor-encoding MultiEncoder               The encoding for the backend (default Slash,Ctl,InvalidUtf8)
      --qingstor-endpoint string                     Enter an endpoint URL to connection QingStor API
      --qingstor-env-auth                            Get QingStor credentials from runtime
      --qingstor-secret-access-key string            QingStor Secret Access Key (password)
      --qingstor-upload-concurrency int              Concurrency for multipart uploads (default 1)
      --qingstor-upload-cutoff SizeSuffix            Cutoff for switching to chunked upload (default 200Mi)
      --qingstor-zone string                         Zone to connect to
      --s3-access-key-id string                      AWS Access Key ID
      --s3-acl string                                Canned ACL used when creating buckets and storing or copying objects
      --s3-bucket-acl string                         Canned ACL used when creating buckets
      --s3-chunk-size SizeSuffix                     Chunk size to use for uploading (default 5Mi)
      --s3-copy-cutoff SizeSuffix                    Cutoff for switching to multipart copy (default 4.656Gi)
      --s3-disable-checksum                          Don't store MD5 checksum with object metadata
      --s3-disable-http2                             Disable usage of http2 for S3 backends
      --s3-download-url string                       Custom endpoint for downloads
      --s3-encoding MultiEncoder                     The encoding for the backend (default Slash,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --s3-endpoint string                           Endpoint for S3 API
      --s3-env-auth                                  Get AWS credentials from runtime (environment variables or EC2/ECS meta data if no env vars)
      --s3-force-path-style                          If true use path style access if false use virtual hosted style (default true)
      --s3-leave-parts-on-error                      If true avoid calling abort upload on a failure, leaving all successfully uploaded parts on S3 for manual recovery
      --s3-list-chunk int                            Size of listing chunk (response list for each ListObject S3 request) (default 1000)
      --s3-list-url-encode Tristate                  Whether to url encode listings: true/false/unset (default unset)
      --s3-list-version int                          Version of ListObjects to use: 1,2 or 0 for auto
      --s3-location-constraint string                Location constraint - must be set to match the Region
      --s3-max-upload-parts int                      Maximum number of parts in a multipart upload (default 10000)
      --s3-memory-pool-flush-time Duration           How often internal memory buffer pools will be flushed (default 1m0s)
      --s3-memory-pool-use-mmap                      Whether to use mmap buffers in internal memory pool
      --s3-no-check-bucket                           If set, don't attempt to check the bucket exists or create it
      --s3-no-head                                   If set, don't HEAD uploaded objects to check integrity
      --s3-no-head-object                            If set, do not do HEAD before GET when getting objects
      --s3-profile string                            Profile to use in the shared credentials file
      --s3-provider string                           Choose your S3 provider
      --s3-region string                             Region to connect to
      --s3-requester-pays                            Enables requester pays option when interacting with S3 bucket
      --s3-secret-access-key string                  AWS Secret Access Key (password)
      --s3-server-side-encryption string             The server-side encryption algorithm used when storing this object in S3
      --s3-session-token string                      An AWS session token
      --s3-shared-credentials-file string            Path to the shared credentials file
      --s3-sse-customer-algorithm string             If using SSE-C, the server-side encryption algorithm used when storing this object in S3
      --s3-sse-customer-key string                   If using SSE-C you must provide the secret encryption key used to encrypt/decrypt your data
      --s3-sse-customer-key-md5 string               If using SSE-C you may provide the secret encryption key MD5 checksum (optional)
      --s3-sse-kms-key-id string                     If using KMS ID you must provide the ARN of Key
      --s3-storage-class string                      The storage class to use when storing new objects in S3
      --s3-upload-concurrency int                    Concurrency for multipart uploads (default 4)
      --s3-upload-cutoff SizeSuffix                  Cutoff for switching to chunked upload (default 200Mi)
      --s3-use-accelerate-endpoint                   If true use the AWS S3 accelerated endpoint
      --s3-use-multipart-etag Tristate               Whether to use ETag in multipart uploads for verification (default unset)
      --s3-v2-auth                                   If true use v2 authentication
      --seafile-2fa                                  Two-factor authentication ('true' if the account has 2FA enabled)
      --seafile-create-library                       Should rclone create a library if it doesn't exist
      --seafile-encoding MultiEncoder                The encoding for the backend (default Slash,DoubleQuote,BackSlash,Ctl,InvalidUtf8)
      --seafile-library string                       Name of the library
      --seafile-library-key string                   Library password (for encrypted libraries only) (obscured)
      --seafile-pass string                          Password (obscured)
      --seafile-url string                           URL of seafile host to connect to
      --seafile-user string                          User name (usually email address)
      --sftp-ask-password                            Allow asking for SFTP password when needed
      --sftp-disable-concurrent-reads                If set don't use concurrent reads
      --sftp-disable-concurrent-writes               If set don't use concurrent writes
      --sftp-disable-hashcheck                       Disable the execution of SSH commands to determine if remote file hashing is available
      --sftp-host string                             SSH host to connect to
      --sftp-idle-timeout Duration                   Max time before closing idle connections (default 1m0s)
      --sftp-key-file string                         Path to PEM-encoded private key file
      --sftp-key-file-pass string                    The passphrase to decrypt the PEM-encoded private key file (obscured)
      --sftp-key-pem string                          Raw PEM-encoded private key
      --sftp-key-use-agent                           When set forces the usage of the ssh-agent
      --sftp-known-hosts-file string                 Optional path to known_hosts file
      --sftp-md5sum-command string                   The command used to read md5 hashes
      --sftp-pass string                             SSH password, leave blank to use ssh-agent (obscured)
      --sftp-path-override string                    Override path used by SSH connection
      --sftp-port int                                SSH port number (default 22)
      --sftp-pubkey-file string                      Optional path to public key file
      --sftp-server-command string                   Specifies the path or command to run a sftp server on the remote host
      --sftp-set-modtime                             Set the modified time on the remote if set (default true)
      --sftp-sha1sum-command string                  The command used to read sha1 hashes
      --sftp-skip-links                              Set to skip any symlinks and any other non regular files
      --sftp-subsystem string                        Specifies the SSH2 subsystem on the remote host (default "sftp")
      --sftp-use-fstat                               If set use fstat instead of stat
      --sftp-use-insecure-cipher                     Enable the use of insecure ciphers and key exchange methods
      --sftp-user string                             SSH username (default "$USER")
      --sharefile-chunk-size SizeSuffix              Upload chunk size (default 64Mi)
      --sharefile-encoding MultiEncoder              The encoding for the backend (default Slash,LtGt,DoubleQuote,Colon,Question,Asterisk,Pipe,BackSlash,Ctl,LeftSpace,LeftPeriod,RightSpace,RightPeriod,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --sharefile-endpoint string                    Endpoint for API calls
      --sharefile-root-folder-id string              ID of the root folder
      --sharefile-upload-cutoff SizeSuffix           Cutoff for switching to multipart upload (default 128Mi)
      --sia-api-password string                      Sia Daemon API Password (obscured)
      --sia-api-url string                           Sia daemon API URL, like http://sia.daemon.host:9980 (default "http://127.0.0.1:9980")
      --sia-encoding MultiEncoder                    The encoding for the backend (default Slash,Question,Hash,Percent,Del,Ctl,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --sia-user-agent string                        Siad User Agent (default "Sia-Agent")
      --skip-links                                   Don't warn about skipped symlinks
      --storj-access-grant string                    Access grant
      --storj-api-key string                         API key
      --storj-passphrase string                      Encryption passphrase
      --storj-provider string                        Choose an authentication method (default "existing")
      --storj-satellite-address string               Satellite address (default "us-central-1.storj.io")
      --sugarsync-access-key-id string               Sugarsync Access Key ID
      --sugarsync-app-id string                      Sugarsync App ID
      --sugarsync-authorization string               Sugarsync authorization
      --sugarsync-authorization-expiry string        Sugarsync authorization expiry
      --sugarsync-deleted-id string                  Sugarsync deleted folder id
      --sugarsync-encoding MultiEncoder              The encoding for the backend (default Slash,Ctl,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --sugarsync-hard-delete                        Permanently delete files if true
      --sugarsync-private-access-key string          Sugarsync Private Access Key
      --sugarsync-refresh-token string               Sugarsync refresh token
      --sugarsync-root-id string                     Sugarsync root id
      --sugarsync-user string                        Sugarsync user
      --swift-application-credential-id string       Application Credential ID (OS_APPLICATION_CREDENTIAL_ID)
      --swift-application-credential-name string     Application Credential Name (OS_APPLICATION_CREDENTIAL_NAME)
      --swift-application-credential-secret string   Application Credential Secret (OS_APPLICATION_CREDENTIAL_SECRET)
      --swift-auth string                            Authentication URL for server (OS_AUTH_URL)
      --swift-auth-token string                      Auth Token from alternate authentication - optional (OS_AUTH_TOKEN)
      --swift-auth-version int                       AuthVersion - optional - set to (1,2,3) if your auth URL has no version (ST_AUTH_VERSION)
      --swift-chunk-size SizeSuffix                  Above this size files will be chunked into a _segments container (default 5Gi)
      --swift-domain string                          User domain - optional (v3 auth) (OS_USER_DOMAIN_NAME)
      --swift-encoding MultiEncoder                  The encoding for the backend (default Slash,InvalidUtf8)
      --swift-endpoint-type string                   Endpoint type to choose from the service catalogue (OS_ENDPOINT_TYPE) (default "public")
      --swift-env-auth                               Get swift credentials from environment variables in standard OpenStack form
      --swift-key string                             API key or password (OS_PASSWORD)
      --swift-leave-parts-on-error                   If true avoid calling abort upload on a failure
      --swift-no-chunk                               Don't chunk files during streaming upload
      --swift-region string                          Region name - optional (OS_REGION_NAME)
      --swift-storage-policy string                  The storage policy to use when creating a new container
      --swift-storage-url string                     Storage URL - optional (OS_STORAGE_URL)
      --swift-tenant string                          Tenant name - optional for v1 auth, this or tenant_id required otherwise (OS_TENANT_NAME or OS_PROJECT_NAME)
      --swift-tenant-domain string                   Tenant domain - optional (v3 auth) (OS_PROJECT_DOMAIN_NAME)
      --swift-tenant-id string                       Tenant ID - optional for v1 auth, this or tenant required otherwise (OS_TENANT_ID)
      --swift-user string                            User name to log in (OS_USERNAME)
      --swift-user-id string                         User ID to log in - optional - most swift systems use user and leave this blank (v3 auth) (OS_USER_ID)
      --union-action-policy string                   Policy to choose upstream on ACTION category (default "epall")
      --union-cache-time int                         Cache time of usage and free space (in seconds) (default 120)
      --union-create-policy string                   Policy to choose upstream on CREATE category (default "epmfs")
      --union-search-policy string                   Policy to choose upstream on SEARCH category (default "ff")
      --union-upstreams string                       List of space separated upstreams
      --uptobox-access-token string                  Your access token
      --uptobox-encoding MultiEncoder                The encoding for the backend (default Slash,LtGt,DoubleQuote,BackQuote,Del,Ctl,LeftSpace,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --webdav-bearer-token string                   Bearer token instead of user/pass (e.g. a Macaroon)
      --webdav-bearer-token-command string           Command to run to get a bearer token
      --webdav-encoding string                       The encoding for the backend
      --webdav-headers CommaSepList                  Set HTTP headers for all transactions
      --webdav-pass string                           Password (obscured)
      --webdav-url string                            URL of http host to connect to
      --webdav-user string                           User name
      --webdav-vendor string                         Name of the Webdav site/service/software you are using
      --yandex-auth-url string                       Auth server URL
      --yandex-client-id string                      OAuth Client Id
      --yandex-client-secret string                  OAuth Client Secret
      --yandex-encoding MultiEncoder                 The encoding for the backend (default Slash,Del,Ctl,InvalidUtf8,Dot)
      --yandex-hard-delete                           Delete files permanently rather than putting them into the trash
      --yandex-token string                          OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob
      --yandex-token-url string                      Token server url
      --zoho-auth-url string                         Auth server URL
      --zoho-client-id string                        OAuth Client Id
      --zoho-client-secret string                    OAuth Client Secret
      --zoho-encoding MultiEncoder                   The encoding for the backend (default Del,Ctl,InvalidUtf8)
      --zoho-region string                           Zoho region to connect to
      --zoho-token string                            OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob
      --zoho-token-url string                        Token server url

Docker Volume Plugin

Introduction

Docker 1.9 has added support for creating named volumes via command-line interface and mounting them in containers as a way to share data between them. Since Docker 1.10 you can create named volumes with Docker Compose by descriptions in docker-compose.yml files for use by container groups on a single host. As of Docker 1.12 volumes are supported by Docker Swarm included with Docker Engine and created from descriptions in swarm compose v3 files for use with swarm stacks across multiple cluster nodes.

Docker Volume Plugins augment the default local volume driver included in Docker with stateful volumes shared across containers and hosts. Unlike local volumes, your data will not be deleted when such volume is removed. Plugins can run managed by the docker daemon, as a native system service (under systemd, sysv or upstart) or as a standalone executable. Rclone can run as docker volume plugin in all these modes. It interacts with the local docker daemon via plugin API and handles mounting of remote file systems into docker containers so it must run on the same host as the docker daemon or on every Swarm node.

Getting started

In the first example we will use the SFTP rclone volume with Docker engine on a standalone Ubuntu machine.

Start from installing Docker on the host.

The FUSE driver is a prerequisite for rclone mounting and should be installed on host:

sudo apt-get -y install fuse

Create two directories required by rclone docker plugin:

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/docker-plugins/rclone/config
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/docker-plugins/rclone/cache

Install the managed rclone docker plugin for your architecture (here amd64):

docker plugin install rclone/docker-volume-rclone:amd64 args="-v" --alias rclone --grant-all-permissions
docker plugin list

Create your SFTP volume:

docker volume create firstvolume -d rclone -o type=sftp -o sftp-host=_hostname_ -o sftp-user=_username_ -o sftp-pass=_password_ -o allow-other=true

Note that since all options are static, you don't even have to run rclone config or create the rclone.conf file (but the config directory should still be present). In the simplest case you can use localhost as hostname and your SSH credentials as username and password. You can also change the remote path to your home directory on the host, for example -o path=/home/username.

Time to create a test container and mount the volume into it:

docker run --rm -it -v firstvolume:/mnt --workdir /mnt ubuntu:latest bash

If all goes well, you will enter the new container and change right to the mounted SFTP remote. You can type ls to list the mounted directory or otherwise play with it. Type exit when you are done. The container will stop but the volume will stay, ready to be reused. When it's not needed anymore, remove it:

docker volume list
docker volume remove firstvolume

Now let us try something more elaborate: Google Drive volume on multi-node Docker Swarm.

You should start from installing Docker and FUSE, creating plugin directories and installing rclone plugin on every swarm node. Then setup the Swarm.

Google Drive volumes need an access token which can be setup via web browser and will be periodically renewed by rclone. The managed plugin cannot run a browser so we will use a technique similar to the rclone setup on a headless box.

Run rclone config on another machine equipped with web browser and graphical user interface. Create the Google Drive remote. When done, transfer the resulting rclone.conf to the Swarm cluster and save as /var/lib/docker-plugins/rclone/config/rclone.conf on every node. By default this location is accessible only to the root user so you will need appropriate privileges. The resulting config will look like this:

[gdrive]
type = drive
scope = drive
drive_id = 1234567...
root_folder_id = 0Abcd...
token = {"access_token":...}

Now create the file named example.yml with a swarm stack description like this:

version: '3'
services:
  heimdall:
    image: linuxserver/heimdall:latest
    ports: [8080:80]
    volumes: [configdata:/config]
volumes:
  configdata:
    driver: rclone
    driver_opts:
      remote: 'gdrive:heimdall'
      allow_other: 'true'
      vfs_cache_mode: full
      poll_interval: 0

and run the stack:

docker stack deploy example -c ./example.yml

After a few seconds docker will spread the parsed stack description over cluster, create the example_heimdall service on port 8080, run service containers on one or more cluster nodes and request the example_configdata volume from rclone plugins on the node hosts. You can use the following commands to confirm results:

docker service ls
docker service ps example_heimdall
docker volume ls

Point your browser to http://cluster.host.address:8080 and play with the service. Stop it with docker stack remove example when you are done. Note that the example_configdata volume(s) created on demand at the cluster nodes will not be automatically removed together with the stack but stay for future reuse. You can remove them manually by invoking the docker volume remove example_configdata command on every node.

Creating Volumes via CLI

Volumes can be created with docker volume create. Here are a few examples:

docker volume create vol1 -d rclone -o remote=storj: -o vfs-cache-mode=full
docker volume create vol2 -d rclone -o remote=:storj,access_grant=xxx:heimdall
docker volume create vol3 -d rclone -o type=storj -o path=heimdall -o storj-access-grant=xxx -o poll-interval=0

Note the -d rclone flag that tells docker to request volume from the rclone driver. This works even if you installed managed driver by its full name rclone/docker-volume-rclone because you provided the --alias rclone option.

Volumes can be inspected as follows:

docker volume list
docker volume inspect vol1

Volume Configuration

Rclone flags and volume options are set via the -o flag to the docker volume create command. They include backend-specific parameters as well as mount and VFS options. Also there are a few special -o options: remote, fs, type, path, mount-type and persist.

remote determines an existing remote name from the config file, with trailing colon and optionally with a remote path. See the full syntax in the rclone documentation. This option can be aliased as fs to prevent confusion with the remote parameter of such backends as crypt or alias.

The remote=:backend:dir/subdir syntax can be used to create on-the-fly (config-less) remotes, while the type and path options provide a simpler alternative for this. Using two split options

-o type=backend -o path=dir/subdir

is equivalent to the combined syntax

-o remote=:backend:dir/subdir

but is arguably easier to parameterize in scripts. The path part is optional.

Mount and VFS options as well as backend parameters are named like their twin command-line flags without the -- CLI prefix. Optionally you can use underscores instead of dashes in option names. For example, --vfs-cache-mode full becomes -o vfs-cache-mode=full or -o vfs_cache_mode=full. Boolean CLI flags without value will gain the true value, e.g. --allow-other becomes -o allow-other=true or -o allow_other=true.

Please note that you can provide parameters only for the backend immediately referenced by the backend type of mounted remote. If this is a wrapping backend like alias, chunker or crypt, you cannot provide options for the referred to remote or backend. This limitation is imposed by the rclone connection string parser. The only workaround is to feed plugin with rclone.conf or configure plugin arguments (see below).

Special Volume Options

mount-type determines the mount method and in general can be one of: mount, cmount, or mount2. This can be aliased as mount_type. It should be noted that the managed rclone docker plugin currently does not support the cmount method and mount2 is rarely needed. This option defaults to the first found method, which is usually mount so you generally won't need it.

persist is a reserved boolean (true/false) option. In future it will allow to persist on-the-fly remotes in the plugin rclone.conf file.

Connection Strings

The remote value can be extended with connection strings as an alternative way to supply backend parameters. This is equivalent to the -o backend options with one syntactic difference. Inside connection string the backend prefix must be dropped from parameter names but in the -o param=value array it must be present. For instance, compare the following option array

-o remote=:sftp:/home -o sftp-host=localhost

with equivalent connection string:

-o remote=:sftp,host=localhost:/home

This difference exists because flag options -o key=val include not only backend parameters but also mount/VFS flags and possibly other settings. Also it allows to discriminate the remote option from the crypt-remote (or similarly named backend parameters) and arguably simplifies scripting due to clearer value substitution.

Using with Swarm or Compose

Both Docker Swarm and Docker Compose use YAML-formatted text files to describe groups (stacks) of containers, their properties, networks and volumes. Compose uses the compose v2 format, Swarm uses the compose v3 format. They are mostly similar, differences are explained in the docker documentation.

Volumes are described by the children of the top-level volumes: node. Each of them should be named after its volume and have at least two elements, the self-explanatory driver: rclone value and the driver_opts: structure playing the same role as -o key=val CLI flags:

volumes:
  volume_name_1:
    driver: rclone
    driver_opts:
      remote: 'gdrive:'
      allow_other: 'true'
      vfs_cache_mode: full
      token: '{"type": "borrower", "expires": "2021-12-31"}'
      poll_interval: 0

Notice a few important details: - YAML prefers _ in option names instead of -. - YAML treats single and double quotes interchangeably. Simple strings and integers can be left unquoted. - Boolean values must be quoted like 'true' or "false" because these two words are reserved by YAML. - The filesystem string is keyed with remote (or with fs). Normally you can omit quotes here, but if the string ends with colon, you must quote it like remote: "storage_box:". - YAML is picky about surrounding braces in values as this is in fact another syntax for key/value mappings. For example, JSON access tokens usually contain double quotes and surrounding braces, so you must put them in single quotes.

Installing as Managed Plugin

Docker daemon can install plugins from an image registry and run them managed. We maintain the docker-volume-rclone plugin image on Docker Hub.

Rclone volume plugin requires Docker Engine >= 19.03.15

The plugin requires presence of two directories on the host before it can be installed. Note that plugin will not create them automatically. By default they must exist on host at the following locations (though you can tweak the paths): - /var/lib/docker-plugins/rclone/config is reserved for the rclone.conf config file and must exist even if it's empty and the config file is not present. - /var/lib/docker-plugins/rclone/cache holds the plugin state file as well as optional VFS caches.

You can install managed plugin with default settings as follows:

docker plugin install rclone/docker-volume-rclone:amd64 --grant-all-permissions --alias rclone

The :amd64 part of the image specification after colon is called a tag. Usually you will want to install the latest plugin for your architecture. In this case the tag will just name it, like amd64 above. The following plugin architectures are currently available: - amd64 - arm64 - arm-v7

Sometimes you might want a concrete plugin version, not the latest one. Then you should use image tag in the form :ARCHITECTURE-VERSION. For example, to install plugin version v1.56.2 on architecture arm64 you will use tag arm64-1.56.2 (note the removed v) so the full image specification becomes rclone/docker-volume-rclone:arm64-1.56.2.

We also provide the latest plugin tag, but since docker does not support multi-architecture plugins as of the time of this writing, this tag is currently an alias for amd64. By convention the latest tag is the default one and can be omitted, thus both rclone/docker-volume-rclone:latest and just rclone/docker-volume-rclone will refer to the latest plugin release for the amd64 platform.

Also the amd64 part can be omitted from the versioned rclone plugin tags. For example, rclone image reference rclone/docker-volume-rclone:amd64-1.56.2 can be abbreviated as rclone/docker-volume-rclone:1.56.2 for convenience. However, for non-intel architectures you still have to use the full tag as amd64 or latest will fail to start.

Managed plugin is in fact a special container running in a namespace separate from normal docker containers. Inside it runs the rclone serve docker command. The config and cache directories are bind-mounted into the container at start. The docker daemon connects to a unix socket created by the command inside the container. The command creates on-demand remote mounts right inside, then docker machinery propagates them through kernel mount namespaces and bind-mounts into requesting user containers.

You can tweak a few plugin settings after installation when it's disabled (not in use), for instance:

docker plugin disable rclone
docker plugin set rclone RCLONE_VERBOSE=2 config=/etc/rclone args="--vfs-cache-mode=writes --allow-other"
docker plugin enable rclone
docker plugin inspect rclone

Note that if docker refuses to disable the plugin, you should find and remove all active volumes connected with it as well as containers and swarm services that use them. This is rather tedious so please carefully plan in advance.

You can tweak the following settings: args, config, cache, HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, NO_PROXY and RCLONE_VERBOSE. It's your task to keep plugin settings in sync across swarm cluster nodes.

args sets command-line arguments for the rclone serve docker command (none by default). Arguments should be separated by space so you will normally want to put them in quotes on the docker plugin set command line. Both serve docker flags and generic rclone flags are supported, including backend parameters that will be used as defaults for volume creation. Note that plugin will fail (due to this docker bug) if the args value is empty. Use e.g. args="-v" as a workaround.

config=/host/dir sets alternative host location for the config directory. Plugin will look for rclone.conf here. It's not an error if the config file is not present but the directory must exist. Please note that plugin can periodically rewrite the config file, for example when it renews storage access tokens. Keep this in mind and try to avoid races between the plugin and other instances of rclone on the host that might try to change the config simultaneously resulting in corrupted rclone.conf. You can also put stuff like private key files for SFTP remotes in this directory. Just note that it's bind-mounted inside the plugin container at the predefined path /data/config. For example, if your key file is named sftp-box1.key on the host, the corresponding volume config option should read -o sftp-key-file=/data/config/sftp-box1.key.

cache=/host/dir sets alternative host location for the cache directory. The plugin will keep VFS caches here. Also it will create and maintain the docker-plugin.state file in this directory. When the plugin is restarted or reinstalled, it will look in this file to recreate any volumes that existed previously. However, they will not be re-mounted into consuming containers after restart. Usually this is not a problem as the docker daemon normally will restart affected user containers after failures, daemon restarts or host reboots.

RCLONE_VERBOSE sets plugin verbosity from 0 (errors only, by default) to 2 (debugging). Verbosity can be also tweaked via args="-v [-v] ...". Since arguments are more generic, you will rarely need this setting. The plugin output by default feeds the docker daemon log on local host. Log entries are reflected as errors in the docker log but retain their actual level assigned by rclone in the encapsulated message string.

HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, NO_PROXY customize the plugin proxy settings.

You can set custom plugin options right when you install it, in one go:

docker plugin remove rclone
docker plugin install rclone/docker-volume-rclone:amd64 \
       --alias rclone --grant-all-permissions \
       args="-v --allow-other" config=/etc/rclone
docker plugin inspect rclone

Healthchecks

The docker plugin volume protocol doesn't provide a way for plugins to inform the docker daemon that a volume is (un-)available. As a workaround you can setup a healthcheck to verify that the mount is responding, for example:

services:
  my_service:
    image: my_image
    healthcheck:
      test: ls /path/to/rclone/mount || exit 1
      interval: 1m
      timeout: 15s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 15s

Running Plugin under Systemd

In most cases you should prefer managed mode. Moreover, MacOS and Windows do not support native Docker plugins. Please use managed mode on these systems. Proceed further only if you are on Linux.

First, install rclone. You can just run it (type rclone serve docker and hit enter) for the test.

Install FUSE:

sudo apt-get -y install fuse

Download two systemd configuration files: docker-volume-rclone.service and docker-volume-rclone.socket.

Put them to the /etc/systemd/system/ directory:

cp docker-volume-plugin.service /etc/systemd/system/
cp docker-volume-plugin.socket  /etc/systemd/system/

Please note that all commands in this section must be run as root but we omit sudo prefix for brevity. Now create directories required by the service:

mkdir -p /var/lib/docker-volumes/rclone
mkdir -p /var/lib/docker-plugins/rclone/config
mkdir -p /var/lib/docker-plugins/rclone/cache

Run the docker plugin service in the socket activated mode:

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl start docker-volume-rclone.service
systemctl enable docker-volume-rclone.socket
systemctl start docker-volume-rclone.socket
systemctl restart docker

Or run the service directly: - run systemctl daemon-reload to let systemd pick up new config - run systemctl enable docker-volume-rclone.service to make the new service start automatically when you power on your machine. - run systemctl start docker-volume-rclone.service to start the service now. - run systemctl restart docker to restart docker daemon and let it detect the new plugin socket. Note that this step is not needed in managed mode where docker knows about plugin state changes.

The two methods are equivalent from the user perspective, but I personally prefer socket activation.

Troubleshooting

You can see managed plugin settings with

docker plugin list
docker plugin inspect rclone

Note that docker (including latest 20.10.7) will not show actual values of args, just the defaults.

Use journalctl --unit docker to see managed plugin output as part of the docker daemon log. Note that docker reflects plugin lines as errors but their actual level can be seen from encapsulated message string.

You will usually install the latest version of managed plugin for your platform. Use the following commands to print the actual installed version:

PLUGID=$(docker plugin list --no-trunc | awk '/rclone/{print$1}')
sudo runc --root /run/docker/runtime-runc/plugins.moby exec $PLUGID rclone version

You can even use runc to run shell inside the plugin container:

sudo runc --root /run/docker/runtime-runc/plugins.moby exec --tty $PLUGID bash

Also you can use curl to check the plugin socket connectivity:

docker plugin list --no-trunc
PLUGID=123abc...
sudo curl -H Content-Type:application/json -XPOST -d {} --unix-socket /run/docker/plugins/$PLUGID/rclone.sock http://localhost/Plugin.Activate

though this is rarely needed.

Caveats

Finally I'd like to mention a caveat with updating volume settings. Docker CLI does not have a dedicated command like docker volume update. It may be tempting to invoke docker volume create with updated options on existing volume, but there is a gotcha. The command will do nothing, it won't even return an error. I hope that docker maintainers will fix this some day. In the meantime be aware that you must remove your volume before recreating it with new settings:

docker volume remove my_vol
docker volume create my_vol -d rclone -o opt1=new_val1 ...

and verify that settings did update:

docker volume list
docker volume inspect my_vol

If docker refuses to remove the volume, you should find containers or swarm services that use it and stop them first.

Getting started

Here is a typical run log (with timestamps removed for clarity):

rclone bisync /testdir/path1/ /testdir/path2/ --verbose
INFO  : Synching Path1 "/testdir/path1/" with Path2 "/testdir/path2/"
INFO  : Path1 checking for diffs
INFO  : - Path1    File is new                         - file11.txt
INFO  : - Path1    File is newer                       - file2.txt
INFO  : - Path1    File is newer                       - file5.txt
INFO  : - Path1    File is newer                       - file7.txt
INFO  : - Path1    File was deleted                    - file4.txt
INFO  : - Path1    File was deleted                    - file6.txt
INFO  : - Path1    File was deleted                    - file8.txt
INFO  : Path1:    7 changes:    1 new,    3 newer,    0 older,    3 deleted
INFO  : Path2 checking for diffs
INFO  : - Path2    File is new                         - file10.txt
INFO  : - Path2    File is newer                       - file1.txt
INFO  : - Path2    File is newer                       - file5.txt
INFO  : - Path2    File is newer                       - file6.txt
INFO  : - Path2    File was deleted                    - file3.txt
INFO  : - Path2    File was deleted                    - file7.txt
INFO  : - Path2    File was deleted                    - file8.txt
INFO  : Path2:    7 changes:    1 new,    3 newer,    0 older,    3 deleted
INFO  : Applying changes
INFO  : - Path1    Queue copy to Path2                 - /testdir/path2/file11.txt
INFO  : - Path1    Queue copy to Path2                 - /testdir/path2/file2.txt
INFO  : - Path2    Queue delete                        - /testdir/path2/file4.txt
NOTICE: - WARNING  New or changed in both paths        - file5.txt
NOTICE: - Path1    Renaming Path1 copy                 - /testdir/path1/file5.txt..path1
NOTICE: - Path1    Queue copy to Path2                 - /testdir/path2/file5.txt..path1
NOTICE: - Path2    Renaming Path2 copy                 - /testdir/path2/file5.txt..path2
NOTICE: - Path2    Queue copy to Path1                 - /testdir/path1/file5.txt..path2
INFO  : - Path2    Queue copy to Path1                 - /testdir/path1/file6.txt
INFO  : - Path1    Queue copy to Path2                 - /testdir/path2/file7.txt
INFO  : - Path2    Queue copy to Path1                 - /testdir/path1/file1.txt
INFO  : - Path2    Queue copy to Path1                 - /testdir/path1/file10.txt
INFO  : - Path1    Queue delete                        - /testdir/path1/file3.txt
INFO  : - Path2    Do queued copies to                 - Path1
INFO  : - Path1    Do queued copies to                 - Path2
INFO  : -          Do queued deletes on                - Path1
INFO  : -          Do queued deletes on                - Path2
INFO  : Updating listings
INFO  : Validating listings for Path1 "/testdir/path1/" vs Path2 "/testdir/path2/"
INFO  : Bisync successful

Command line syntax

$ rclone bisync --help
Usage:
  rclone bisync remote1:path1 remote2:path2 [flags]

Positional arguments:
  Path1, Path2  Local path, or remote storage with ':' plus optional path.
                Type 'rclone listremotes' for list of configured remotes.

Optional Flags:
      --check-access            Ensure expected `RCLONE_TEST` files are found on
                                both Path1 and Path2 filesystems, else abort.
      --check-filename FILENAME Filename for `--check-access` (default: `RCLONE_TEST`)
      --check-sync CHOICE       Controls comparison of final listings:
                                `true | false | only` (default: true)
                                If set to `only`, bisync will only compare listings
                                from the last run but skip actual sync.
      --filters-file PATH       Read filtering patterns from a file
      --max-delete PERCENT      Safety check on maximum percentage of deleted files allowed.
                                If exceeded, the bisync run will abort. (default: 50%)
      --force                   Bypass `--max-delete` safety check and run the sync.
                                Consider using with `--verbose`
      --remove-empty-dirs       Remove empty directories at the final cleanup step.
  -1, --resync                  Performs the resync run.
                                Warning: Path1 files may overwrite Path2 versions.
                                Consider using `--verbose` or `--dry-run` first.
      --localtime               Use local time in listings (default: UTC)
      --no-cleanup              Retain working files (useful for troubleshooting and testing).
      --workdir PATH            Use custom working directory (useful for testing).
                                (default: `~/.cache/rclone/bisync`)
  -n, --dry-run                 Go through the motions - No files are copied/deleted.
  -v, --verbose                 Increases logging verbosity.
                                May be specified more than once for more details.
  -h, --help                    help for bisync

Arbitrary rclone flags may be specified on the bisync command line, for example rclone bsync ./testdir/path1/ gdrive:testdir/path2/ --drive-skip-gdocs -v -v --timeout 10s Note that interactions of various rclone flags with bisync process flow has not been fully tested yet.

Paths

Path1 and Path2 arguments may be references to any mix of local directory paths (absolute or relative), UNC paths (//server/share/path), Windows drive paths (with a drive letter and :) or configured remotes with optional subdirectory paths. Cloud references are distinguished by having a : in the argument (see Windows support below).

Path1 and Path2 are treated equally, in that neither has priority for file changes, and access efficiency does not change whether a remote is on Path1 or Path2.

The listings in bisync working directory (default: ~/.cache/rclone/bisync) are named based on the Path1 and Path2 arguments so that separate syncs to individual directories within the tree may be set up, e.g.: path_to_local_tree..dropbox_subdir.lst.

Any empty directories after the sync on both the Path1 and Path2 filesystems are not deleted by default. If the --remove-empty-dirs flag is specified, then both paths will have any empty directories purged as the last step in the process.

Command-line flags

--resync

This will effectively make both Path1 and Path2 filesystems contain a matching superset of all files. Path2 files that do not exist in Path1 will be copied to Path1, and the process will then sync the Path1 tree to Path2.

The base directories on the both Path1 and Path2 filesystems must exist or bisync will fail. This is required for safety - that bisync can verify that both paths are valid.

When using --resync a newer version of a file on the Path2 filesystem will be overwritten by the Path1 filesystem version. Carefully evaluate deltas using --dry-run.

For a resync run, one of the paths may be empty (no files in the path tree). The resync run should result in files on both paths, else a normal non-resync run will fail.

For a non-resync run, either path being empty (no files in the tree) fails with Empty current PathN listing. Cannot sync to an empty directory: X.pathN.lst This is a safety check that an unexpected empty path does not result in deleting everything in the other path.

--check-access

Access check files are an additional safety measure against data loss. bisync will ensure it can find matching RCLONE_TEST files in the same places in the Path1 and Path2 filesystems. Time stamps and file contents are not important, just the names and locations. Place one or more RCLONE_TEST files in the Path1 or Path2 filesystem and then do either a run without --check-access or a --resync to set matching files on both filesystems. If you have symbolic links in your sync tree it is recommended to place RCLONE_TEST files in the linked-to directory tree to protect against bisync assuming a bunch of deleted files if the linked-to tree should not be accessible. Also see the --check-filename flag.

--max-delete

As a safety check, if greater than the --max-delete percent of files were deleted on either the Path1 or Path2 filesystem, then bisync will abort with a warning message, without making any changes. The default --max-delete is 50%. One way to trigger this limit is to rename a directory that contains more than half of your files. This will appear to bisync as a bunch of deleted files and a bunch of new files. This safety check is intended to block bisync from deleting all of the files on both filesystems due to a temporary network access issue, or if the user had inadvertently deleted the files on one side or the other. To force the sync either set a different delete percentage limit, e.g. --max-delete 75 (allows up to 75% deletion), or use --force to bypass the check.

Also see the all files changed check.

--filters-file

By using rclone filter features you can exclude file types or directory sub-trees from the sync. See the bisync filters section and generic --filter-from documentation. An example filters file contains filters for non-allowed files for synching with Dropbox.

If you make changes to your filters file then bisync requires a run with --resync. This is a safety feature, which avoids existing files on the Path1 and/or Path2 side from seeming to disappear from view (since they are excluded in the new listings), which would fool bisync into seeing them as deleted (as compared to the prior run listings), and then bisync would proceed to delete them for real.

To block this from happening bisync calculates an MD5 hash of the filters file and stores the hash in a .md5 file in the same place as your filters file. On the next runs with --filters-file set, bisync re-calculates the MD5 hash of the current filters file and compares it to the hash stored in .md5 file. If they don't match the run aborts with a critical error and thus forces you to do a --resync, likely avoiding a disaster.

--check-sync

Enabled by default, the check-sync function checks that all of the same files exist in both the Path1 and Path2 history listings. This check-sync integrity check is performed at the end of the sync run by default. Any untrapped failing copy/deletes between the two paths might result in differences between the two listings and in the untracked file content differences between the two paths. A resync run would correct the error.

Note that the default-enabled integrity check locally executes a load of both the final Path1 and Path2 listings, and thus adds to the run time of a sync. Using --check-sync=false will disable it and may significantly reduce the sync run times for very large numbers of files.

The check may be run manually with --check-sync=only. It runs only the integrity check and terminates without actually synching.

Operation

Runtime flow details

bisync retains the listings of the Path1 and Path2 filesystems from the prior run. On each successive run it will:

Safety measures

Normal sync checks

Type Description Result Implementation
Path2 new File is new on Path2, does not exist on Path1 Path2 version survives rclone copy Path2 to Path1
Path2 newer File is newer on Path2, unchanged on Path1 Path2 version survives rclone copy Path2 to Path1
Path2 deleted File is deleted on Path2, unchanged on Path1 File is deleted rclone delete Path1
Path1 new File is new on Path1, does not exist on Path2 Path1 version survives rclone copy Path1 to Path2
Path1 newer File is newer on Path1, unchanged on Path2 Path1 version survives rclone copy Path1 to Path2
Path1 older File is older on Path1, unchanged on Path2 Path1 version survives rclone copy Path1 to Path2
Path2 older File is older on Path2, unchanged on Path1 Path2 version survives rclone copy Path2 to Path1
Path1 deleted File no longer exists on Path1 File is deleted rclone delete Path2

Unusual sync checks

Type Description Result Implementation
Path1 new AND Path2 new File is new on Path1 AND new on Path2 Files renamed to _Path1 and _Path2 rclone copy _Path2 file to Path1, rclone copy _Path1 file to Path2
Path2 newer AND Path1 changed File is newer on Path2 AND also changed (newer/older/size) on Path1 Files renamed to _Path1 and _Path2 rclone copy _Path2 file to Path1, rclone copy _Path1 file to Path2
Path2 newer AND Path1 deleted File is newer on Path2 AND also deleted on Path1 Path2 version survives rclone copy Path2 to Path1
Path2 deleted AND Path1 changed File is deleted on Path2 AND changed (newer/older/size) on Path1 Path1 version survives rclone copy Path1 to Path2
Path1 deleted AND Path2 changed File is deleted on Path1 AND changed (newer/older/size) on Path2 Path2 version survives rclone copy Path2 to Path1

All files changed check

if all prior existing files on either of the filesystems have changed (e.g. timestamps have changed due to changing the system's timezone) then bisync will abort without making any changes. Any new files are not considered for this check. You could use --force to force the sync (whichever side has the changed timestamp files wins). Alternately, a --resync may be used (Path1 versions will be pushed to Path2). Consider the situation carefully and perhaps use --dry-run before you commit to the changes.

Modification time

Bisync relies on file timestamps to identify changed files and will refuse to operate if backend lacks the modification time support.

If you or your application should change the content of a file without changing the modification time then bisync will not notice the change, and thus will not copy it to the other side.

Note that on some cloud storage systems it is not possible to have file timestamps that match precisely between the local and other filesystems.

Bisync's approach to this problem is by tracking the changes on each side separately over time with a local database of files in that side then applying the resulting changes on the other side.

Error handling

Certain bisync critical errors, such as file copy/move failing, will result in a bisync lockout of following runs. The lockout is asserted because the sync status and history of the Path1 and Path2 filesystems cannot be trusted, so it is safer to block any further changes until someone checks things out. The recovery is to do a --resync again.

It is recommended to use --resync --dry-run --verbose initially and carefully review what changes will be made before running the --resync without --dry-run.

Most of these events come up due to a error status from an internal call. On such a critical error the {...}.path1.lst and {...}.path2.lst listing files are renamed to extension .lst-err, which blocks any future bisync runs (since the normal .lst files are not found). Bisync keeps them under bisync subdirectory of the rclone cache direcory, typically at ${HOME}/.cache/rclone/bisync/ on Linux.

Some errors are considered temporary and re-running the bisync is not blocked. The critical return blocks further bisync runs.

Lock file

When bisync is running, a lock file is created in the bisync working directory, typically at ~/.cache/rclone/bisync/PATH1..PATH2.lck on Linux. If bisync should crash or hang, the lock file will remain in place and block any further runs of bisync for the same paths. Delete the lock file as part of debugging the situation. The lock file effectively blocks follow-on (e.g., scheduled by cron) runs when the prior invocation is taking a long time. The lock file contains PID of the blocking process, which may help in debug.

Note that while concurrent bisync runs are allowed, be very cautious that there is no overlap in the trees being synched between concurrent runs, lest there be replicated files, deleted files and general mayhem.

Return codes

rclone bisync returns the following codes to calling program: - 0 on a successful run, - 1 for a non-critical failing run (a rerun may be successful), - 2 for a critically aborted run (requires a --resync to recover).

Limitations

Supported backends

Bisync is considered BETA and has been tested with the following backends: - Local filesystem - Google Drive - Dropbox - OneDrive - S3 - SFTP

It has not been fully tested with other services yet. If it works, or sorta works, please let us know and we'll update the list. Run the test suite to check for proper operation as described below.

First release of rclone bisync requires that underlying backend supported the modification time feature and will refuse to run otherwise. This limitation will be lifted in a future rclone bisync release.

Concurrent modifications

When using Local, FTP or SFTP remotes rclone does not create temporary files at the destination when copying, and thus if the connection is lost the created file may be corrupt, which will likely propagate back to the original path on the next sync, resulting in data loss. This will be solved in a future release, there is no workaround at the moment.

Files that change during a bisync run may result in data loss. This has been seen in a highly dynamic environment, where the filesystem is getting hammered by running processes during the sync. The solution is to sync at quiet times or filter out unnecessary directories and files.

Empty directories

New empty directories on one path are not propagated to the other side. This is because bisync (and rclone) natively works on files not directories. The following sequence is a workaround but will not propagate the delete of an empty directory to the other side:

rclone bisync PATH1 PATH2
rclone copy PATH1 PATH2 --filter "+ */" --filter "- **" --create-empty-src-dirs
rclone copy PATH2 PATH2 --filter "+ */" --filter "- **" --create-empty-src-dirs

Renamed directories

Renaming a folder on the Path1 side results is deleting all files on the Path2 side and then copying all files again from Path1 to Path2. Bisync sees this as all files in the old directory name as deleted and all files in the new directory name as new. Similarly, renaming a directory on both sides to the same name will result in creating ..path1 and ..path2 files on both sides. Currently the most effective and efficient method of renaming a directory is to rename it on both sides, then do a --resync.

Case sensitivity

Synching with case-insensitive filesystems, such as Windows or Box, can result in file name conflicts. This will be fixed in a future release. The near term workaround is to make sure that files on both sides don't have spelling case differences (Smile.jpg vs. smile.jpg).

Windows support

Bisync has been tested on Windows 8.1, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit and on Windows Github runners.

Drive letters are allowed, including drive letters mapped to network drives (rclone bisync J:\localsync GDrive:). If a drive letter is omitted, the shell current drive is the default. Drive letters are a single character follows by :, so cloud names must be more than one character long.

Absolute paths (with or without a drive letter), and relative paths (with or without a drive letter) are supported.

Working directory is created at C:\Users\MyLogin\AppData\Local\rclone\bisync.

Note that bisync output may show a mix of forward / and back \ slashes.

Be careful of case independent directory and file naming on Windows vs. case dependent Linux

Filtering

See filtering documentation for how filter rules are written and interpreted.

Bisync's --filters-file flag slightly extends the rclone's --filter-from filtering mechanism. For a given bisync run you may provide only one --filters-file. The --include*, --exclude*, and --filter flags are also supported.

How to filter directories

Filtering portions of the directory tree is a critical feature for synching.

Examples of directory trees (always beneath the Path1/Path2 root level) you may want to exclude from your sync: - Directory trees containing only software build intermediate files. - Directory trees containing application temporary files and data such as the Windows C:\Users\MyLogin\AppData\ tree. - Directory trees containing files that are large, less important, or are getting thrashed continuously by ongoing processes.

On the other hand, there may be only select directories that you actually want to sync, and exclude all others. See the Example include-style filters for Windows user directories below.

Filters file writing guidelines

  1. Begin with excluding directory trees:
  2. Decide if its easier (or cleaner) to:
  3. Include select directories:
  4. Exclude select directories:

A few rules for the syntax of a filter file expanding on filtering documentation:

Example include-style filters for Windows user directories

This Windows include-style example is based on the sync root (Path1) set to C:\Users\MyLogin. The strategy is to select specific directories to be synched with a network drive (Path2).

- /AppData/
- NTUSER*
- ntuser*
+ /Documents/Family/**
+ /Documents/Sketchup/**
+ /Documents/Microcapture_Photo/**
+ /Documents/Microcapture_Video/**
+ /Desktop/**
+ /Pictures/**
+ /*
- **

Note also that Windows implements several "library" links such as C:\Users\MyLogin\My Documents\My Music pointing to C:\Users\MyLogin\Music. rclone sees these as links, so you must add --links to the bisync command line if you which to follow these links. I find that I get permission errors in trying to follow the links, so I don't include the rclone --links flag, but then you get lots of Can't follow symlink… noise from rclone about not following the links. This noise can be quashed by adding --quiet to the bisync command line.

Example exclude-style filters files for use with Dropbox

Example filters file for Dropbox

# Filter file for use with bisync
# See https://rclone.org/filtering/ for filtering rules
# NOTICE: If you make changes to this file you MUST do a --resync run.
#         Run with --dry-run to see what changes will be made.

# Dropbox wont sync some files so filter them away here.
# See https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/sync-uploads/files-not-syncing
- .dropbox.attr
- ~*.tmp
- ~$*
- .~*
- desktop.ini
- .dropbox

# Used for bisync testing, so excluded from normal runs
- /testdir/

# Other example filters
#- /TiBU/
#- /Photos/

How --check-access handles filters

At the start of a bisync run, listings are gathered for Path1 and Path2 while using the user's --filters-file. During the check access phase, bisync scans these listings for RCLONE_TEST files. Any RCLONE_TEST files hidden by the --filters-file are not in the listings and thus not checked during the check access phase.

Troubleshooting

Reading bisync logs

Here are two normal runs. The first one has a newer file on the remote. The second has no deltas between local and remote.

2021/05/16 00:24:38 INFO  : Synching Path1 "/path/to/local/tree/" with Path2 "dropbox:/"
2021/05/16 00:24:38 INFO  : Path1 checking for diffs
2021/05/16 00:24:38 INFO  : - Path1    File is new                         - file.txt
2021/05/16 00:24:38 INFO  : Path1:    1 changes:    1 new,    0 newer,    0 older,    0 deleted
2021/05/16 00:24:38 INFO  : Path2 checking for diffs
2021/05/16 00:24:38 INFO  : Applying changes
2021/05/16 00:24:38 INFO  : - Path1    Queue copy to Path2                 - dropbox:/file.txt
2021/05/16 00:24:38 INFO  : - Path1    Do queued copies to                 - Path2
2021/05/16 00:24:38 INFO  : Updating listings
2021/05/16 00:24:38 INFO  : Validating listings for Path1 "/path/to/local/tree/" vs Path2 "dropbox:/"
2021/05/16 00:24:38 INFO  : Bisync successful

2021/05/16 00:36:52 INFO  : Synching Path1 "/path/to/local/tree/" with Path2 "dropbox:/"
2021/05/16 00:36:52 INFO  : Path1 checking for diffs
2021/05/16 00:36:52 INFO  : Path2 checking for diffs
2021/05/16 00:36:52 INFO  : No changes found
2021/05/16 00:36:52 INFO  : Updating listings
2021/05/16 00:36:52 INFO  : Validating listings for Path1 "/path/to/local/tree/" vs Path2 "dropbox:/"
2021/05/16 00:36:52 INFO  : Bisync successful

Dry run oddity

The --dry-run messages may indicate that it would try to delete some files. For example, if a file is new on Path2 and does not exist on Path1 then it would normally be copied to Path1, but with --dry-run enabled those copies don't happen, which leads to the attempted delete on the Path2, blocked again by --dry-run: ... Not deleting as --dry-run.

This whole confusing situation is an artifact of the --dry-run flag. Scrutinize the proposed deletes carefully, and if the files would have been copied to Path1 then the threatened deletes on Path2 may be disregarded.

Retries

Rclone has built in retries. If you run with --verbose you'll see error and retry messages such as shown below. This is usually not a bug. If at the end of the run you see Bisync successful and not Bisync critical error or Bisync aborted then the run was successful, and you can ignore the error messages.

The following run shows an intermittent fail. Lines 5 and _6- are low level messages. Line 6 is a bubbled-up warning message, conveying the error. Rclone normally retries failing commands, so there may be numerous such messages in the log.

Since there are no final error/warning messages on line 7, rclone has recovered from failure after a retry, and the overall sync was successful.

1: 2021/05/14 00:44:12 INFO  : Synching Path1 "/path/to/local/tree" with Path2 "dropbox:"
2: 2021/05/14 00:44:12 INFO  : Path1 checking for diffs
3: 2021/05/14 00:44:12 INFO  : Path2 checking for diffs
4: 2021/05/14 00:44:12 INFO  : Path2:  113 changes:   22 new,    0 newer,    0 older,   91 deleted
5: 2021/05/14 00:44:12 ERROR : /path/to/local/tree/objects/af: error listing: unexpected end of JSON input
6: 2021/05/14 00:44:12 NOTICE: WARNING  listing try 1 failed.                 - dropbox:
7: 2021/05/14 00:44:12 INFO  : Bisync successful

This log shows a Critical failure which requires a --resync to recover from. See the Runtime Error Handling section.

2021/05/12 00:49:40 INFO  : Google drive root '': Waiting for checks to finish
2021/05/12 00:49:40 INFO  : Google drive root '': Waiting for transfers to finish
2021/05/12 00:49:40 INFO  : Google drive root '': not deleting files as there were IO errors
2021/05/12 00:49:40 ERROR : Attempt 3/3 failed with 3 errors and: not deleting files as there were IO errors
2021/05/12 00:49:40 ERROR : Failed to sync: not deleting files as there were IO errors
2021/05/12 00:49:40 NOTICE: WARNING  rclone sync try 3 failed.           - /path/to/local/tree/
2021/05/12 00:49:40 ERROR : Bisync aborted. Must run --resync to recover.

Denied downloads of "infected" or "abusive" files

Google Drive has a filter for certain file types (.exe, .apk, et cetera) that by default cannot be copied from Google Drive to the local filesystem. If you are having problems, run with --verbose to see specifically which files are generating complaints. If the error is This file has been identified as malware or spam and cannot be downloaded, consider using the flag --drive-acknowledge-abuse.

Google Doc files

Google docs exist as virtual files on Google Drive and cannot be transferred to other filesystems natively. While it is possible to export a Google doc to a normal file (with .xlsx extension, for example), it's not possible to import a normal file back into a Google document.

Bisync's handling of Google Doc files is to flag them in the run log output for user's attention and ignore them for any file transfers, deletes, or syncs. They will show up with a length of -1 in the listings. This bisync run is otherwise successful:

2021/05/11 08:23:15 INFO  : Synching Path1 "/path/to/local/tree/base/" with Path2 "GDrive:"
2021/05/11 08:23:15 INFO  : ...path2.lst-new: Ignoring incorrect line: "- -1 - - 2018-07-29T08:49:30.136000000+0000 GoogleDoc.docx"
2021/05/11 08:23:15 INFO  : Bisync successful

Usage examples

Cron

Rclone does not yet have a built-in capability to monitor the local file system for changes and must be blindly run periodically. On Windows this can be done using a Task Scheduler, on Linux you can use Cron which is described below.

The 1st example runs a sync every 5 minutes between a local directory and an OwnCloud server, with output logged to a runlog file:

# Minute (0-59)
#      Hour (0-23)
#           Day of Month (1-31)
#                Month (1-12 or Jan-Dec)
#                     Day of Week (0-6 or Sun-Sat)
#                         Command
  */5  *    *    *    *   /path/to/rclone bisync /local/files MyCloud: --check-access --filters-file /path/to/bysync-filters.txt --log-file /path/to//bisync.log

See crontab syntax). for the details of crontab time interval expressions.

If you run rclone bisync as a cron job, redirect stdout/stderr to a file. The 2nd example runs a sync to Dropbox every hour and logs all stdout (via the >>) and stderr (via 2>&1) to a log file.

0 * * * * /path/to/rclone bisync /path/to/local/dropbox Dropbox: --check-access --filters-file /home/user/filters.txt >> /path/to/logs/dropbox-run.log 2>&1

Sharing an encrypted folder tree between hosts

bisync can keep a local folder in sync with a cloud service, but what if you have some highly sensitive files to be synched?

Usage of a cloud service is for exchanging both routine and sensitive personal files between one's home network, one's personal notebook when on the road, and with one's work computer. The routine data is not sensitive. For the sensitive data, configure an rclone crypt remote to point to a subdirectory within the local disk tree that is bisync'd to Dropbox, and then set up an bisync for this local crypt directory to a directory outside of the main sync tree.

Linux server setup

Windows notebook setup

rclone.conf snippet

[Dropbox]
type = dropbox
...

[Dropcrypt]
type = crypt
remote = /path/to/DBoxroot/crypt          # on the Linux server
remote = C:\Users\MyLogin\Dropbox\crypt   # on the Windows notebook
filename_encryption = standard
directory_name_encryption = true
password = ...
...

Testing

You should read this section only if you are developing for rclone. You need to have rclone source code locally to work with bisync tests.

Bisync has a dedicated test framework implemented in the bisync_test.go file located in the rclone source tree. The test suite is based on the go test command. Series of tests are stored in subdirectories below the cmd/bisync/testdata directory. Individual tests can be invoked by their directory name, e.g. go test . -case basic -remote local -remote2 gdrive: -v

Tests will make a temporary folder on remote and purge it afterwards. If during test run there are intermittent errors and rclone retries, these errors will be captured and flagged as invalid MISCOMPAREs. Rerunning the test will let it pass. Consider such failures as noise.

Test command syntax

usage: go test ./cmd/bisync [options...]

Options:
  -case NAME        Name(s) of the test case(s) to run. Multiple names should
                    be separated by commas. You can remove the `test_` prefix
                    and replace `_` by `-` in test name for convenience.
                    If not `all`, the name(s) should map to a directory under
                    `./cmd/bisync/testdata`.
                    Use `all` to run all tests (default: all)
  -remote PATH1     `local` or name of cloud service with `:` (default: local)
  -remote2 PATH2    `local` or name of cloud service with `:` (default: local)
  -no-compare       Disable comparing test results with the golden directory
                    (default: compare)
  -no-cleanup       Disable cleanup of Path1 and Path2 testdirs.
                    Useful for troubleshooting. (default: cleanup)
  -golden           Store results in the golden directory (default: false)
                    This flag can be used with multiple tests.
  -debug            Print debug messages
  -stop-at NUM      Stop test after given step number. (default: run to the end)
                    Implies `-no-compare` and `-no-cleanup`, if the test really
                    ends prematurely. Only meaningful for a single test case.
  -refresh-times    Force refreshing the target modtime, useful for Dropbox
                    (default: false)
  -verbose          Run tests verbosely

Note: unlike rclone flags which must be prefixed by double dash (--), the test command flags can be equally prefixed by a single - or double dash.

Running tests

Test execution flow

  1. The base setup in the initial directory of the testcase is applied on the Path1 and Path2 filesystems (via rclone copy the initial directory to Path1, then rclone sync Path1 to Path2).
  2. The commands in the scenario.txt file are applied, with output directed to the test.log file in the test working directory. Typically, the first actual command in the scenario.txt file is to do a --resync, which establishes the baseline {...}.path1.lst and {...}.path2.lst files in the test working directory (.../workdir/ relative to the temporary test directory). Various commands and listing snapshots are done within the test.
  3. Finally, the contents of the test working directory are compared to the contents of the testcase's golden directory.

Notes about testing

Updating golden results

Sometimes even a slight change in the bisync source can cause little changes spread around many log files. Updating them manually would be a nighmare.

The -golden flag will store the test.log and *.lst listings from each test case into respective golden directories. Golden results will automatically contain generic strings instead of local or cloud paths which means that they should match when run with a different cloud service.

Your normal workflow might be as follows: 1. Git-clone the rclone sources locally 2. Modify bisync source and check that it builds 3. Run the whole test suite go test ./cmd/bisync -remote local 4. If some tests show log difference, recheck them individually, e.g.: go test ./cmd/bisync -remote local -case basic 5. If you are convinced with the difference, goldenize all tests at once: go test ./cmd/bisync -remote local -golden 6. Use word diff: git diff --word-diff ./cmd/bisync/testdata/. Please note that normal line-level diff is generally useless here. 7. Check the difference carefully! 8. Commit the change (git commit) only if you are sure. If unsure, save your code changes then wipe the log diffs from git: git reset [--hard].

Structure of test scenarios

Supported test commands

Supported substitution terms

Substitution results of the terms named like {dir/} will end with / (or backslash on Windows), so it is not necessary to include slash in the usage, for example delete-file {path1/}file1.txt.

Benchmarks

This section is work in progress.

Here are a few data points for scale, execution times, and memory usage.

The first set of data was taken between a local disk to Dropbox. The speedtest.net download speed was ~170 Mbps, and upload speed was ~10 Mbps. 500 files (~9.5 MB each) had been already synched. 50 files were added in a new directory, each ~9.5 MB, ~475 MB total.

Change Operations and times Overall run time
500 files synched (nothing to move) 1x listings for Path1 & Path2 1.5 sec
500 files synched with --check-access 1x listings for Path1 & Path2 1.5 sec
50 new files on remote Queued 50 copies down: 27 sec 29 sec
Moved local dir Queued 50 copies up: 410 sec, 50 deletes up: 9 sec 421 sec
Moved remote dir Queued 50 copies down: 31 sec, 50 deletes down: <1 sec 33 sec
Delete local dir Queued 50 deletes up: 9 sec 13 sec

This next data is from a user's application. They had ~400GB of data over 1.96 million files being sync'ed between a Windows local disk and some remote cloud. The file full path length was on average 35 characters (which factors into load time and RAM required).

References

rclone's bisync implementation was derived from the rclonesync-V2 project, including documentation and test mechanisms, with [@cjnaz](https://github.com/cjnaz)'s full support and encouragement.

rclone bisync is similar in nature to a range of other projects:

Bisync adopts the differential synchronization technique, which is based on keeping history of changes performed by both synchronizing sides. See the Dual Shadow Method section in the Neil Fraser's article.

Also note a number of academic publications by Benjamin Pierce about Unison and synchronization in general.

1Fichier

This is a backend for the 1fichier cloud storage service. Note that a Premium subscription is required to use the API.

Paths are specified as remote:path

Paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Configuration

The initial setup for 1Fichier involves getting the API key from the website which you need to do in your browser.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / 1Fichier
   \ "fichier"
[snip]
Storage> fichier
** See help for fichier backend at: https://rclone.org/fichier/ **

Your API Key, get it from https://1fichier.com/console/params.pl
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
api_key> example_key

Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> 
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
type = fichier
api_key = example_key
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level of your 1Fichier account

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your 1Fichier account

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to a 1Fichier directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Modified time and hashes

1Fichier does not support modification times. It supports the Whirlpool hash algorithm.

Duplicated files

1Fichier can have two files with exactly the same name and path (unlike a normal file system).

Duplicated files cause problems with the syncing and you will see messages in the log about duplicates.

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
\ 0x5C
< 0x3C
> 0x3E
" 0x22
$ 0x24
` 0x60
' 0x27

File names can also not start or end with the following characters. These only get replaced if they are the first or last character in the name:

Character Value Replacement
SP 0x20

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to fichier (1Fichier).

--fichier-api-key

Your API Key, get it from https://1fichier.com/console/params.pl.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to fichier (1Fichier).

--fichier-shared-folder

If you want to download a shared folder, add this parameter.

Properties:

--fichier-file-password

If you want to download a shared file that is password protected, add this parameter.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

--fichier-folder-password

If you want to list the files in a shared folder that is password protected, add this parameter.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

--fichier-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

rclone about is not supported by the 1Fichier backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

Alias

The alias remote provides a new name for another remote.

Paths may be as deep as required or a local path, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory or /directory/subdirectory.

During the initial setup with rclone config you will specify the target remote. The target remote can either be a local path or another remote.

Subfolders can be used in target remote. Assume an alias remote named backup with the target mydrive:private/backup. Invoking rclone mkdir backup:desktop is exactly the same as invoking rclone mkdir mydrive:private/backup/desktop.

There will be no special handling of paths containing .. segments. Invoking rclone mkdir backup:../desktop is exactly the same as invoking rclone mkdir mydrive:private/backup/../desktop. The empty path is not allowed as a remote. To alias the current directory use . instead.

Configuration

Here is an example of how to make an alias called remote for local folder. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Alias for an existing remote
   \ "alias"
[snip]
Storage> alias
Remote or path to alias.
Can be "myremote:path/to/dir", "myremote:bucket", "myremote:" or "/local/path".
remote> /mnt/storage/backup
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
remote = /mnt/storage/backup
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y
Current remotes:

Name                 Type
====                 ====
remote               alias

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q> q

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level in /mnt/storage/backup

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in /mnt/storage/backup

rclone ls remote:

Copy another local directory to the alias directory called source

rclone copy /home/source remote:source

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to alias (Alias for an existing remote).

--alias-remote

Remote or path to alias.

Can be "myremote:path/to/dir", "myremote:bucket", "myremote:" or "/local/path".

Properties:

Amazon Drive

Amazon Drive, formerly known as Amazon Cloud Drive, is a cloud storage service run by Amazon for consumers.

Status

Important: rclone supports Amazon Drive only if you have your own set of API keys. Unfortunately the Amazon Drive developer program is now closed to new entries so if you don't already have your own set of keys you will not be able to use rclone with Amazon Drive.

For the history on why rclone no longer has a set of Amazon Drive API keys see the forum.

If you happen to know anyone who works at Amazon then please ask them to re-instate rclone into the Amazon Drive developer program - thanks!

Configuration

The initial setup for Amazon Drive involves getting a token from Amazon which you need to do in your browser. rclone config walks you through it.

The configuration process for Amazon Drive may involve using an oauth proxy. This is used to keep the Amazon credentials out of the source code. The proxy runs in Google's very secure App Engine environment and doesn't store any credentials which pass through it.

Since rclone doesn't currently have its own Amazon Drive credentials so you will either need to have your own client_id and client_secret with Amazon Drive, or use a third-party oauth proxy in which case you will need to enter client_id, client_secret, auth_url and token_url.

Note also if you are not using Amazon's auth_url and token_url, (ie you filled in something for those) then if setting up on a remote machine you can only use the copying the config method of configuration - rclone authorize will not work.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/r/c/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Amazon Drive
   \ "amazon cloud drive"
[snip]
Storage> amazon cloud drive
Amazon Application Client Id - required.
client_id> your client ID goes here
Amazon Application Client Secret - required.
client_secret> your client secret goes here
Auth server URL - leave blank to use Amazon's.
auth_url> Optional auth URL
Token server url - leave blank to use Amazon's.
token_url> Optional token URL
Remote config
Make sure your Redirect URL is set to "http://127.0.0.1:53682/" in your custom config.
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
--------------------
[remote]
client_id = your client ID goes here
client_secret = your client secret goes here
auth_url = Optional auth URL
token_url = Optional token URL
token = {"access_token":"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx","token_type":"bearer","refresh_token":"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx","expiry":"2015-09-06T16:07:39.658438471+01:00"}
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

See the remote setup docs for how to set it up on a machine with no Internet browser available.

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect the token as returned from Amazon. This only runs from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get back the verification code. This is on http://127.0.0.1:53682/ and this it may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a host firewall.

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level of your Amazon Drive

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your Amazon Drive

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to an Amazon Drive directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Modified time and MD5SUMs

Amazon Drive doesn't allow modification times to be changed via the API so these won't be accurate or used for syncing.

It does store MD5SUMs so for a more accurate sync, you can use the --checksum flag.

Restricted filename characters

Character Value Replacement
NUL 0x00
/ 0x2F

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Deleting files

Any files you delete with rclone will end up in the trash. Amazon don't provide an API to permanently delete files, nor to empty the trash, so you will have to do that with one of Amazon's apps or via the Amazon Drive website. As of November 17, 2016, files are automatically deleted by Amazon from the trash after 30 days.

Using with non .com Amazon accounts

Let's say you usually use amazon.co.uk. When you authenticate with rclone it will take you to an amazon.com page to log in. Your amazon.co.uk email and password should work here just fine.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to amazon cloud drive (Amazon Drive).

--acd-client-id

OAuth Client Id.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--acd-client-secret

OAuth Client Secret.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to amazon cloud drive (Amazon Drive).

--acd-token

OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob.

Properties:

--acd-auth-url

Auth server URL.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--acd-token-url

Token server url.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--acd-checkpoint

Checkpoint for internal polling (debug).

Properties:

--acd-upload-wait-per-gb

Additional time per GiB to wait after a failed complete upload to see if it appears.

Sometimes Amazon Drive gives an error when a file has been fully uploaded but the file appears anyway after a little while. This happens sometimes for files over 1 GiB in size and nearly every time for files bigger than 10 GiB. This parameter controls the time rclone waits for the file to appear.

The default value for this parameter is 3 minutes per GiB, so by default it will wait 3 minutes for every GiB uploaded to see if the file appears.

You can disable this feature by setting it to 0. This may cause conflict errors as rclone retries the failed upload but the file will most likely appear correctly eventually.

These values were determined empirically by observing lots of uploads of big files for a range of file sizes.

Upload with the "-v" flag to see more info about what rclone is doing in this situation.

Properties:

Files >= this size will be downloaded via their tempLink.

Files this size or more will be downloaded via their "tempLink". This is to work around a problem with Amazon Drive which blocks downloads of files bigger than about 10 GiB. The default for this is 9 GiB which shouldn't need to be changed.

To download files above this threshold, rclone requests a "tempLink" which downloads the file through a temporary URL directly from the underlying S3 storage.

Properties:

--acd-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

Note that Amazon Drive is case insensitive so you can't have a file called "Hello.doc" and one called "hello.doc".

Amazon Drive has rate limiting so you may notice errors in the sync (429 errors). rclone will automatically retry the sync up to 3 times by default (see --retries flag) which should hopefully work around this problem.

Amazon Drive has an internal limit of file sizes that can be uploaded to the service. This limit is not officially published, but all files larger than this will fail.

At the time of writing (Jan 2016) is in the area of 50 GiB per file. This means that larger files are likely to fail.

Unfortunately there is no way for rclone to see that this failure is because of file size, so it will retry the operation, as any other failure. To avoid this problem, use --max-size 50000M option to limit the maximum size of uploaded files. Note that --max-size does not split files into segments, it only ignores files over this size.

rclone about is not supported by the Amazon Drive backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

Amazon S3 Storage Providers

The S3 backend can be used with a number of different providers:

Paths are specified as remote:bucket (or remote: for the lsd command.) You may put subdirectories in too, e.g. remote:bucket/path/to/dir.

Once you have made a remote (see the provider specific section above) you can use it like this:

See all buckets

rclone lsd remote:

Make a new bucket

rclone mkdir remote:bucket

List the contents of a bucket

rclone ls remote:bucket

Sync /home/local/directory to the remote bucket, deleting any excess files in the bucket.

rclone sync -i /home/local/directory remote:bucket

Configuration

Here is an example of making an s3 configuration for the AWS S3 provider. Most applies to the other providers as well, any differences are described below.

First run

rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process.

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Amazon S3 Compliant Storage Providers including AWS, Ceph, Dreamhost, IBM COS, Minio, and Tencent COS
   \ "s3"
[snip]
Storage> s3
Choose your S3 provider.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3
   \ "AWS"
 2 / Ceph Object Storage
   \ "Ceph"
 3 / Digital Ocean Spaces
   \ "DigitalOcean"
 4 / Dreamhost DreamObjects
   \ "Dreamhost"
 5 / IBM COS S3
   \ "IBMCOS"
 6 / Minio Object Storage
   \ "Minio"
 7 / Wasabi Object Storage
   \ "Wasabi"
 8 / Any other S3 compatible provider
   \ "Other"
provider> 1
Get AWS credentials from runtime (environment variables or EC2/ECS meta data if no env vars). Only applies if access_key_id and secret_access_key is blank.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Enter AWS credentials in the next step
   \ "false"
 2 / Get AWS credentials from the environment (env vars or IAM)
   \ "true"
env_auth> 1
AWS Access Key ID - leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
access_key_id> XXX
AWS Secret Access Key (password) - leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
secret_access_key> YYY
Region to connect to.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
   / The default endpoint - a good choice if you are unsure.
 1 | US Region, Northern Virginia, or Pacific Northwest.
   | Leave location constraint empty.
   \ "us-east-1"
   / US East (Ohio) Region
 2 | Needs location constraint us-east-2.
   \ "us-east-2"
   / US West (Oregon) Region
 3 | Needs location constraint us-west-2.
   \ "us-west-2"
   / US West (Northern California) Region
 4 | Needs location constraint us-west-1.
   \ "us-west-1"
   / Canada (Central) Region
 5 | Needs location constraint ca-central-1.
   \ "ca-central-1"
   / EU (Ireland) Region
 6 | Needs location constraint EU or eu-west-1.
   \ "eu-west-1"
   / EU (London) Region
 7 | Needs location constraint eu-west-2.
   \ "eu-west-2"
   / EU (Frankfurt) Region
 8 | Needs location constraint eu-central-1.
   \ "eu-central-1"
   / Asia Pacific (Singapore) Region
 9 | Needs location constraint ap-southeast-1.
   \ "ap-southeast-1"
   / Asia Pacific (Sydney) Region
10 | Needs location constraint ap-southeast-2.
   \ "ap-southeast-2"
   / Asia Pacific (Tokyo) Region
11 | Needs location constraint ap-northeast-1.
   \ "ap-northeast-1"
   / Asia Pacific (Seoul)
12 | Needs location constraint ap-northeast-2.
   \ "ap-northeast-2"
   / Asia Pacific (Mumbai)
13 | Needs location constraint ap-south-1.
   \ "ap-south-1"
   / Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) Region
14 | Needs location constraint ap-east-1.
   \ "ap-east-1"
   / South America (Sao Paulo) Region
15 | Needs location constraint sa-east-1.
   \ "sa-east-1"
region> 1
Endpoint for S3 API.
Leave blank if using AWS to use the default endpoint for the region.
endpoint>
Location constraint - must be set to match the Region. Used when creating buckets only.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Empty for US Region, Northern Virginia, or Pacific Northwest.
   \ ""
 2 / US East (Ohio) Region.
   \ "us-east-2"
 3 / US West (Oregon) Region.
   \ "us-west-2"
 4 / US West (Northern California) Region.
   \ "us-west-1"
 5 / Canada (Central) Region.
   \ "ca-central-1"
 6 / EU (Ireland) Region.
   \ "eu-west-1"
 7 / EU (London) Region.
   \ "eu-west-2"
 8 / EU Region.
   \ "EU"
 9 / Asia Pacific (Singapore) Region.
   \ "ap-southeast-1"
10 / Asia Pacific (Sydney) Region.
   \ "ap-southeast-2"
11 / Asia Pacific (Tokyo) Region.
   \ "ap-northeast-1"
12 / Asia Pacific (Seoul)
   \ "ap-northeast-2"
13 / Asia Pacific (Mumbai)
   \ "ap-south-1"
14 / Asia Pacific (Hong Kong)
   \ "ap-east-1"
15 / South America (Sao Paulo) Region.
   \ "sa-east-1"
location_constraint> 1
Canned ACL used when creating buckets and/or storing objects in S3.
For more info visit https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/acl-overview.html#canned-acl
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Owner gets FULL_CONTROL. No one else has access rights (default).
   \ "private"
 2 / Owner gets FULL_CONTROL. The AllUsers group gets READ access.
   \ "public-read"
   / Owner gets FULL_CONTROL. The AllUsers group gets READ and WRITE access.
 3 | Granting this on a bucket is generally not recommended.
   \ "public-read-write"
 4 / Owner gets FULL_CONTROL. The AuthenticatedUsers group gets READ access.
   \ "authenticated-read"
   / Object owner gets FULL_CONTROL. Bucket owner gets READ access.
 5 | If you specify this canned ACL when creating a bucket, Amazon S3 ignores it.
   \ "bucket-owner-read"
   / Both the object owner and the bucket owner get FULL_CONTROL over the object.
 6 | If you specify this canned ACL when creating a bucket, Amazon S3 ignores it.
   \ "bucket-owner-full-control"
acl> 1
The server-side encryption algorithm used when storing this object in S3.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / None
   \ ""
 2 / AES256
   \ "AES256"
server_side_encryption> 1
The storage class to use when storing objects in S3.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Default
   \ ""
 2 / Standard storage class
   \ "STANDARD"
 3 / Reduced redundancy storage class
   \ "REDUCED_REDUNDANCY"
 4 / Standard Infrequent Access storage class
   \ "STANDARD_IA"
 5 / One Zone Infrequent Access storage class
   \ "ONEZONE_IA"
 6 / Glacier storage class
   \ "GLACIER"
 7 / Glacier Deep Archive storage class
   \ "DEEP_ARCHIVE"
 8 / Intelligent-Tiering storage class
   \ "INTELLIGENT_TIERING"
 9 / Glacier Instant Retrieval storage class
   \ "GLACIER_IR"
storage_class> 1
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
type = s3
provider = AWS
env_auth = false
access_key_id = XXX
secret_access_key = YYY
region = us-east-1
endpoint =
location_constraint =
acl = private
server_side_encryption =
storage_class =
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d>

Modified time

The modified time is stored as metadata on the object as X-Amz-Meta-Mtime as floating point since the epoch, accurate to 1 ns.

If the modification time needs to be updated rclone will attempt to perform a server side copy to update the modification if the object can be copied in a single part. In the case the object is larger than 5Gb or is in Glacier or Glacier Deep Archive storage the object will be uploaded rather than copied.

Note that reading this from the object takes an additional HEAD request as the metadata isn't returned in object listings.

Reducing costs

Avoiding HEAD requests to read the modification time

By default, rclone will use the modification time of objects stored in S3 for syncing. This is stored in object metadata which unfortunately takes an extra HEAD request to read which can be expensive (in time and money).

The modification time is used by default for all operations that require checking the time a file was last updated. It allows rclone to treat the remote more like a true filesystem, but it is inefficient on S3 because it requires an extra API call to retrieve the metadata.

The extra API calls can be avoided when syncing (using rclone sync or rclone copy) in a few different ways, each with its own tradeoffs.

These flags can and should be used in combination with --fast-list - see below.

If using rclone mount or any command using the VFS (eg rclone serve) commands then you might want to consider using the VFS flag --no-modtime which will stop rclone reading the modification time for every object. You could also use --use-server-modtime if you are happy with the modification times of the objects being the time of upload.

Avoiding GET requests to read directory listings

Rclone's default directory traversal is to process each directory individually. This takes one API call per directory. Using the --fast-list flag will read all info about the the objects into memory first using a smaller number of API calls (one per 1000 objects). See the rclone docs for more details.

rclone sync --fast-list --checksum /path/to/source s3:bucket

--fast-list trades off API transactions for memory use. As a rough guide rclone uses 1k of memory per object stored, so using --fast-list on a sync of a million objects will use roughly 1 GiB of RAM.

If you are only copying a small number of files into a big repository then using --no-traverse is a good idea. This finds objects directly instead of through directory listings. You can do a "top-up" sync very cheaply by using --max-age and --no-traverse to copy only recent files, eg

rclone copy --max-age 24h --no-traverse /path/to/source s3:bucket

You'd then do a full rclone sync less often.

Note that --fast-list isn't required in the top-up sync.

Avoiding HEAD requests after PUT

By default, rclone will HEAD every object it uploads. It does this to check the object got uploaded correctly.

You can disable this with the --s3-no-head option - see there for more details.

Setting this flag increases the chance for undetected upload failures.

Hashes

For small objects which weren't uploaded as multipart uploads (objects sized below --s3-upload-cutoff if uploaded with rclone) rclone uses the ETag: header as an MD5 checksum.

However for objects which were uploaded as multipart uploads or with server side encryption (SSE-AWS or SSE-C) the ETag header is no longer the MD5 sum of the data, so rclone adds an additional piece of metadata X-Amz-Meta-Md5chksum which is a base64 encoded MD5 hash (in the same format as is required for Content-MD5).

For large objects, calculating this hash can take some time so the addition of this hash can be disabled with --s3-disable-checksum. This will mean that these objects do not have an MD5 checksum.

Note that reading this from the object takes an additional HEAD request as the metadata isn't returned in object listings.

Cleanup

If you run rclone cleanup s3:bucket then it will remove all pending multipart uploads older than 24 hours. You can use the -i flag to see exactly what it will do. If you want more control over the expiry date then run rclone backend cleanup s3:bucket -o max-age=1h to expire all uploads older than one hour. You can use rclone backend list-multipart-uploads s3:bucket to see the pending multipart uploads.

Restricted filename characters

S3 allows any valid UTF-8 string as a key.

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will be replaced, as they can't be used in XML.

The following characters are replaced since these are problematic when dealing with the REST API:

Character Value Replacement
NUL 0x00
/ 0x2F

The encoding will also encode these file names as they don't seem to work with the SDK properly:

File name Replacement
.
.. ..

Multipart uploads

rclone supports multipart uploads with S3 which means that it can upload files bigger than 5 GiB.

Note that files uploaded both with multipart upload and through crypt remotes do not have MD5 sums.

rclone switches from single part uploads to multipart uploads at the point specified by --s3-upload-cutoff. This can be a maximum of 5 GiB and a minimum of 0 (ie always upload multipart files).

The chunk sizes used in the multipart upload are specified by --s3-chunk-size and the number of chunks uploaded concurrently is specified by --s3-upload-concurrency.

Multipart uploads will use --transfers * --s3-upload-concurrency * --s3-chunk-size extra memory. Single part uploads to not use extra memory.

Single part transfers can be faster than multipart transfers or slower depending on your latency from S3 - the more latency, the more likely single part transfers will be faster.

Increasing --s3-upload-concurrency will increase throughput (8 would be a sensible value) and increasing --s3-chunk-size also increases throughput (16M would be sensible). Increasing either of these will use more memory. The default values are high enough to gain most of the possible performance without using too much memory.

Buckets and Regions

With Amazon S3 you can list buckets (rclone lsd) using any region, but you can only access the content of a bucket from the region it was created in. If you attempt to access a bucket from the wrong region, you will get an error, incorrect region, the bucket is not in 'XXX' region.

Authentication

There are a number of ways to supply rclone with a set of AWS credentials, with and without using the environment.

The different authentication methods are tried in this order:

If none of these option actually end up providing rclone with AWS credentials then S3 interaction will be non-authenticated (see below).

S3 Permissions

When using the sync subcommand of rclone the following minimum permissions are required to be available on the bucket being written to:

When using the lsd subcommand, the ListAllMyBuckets permission is required.

Example policy:

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Principal": {
                "AWS": "arn:aws:iam::USER_SID:user/USER_NAME"
            },
            "Action": [
                "s3:ListBucket",
                "s3:DeleteObject",
                "s3:GetObject",
                "s3:PutObject",
                "s3:PutObjectAcl"
            ],
            "Resource": [
              "arn:aws:s3:::BUCKET_NAME/*",
              "arn:aws:s3:::BUCKET_NAME"
            ]
        },
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "s3:ListAllMyBuckets",
            "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::*"
        }
    ]
}

Notes on above:

  1. This is a policy that can be used when creating bucket. It assumes that USER_NAME has been created.
  2. The Resource entry must include both resource ARNs, as one implies the bucket and the other implies the bucket's objects.

For reference, here's an Ansible script that will generate one or more buckets that will work with rclone sync.

Key Management System (KMS)

If you are using server-side encryption with KMS then you must make sure rclone is configured with server_side_encryption = aws:kms otherwise you will find you can't transfer small objects - these will create checksum errors.

Glacier and Glacier Deep Archive

You can upload objects using the glacier storage class or transition them to glacier using a lifecycle policy. The bucket can still be synced or copied into normally, but if rclone tries to access data from the glacier storage class you will see an error like below.

2017/09/11 19:07:43 Failed to sync: failed to open source object: Object in GLACIER, restore first: path/to/file

In this case you need to restore the object(s) in question before using rclone.

Note that rclone only speaks the S3 API it does not speak the Glacier Vault API, so rclone cannot directly access Glacier Vaults.

Object-lock enabled S3 bucket

According to AWS's documentation on S3 Object Lock:

If you configure a default retention period on a bucket, requests to upload objects in such a bucket must include the Content-MD5 header.

As mentioned in the Hashes section, small files that are not uploaded as multipart, use a different tag, causing the upload to fail. A simple solution is to set the --s3-upload-cutoff 0 and force all the files to be uploaded as multipart.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to s3 (Amazon S3 Compliant Storage Providers including AWS, Alibaba, Ceph, Digital Ocean, Dreamhost, IBM COS, Lyve Cloud, Minio, RackCorp, SeaweedFS, and Tencent COS).

--s3-provider

Choose your S3 provider.

Properties:

--s3-env-auth

Get AWS credentials from runtime (environment variables or EC2/ECS meta data if no env vars).

Only applies if access_key_id and secret_access_key is blank.

Properties:

--s3-access-key-id

AWS Access Key ID.

Leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.

Properties:

--s3-secret-access-key

AWS Secret Access Key (password).

Leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.

Properties:

--s3-region

Region to connect to.

Properties:

--s3-region

region - the location where your bucket will be created and your data stored.

Properties:

--s3-region

Region to connect to.

Properties:

--s3-region

Region to connect to.

Leave blank if you are using an S3 clone and you don't have a region.

Properties:

--s3-endpoint

Endpoint for S3 API.

Leave blank if using AWS to use the default endpoint for the region.

Properties:

--s3-endpoint

Endpoint for IBM COS S3 API.

Specify if using an IBM COS On Premise.

Properties:

--s3-endpoint

Endpoint for OSS API.

Properties:

--s3-endpoint

Endpoint for Scaleway Object Storage.

Properties:

--s3-endpoint

Endpoint for StackPath Object Storage.

Properties:

--s3-endpoint

Endpoint of the Shared Gateway.

Properties:

--s3-endpoint

Endpoint for Tencent COS API.

Properties:

--s3-endpoint

Endpoint for RackCorp Object Storage.

Properties:

--s3-endpoint

Endpoint for S3 API.

Required when using an S3 clone.

Properties:

--s3-location-constraint

Location constraint - must be set to match the Region.

Used when creating buckets only.

Properties:

--s3-location-constraint

Location constraint - must match endpoint when using IBM Cloud Public.

For on-prem COS, do not make a selection from this list, hit enter.

Properties:

--s3-location-constraint

Location constraint - the location where your bucket will be located and your data stored.

Properties:

--s3-location-constraint

Location constraint - must be set to match the Region.

Leave blank if not sure. Used when creating buckets only.

Properties:

--s3-acl

Canned ACL used when creating buckets and storing or copying objects.

This ACL is used for creating objects and if bucket_acl isn't set, for creating buckets too.

For more info visit https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/acl-overview.html#canned-acl

Note that this ACL is applied when server-side copying objects as S3 doesn't copy the ACL from the source but rather writes a fresh one.

Properties:

--s3-server-side-encryption

The server-side encryption algorithm used when storing this object in S3.

Properties:

--s3-sse-kms-key-id

If using KMS ID you must provide the ARN of Key.

Properties:

--s3-storage-class

The storage class to use when storing new objects in S3.

Properties:

--s3-storage-class

The storage class to use when storing new objects in OSS.

Properties:

--s3-storage-class

The storage class to use when storing new objects in Tencent COS.

Properties:

--s3-storage-class

The storage class to use when storing new objects in S3.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to s3 (Amazon S3 Compliant Storage Providers including AWS, Alibaba, Ceph, Digital Ocean, Dreamhost, IBM COS, Lyve Cloud, Minio, RackCorp, SeaweedFS, and Tencent COS).

--s3-bucket-acl

Canned ACL used when creating buckets.

For more info visit https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/acl-overview.html#canned-acl

Note that this ACL is applied when only when creating buckets. If it isn't set then "acl" is used instead.

Properties:

--s3-requester-pays

Enables requester pays option when interacting with S3 bucket.

Properties:

--s3-sse-customer-algorithm

If using SSE-C, the server-side encryption algorithm used when storing this object in S3.

Properties:

--s3-sse-customer-key

If using SSE-C you must provide the secret encryption key used to encrypt/decrypt your data.

Properties:

--s3-sse-customer-key-md5

If using SSE-C you may provide the secret encryption key MD5 checksum (optional).

If you leave it blank, this is calculated automatically from the sse_customer_key provided.

Properties:

--s3-upload-cutoff

Cutoff for switching to chunked upload.

Any files larger than this will be uploaded in chunks of chunk_size. The minimum is 0 and the maximum is 5 GiB.

Properties:

--s3-chunk-size

Chunk size to use for uploading.

When uploading files larger than upload_cutoff or files with unknown size (e.g. from "rclone rcat" or uploaded with "rclone mount" or google photos or google docs) they will be uploaded as multipart uploads using this chunk size.

Note that "--s3-upload-concurrency" chunks of this size are buffered in memory per transfer.

If you are transferring large files over high-speed links and you have enough memory, then increasing this will speed up the transfers.

Rclone will automatically increase the chunk size when uploading a large file of known size to stay below the 10,000 chunks limit.

Files of unknown size are uploaded with the configured chunk_size. Since the default chunk size is 5 MiB and there can be at most 10,000 chunks, this means that by default the maximum size of a file you can stream upload is 48 GiB. If you wish to stream upload larger files then you will need to increase chunk_size.

Properties:

--s3-max-upload-parts

Maximum number of parts in a multipart upload.

This option defines the maximum number of multipart chunks to use when doing a multipart upload.

This can be useful if a service does not support the AWS S3 specification of 10,000 chunks.

Rclone will automatically increase the chunk size when uploading a large file of a known size to stay below this number of chunks limit.

Properties:

--s3-copy-cutoff

Cutoff for switching to multipart copy.

Any files larger than this that need to be server-side copied will be copied in chunks of this size.

The minimum is 0 and the maximum is 5 GiB.

Properties:

--s3-disable-checksum

Don't store MD5 checksum with object metadata.

Normally rclone will calculate the MD5 checksum of the input before uploading it so it can add it to metadata on the object. This is great for data integrity checking but can cause long delays for large files to start uploading.

Properties:

--s3-shared-credentials-file

Path to the shared credentials file.

If env_auth = true then rclone can use a shared credentials file.

If this variable is empty rclone will look for the "AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE" env variable. If the env value is empty it will default to the current user's home directory.

Linux/OSX: "$HOME/.aws/credentials"
Windows:   "%USERPROFILE%\.aws\credentials"

Properties:

--s3-profile

Profile to use in the shared credentials file.

If env_auth = true then rclone can use a shared credentials file. This variable controls which profile is used in that file.

If empty it will default to the environment variable "AWS_PROFILE" or "default" if that environment variable is also not set.

Properties:

--s3-session-token

An AWS session token.

Properties:

--s3-upload-concurrency

Concurrency for multipart uploads.

This is the number of chunks of the same file that are uploaded concurrently.

If you are uploading small numbers of large files over high-speed links and these uploads do not fully utilize your bandwidth, then increasing this may help to speed up the transfers.

Properties:

--s3-force-path-style

If true use path style access if false use virtual hosted style.

If this is true (the default) then rclone will use path style access, if false then rclone will use virtual path style. See the AWS S3 docs for more info.

Some providers (e.g. AWS, Aliyun OSS, Netease COS, or Tencent COS) require this set to false - rclone will do this automatically based on the provider setting.

Properties:

--s3-v2-auth

If true use v2 authentication.

If this is false (the default) then rclone will use v4 authentication. If it is set then rclone will use v2 authentication.

Use this only if v4 signatures don't work, e.g. pre Jewel/v10 CEPH.

Properties:

--s3-use-accelerate-endpoint

If true use the AWS S3 accelerated endpoint.

See: AWS S3 Transfer acceleration

Properties:

--s3-leave-parts-on-error

If true avoid calling abort upload on a failure, leaving all successfully uploaded parts on S3 for manual recovery.

It should be set to true for resuming uploads across different sessions.

WARNING: Storing parts of an incomplete multipart upload counts towards space usage on S3 and will add additional costs if not cleaned up.

Properties:

--s3-list-chunk

Size of listing chunk (response list for each ListObject S3 request).

This option is also known as "MaxKeys", "max-items", or "page-size" from the AWS S3 specification. Most services truncate the response list to 1000 objects even if requested more than that. In AWS S3 this is a global maximum and cannot be changed, see AWS S3. In Ceph, this can be increased with the "rgw list buckets max chunk" option.

Properties:

--s3-list-version

Version of ListObjects to use: 1,2 or 0 for auto.

When S3 originally launched it only provided the ListObjects call to enumerate objects in a bucket.

However in May 2016 the ListObjectsV2 call was introduced. This is much higher performance and should be used if at all possible.

If set to the default, 0, rclone will guess according to the provider set which list objects method to call. If it guesses wrong, then it may be set manually here.

Properties:

--s3-list-url-encode

Whether to url encode listings: true/false/unset

Some providers support URL encoding listings and where this is available this is more reliable when using control characters in file names. If this is set to unset (the default) then rclone will choose according to the provider setting what to apply, but you can override rclone's choice here.

Properties:

--s3-no-check-bucket

If set, don't attempt to check the bucket exists or create it.

This can be useful when trying to minimise the number of transactions rclone does if you know the bucket exists already.

It can also be needed if the user you are using does not have bucket creation permissions. Before v1.52.0 this would have passed silently due to a bug.

Properties:

--s3-no-head

If set, don't HEAD uploaded objects to check integrity.

This can be useful when trying to minimise the number of transactions rclone does.

Setting it means that if rclone receives a 200 OK message after uploading an object with PUT then it will assume that it got uploaded properly.

In particular it will assume:

It reads the following items from the response for a single part PUT:

For multipart uploads these items aren't read.

If an source object of unknown length is uploaded then rclone will do a HEAD request.

Setting this flag increases the chance for undetected upload failures, in particular an incorrect size, so it isn't recommended for normal operation. In practice the chance of an undetected upload failure is very small even with this flag.

Properties:

--s3-no-head-object

If set, do not do HEAD before GET when getting objects.

Properties:

--s3-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

--s3-memory-pool-flush-time

How often internal memory buffer pools will be flushed.

Uploads which requires additional buffers (f.e multipart) will use memory pool for allocations. This option controls how often unused buffers will be removed from the pool.

Properties:

--s3-memory-pool-use-mmap

Whether to use mmap buffers in internal memory pool.

Properties:

--s3-disable-http2

Disable usage of http2 for S3 backends.

There is currently an unsolved issue with the s3 (specifically minio) backend and HTTP/2. HTTP/2 is enabled by default for the s3 backend but can be disabled here. When the issue is solved this flag will be removed.

See: https://github.com/rclone/rclone/issues/4673, https://github.com/rclone/rclone/issues/3631

Properties:

--s3-download-url

Custom endpoint for downloads. This is usually set to a CloudFront CDN URL as AWS S3 offers cheaper egress for data downloaded through the CloudFront network.

Properties:

--s3-use-multipart-etag

Whether to use ETag in multipart uploads for verification

This should be true, false or left unset to use the default for the provider.

Properties:

Backend commands

Here are the commands specific to the s3 backend.

Run them with

rclone backend COMMAND remote:

The help below will explain what arguments each command takes.

See the "rclone backend" command for more info on how to pass options and arguments.

These can be run on a running backend using the rc command backend/command.

restore

Restore objects from GLACIER to normal storage

rclone backend restore remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

This command can be used to restore one or more objects from GLACIER to normal storage.

Usage Examples:

rclone backend restore s3:bucket/path/to/object [-o priority=PRIORITY] [-o lifetime=DAYS]
rclone backend restore s3:bucket/path/to/directory [-o priority=PRIORITY] [-o lifetime=DAYS]
rclone backend restore s3:bucket [-o priority=PRIORITY] [-o lifetime=DAYS]

This flag also obeys the filters. Test first with -i/--interactive or --dry-run flags

rclone -i backend restore --include "*.txt" s3:bucket/path -o priority=Standard

All the objects shown will be marked for restore, then

rclone backend restore --include "*.txt" s3:bucket/path -o priority=Standard

It returns a list of status dictionaries with Remote and Status keys. The Status will be OK if it was successful or an error message if not.

[
    {
        "Status": "OK",
        "Path": "test.txt"
    },
    {
        "Status": "OK",
        "Path": "test/file4.txt"
    }
]

Options:

list-multipart-uploads

List the unfinished multipart uploads

rclone backend list-multipart-uploads remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

This command lists the unfinished multipart uploads in JSON format.

rclone backend list-multipart s3:bucket/path/to/object

It returns a dictionary of buckets with values as lists of unfinished multipart uploads.

You can call it with no bucket in which case it lists all bucket, with a bucket or with a bucket and path.

{
  "rclone": [
    {
      "Initiated": "2020-06-26T14:20:36Z",
      "Initiator": {
        "DisplayName": "XXX",
        "ID": "arn:aws:iam::XXX:user/XXX"
      },
      "Key": "KEY",
      "Owner": {
        "DisplayName": null,
        "ID": "XXX"
      },
      "StorageClass": "STANDARD",
      "UploadId": "XXX"
    }
  ],
  "rclone-1000files": [],
  "rclone-dst": []
}

cleanup

Remove unfinished multipart uploads.

rclone backend cleanup remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

This command removes unfinished multipart uploads of age greater than max-age which defaults to 24 hours.

Note that you can use -i/--dry-run with this command to see what it would do.

rclone backend cleanup s3:bucket/path/to/object
rclone backend cleanup -o max-age=7w s3:bucket/path/to/object

Durations are parsed as per the rest of rclone, 2h, 7d, 7w etc.

Options:

Anonymous access to public buckets

If you want to use rclone to access a public bucket, configure with a blank access_key_id and secret_access_key. Your config should end up looking like this:

[anons3]
type = s3
provider = AWS
env_auth = false
access_key_id =
secret_access_key =
region = us-east-1
endpoint =
location_constraint =
acl = private
server_side_encryption =
storage_class =

Then use it as normal with the name of the public bucket, e.g.

rclone lsd anons3:1000genomes

You will be able to list and copy data but not upload it.

Providers

AWS S3

This is the provider used as main example and described in the configuration section above.

AWS Snowball Edge

AWS Snowball is a hardware appliance used for transferring bulk data back to AWS. Its main software interface is S3 object storage.

To use rclone with AWS Snowball Edge devices, configure as standard for an 'S3 Compatible Service' be sure to set upload_cutoff = 0 otherwise you will run into authentication header issues as the snowball device does not support query parameter based authentication.

eg.

[snowball]
type = s3
provider = Other
access_key_id = YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
secret_access_key = YOUR_SECRET_KEY
endpoint = http://[IP of Snowball]:8080
upload_cutoff = 0

Ceph

Ceph is an open-source, unified, distributed storage system designed for excellent performance, reliability and scalability. It has an S3 compatible object storage interface.

To use rclone with Ceph, configure as above but leave the region blank and set the endpoint. You should end up with something like this in your config:

[ceph]
type = s3
provider = Ceph
env_auth = false
access_key_id = XXX
secret_access_key = YYY
region =
endpoint = https://ceph.endpoint.example.com
location_constraint =
acl =
server_side_encryption =
storage_class =

If you are using an older version of CEPH, e.g. 10.2.x Jewel, then you may need to supply the parameter --s3-upload-cutoff 0 or put this in the config file as upload_cutoff 0 to work around a bug which causes uploading of small files to fail.

Note also that Ceph sometimes puts / in the passwords it gives users. If you read the secret access key using the command line tools you will get a JSON blob with the / escaped as \/. Make sure you only write / in the secret access key.

Eg the dump from Ceph looks something like this (irrelevant keys removed).

{
    "user_id": "xxx",
    "display_name": "xxxx",
    "keys": [
        {
            "user": "xxx",
            "access_key": "xxxxxx",
            "secret_key": "xxxxxx\/xxxx"
        }
    ],
}

Because this is a json dump, it is encoding the / as \/, so if you use the secret key as xxxxxx/xxxx it will work fine.

Dreamhost

Dreamhost DreamObjects is an object storage system based on CEPH.

To use rclone with Dreamhost, configure as above but leave the region blank and set the endpoint. You should end up with something like this in your config:

[dreamobjects]
type = s3
provider = DreamHost
env_auth = false
access_key_id = your_access_key
secret_access_key = your_secret_key
region =
endpoint = objects-us-west-1.dream.io
location_constraint =
acl = private
server_side_encryption =
storage_class =

DigitalOcean Spaces

Spaces is an S3-interoperable object storage service from cloud provider DigitalOcean.

To connect to DigitalOcean Spaces you will need an access key and secret key. These can be retrieved on the "Applications & API" page of the DigitalOcean control panel. They will be needed when prompted by rclone config for your access_key_id and secret_access_key.

When prompted for a region or location_constraint, press enter to use the default value. The region must be included in the endpoint setting (e.g. nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com). The default values can be used for other settings.

Going through the whole process of creating a new remote by running rclone config, each prompt should be answered as shown below:

Storage> s3
env_auth> 1
access_key_id> YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
secret_access_key> YOUR_SECRET_KEY
region>
endpoint> nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com
location_constraint>
acl>
storage_class>

The resulting configuration file should look like:

[spaces]
type = s3
provider = DigitalOcean
env_auth = false
access_key_id = YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
secret_access_key = YOUR_SECRET_KEY
region =
endpoint = nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com
location_constraint =
acl =
server_side_encryption =
storage_class =

Once configured, you can create a new Space and begin copying files. For example:

rclone mkdir spaces:my-new-space
rclone copy /path/to/files spaces:my-new-space

IBM COS (S3)

Information stored with IBM Cloud Object Storage is encrypted and dispersed across multiple geographic locations, and accessed through an implementation of the S3 API. This service makes use of the distributed storage technologies provided by IBM’s Cloud Object Storage System (formerly Cleversafe). For more information visit: (http://www.ibm.com/cloud/object-storage)

To configure access to IBM COS S3, follow the steps below:

  1. Run rclone config and select n for a new remote.
    2018/02/14 14:13:11 NOTICE: Config file "C:\\Users\\a\\.config\\rclone\\rclone.conf" not found - using defaults
    No remotes found, make a new one?
    n) New remote
    s) Set configuration password
    q) Quit config
    n/s/q> n
  1. Enter the name for the configuration
    name> <YOUR NAME>
  1. Select "s3" storage.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
    1 / Alias for an existing remote
    \ "alias"
    2 / Amazon Drive
    \ "amazon cloud drive"
    3 / Amazon S3 Complaint Storage Providers (Dreamhost, Ceph, Minio, IBM COS)
    \ "s3"
    4 / Backblaze B2
    \ "b2"
[snip]
    23 / http Connection
    \ "http"
Storage> 3
  1. Select IBM COS as the S3 Storage Provider.
Choose the S3 provider.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
     1 / Choose this option to configure Storage to AWS S3
       \ "AWS"
     2 / Choose this option to configure Storage to Ceph Systems
     \ "Ceph"
     3 /  Choose this option to configure Storage to Dreamhost
     \ "Dreamhost"
   4 / Choose this option to the configure Storage to IBM COS S3
     \ "IBMCOS"
     5 / Choose this option to the configure Storage to Minio
     \ "Minio"
     Provider>4
  1. Enter the Access Key and Secret.
    AWS Access Key ID - leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
    access_key_id> <>
    AWS Secret Access Key (password) - leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
    secret_access_key> <>
  1. Specify the endpoint for IBM COS. For Public IBM COS, choose from the option below. For On Premise IBM COS, enter an endpoint address.
    Endpoint for IBM COS S3 API.
    Specify if using an IBM COS On Premise.
    Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
     1 / US Cross Region Endpoint
       \ "s3-api.us-geo.objectstorage.softlayer.net"
     2 / US Cross Region Dallas Endpoint
       \ "s3-api.dal.us-geo.objectstorage.softlayer.net"
     3 / US Cross Region Washington DC Endpoint
       \ "s3-api.wdc-us-geo.objectstorage.softlayer.net"
     4 / US Cross Region San Jose Endpoint
       \ "s3-api.sjc-us-geo.objectstorage.softlayer.net"
     5 / US Cross Region Private Endpoint
       \ "s3-api.us-geo.objectstorage.service.networklayer.com"
     6 / US Cross Region Dallas Private Endpoint
       \ "s3-api.dal-us-geo.objectstorage.service.networklayer.com"
     7 / US Cross Region Washington DC Private Endpoint
       \ "s3-api.wdc-us-geo.objectstorage.service.networklayer.com"
     8 / US Cross Region San Jose Private Endpoint
       \ "s3-api.sjc-us-geo.objectstorage.service.networklayer.com"
     9 / US Region East Endpoint
       \ "s3.us-east.objectstorage.softlayer.net"
    10 / US Region East Private Endpoint
       \ "s3.us-east.objectstorage.service.networklayer.com"
    11 / US Region South Endpoint
[snip]
    34 / Toronto Single Site Private Endpoint
       \ "s3.tor01.objectstorage.service.networklayer.com"
    endpoint>1
  1. Specify a IBM COS Location Constraint. The location constraint must match endpoint when using IBM Cloud Public. For on-prem COS, do not make a selection from this list, hit enter
     1 / US Cross Region Standard
       \ "us-standard"
     2 / US Cross Region Vault
       \ "us-vault"
     3 / US Cross Region Cold
       \ "us-cold"
     4 / US Cross Region Flex
       \ "us-flex"
     5 / US East Region Standard
       \ "us-east-standard"
     6 / US East Region Vault
       \ "us-east-vault"
     7 / US East Region Cold
       \ "us-east-cold"
     8 / US East Region Flex
       \ "us-east-flex"
     9 / US South Region Standard
       \ "us-south-standard"
    10 / US South Region Vault
       \ "us-south-vault"
[snip]
    32 / Toronto Flex
       \ "tor01-flex"
location_constraint>1
  1. Specify a canned ACL. IBM Cloud (Storage) supports "public-read" and "private". IBM Cloud(Infra) supports all the canned ACLs. On-Premise COS supports all the canned ACLs.
Canned ACL used when creating buckets and/or storing objects in S3.
For more info visit https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/acl-overview.html#canned-acl
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
      1 / Owner gets FULL_CONTROL. No one else has access rights (default). This acl is available on IBM Cloud (Infra), IBM Cloud (Storage), On-Premise COS
      \ "private"
      2  / Owner gets FULL_CONTROL. The AllUsers group gets READ access. This acl is available on IBM Cloud (Infra), IBM Cloud (Storage), On-Premise IBM COS
      \ "public-read"
      3 / Owner gets FULL_CONTROL. The AllUsers group gets READ and WRITE access. This acl is available on IBM Cloud (Infra), On-Premise IBM COS
      \ "public-read-write"
      4  / Owner gets FULL_CONTROL. The AuthenticatedUsers group gets READ access. Not supported on Buckets. This acl is available on IBM Cloud (Infra) and On-Premise IBM COS
      \ "authenticated-read"
acl> 1
  1. Review the displayed configuration and accept to save the "remote" then quit. The config file should look like this
    [xxx]
    type = s3
    Provider = IBMCOS
    access_key_id = xxx
    secret_access_key = yyy
    endpoint = s3-api.us-geo.objectstorage.softlayer.net
    location_constraint = us-standard
    acl = private
  1. Execute rclone commands
    1)  Create a bucket.
        rclone mkdir IBM-COS-XREGION:newbucket
    2)  List available buckets.
        rclone lsd IBM-COS-XREGION:
        -1 2017-11-08 21:16:22        -1 test
        -1 2018-02-14 20:16:39        -1 newbucket
    3)  List contents of a bucket.
        rclone ls IBM-COS-XREGION:newbucket
        18685952 test.exe
    4)  Copy a file from local to remote.
        rclone copy /Users/file.txt IBM-COS-XREGION:newbucket
    5)  Copy a file from remote to local.
        rclone copy IBM-COS-XREGION:newbucket/file.txt .
    6)  Delete a file on remote.
        rclone delete IBM-COS-XREGION:newbucket/file.txt

Minio

Minio is an object storage server built for cloud application developers and devops.

It is very easy to install and provides an S3 compatible server which can be used by rclone.

To use it, install Minio following the instructions here.

When it configures itself Minio will print something like this

Endpoint:  http://192.168.1.106:9000  http://172.23.0.1:9000
AccessKey: USWUXHGYZQYFYFFIT3RE
SecretKey: MOJRH0mkL1IPauahWITSVvyDrQbEEIwljvmxdq03
Region:    us-east-1
SQS ARNs:  arn:minio:sqs:us-east-1:1:redis arn:minio:sqs:us-east-1:2:redis

Browser Access:
   http://192.168.1.106:9000  http://172.23.0.1:9000

Command-line Access: https://docs.minio.io/docs/minio-client-quickstart-guide
   $ mc config host add myminio http://192.168.1.106:9000 USWUXHGYZQYFYFFIT3RE MOJRH0mkL1IPauahWITSVvyDrQbEEIwljvmxdq03

Object API (Amazon S3 compatible):
   Go:         https://docs.minio.io/docs/golang-client-quickstart-guide
   Java:       https://docs.minio.io/docs/java-client-quickstart-guide
   Python:     https://docs.minio.io/docs/python-client-quickstart-guide
   JavaScript: https://docs.minio.io/docs/javascript-client-quickstart-guide
   .NET:       https://docs.minio.io/docs/dotnet-client-quickstart-guide

Drive Capacity: 26 GiB Free, 165 GiB Total

These details need to go into rclone config like this. Note that it is important to put the region in as stated above.

env_auth> 1
access_key_id> USWUXHGYZQYFYFFIT3RE
secret_access_key> MOJRH0mkL1IPauahWITSVvyDrQbEEIwljvmxdq03
region> us-east-1
endpoint> http://192.168.1.106:9000
location_constraint>
server_side_encryption>

Which makes the config file look like this

[minio]
type = s3
provider = Minio
env_auth = false
access_key_id = USWUXHGYZQYFYFFIT3RE
secret_access_key = MOJRH0mkL1IPauahWITSVvyDrQbEEIwljvmxdq03
region = us-east-1
endpoint = http://192.168.1.106:9000
location_constraint =
server_side_encryption =

So once set up, for example, to copy files into a bucket

rclone copy /path/to/files minio:bucket

RackCorp

RackCorp Object Storage is an S3 compatible object storage platform from your friendly cloud provider RackCorp. The service is fast, reliable, well priced and located in many strategic locations unserviced by others, to ensure you can maintain data sovereignty.

Before you can use RackCorp Object Storage, you'll need to "sign up" for an account on our "portal". Next you can create an access key, a secret key and buckets, in your location of choice with ease. These details are required for the next steps of configuration, when rclone config asks for your access_key_id and secret_access_key.

Your config should end up looking a bit like this:

[RCS3-demo-config]
type = s3
provider = RackCorp
env_auth = true
access_key_id = YOURACCESSKEY
secret_access_key = YOURSECRETACCESSKEY
region = au-nsw
endpoint = s3.rackcorp.com
location_constraint = au-nsw

Scaleway

Scaleway The Object Storage platform allows you to store anything from backups, logs and web assets to documents and photos. Files can be dropped from the Scaleway console or transferred through our API and CLI or using any S3-compatible tool.

Scaleway provides an S3 interface which can be configured for use with rclone like this:

[scaleway]
type = s3
provider = Scaleway
env_auth = false
endpoint = s3.nl-ams.scw.cloud
access_key_id = SCWXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
secret_access_key = 1111111-2222-3333-44444-55555555555555
region = nl-ams
location_constraint =
acl = private
server_side_encryption =
storage_class =

Seagate Lyve Cloud

Seagate Lyve Cloud is an S3 compatible object storage platform from Seagate intended for enterprise use.

Here is a config run through for a remote called remote - you may choose a different name of course. Note that to create an access key and secret key you will need to create a service account first.

$ rclone config
No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote

Choose s3 backend

Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
[snip]
XX / Amazon S3 Compliant Storage Providers including AWS, Alibaba, Ceph, Digital Ocean, Dreamhost, IBM COS, Lyve Cloud, Minio, RackCorp, SeaweedFS, and Tencent COS
   \ (s3)
[snip]
Storage> s3

Choose LyveCloud as S3 provider

Choose your S3 provider.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
Press Enter to leave empty.
[snip]
XX / Seagate Lyve Cloud
   \ (LyveCloud)
[snip]
provider> LyveCloud

Take the default (just press enter) to enter access key and secret in the config file.

Get AWS credentials from runtime (environment variables or EC2/ECS meta data if no env vars).
Only applies if access_key_id and secret_access_key is blank.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own boolean value (true or false).
Press Enter for the default (false).
 1 / Enter AWS credentials in the next step.
   \ (false)
 2 / Get AWS credentials from the environment (env vars or IAM).
   \ (true)
env_auth>
AWS Access Key ID.
Leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
access_key_id> XXX
AWS Secret Access Key (password).
Leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
secret_access_key> YYY

Leave region blank

Region to connect to.
Leave blank if you are using an S3 clone and you don't have a region.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
Press Enter to leave empty.
   / Use this if unsure.
 1 | Will use v4 signatures and an empty region.
   \ ()
   / Use this only if v4 signatures don't work.
 2 | E.g. pre Jewel/v10 CEPH.
   \ (other-v2-signature)
region>

Choose an endpoint from the list

Endpoint for S3 API.
Required when using an S3 clone.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
Press Enter to leave empty.
 1 / Seagate Lyve Cloud US East 1 (Virginia)
   \ (s3.us-east-1.lyvecloud.seagate.com)
 2 / Seagate Lyve Cloud US West 1 (California)
   \ (s3.us-west-1.lyvecloud.seagate.com)
 3 / Seagate Lyve Cloud AP Southeast 1 (Singapore)
   \ (s3.ap-southeast-1.lyvecloud.seagate.com)
endpoint> 1

Leave location constraint blank

Location constraint - must be set to match the Region.
Leave blank if not sure. Used when creating buckets only.
Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
location_constraint>

Choose default ACL (private).

Canned ACL used when creating buckets and storing or copying objects.
This ACL is used for creating objects and if bucket_acl isn't set, for creating buckets too.
For more info visit https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/acl-overview.html#canned-acl
Note that this ACL is applied when server-side copying objects as S3
doesn't copy the ACL from the source but rather writes a fresh one.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
Press Enter to leave empty.
   / Owner gets FULL_CONTROL.
 1 | No one else has access rights (default).
   \ (private)
[snip]
acl>

And the config file should end up looking like this:

[remote]
type = s3
provider = LyveCloud
access_key_id = XXX
secret_access_key = YYY
endpoint = s3.us-east-1.lyvecloud.seagate.com

SeaweedFS

SeaweedFS is a distributed storage system for blobs, objects, files, and data lake, with O(1) disk seek and a scalable file metadata store. It has an S3 compatible object storage interface. SeaweedFS can also act as a gateway to remote S3 compatible object store to cache data and metadata with asynchronous write back, for fast local speed and minimize access cost.

Assuming the SeaweedFS are configured with weed shell as such:

> s3.bucket.create -name foo
> s3.configure -access_key=any -secret_key=any -buckets=foo -user=me -actions=Read,Write,List,Tagging,Admin -apply
{
  "identities": [
    {
      "name": "me",
      "credentials": [
        {
          "accessKey": "any",
          "secretKey": "any"
        }
      ],
      "actions": [
        "Read:foo",
        "Write:foo",
        "List:foo",
        "Tagging:foo",
        "Admin:foo"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

To use rclone with SeaweedFS, above configuration should end up with something like this in your config:

[seaweedfs_s3]
type = s3
provider = SeaweedFS
access_key_id = any
secret_access_key = any
endpoint = localhost:8333

So once set up, for example to copy files into a bucket

rclone copy /path/to/files seaweedfs_s3:foo

Wasabi

Wasabi is a cloud-based object storage service for a broad range of applications and use cases. Wasabi is designed for individuals and organizations that require a high-performance, reliable, and secure data storage infrastructure at minimal cost.

Wasabi provides an S3 interface which can be configured for use with rclone like this.

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
n/s> n
name> wasabi
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Amazon S3 (also Dreamhost, Ceph, Minio)
   \ "s3"
[snip]
Storage> s3
Get AWS credentials from runtime (environment variables or EC2/ECS meta data if no env vars). Only applies if access_key_id and secret_access_key is blank.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Enter AWS credentials in the next step
   \ "false"
 2 / Get AWS credentials from the environment (env vars or IAM)
   \ "true"
env_auth> 1
AWS Access Key ID - leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
access_key_id> YOURACCESSKEY
AWS Secret Access Key (password) - leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
secret_access_key> YOURSECRETACCESSKEY
Region to connect to.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
   / The default endpoint - a good choice if you are unsure.
 1 | US Region, Northern Virginia, or Pacific Northwest.
   | Leave location constraint empty.
   \ "us-east-1"
[snip]
region> us-east-1
Endpoint for S3 API.
Leave blank if using AWS to use the default endpoint for the region.
Specify if using an S3 clone such as Ceph.
endpoint> s3.wasabisys.com
Location constraint - must be set to match the Region. Used when creating buckets only.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Empty for US Region, Northern Virginia, or Pacific Northwest.
   \ ""
[snip]
location_constraint>
Canned ACL used when creating buckets and/or storing objects in S3.
For more info visit https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/acl-overview.html#canned-acl
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Owner gets FULL_CONTROL. No one else has access rights (default).
   \ "private"
[snip]
acl>
The server-side encryption algorithm used when storing this object in S3.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / None
   \ ""
 2 / AES256
   \ "AES256"
server_side_encryption>
The storage class to use when storing objects in S3.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Default
   \ ""
 2 / Standard storage class
   \ "STANDARD"
 3 / Reduced redundancy storage class
   \ "REDUCED_REDUNDANCY"
 4 / Standard Infrequent Access storage class
   \ "STANDARD_IA"
storage_class>
Remote config
--------------------
[wasabi]
env_auth = false
access_key_id = YOURACCESSKEY
secret_access_key = YOURSECRETACCESSKEY
region = us-east-1
endpoint = s3.wasabisys.com
location_constraint =
acl =
server_side_encryption =
storage_class =
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

This will leave the config file looking like this.

[wasabi]
type = s3
provider = Wasabi
env_auth = false
access_key_id = YOURACCESSKEY
secret_access_key = YOURSECRETACCESSKEY
region =
endpoint = s3.wasabisys.com
location_constraint =
acl =
server_side_encryption =
storage_class =

Alibaba OSS

Here is an example of making an Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) OSS configuration. First run:

rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process.

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> oss
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
 4 / Amazon S3 Compliant Storage Providers including AWS, Alibaba, Ceph, Digital Ocean, Dreamhost, IBM COS, Minio, and Tencent COS
   \ "s3"
[snip]
Storage> s3
Choose your S3 provider.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3
   \ "AWS"
 2 / Alibaba Cloud Object Storage System (OSS) formerly Aliyun
   \ "Alibaba"
 3 / Ceph Object Storage
   \ "Ceph"
[snip]
provider> Alibaba
Get AWS credentials from runtime (environment variables or EC2/ECS meta data if no env vars).
Only applies if access_key_id and secret_access_key is blank.
Enter a boolean value (true or false). Press Enter for the default ("false").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Enter AWS credentials in the next step
   \ "false"
 2 / Get AWS credentials from the environment (env vars or IAM)
   \ "true"
env_auth> 1
AWS Access Key ID.
Leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
access_key_id> accesskeyid
AWS Secret Access Key (password)
Leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
secret_access_key> secretaccesskey
Endpoint for OSS API.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / East China 1 (Hangzhou)
   \ "oss-cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com"
 2 / East China 2 (Shanghai)
   \ "oss-cn-shanghai.aliyuncs.com"
 3 / North China 1 (Qingdao)
   \ "oss-cn-qingdao.aliyuncs.com"
[snip]
endpoint> 1
Canned ACL used when creating buckets and storing or copying objects.

Note that this ACL is applied when server-side copying objects as S3
doesn't copy the ACL from the source but rather writes a fresh one.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Owner gets FULL_CONTROL. No one else has access rights (default).
   \ "private"
 2 / Owner gets FULL_CONTROL. The AllUsers group gets READ access.
   \ "public-read"
   / Owner gets FULL_CONTROL. The AllUsers group gets READ and WRITE access.
[snip]
acl> 1
The storage class to use when storing new objects in OSS.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Default
   \ ""
 2 / Standard storage class
   \ "STANDARD"
 3 / Archive storage mode.
   \ "GLACIER"
 4 / Infrequent access storage mode.
   \ "STANDARD_IA"
storage_class> 1
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> n
Remote config
--------------------
[oss]
type = s3
provider = Alibaba
env_auth = false
access_key_id = accesskeyid
secret_access_key = secretaccesskey
endpoint = oss-cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com
acl = private
storage_class = Standard
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Tencent COS

Tencent Cloud Object Storage (COS) is a distributed storage service offered by Tencent Cloud for unstructured data. It is secure, stable, massive, convenient, low-delay and low-cost.

To configure access to Tencent COS, follow the steps below:

  1. Run rclone config and select n for a new remote.
rclone config
No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
  1. Give the name of the configuration. For example, name it 'cos'.
name> cos
  1. Select s3 storage.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
1 / 1Fichier
   \ "fichier"
 2 / Alias for an existing remote
   \ "alias"
 3 / Amazon Drive
   \ "amazon cloud drive"
 4 / Amazon S3 Compliant Storage Providers including AWS, Alibaba, Ceph, Digital Ocean, Dreamhost, IBM COS, Minio, and Tencent COS
   \ "s3"
[snip]
Storage> s3
  1. Select TencentCOS provider.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
1 / Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3
   \ "AWS"
[snip]
11 / Tencent Cloud Object Storage (COS)
   \ "TencentCOS"
[snip]
provider> TencentCOS
  1. Enter your SecretId and SecretKey of Tencent Cloud.
Get AWS credentials from runtime (environment variables or EC2/ECS meta data if no env vars).
Only applies if access_key_id and secret_access_key is blank.
Enter a boolean value (true or false). Press Enter for the default ("false").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Enter AWS credentials in the next step
   \ "false"
 2 / Get AWS credentials from the environment (env vars or IAM)
   \ "true"
env_auth> 1
AWS Access Key ID.
Leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
access_key_id> AKIDxxxxxxxxxx
AWS Secret Access Key (password)
Leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
secret_access_key> xxxxxxxxxxx
  1. Select endpoint for Tencent COS. This is the standard endpoint for different region.
 1 / Beijing Region.
   \ "cos.ap-beijing.myqcloud.com"
 2 / Nanjing Region.
   \ "cos.ap-nanjing.myqcloud.com"
 3 / Shanghai Region.
   \ "cos.ap-shanghai.myqcloud.com"
 4 / Guangzhou Region.
   \ "cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com"
[snip]
endpoint> 4
  1. Choose acl and storage class.
Note that this ACL is applied when server-side copying objects as S3
doesn't copy the ACL from the source but rather writes a fresh one.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Owner gets Full_CONTROL. No one else has access rights (default).
   \ "default"
[snip]
acl> 1
The storage class to use when storing new objects in Tencent COS.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Default
   \ ""
[snip]
storage_class> 1
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n
Remote config
--------------------
[cos]
type = s3
provider = TencentCOS
env_auth = false
access_key_id = xxx
secret_access_key = xxx
endpoint = cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com
acl = default
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y
Current remotes:

Name                 Type
====                 ====
cos                  s3

Netease NOS

For Netease NOS configure as per the configurator rclone config setting the provider Netease. This will automatically set force_path_style = false which is necessary for it to run properly.

Storj

Storj is a decentralized cloud storage which can be used through its native protocol or an S3 compatible gateway.

The S3 compatible gateway is configured using rclone config with a type of s3 and with a provider name of Storj. Here is an example run of the configurator.

Type of storage to configure.
Storage> s3
Get AWS credentials from runtime (environment variables or EC2/ECS meta data if no env vars).
Only applies if access_key_id and secret_access_key is blank.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own boolean value (true or false).
Press Enter for the default (false).
 1 / Enter AWS credentials in the next step.
   \ (false)
 2 / Get AWS credentials from the environment (env vars or IAM).
   \ (true)
env_auth> 1
Option access_key_id.
AWS Access Key ID.
Leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
access_key_id> XXXX (as shown when creating the access grant)
Option secret_access_key.
AWS Secret Access Key (password).
Leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
secret_access_key> XXXX (as shown when creating the access grant)
Option endpoint.
Endpoint of the Shared Gateway.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
Press Enter to leave empty.
 1 / EU1 Shared Gateway
   \ (gateway.eu1.storjshare.io)
 2 / US1 Shared Gateway
   \ (gateway.us1.storjshare.io)
 3 / Asia-Pacific Shared Gateway
   \ (gateway.ap1.storjshare.io)
endpoint> 1 (as shown when creating the access grant)
Edit advanced config?
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n

Note that s3 credentials are generated when you create an access grant.

Backend quirks

Backend bugs

Due to issue #39 uploading multipart files via the S3 gateway causes them to lose their metadata. For rclone's purpose this means that the modification time is not stored, nor is any MD5SUM (if one is available from the source).

This has the following consequences:

One general purpose workaround is to set --s3-upload-cutoff 5G. This means that rclone will upload files smaller than 5GiB as single parts. Note that this can be set in the config file with upload_cutoff = 5G or configured in the advanced settings. If you regularly transfer files larger than 5G then using --checksum or --size-only in rclone sync is the recommended workaround.

Comparison with the native protocol

Use the the native protocol to take advantage of client-side encryption as well as to achieve the best possible download performance. Uploads will be erasure-coded locally, thus a 1gb upload will result in 2.68gb of data being uploaded to storage nodes across the network.

Use this backend and the S3 compatible Hosted Gateway to increase upload performance and reduce the load on your systems and network. Uploads will be encrypted and erasure-coded server-side, thus a 1GB upload will result in only in 1GB of data being uploaded to storage nodes across the network.

For more detailed comparison please check the documentation of the storj backend.

Limitations

rclone about is not supported by the S3 backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

Backblaze B2

B2 is Backblaze's cloud storage system.

Paths are specified as remote:bucket (or remote: for the lsd command.) You may put subdirectories in too, e.g. remote:bucket/path/to/dir.

Configuration

Here is an example of making a b2 configuration. First run

rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process. To authenticate you will either need your Account ID (a short hex number) and Master Application Key (a long hex number) OR an Application Key, which is the recommended method. See below for further details on generating and using an Application Key.

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
q) Quit config
n/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Backblaze B2
   \ "b2"
[snip]
Storage> b2
Account ID or Application Key ID
account> 123456789abc
Application Key
key> 0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789
Endpoint for the service - leave blank normally.
endpoint>
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
account = 123456789abc
key = 0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789
endpoint =
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

This remote is called remote and can now be used like this

See all buckets

rclone lsd remote:

Create a new bucket

rclone mkdir remote:bucket

List the contents of a bucket

rclone ls remote:bucket

Sync /home/local/directory to the remote bucket, deleting any excess files in the bucket.

rclone sync -i /home/local/directory remote:bucket

Application Keys

B2 supports multiple Application Keys for different access permission to B2 Buckets.

You can use these with rclone too; you will need to use rclone version 1.43 or later.

Follow Backblaze's docs to create an Application Key with the required permission and add the applicationKeyId as the account and the Application Key itself as the key.

Note that you must put the applicationKeyId as the account – you can't use the master Account ID. If you try then B2 will return 401 errors.

--fast-list

This remote supports --fast-list which allows you to use fewer transactions in exchange for more memory. See the rclone docs for more details.

Modified time

The modified time is stored as metadata on the object as X-Bz-Info-src_last_modified_millis as milliseconds since 1970-01-01 in the Backblaze standard. Other tools should be able to use this as a modified time.

Modified times are used in syncing and are fully supported. Note that if a modification time needs to be updated on an object then it will create a new version of the object.

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
\ 0x5C

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Note that in 2020-05 Backblaze started allowing  characters in file names. Rclone hasn't changed its encoding as this could cause syncs to re-transfer files. If you want rclone not to replace  then see the --b2-encoding flag below and remove the BackSlash from the string. This can be set in the config.

SHA1 checksums

The SHA1 checksums of the files are checked on upload and download and will be used in the syncing process.

Large files (bigger than the limit in --b2-upload-cutoff) which are uploaded in chunks will store their SHA1 on the object as X-Bz-Info-large_file_sha1 as recommended by Backblaze.

For a large file to be uploaded with an SHA1 checksum, the source needs to support SHA1 checksums. The local disk supports SHA1 checksums so large file transfers from local disk will have an SHA1. See the overview for exactly which remotes support SHA1.

Sources which don't support SHA1, in particular crypt will upload large files without SHA1 checksums. This may be fixed in the future (see #1767).

Files sizes below --b2-upload-cutoff will always have an SHA1 regardless of the source.

Transfers

Backblaze recommends that you do lots of transfers simultaneously for maximum speed. In tests from my SSD equipped laptop the optimum setting is about --transfers 32 though higher numbers may be used for a slight speed improvement. The optimum number for you may vary depending on your hardware, how big the files are, how much you want to load your computer, etc. The default of --transfers 4 is definitely too low for Backblaze B2 though.

Note that uploading big files (bigger than 200 MiB by default) will use a 96 MiB RAM buffer by default. There can be at most --transfers of these in use at any moment, so this sets the upper limit on the memory used.

Versions

When rclone uploads a new version of a file it creates a new version of it. Likewise when you delete a file, the old version will be marked hidden and still be available. Conversely, you may opt in to a "hard delete" of files with the --b2-hard-delete flag which would permanently remove the file instead of hiding it.

Old versions of files, where available, are visible using the --b2-versions flag.

If you wish to remove all the old versions then you can use the rclone cleanup remote:bucket command which will delete all the old versions of files, leaving the current ones intact. You can also supply a path and only old versions under that path will be deleted, e.g. rclone cleanup remote:bucket/path/to/stuff.

Note that cleanup will remove partially uploaded files from the bucket if they are more than a day old.

When you purge a bucket, the current and the old versions will be deleted then the bucket will be deleted.

However delete will cause the current versions of the files to become hidden old versions.

Here is a session showing the listing and retrieval of an old version followed by a cleanup of the old versions.

Show current version and all the versions with --b2-versions flag.

$ rclone -q ls b2:cleanup-test
        9 one.txt

$ rclone -q --b2-versions ls b2:cleanup-test
        9 one.txt
        8 one-v2016-07-04-141032-000.txt
       16 one-v2016-07-04-141003-000.txt
       15 one-v2016-07-02-155621-000.txt

Retrieve an old version

$ rclone -q --b2-versions copy b2:cleanup-test/one-v2016-07-04-141003-000.txt /tmp

$ ls -l /tmp/one-v2016-07-04-141003-000.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ncw ncw 16 Jul  2 17:46 /tmp/one-v2016-07-04-141003-000.txt

Clean up all the old versions and show that they've gone.

$ rclone -q cleanup b2:cleanup-test

$ rclone -q ls b2:cleanup-test
        9 one.txt

$ rclone -q --b2-versions ls b2:cleanup-test
        9 one.txt

Data usage

It is useful to know how many requests are sent to the server in different scenarios.

All copy commands send the following 4 requests:

/b2api/v1/b2_authorize_account
/b2api/v1/b2_create_bucket
/b2api/v1/b2_list_buckets
/b2api/v1/b2_list_file_names

The b2_list_file_names request will be sent once for every 1k files in the remote path, providing the checksum and modification time of the listed files. As of version 1.33 issue #818 causes extra requests to be sent when using B2 with Crypt. When a copy operation does not require any files to be uploaded, no more requests will be sent.

Uploading files that do not require chunking, will send 2 requests per file upload:

/b2api/v1/b2_get_upload_url
/b2api/v1/b2_upload_file/

Uploading files requiring chunking, will send 2 requests (one each to start and finish the upload) and another 2 requests for each chunk:

/b2api/v1/b2_start_large_file
/b2api/v1/b2_get_upload_part_url
/b2api/v1/b2_upload_part/
/b2api/v1/b2_finish_large_file

Versions

Versions can be viewed with the --b2-versions flag. When it is set rclone will show and act on older versions of files. For example

Listing without --b2-versions

$ rclone -q ls b2:cleanup-test
        9 one.txt

And with

$ rclone -q --b2-versions ls b2:cleanup-test
        9 one.txt
        8 one-v2016-07-04-141032-000.txt
       16 one-v2016-07-04-141003-000.txt
       15 one-v2016-07-02-155621-000.txt

Showing that the current version is unchanged but older versions can be seen. These have the UTC date that they were uploaded to the server to the nearest millisecond appended to them.

Note that when using --b2-versions no file write operations are permitted, so you can't upload files or delete them.

Rclone supports generating file share links for private B2 buckets. They can either be for a file for example:

./rclone link B2:bucket/path/to/file.txt
https://f002.backblazeb2.com/file/bucket/path/to/file.txt?Authorization=xxxxxxxx

or if run on a directory you will get:

./rclone link B2:bucket/path
https://f002.backblazeb2.com/file/bucket/path?Authorization=xxxxxxxx

you can then use the authorization token (the part of the url from the ?Authorization= on) on any file path under that directory. For example:

https://f002.backblazeb2.com/file/bucket/path/to/file1?Authorization=xxxxxxxx
https://f002.backblazeb2.com/file/bucket/path/file2?Authorization=xxxxxxxx
https://f002.backblazeb2.com/file/bucket/path/folder/file3?Authorization=xxxxxxxx

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to b2 (Backblaze B2).

--b2-account

Account ID or Application Key ID.

Properties:

--b2-key

Application Key.

Properties:

--b2-hard-delete

Permanently delete files on remote removal, otherwise hide files.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to b2 (Backblaze B2).

--b2-endpoint

Endpoint for the service.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--b2-test-mode

A flag string for X-Bz-Test-Mode header for debugging.

This is for debugging purposes only. Setting it to one of the strings below will cause b2 to return specific errors:

These will be set in the "X-Bz-Test-Mode" header which is documented in the b2 integrations checklist.

Properties:

--b2-versions

Include old versions in directory listings.

Note that when using this no file write operations are permitted, so you can't upload files or delete them.

Properties:

--b2-upload-cutoff

Cutoff for switching to chunked upload.

Files above this size will be uploaded in chunks of "--b2-chunk-size".

This value should be set no larger than 4.657 GiB (== 5 GB).

Properties:

--b2-copy-cutoff

Cutoff for switching to multipart copy.

Any files larger than this that need to be server-side copied will be copied in chunks of this size.

The minimum is 0 and the maximum is 4.6 GiB.

Properties:

--b2-chunk-size

Upload chunk size.

When uploading large files, chunk the file into this size.

Must fit in memory. These chunks are buffered in memory and there might a maximum of "--transfers" chunks in progress at once.

5,000,000 Bytes is the minimum size.

Properties:

--b2-disable-checksum

Disable checksums for large (> upload cutoff) files.

Normally rclone will calculate the SHA1 checksum of the input before uploading it so it can add it to metadata on the object. This is great for data integrity checking but can cause long delays for large files to start uploading.

Properties:

--b2-download-url

Custom endpoint for downloads.

This is usually set to a Cloudflare CDN URL as Backblaze offers free egress for data downloaded through the Cloudflare network. Rclone works with private buckets by sending an "Authorization" header. If the custom endpoint rewrites the requests for authentication, e.g., in Cloudflare Workers, this header needs to be handled properly. Leave blank if you want to use the endpoint provided by Backblaze.

The URL provided here SHOULD have the protocol and SHOULD NOT have a trailing slash or specify the /file/bucket subpath as rclone will request files with "{download_url}/file/{bucket_name}/{path}".

Example: > https://mysubdomain.mydomain.tld (No trailing "/", "file" or "bucket")

Properties:

--b2-download-auth-duration

Time before the authorization token will expire in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d.

The duration before the download authorization token will expire. The minimum value is 1 second. The maximum value is one week.

Properties:

--b2-memory-pool-flush-time

How often internal memory buffer pools will be flushed. Uploads which requires additional buffers (f.e multipart) will use memory pool for allocations. This option controls how often unused buffers will be removed from the pool.

Properties:

--b2-memory-pool-use-mmap

Whether to use mmap buffers in internal memory pool.

Properties:

--b2-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

rclone about is not supported by the B2 backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

Box

Paths are specified as remote:path

Paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

The initial setup for Box involves getting a token from Box which you can do either in your browser, or with a config.json downloaded from Box to use JWT authentication. rclone config walks you through it.

Configuration

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Box
   \ "box"
[snip]
Storage> box
Box App Client Id - leave blank normally.
client_id> 
Box App Client Secret - leave blank normally.
client_secret>
Box App config.json location
Leave blank normally.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
box_config_file>
Box App Primary Access Token
Leave blank normally.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
access_token>

Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("user").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Rclone should act on behalf of a user
   \ "user"
 2 / Rclone should act on behalf of a service account
   \ "enterprise"
box_sub_type>
Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
--------------------
[remote]
client_id = 
client_secret = 
token = {"access_token":"XXX","token_type":"bearer","refresh_token":"XXX","expiry":"XXX"}
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

See the remote setup docs for how to set it up on a machine with no Internet browser available.

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect the token as returned from Box. This only runs from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get back the verification code. This is on http://127.0.0.1:53682/ and this it may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a host firewall.

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level of your Box

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your Box

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to an Box directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Using rclone with an Enterprise account with SSO

If you have an "Enterprise" account type with Box with single sign on (SSO), you need to create a password to use Box with rclone. This can be done at your Enterprise Box account by going to Settings, "Account" Tab, and then set the password in the "Authentication" field.

Once you have done this, you can setup your Enterprise Box account using the same procedure detailed above in the, using the password you have just set.

Invalid refresh token

According to the box docs:

Each refresh_token is valid for one use in 60 days.

This means that if you

then rclone will return an error which includes the text Invalid refresh token.

To fix this you will need to use oauth2 again to update the refresh token. You can use the methods in the remote setup docs, bearing in mind that if you use the copy the config file method, you should not use that remote on the computer you did the authentication on.

Here is how to do it.

$ rclone config
Current remotes:

Name                 Type
====                 ====
remote               box

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q> e
Choose a number from below, or type in an existing value
 1 > remote
remote> remote
--------------------
[remote]
type = box
token = {"access_token":"XXX","token_type":"bearer","refresh_token":"XXX","expiry":"2017-07-08T23:40:08.059167677+01:00"}
--------------------
Edit remote
Value "client_id" = ""
Edit? (y/n)>
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> n
Value "client_secret" = ""
Edit? (y/n)>
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> n
Remote config
Already have a token - refresh?
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
--------------------
[remote]
type = box
token = {"access_token":"YYY","token_type":"bearer","refresh_token":"YYY","expiry":"2017-07-23T12:22:29.259137901+01:00"}
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Modified time and hashes

Box allows modification times to be set on objects accurate to 1 second. These will be used to detect whether objects need syncing or not.

Box supports SHA1 type hashes, so you can use the --checksum flag.

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
\ 0x5C

File names can also not end with the following characters. These only get replaced if they are the last character in the name:

Character Value Replacement
SP 0x20

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Transfers

For files above 50 MiB rclone will use a chunked transfer. Rclone will upload up to --transfers chunks at the same time (shared among all the multipart uploads). Chunks are buffered in memory and are normally 8 MiB so increasing --transfers will increase memory use.

Deleting files

Depending on the enterprise settings for your user, the item will either be actually deleted from Box or moved to the trash.

Emptying the trash is supported via the rclone however cleanup command however this deletes every trashed file and folder individually so it may take a very long time. Emptying the trash via the WebUI does not have this limitation so it is advised to empty the trash via the WebUI.

Root folder ID

You can set the root_folder_id for rclone. This is the directory (identified by its Folder ID) that rclone considers to be the root of your Box drive.

Normally you will leave this blank and rclone will determine the correct root to use itself.

However you can set this to restrict rclone to a specific folder hierarchy.

In order to do this you will have to find the Folder ID of the directory you wish rclone to display. This will be the last segment of the URL when you open the relevant folder in the Box web interface.

So if the folder you want rclone to use has a URL which looks like https://app.box.com/folder/11xxxxxxxxx8 in the browser, then you use 11xxxxxxxxx8 as the root_folder_id in the config.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to box (Box).

--box-client-id

OAuth Client Id.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--box-client-secret

OAuth Client Secret.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--box-box-config-file

Box App config.json location

Leave blank normally.

Leading ~ will be expanded in the file name as will environment variables such as ${RCLONE_CONFIG_DIR}.

Properties:

--box-access-token

Box App Primary Access Token

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--box-box-sub-type

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to box (Box).

--box-token

OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob.

Properties:

--box-auth-url

Auth server URL.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--box-token-url

Token server url.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--box-root-folder-id

Fill in for rclone to use a non root folder as its starting point.

Properties:

--box-upload-cutoff

Cutoff for switching to multipart upload (>= 50 MiB).

Properties:

--box-commit-retries

Max number of times to try committing a multipart file.

Properties:

--box-list-chunk

Size of listing chunk 1-1000.

Properties:

--box-owned-by

Only show items owned by the login (email address) passed in.

Properties:

--box-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

Note that Box is case insensitive so you can't have a file called "Hello.doc" and one called "hello.doc".

Box file names can't have the \ character in. rclone maps this to and from an identical looking unicode equivalent (U+FF3C Fullwidth Reverse Solidus).

Box only supports filenames up to 255 characters in length.

rclone about is not supported by the Box backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

Cache (DEPRECATED)

The cache remote wraps another existing remote and stores file structure and its data for long running tasks like rclone mount.

Status

The cache backend code is working but it currently doesn't have a maintainer so there are outstanding bugs which aren't getting fixed.

The cache backend is due to be phased out in favour of the VFS caching layer eventually which is more tightly integrated into rclone.

Until this happens we recommend only using the cache backend if you find you can't work without it. There are many docs online describing the use of the cache backend to minimize API hits and by-and-large these are out of date and the cache backend isn't needed in those scenarios any more.

Configuration

To get started you just need to have an existing remote which can be configured with cache.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called test-cache. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/r/c/s/q> n
name> test-cache
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Cache a remote
   \ "cache"
[snip]
Storage> cache
Remote to cache.
Normally should contain a ':' and a path, e.g. "myremote:path/to/dir",
"myremote:bucket" or maybe "myremote:" (not recommended).
remote> local:/test
Optional: The URL of the Plex server
plex_url> http://127.0.0.1:32400
Optional: The username of the Plex user
plex_username> dummyusername
Optional: The password of the Plex user
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
n) No leave this optional password blank
y/g/n> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
The size of a chunk. Lower value good for slow connections but can affect seamless reading.
Default: 5M
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / 1 MiB
   \ "1M"
 2 / 5 MiB
   \ "5M"
 3 / 10 MiB
   \ "10M"
chunk_size> 2
How much time should object info (file size, file hashes, etc.) be stored in cache. Use a very high value if you don't plan on changing the source FS from outside the cache.
Accepted units are: "s", "m", "h".
Default: 5m
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / 1 hour
   \ "1h"
 2 / 24 hours
   \ "24h"
 3 / 24 hours
   \ "48h"
info_age> 2
The maximum size of stored chunks. When the storage grows beyond this size, the oldest chunks will be deleted.
Default: 10G
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / 500 MiB
   \ "500M"
 2 / 1 GiB
   \ "1G"
 3 / 10 GiB
   \ "10G"
chunk_total_size> 3
Remote config
--------------------
[test-cache]
remote = local:/test
plex_url = http://127.0.0.1:32400
plex_username = dummyusername
plex_password = *** ENCRYPTED ***
chunk_size = 5M
info_age = 48h
chunk_total_size = 10G

You can then use it like this,

List directories in top level of your drive

rclone lsd test-cache:

List all the files in your drive

rclone ls test-cache:

To start a cached mount

rclone mount --allow-other test-cache: /var/tmp/test-cache

Write Features

Offline uploading

In an effort to make writing through cache more reliable, the backend now supports this feature which can be activated by specifying a cache-tmp-upload-path.

A files goes through these states when using this feature:

  1. An upload is started (usually by copying a file on the cache remote)
  2. When the copy to the temporary location is complete the file is part of the cached remote and looks and behaves like any other file (reading included)
  3. After cache-tmp-wait-time passes and the file is next in line, rclone move is used to move the file to the cloud provider
  4. Reading the file still works during the upload but most modifications on it will be prohibited
  5. Once the move is complete the file is unlocked for modifications as it becomes as any other regular file
  6. If the file is being read through cache when it's actually deleted from the temporary path then cache will simply swap the source to the cloud provider without interrupting the reading (small blip can happen though)

Files are uploaded in sequence and only one file is uploaded at a time. Uploads will be stored in a queue and be processed based on the order they were added. The queue and the temporary storage is persistent across restarts but can be cleared on startup with the --cache-db-purge flag.

Write Support

Writes are supported through cache. One caveat is that a mounted cache remote does not add any retry or fallback mechanism to the upload operation. This will depend on the implementation of the wrapped remote. Consider using Offline uploading for reliable writes.

One special case is covered with cache-writes which will cache the file data at the same time as the upload when it is enabled making it available from the cache store immediately once the upload is finished.

Read Features

Multiple connections

To counter the high latency between a local PC where rclone is running and cloud providers, the cache remote can split multiple requests to the cloud provider for smaller file chunks and combines them together locally where they can be available almost immediately before the reader usually needs them.

This is similar to buffering when media files are played online. Rclone will stay around the current marker but always try its best to stay ahead and prepare the data before.

Plex Integration

There is a direct integration with Plex which allows cache to detect during reading if the file is in playback or not. This helps cache to adapt how it queries the cloud provider depending on what is needed for.

Scans will have a minimum amount of workers (1) while in a confirmed playback cache will deploy the configured number of workers.

This integration opens the doorway to additional performance improvements which will be explored in the near future.

Note: If Plex options are not configured, cache will function with its configured options without adapting any of its settings.

How to enable? Run rclone config and add all the Plex options (endpoint, username and password) in your remote and it will be automatically enabled.

Affected settings: - cache-workers: Configured value during confirmed playback or 1 all the other times

Certificate Validation

When the Plex server is configured to only accept secure connections, it is possible to use .plex.direct URLs to ensure certificate validation succeeds. These URLs are used by Plex internally to connect to the Plex server securely.

The format for these URLs is the following:

https://ip-with-dots-replaced.server-hash.plex.direct:32400/

The ip-with-dots-replaced part can be any IPv4 address, where the dots have been replaced with dashes, e.g. 127.0.0.1 becomes 127-0-0-1.

To get the server-hash part, the easiest way is to visit

https://plex.tv/api/resources?includeHttps=1&X-Plex-Token=your-plex-token

This page will list all the available Plex servers for your account with at least one .plex.direct link for each. Copy one URL and replace the IP address with the desired address. This can be used as the plex_url value.

Known issues

Mount and --dir-cache-time

--dir-cache-time controls the first layer of directory caching which works at the mount layer. Being an independent caching mechanism from the cache backend, it will manage its own entries based on the configured time.

To avoid getting in a scenario where dir cache has obsolete data and cache would have the correct one, try to set --dir-cache-time to a lower time than --cache-info-age. Default values are already configured in this way.

Windows support - Experimental

There are a couple of issues with Windows mount functionality that still require some investigations. It should be considered as experimental thus far as fixes come in for this OS.

Most of the issues seem to be related to the difference between filesystems on Linux flavors and Windows as cache is heavily dependent on them.

Any reports or feedback on how cache behaves on this OS is greatly appreciated.

Risk of throttling

Future iterations of the cache backend will make use of the pooling functionality of the cloud provider to synchronize and at the same time make writing through it more tolerant to failures.

There are a couple of enhancements in track to add these but in the meantime there is a valid concern that the expiring cache listings can lead to cloud provider throttles or bans due to repeated queries on it for very large mounts.

Some recommendations: - don't use a very small interval for entry information (--cache-info-age) - while writes aren't yet optimised, you can still write through cache which gives you the advantage of adding the file in the cache at the same time if configured to do so.

Future enhancements:

cache and crypt

One common scenario is to keep your data encrypted in the cloud provider using the crypt remote. crypt uses a similar technique to wrap around an existing remote and handles this translation in a seamless way.

There is an issue with wrapping the remotes in this order: cloud remote -> crypt -> cache

During testing, I experienced a lot of bans with the remotes in this order. I suspect it might be related to how crypt opens files on the cloud provider which makes it think we're downloading the full file instead of small chunks. Organizing the remotes in this order yields better results: cloud remote -> cache -> crypt

absolute remote paths

cache can not differentiate between relative and absolute paths for the wrapped remote. Any path given in the remote config setting and on the command line will be passed to the wrapped remote as is, but for storing the chunks on disk the path will be made relative by removing any leading / character.

This behavior is irrelevant for most backend types, but there are backends where a leading / changes the effective directory, e.g. in the sftp backend paths starting with a / are relative to the root of the SSH server and paths without are relative to the user home directory. As a result sftp:bin and sftp:/bin will share the same cache folder, even if they represent a different directory on the SSH server.

Cache and Remote Control (--rc)

Cache supports the new --rc mode in rclone and can be remote controlled through the following end points: By default, the listener is disabled if you do not add the flag.

rc cache/expire

Purge a remote from the cache backend. Supports either a directory or a file. It supports both encrypted and unencrypted file names if cache is wrapped by crypt.

Params: - remote = path to remote (required) - withData = true/false to delete cached data (chunks) as well (optional, false by default)

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to cache (Cache a remote).

--cache-remote

Remote to cache.

Normally should contain a ':' and a path, e.g. "myremote:path/to/dir", "myremote:bucket" or maybe "myremote:" (not recommended).

Properties:

--cache-plex-url

The URL of the Plex server.

Properties:

--cache-plex-username

The username of the Plex user.

Properties:

--cache-plex-password

The password of the Plex user.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

--cache-chunk-size

The size of a chunk (partial file data).

Use lower numbers for slower connections. If the chunk size is changed, any downloaded chunks will be invalid and cache-chunk-path will need to be cleared or unexpected EOF errors will occur.

Properties:

--cache-info-age

How long to cache file structure information (directory listings, file size, times, etc.). If all write operations are done through the cache then you can safely make this value very large as the cache store will also be updated in real time.

Properties:

--cache-chunk-total-size

The total size that the chunks can take up on the local disk.

If the cache exceeds this value then it will start to delete the oldest chunks until it goes under this value.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to cache (Cache a remote).

--cache-plex-token

The plex token for authentication - auto set normally.

Properties:

--cache-plex-insecure

Skip all certificate verification when connecting to the Plex server.

Properties:

--cache-db-path

Directory to store file structure metadata DB.

The remote name is used as the DB file name.

Properties:

--cache-chunk-path

Directory to cache chunk files.

Path to where partial file data (chunks) are stored locally. The remote name is appended to the final path.

This config follows the "--cache-db-path". If you specify a custom location for "--cache-db-path" and don't specify one for "--cache-chunk-path" then "--cache-chunk-path" will use the same path as "--cache-db-path".

Properties:

--cache-db-purge

Clear all the cached data for this remote on start.

Properties:

--cache-chunk-clean-interval

How often should the cache perform cleanups of the chunk storage.

The default value should be ok for most people. If you find that the cache goes over "cache-chunk-total-size" too often then try to lower this value to force it to perform cleanups more often.

Properties:

--cache-read-retries

How many times to retry a read from a cache storage.

Since reading from a cache stream is independent from downloading file data, readers can get to a point where there's no more data in the cache. Most of the times this can indicate a connectivity issue if cache isn't able to provide file data anymore.

For really slow connections, increase this to a point where the stream is able to provide data but your experience will be very stuttering.

Properties:

--cache-workers

How many workers should run in parallel to download chunks.

Higher values will mean more parallel processing (better CPU needed) and more concurrent requests on the cloud provider. This impacts several aspects like the cloud provider API limits, more stress on the hardware that rclone runs on but it also means that streams will be more fluid and data will be available much more faster to readers.

Note: If the optional Plex integration is enabled then this setting will adapt to the type of reading performed and the value specified here will be used as a maximum number of workers to use.

Properties:

--cache-chunk-no-memory

Disable the in-memory cache for storing chunks during streaming.

By default, cache will keep file data during streaming in RAM as well to provide it to readers as fast as possible.

This transient data is evicted as soon as it is read and the number of chunks stored doesn't exceed the number of workers. However, depending on other settings like "cache-chunk-size" and "cache-workers" this footprint can increase if there are parallel streams too (multiple files being read at the same time).

If the hardware permits it, use this feature to provide an overall better performance during streaming but it can also be disabled if RAM is not available on the local machine.

Properties:

--cache-rps

Limits the number of requests per second to the source FS (-1 to disable).

This setting places a hard limit on the number of requests per second that cache will be doing to the cloud provider remote and try to respect that value by setting waits between reads.

If you find that you're getting banned or limited on the cloud provider through cache and know that a smaller number of requests per second will allow you to work with it then you can use this setting for that.

A good balance of all the other settings should make this setting useless but it is available to set for more special cases.

NOTE: This will limit the number of requests during streams but other API calls to the cloud provider like directory listings will still pass.

Properties:

--cache-writes

Cache file data on writes through the FS.

If you need to read files immediately after you upload them through cache you can enable this flag to have their data stored in the cache store at the same time during upload.

Properties:

--cache-tmp-upload-path

Directory to keep temporary files until they are uploaded.

This is the path where cache will use as a temporary storage for new files that need to be uploaded to the cloud provider.

Specifying a value will enable this feature. Without it, it is completely disabled and files will be uploaded directly to the cloud provider

Properties:

--cache-tmp-wait-time

How long should files be stored in local cache before being uploaded.

This is the duration that a file must wait in the temporary location cache-tmp-upload-path before it is selected for upload.

Note that only one file is uploaded at a time and it can take longer to start the upload if a queue formed for this purpose.

Properties:

--cache-db-wait-time

How long to wait for the DB to be available - 0 is unlimited.

Only one process can have the DB open at any one time, so rclone waits for this duration for the DB to become available before it gives an error.

If you set it to 0 then it will wait forever.

Properties:

Backend commands

Here are the commands specific to the cache backend.

Run them with

rclone backend COMMAND remote:

The help below will explain what arguments each command takes.

See the "rclone backend" command for more info on how to pass options and arguments.

These can be run on a running backend using the rc command backend/command.

stats

Print stats on the cache backend in JSON format.

rclone backend stats remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

Chunker (BETA)

The chunker overlay transparently splits large files into smaller chunks during upload to wrapped remote and transparently assembles them back when the file is downloaded. This allows to effectively overcome size limits imposed by storage providers.

Configuration

To use it, first set up the underlying remote following the configuration instructions for that remote. You can also use a local pathname instead of a remote.

First check your chosen remote is working - we'll call it remote:path here. Note that anything inside remote:path will be chunked and anything outside won't. This means that if you are using a bucket-based remote (e.g. S3, B2, swift) then you should probably put the bucket in the remote s3:bucket.

Now configure chunker using rclone config. We will call this one overlay to separate it from the remote itself.

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> overlay
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Transparently chunk/split large files
   \ "chunker"
[snip]
Storage> chunker
Remote to chunk/unchunk.
Normally should contain a ':' and a path, e.g. "myremote:path/to/dir",
"myremote:bucket" or maybe "myremote:" (not recommended).
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
remote> remote:path
Files larger than chunk size will be split in chunks.
Enter a size with suffix K,M,G,T. Press Enter for the default ("2G").
chunk_size> 100M
Choose how chunker handles hash sums. All modes but "none" require metadata.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("md5").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Pass any hash supported by wrapped remote for non-chunked files, return nothing otherwise
   \ "none"
 2 / MD5 for composite files
   \ "md5"
 3 / SHA1 for composite files
   \ "sha1"
 4 / MD5 for all files
   \ "md5all"
 5 / SHA1 for all files
   \ "sha1all"
 6 / Copying a file to chunker will request MD5 from the source falling back to SHA1 if unsupported
   \ "md5quick"
 7 / Similar to "md5quick" but prefers SHA1 over MD5
   \ "sha1quick"
hash_type> md5
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> n
Remote config
--------------------
[overlay]
type = chunker
remote = remote:bucket
chunk_size = 100M
hash_type = md5
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Specifying the remote

In normal use, make sure the remote has a : in. If you specify the remote without a : then rclone will use a local directory of that name. So if you use a remote of /path/to/secret/files then rclone will chunk stuff in that directory. If you use a remote of name then rclone will put files in a directory called name in the current directory.

Chunking

When rclone starts a file upload, chunker checks the file size. If it doesn't exceed the configured chunk size, chunker will just pass the file to the wrapped remote. If a file is large, chunker will transparently cut data in pieces with temporary names and stream them one by one, on the fly. Each data chunk will contain the specified number of bytes, except for the last one which may have less data. If file size is unknown in advance (this is called a streaming upload), chunker will internally create a temporary copy, record its size and repeat the above process.

When upload completes, temporary chunk files are finally renamed. This scheme guarantees that operations can be run in parallel and look from outside as atomic. A similar method with hidden temporary chunks is used for other operations (copy/move/rename, etc.). If an operation fails, hidden chunks are normally destroyed, and the target composite file stays intact.

When a composite file download is requested, chunker transparently assembles it by concatenating data chunks in order. As the split is trivial one could even manually concatenate data chunks together to obtain the original content.

When the list rclone command scans a directory on wrapped remote, the potential chunk files are accounted for, grouped and assembled into composite directory entries. Any temporary chunks are hidden.

List and other commands can sometimes come across composite files with missing or invalid chunks, e.g. shadowed by like-named directory or another file. This usually means that wrapped file system has been directly tampered with or damaged. If chunker detects a missing chunk it will by default print warning, skip the whole incomplete group of chunks but proceed with current command. You can set the --chunker-fail-hard flag to have commands abort with error message in such cases.

Chunk names

The default chunk name format is *.rclone_chunk.###, hence by default chunk names are BIG_FILE_NAME.rclone_chunk.001, BIG_FILE_NAME.rclone_chunk.002 etc. You can configure another name format using the name_format configuration file option. The format uses asterisk * as a placeholder for the base file name and one or more consecutive hash characters # as a placeholder for sequential chunk number. There must be one and only one asterisk. The number of consecutive hash characters defines the minimum length of a string representing a chunk number. If decimal chunk number has less digits than the number of hashes, it is left-padded by zeros. If the decimal string is longer, it is left intact. By default numbering starts from 1 but there is another option that allows user to start from 0, e.g. for compatibility with legacy software.

For example, if name format is big_*-##.part and original file name is data.txt and numbering starts from 0, then the first chunk will be named big_data.txt-00.part, the 99th chunk will be big_data.txt-98.part and the 302nd chunk will become big_data.txt-301.part.

Note that list assembles composite directory entries only when chunk names match the configured format and treats non-conforming file names as normal non-chunked files.

When using norename transactions, chunk names will additionally have a unique file version suffix. For example, BIG_FILE_NAME.rclone_chunk.001_bp562k.

Metadata

Besides data chunks chunker will by default create metadata object for a composite file. The object is named after the original file. Chunker allows user to disable metadata completely (the none format). Note that metadata is normally not created for files smaller than the configured chunk size. This may change in future rclone releases.

Simple JSON metadata format

This is the default format. It supports hash sums and chunk validation for composite files. Meta objects carry the following fields:

There is no field for composite file name as it's simply equal to the name of meta object on the wrapped remote. Please refer to respective sections for details on hashsums and modified time handling.

No metadata

You can disable meta objects by setting the meta format option to none. In this mode chunker will scan directory for all files that follow configured chunk name format, group them by detecting chunks with the same base name and show group names as virtual composite files. This method is more prone to missing chunk errors (especially missing last chunk) than format with metadata enabled.

Hashsums

Chunker supports hashsums only when a compatible metadata is present. Hence, if you choose metadata format of none, chunker will report hashsum as UNSUPPORTED.

Please note that by default metadata is stored only for composite files. If a file is smaller than configured chunk size, chunker will transparently redirect hash requests to wrapped remote, so support depends on that. You will see the empty string as a hashsum of requested type for small files if the wrapped remote doesn't support it.

Many storage backends support MD5 and SHA1 hash types, so does chunker. With chunker you can choose one or another but not both. MD5 is set by default as the most supported type. Since chunker keeps hashes for composite files and falls back to the wrapped remote hash for non-chunked ones, we advise you to choose the same hash type as supported by wrapped remote so that your file listings look coherent.

If your storage backend does not support MD5 or SHA1 but you need consistent file hashing, configure chunker with md5all or sha1all. These two modes guarantee given hash for all files. If wrapped remote doesn't support it, chunker will then add metadata to all files, even small. However, this can double the amount of small files in storage and incur additional service charges. You can even use chunker to force md5/sha1 support in any other remote at expense of sidecar meta objects by setting e.g. chunk_type=sha1all to force hashsums and chunk_size=1P to effectively disable chunking.

Normally, when a file is copied to chunker controlled remote, chunker will ask the file source for compatible file hash and revert to on-the-fly calculation if none is found. This involves some CPU overhead but provides a guarantee that given hashsum is available. Also, chunker will reject a server-side copy or move operation if source and destination hashsum types are different resulting in the extra network bandwidth, too. In some rare cases this may be undesired, so chunker provides two optional choices: sha1quick and md5quick. If the source does not support primary hash type and the quick mode is enabled, chunker will try to fall back to the secondary type. This will save CPU and bandwidth but can result in empty hashsums at destination. Beware of consequences: the sync command will revert (sometimes silently) to time/size comparison if compatible hashsums between source and target are not found.

Modified time

Chunker stores modification times using the wrapped remote so support depends on that. For a small non-chunked file the chunker overlay simply manipulates modification time of the wrapped remote file. For a composite file with metadata chunker will get and set modification time of the metadata object on the wrapped remote. If file is chunked but metadata format is none then chunker will use modification time of the first data chunk.

Migrations

The idiomatic way to migrate to a different chunk size, hash type, transaction style or chunk naming scheme is to:

If rclone gets killed during a long operation on a big composite file, hidden temporary chunks may stay in the directory. They will not be shown by the list command but will eat up your account quota. Please note that the deletefile command deletes only active chunks of a file. As a workaround, you can use remote of the wrapped file system to see them. An easy way to get rid of hidden garbage is to copy littered directory somewhere using the chunker remote and purge the original directory. The copy command will copy only active chunks while the purge will remove everything including garbage.

Caveats and Limitations

Chunker requires wrapped remote to support server-side move (or copy + delete) operations, otherwise it will explicitly refuse to start. This is because it internally renames temporary chunk files to their final names when an operation completes successfully.

Chunker encodes chunk number in file name, so with default name_format setting it adds 17 characters. Also chunker adds 7 characters of temporary suffix during operations. Many file systems limit base file name without path by 255 characters. Using rclone's crypt remote as a base file system limits file name by 143 characters. Thus, maximum name length is 231 for most files and 119 for chunker-over-crypt. A user in need can change name format to e.g. *.rcc## and save 10 characters (provided at most 99 chunks per file).

Note that a move implemented using the copy-and-delete method may incur double charging with some cloud storage providers.

Chunker will not automatically rename existing chunks when you run rclone config on a live remote and change the chunk name format. Beware that in result of this some files which have been treated as chunks before the change can pop up in directory listings as normal files and vice versa. The same warning holds for the chunk size. If you desperately need to change critical chunking settings, you should run data migration as described above.

If wrapped remote is case insensitive, the chunker overlay will inherit that property (so you can't have a file called "Hello.doc" and "hello.doc" in the same directory).

Chunker included in rclone releases up to v1.54 can sometimes fail to detect metadata produced by recent versions of rclone. We recommend users to keep rclone up-to-date to avoid data corruption.

Changing transactions is dangerous and requires explicit migration.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to chunker (Transparently chunk/split large files).

--chunker-remote

Remote to chunk/unchunk.

Normally should contain a ':' and a path, e.g. "myremote:path/to/dir", "myremote:bucket" or maybe "myremote:" (not recommended).

Properties:

--chunker-chunk-size

Files larger than chunk size will be split in chunks.

Properties:

--chunker-hash-type

Choose how chunker handles hash sums.

All modes but "none" require metadata.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to chunker (Transparently chunk/split large files).

--chunker-name-format

String format of chunk file names.

The two placeholders are: base file name (*) and chunk number (#...). There must be one and only one asterisk and one or more consecutive hash characters. If chunk number has less digits than the number of hashes, it is left-padded by zeros. If there are more digits in the number, they are left as is. Possible chunk files are ignored if their name does not match given format.

Properties:

--chunker-start-from

Minimum valid chunk number. Usually 0 or 1.

By default chunk numbers start from 1.

Properties:

--chunker-meta-format

Format of the metadata object or "none".

By default "simplejson". Metadata is a small JSON file named after the composite file.

Properties:

--chunker-fail-hard

Choose how chunker should handle files with missing or invalid chunks.

Properties:

--chunker-transactions

Choose how chunker should handle temporary files during transactions.

Properties:

Citrix ShareFile

Citrix ShareFile is a secure file sharing and transfer service aimed as business.

Configuration

The initial setup for Citrix ShareFile involves getting a token from Citrix ShareFile which you can in your browser. rclone config walks you through it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
XX / Citrix Sharefile
   \ "sharefile"
Storage> sharefile
** See help for sharefile backend at: https://rclone.org/sharefile/ **

ID of the root folder

Leave blank to access "Personal Folders".  You can use one of the
standard values here or any folder ID (long hex number ID).
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Access the Personal Folders. (Default)
   \ ""
 2 / Access the Favorites folder.
   \ "favorites"
 3 / Access all the shared folders.
   \ "allshared"
 4 / Access all the individual connectors.
   \ "connectors"
 5 / Access the home, favorites, and shared folders as well as the connectors.
   \ "top"
root_folder_id> 
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> n
Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth?state=XXX
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
--------------------
[remote]
type = sharefile
endpoint = https://XXX.sharefile.com
token = {"access_token":"XXX","token_type":"bearer","refresh_token":"XXX","expiry":"2019-09-30T19:41:45.878561877+01:00"}
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

See the remote setup docs for how to set it up on a machine with no Internet browser available.

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect the token as returned from Citrix ShareFile. This only runs from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get back the verification code. This is on http://127.0.0.1:53682/ and this it may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a host firewall.

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level of your ShareFile

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your ShareFile

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to an ShareFile directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Modified time and hashes

ShareFile allows modification times to be set on objects accurate to 1 second. These will be used to detect whether objects need syncing or not.

ShareFile supports MD5 type hashes, so you can use the --checksum flag.

Transfers

For files above 128 MiB rclone will use a chunked transfer. Rclone will upload up to --transfers chunks at the same time (shared among all the multipart uploads). Chunks are buffered in memory and are normally 64 MiB so increasing --transfers will increase memory use.

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
\ 0x5C
* 0x2A
< 0x3C
> 0x3E
? 0x3F
: 0x3A
| 0x7C
" 0x22

File names can also not start or end with the following characters. These only get replaced if they are the first or last character in the name:

Character Value Replacement
SP 0x20
. 0x2E

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to sharefile (Citrix Sharefile).

--sharefile-root-folder-id

ID of the root folder.

Leave blank to access "Personal Folders". You can use one of the standard values here or any folder ID (long hex number ID).

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to sharefile (Citrix Sharefile).

--sharefile-upload-cutoff

Cutoff for switching to multipart upload.

Properties:

--sharefile-chunk-size

Upload chunk size.

Must a power of 2 >= 256k.

Making this larger will improve performance, but note that each chunk is buffered in memory one per transfer.

Reducing this will reduce memory usage but decrease performance.

Properties:

--sharefile-endpoint

Endpoint for API calls.

This is usually auto discovered as part of the oauth process, but can be set manually to something like: https://XXX.sharefile.com

Properties:

--sharefile-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

Note that ShareFile is case insensitive so you can't have a file called "Hello.doc" and one called "hello.doc".

ShareFile only supports filenames up to 256 characters in length.

rclone about is not supported by the Citrix ShareFile backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

Crypt

Rclone crypt remotes encrypt and decrypt other remotes.

A remote of type crypt does not access a storage system directly, but instead wraps another remote, which in turn accesses the storage system. This is similar to how alias, union, chunker and a few others work. It makes the usage very flexible, as you can add a layer, in this case an encryption layer, on top of any other backend, even in multiple layers. Rclone's functionality can be used as with any other remote, for example you can mount a crypt remote.

Accessing a storage system through a crypt remote realizes client-side encryption, which makes it safe to keep your data in a location you do not trust will not get compromised. When working against the crypt remote, rclone will automatically encrypt (before uploading) and decrypt (after downloading) on your local system as needed on the fly, leaving the data encrypted at rest in the wrapped remote. If you access the storage system using an application other than rclone, or access the wrapped remote directly using rclone, there will not be any encryption/decryption: Downloading existing content will just give you the encrypted (scrambled) format, and anything you upload will not become encrypted.

The encryption is a secret-key encryption (also called symmetric key encryption) algorithm, where a password (or pass phrase) is used to generate real encryption key. The password can be supplied by user, or you may chose to let rclone generate one. It will be stored in the configuration file, in a lightly obscured form. If you are in an environment where you are not able to keep your configuration secured, you should add configuration encryption as protection. As long as you have this configuration file, you will be able to decrypt your data. Without the configuration file, as long as you remember the password (or keep it in a safe place), you can re-create the configuration and gain access to the existing data. You may also configure a corresponding remote in a different installation to access the same data. See below for guidance to changing password.

Encryption uses cryptographic salt, to permute the encryption key so that the same string may be encrypted in different ways. When configuring the crypt remote it is optional to enter a salt, or to let rclone generate a unique salt. If omitted, rclone uses a built-in unique string. Normally in cryptography, the salt is stored together with the encrypted content, and do not have to be memorized by the user. This is not the case in rclone, because rclone does not store any additional information on the remotes. Use of custom salt is effectively a second password that must be memorized.

File content encryption is performed using NaCl SecretBox, based on XSalsa20 cipher and Poly1305 for integrity. Names (file- and directory names) are also encrypted by default, but this has some implications and is therefore possible to turned off.

Configuration

Here is an example of how to make a remote called secret.

To use crypt, first set up the underlying remote. Follow the rclone config instructions for the specific backend.

Before configuring the crypt remote, check the underlying remote is working. In this example the underlying remote is called remote. We will configure a path path within this remote to contain the encrypted content. Anything inside remote:path will be encrypted and anything outside will not.

Configure crypt using rclone config. In this example the crypt remote is called secret, to differentiate it from the underlying remote.

When you are done you can use the crypt remote named secret just as you would with any other remote, e.g. rclone copy D:\docs secret:\docs, and rclone will encrypt and decrypt as needed on the fly. If you access the wrapped remote remote:path directly you will bypass the encryption, and anything you read will be in encrypted form, and anything you write will be unencrypted. To avoid issues it is best to configure a dedicated path for encrypted content, and access it exclusively through a crypt remote.

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> secret
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Encrypt/Decrypt a remote
   \ "crypt"
[snip]
Storage> crypt
** See help for crypt backend at: https://rclone.org/crypt/ **

Remote to encrypt/decrypt.
Normally should contain a ':' and a path, eg "myremote:path/to/dir",
"myremote:bucket" or maybe "myremote:" (not recommended).
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
remote> remote:path
How to encrypt the filenames.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("standard").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
   / Encrypt the filenames.
 1 | See the docs for the details.
   \ "standard"
 2 / Very simple filename obfuscation.
   \ "obfuscate"
   / Don't encrypt the file names.
 3 | Adds a ".bin" extension only.
   \ "off"
filename_encryption>
Option to either encrypt directory names or leave them intact.

NB If filename_encryption is "off" then this option will do nothing.
Enter a boolean value (true or false). Press Enter for the default ("true").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Encrypt directory names.
   \ "true"
 2 / Don't encrypt directory names, leave them intact.
   \ "false"
directory_name_encryption>
Password or pass phrase for encryption.
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
y/g> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
Password or pass phrase for salt. Optional but recommended.
Should be different to the previous password.
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
n) No leave this optional password blank (default)
y/g/n> g
Password strength in bits.
64 is just about memorable
128 is secure
1024 is the maximum
Bits> 128
Your password is: JAsJvRcgR-_veXNfy_sGmQ
Use this password? Please note that an obscured version of this
password (and not the password itself) will be stored under your
configuration file, so keep this generated password in a safe place.
y) Yes (default)
n) No
y/n>
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n>
Remote config
--------------------
[secret]
type = crypt
remote = remote:path
password = *** ENCRYPTED ***
password2 = *** ENCRYPTED ***
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d>

Important The crypt password stored in rclone.conf is lightly obscured. That only protects it from cursory inspection. It is not secure unless configuration encryption of rclone.conf is specified.

A long passphrase is recommended, or rclone config can generate a random one.

The obscured password is created using AES-CTR with a static key. The salt is stored verbatim at the beginning of the obscured password. This static key is shared between all versions of rclone.

If you reconfigure rclone with the same passwords/passphrases elsewhere it will be compatible, but the obscured version will be different due to the different salt.

Rclone does not encrypt

Specifying the remote

When configuring the remote to encrypt/decrypt, you may specify any string that rclone accepts as a source/destination of other commands.

The primary use case is to specify the path into an already configured remote (e.g. remote:path/to/dir or remote:bucket), such that data in a remote untrusted location can be stored encrypted.

You may also specify a local filesystem path, such as /path/to/dir on Linux, C:\path\to\dir on Windows. By creating a crypt remote pointing to such a local filesystem path, you can use rclone as a utility for pure local file encryption, for example to keep encrypted files on a removable USB drive.

Note: A string which do not contain a : will by rclone be treated as a relative path in the local filesystem. For example, if you enter the name remote without the trailing :, it will be treated as a subdirectory of the current directory with name "remote".

If a path remote:path/to/dir is specified, rclone stores encrypted files in path/to/dir on the remote. With file name encryption, files saved to secret:subdir/subfile are stored in the unencrypted path path/to/dir but the subdir/subpath element is encrypted.

The path you specify does not have to exist, rclone will create it when needed.

If you intend to use the wrapped remote both directly for keeping unencrypted content, as well as through a crypt remote for encrypted content, it is recommended to point the crypt remote to a separate directory within the wrapped remote. If you use a bucket-based storage system (e.g. Swift, S3, Google Compute Storage, B2, Hubic) it is generally advisable to wrap the crypt remote around a specific bucket (s3:bucket). If wrapping around the entire root of the storage (s3:), and use the optional file name encryption, rclone will encrypt the bucket name.

Changing password

Should the password, or the configuration file containing a lightly obscured form of the password, be compromised, you need to re-encrypt your data with a new password. Since rclone uses secret-key encryption, where the encryption key is generated directly from the password kept on the client, it is not possible to change the password/key of already encrypted content. Just changing the password configured for an existing crypt remote means you will no longer able to decrypt any of the previously encrypted content. The only possibility is to re-upload everything via a crypt remote configured with your new password.

Depending on the size of your data, your bandwith, storage quota etc, there are different approaches you can take: - If you have everything in a different location, for example on your local system, you could remove all of the prior encrypted files, change the password for your configured crypt remote (or delete and re-create the crypt configuration), and then re-upload everything from the alternative location. - If you have enough space on the storage system you can create a new crypt remote pointing to a separate directory on the same backend, and then use rclone to copy everything from the original crypt remote to the new, effectively decrypting everything on the fly using the old password and re-encrypting using the new password. When done, delete the original crypt remote directory and finally the rclone crypt configuration with the old password. All data will be streamed from the storage system and back, so you will get half the bandwith and be charged twice if you have upload and download quota on the storage system.

Note: A security problem related to the random password generator was fixed in rclone version 1.53.3 (released 2020-11-19). Passwords generated by rclone config in version 1.49.0 (released 2019-08-26) to 1.53.2 (released 2020-10-26) are not considered secure and should be changed. If you made up your own password, or used rclone version older than 1.49.0 or newer than 1.53.2 to generate it, you are not affected by this issue. See issue #4783 for more details, and a tool you can use to check if you are affected.

Example

Create the following file structure using "standard" file name encryption.

plaintext/
├── file0.txt
├── file1.txt
└── subdir
    ├── file2.txt
    ├── file3.txt
    └── subsubdir
        └── file4.txt

Copy these to the remote, and list them

$ rclone -q copy plaintext secret:
$ rclone -q ls secret:
        7 file1.txt
        6 file0.txt
        8 subdir/file2.txt
       10 subdir/subsubdir/file4.txt
        9 subdir/file3.txt

The crypt remote looks like

$ rclone -q ls remote:path
       55 hagjclgavj2mbiqm6u6cnjjqcg
       54 v05749mltvv1tf4onltun46gls
       57 86vhrsv86mpbtd3a0akjuqslj8/dlj7fkq4kdq72emafg7a7s41uo
       58 86vhrsv86mpbtd3a0akjuqslj8/7uu829995du6o42n32otfhjqp4/b9pausrfansjth5ob3jkdqd4lc
       56 86vhrsv86mpbtd3a0akjuqslj8/8njh1sk437gttmep3p70g81aps

The directory structure is preserved

$ rclone -q ls secret:subdir
        8 file2.txt
        9 file3.txt
       10 subsubdir/file4.txt

Without file name encryption .bin extensions are added to underlying names. This prevents the cloud provider attempting to interpret file content.

$ rclone -q ls remote:path
       54 file0.txt.bin
       57 subdir/file3.txt.bin
       56 subdir/file2.txt.bin
       58 subdir/subsubdir/file4.txt.bin
       55 file1.txt.bin

File name encryption modes

Off

Standard

Obfuscation

This is a simple "rotate" of the filename, with each file having a rot distance based on the filename. Rclone stores the distance at the beginning of the filename. A file called "hello" may become "53.jgnnq".

Obfuscation is not a strong encryption of filenames, but hinders automated scanning tools picking up on filename patterns. It is an intermediate between "off" and "standard" which allows for longer path segment names.

There is a possibility with some unicode based filenames that the obfuscation is weak and may map lower case characters to upper case equivalents.

Obfuscation cannot be relied upon for strong protection.

Cloud storage systems have limits on file name length and total path length which rclone is more likely to breach using "Standard" file name encryption. Where file names are less than 156 characters in length issues should not be encountered, irrespective of cloud storage provider.

An experimental advanced option filename_encoding is now provided to address this problem to a certain degree. For cloud storage systems with case sensitive file names (e.g. Google Drive), base64 can be used to reduce file name length. For cloud storage systems using UTF-16 to store file names internally (e.g. OneDrive), base32768 can be used to drastically reduce file name length.

An alternative, future rclone file name encryption mode may tolerate backend provider path length limits.

Directory name encryption

Crypt offers the option of encrypting dir names or leaving them intact. There are two options:

True

Encrypts the whole file path including directory names Example: 1/12/123.txt is encrypted to p0e52nreeaj0a5ea7s64m4j72s/l42g6771hnv3an9cgc8cr2n1ng/qgm4avr35m5loi1th53ato71v0

False

Only encrypts file names, skips directory names Example: 1/12/123.txt is encrypted to 1/12/qgm4avr35m5loi1th53ato71v0

Modified time and hashes

Crypt stores modification times using the underlying remote so support depends on that.

Hashes are not stored for crypt. However the data integrity is protected by an extremely strong crypto authenticator.

Use the rclone cryptcheck command to check the integrity of a crypted remote instead of rclone check which can't check the checksums properly.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to crypt (Encrypt/Decrypt a remote).

--crypt-remote

Remote to encrypt/decrypt.

Normally should contain a ':' and a path, e.g. "myremote:path/to/dir", "myremote:bucket" or maybe "myremote:" (not recommended).

Properties:

--crypt-filename-encryption

How to encrypt the filenames.

Properties:

--crypt-directory-name-encryption

Option to either encrypt directory names or leave them intact.

NB If filename_encryption is "off" then this option will do nothing.

Properties:

--crypt-password

Password or pass phrase for encryption.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

--crypt-password2

Password or pass phrase for salt.

Optional but recommended. Should be different to the previous password.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to crypt (Encrypt/Decrypt a remote).

--crypt-server-side-across-configs

Allow server-side operations (e.g. copy) to work across different crypt configs.

Normally this option is not what you want, but if you have two crypts pointing to the same backend you can use it.

This can be used, for example, to change file name encryption type without re-uploading all the data. Just make two crypt backends pointing to two different directories with the single changed parameter and use rclone move to move the files between the crypt remotes.

Properties:

--crypt-show-mapping

For all files listed show how the names encrypt.

If this flag is set then for each file that the remote is asked to list, it will log (at level INFO) a line stating the decrypted file name and the encrypted file name.

This is so you can work out which encrypted names are which decrypted names just in case you need to do something with the encrypted file names, or for debugging purposes.

Properties:

--crypt-no-data-encryption

Option to either encrypt file data or leave it unencrypted.

Properties:

--crypt-filename-encoding

How to encode the encrypted filename to text string.

This option could help with shortening the encrypted filename. The suitable option would depend on the way your remote count the filename length and if it's case sensitve.

Properties:

Backend commands

Here are the commands specific to the crypt backend.

Run them with

rclone backend COMMAND remote:

The help below will explain what arguments each command takes.

See the "rclone backend" command for more info on how to pass options and arguments.

These can be run on a running backend using the rc command backend/command.

encode

Encode the given filename(s)

rclone backend encode remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

This encodes the filenames given as arguments returning a list of strings of the encoded results.

Usage Example:

rclone backend encode crypt: file1 [file2...]
rclone rc backend/command command=encode fs=crypt: file1 [file2...]

decode

Decode the given filename(s)

rclone backend decode remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

This decodes the filenames given as arguments returning a list of strings of the decoded results. It will return an error if any of the inputs are invalid.

Usage Example:

rclone backend decode crypt: encryptedfile1 [encryptedfile2...]
rclone rc backend/command command=decode fs=crypt: encryptedfile1 [encryptedfile2...]

Backing up a crypted remote

If you wish to backup a crypted remote, it is recommended that you use rclone sync on the encrypted files, and make sure the passwords are the same in the new encrypted remote.

This will have the following advantages

For example, let's say you have your original remote at remote: with the encrypted version at eremote: with path remote:crypt. You would then set up the new remote remote2: and then the encrypted version eremote2: with path remote2:crypt using the same passwords as eremote:.

To sync the two remotes you would do

rclone sync -i remote:crypt remote2:crypt

And to check the integrity you would do

rclone check remote:crypt remote2:crypt

File formats

File encryption

Files are encrypted 1:1 source file to destination object. The file has a header and is divided into chunks.

Header

The initial nonce is generated from the operating systems crypto strong random number generator. The nonce is incremented for each chunk read making sure each nonce is unique for each block written. The chance of a nonce being re-used is minuscule. If you wrote an exabyte of data (10¹⁸ bytes) you would have a probability of approximately 2×10⁻³² of re-using a nonce.

Chunk

Each chunk will contain 64 KiB of data, except for the last one which may have less data. The data chunk is in standard NaCl SecretBox format. SecretBox uses XSalsa20 and Poly1305 to encrypt and authenticate messages.

Each chunk contains:

64k chunk size was chosen as the best performing chunk size (the authenticator takes too much time below this and the performance drops off due to cache effects above this). Note that these chunks are buffered in memory so they can't be too big.

This uses a 32 byte (256 bit key) key derived from the user password.

Examples

1 byte file will encrypt to

49 bytes total

1 MiB (1048576 bytes) file will encrypt to

1049120 bytes total (a 0.05% overhead). This is the overhead for big files.

Name encryption

File names are encrypted segment by segment - the path is broken up into / separated strings and these are encrypted individually.

File segments are padded using PKCS#7 to a multiple of 16 bytes before encryption.

They are then encrypted with EME using AES with 256 bit key. EME (ECB-Mix-ECB) is a wide-block encryption mode presented in the 2003 paper "A Parallelizable Enciphering Mode" by Halevi and Rogaway.

This makes for deterministic encryption which is what we want - the same filename must encrypt to the same thing otherwise we can't find it on the cloud storage system.

This means that

This uses a 32 byte key (256 bits) and a 16 byte (128 bits) IV both of which are derived from the user password.

After encryption they are written out using a modified version of standard base32 encoding as described in RFC4648. The standard encoding is modified in two ways:

base32 is used rather than the more efficient base64 so rclone can be used on case insensitive remotes (e.g. Windows, Amazon Drive).

Key derivation

Rclone uses scrypt with parameters N=16384, r=8, p=1 with an optional user supplied salt (password2) to derive the 32+32+16 = 80 bytes of key material required. If the user doesn't supply a salt then rclone uses an internal one.

scrypt makes it impractical to mount a dictionary attack on rclone encrypted data. For full protection against this you should always use a salt.

SEE ALSO

Compress (Experimental)

Warning

This remote is currently experimental. Things may break and data may be lost. Anything you do with this remote is at your own risk. Please understand the risks associated with using experimental code and don't use this remote in critical applications.

The Compress remote adds compression to another remote. It is best used with remotes containing many large compressible files.

Configuration

To use this remote, all you need to do is specify another remote and a compression mode to use:

Current remotes:

Name                 Type
====                 ====
remote_to_press      sometype

e) Edit existing remote
$ rclone config
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q> n
name> compress
...
 8 / Compress a remote
   \ "compress"
...
Storage> compress
** See help for compress backend at: https://rclone.org/compress/ **

Remote to compress.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
remote> remote_to_press:subdir 
Compression mode.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("gzip").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Gzip compression balanced for speed and compression strength.
   \ "gzip"
compression_mode> gzip
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n
Remote config
--------------------
[compress]
type = compress
remote = remote_to_press:subdir
compression_mode = gzip
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Compression Modes

Currently only gzip compression is supported. It provides a decent balance between speed and size and is well supported by other applications. Compression strength can further be configured via an advanced setting where 0 is no compression and 9 is strongest compression.

File types

If you open a remote wrapped by compress, you will see that there are many files with an extension corresponding to the compression algorithm you chose. These files are standard files that can be opened by various archive programs, but they have some hidden metadata that allows them to be used by rclone. While you may download and decompress these files at will, do not manually delete or rename files. Files without correct metadata files will not be recognized by rclone.

File names

The compressed files will be named *.###########.gz where * is the base file and the # part is base64 encoded size of the uncompressed file. The file names should not be changed by anything other than the rclone compression backend.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to compress (Compress a remote).

--compress-remote

Remote to compress.

Properties:

--compress-mode

Compression mode.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to compress (Compress a remote).

--compress-level

GZIP compression level (-2 to 9).

Generally -1 (default, equivalent to 5) is recommended. Levels 1 to 9 increase compression at the cost of speed. Going past 6 generally offers very little return.

Level -2 uses Huffmann encoding only. Only use if you know what you are doing. Level 0 turns off compression.

Properties:

--compress-ram-cache-limit

Some remotes don't allow the upload of files with unknown size. In this case the compressed file will need to be cached to determine it's size.

Files smaller than this limit will be cached in RAM, files larger than this limit will be cached on disk.

Properties:

Dropbox

Paths are specified as remote:path

Dropbox paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Configuration

The initial setup for dropbox involves getting a token from Dropbox which you need to do in your browser. rclone config walks you through it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

n) New remote
d) Delete remote
q) Quit config
e/n/d/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Dropbox
   \ "dropbox"
[snip]
Storage> dropbox
Dropbox App Key - leave blank normally.
app_key>
Dropbox App Secret - leave blank normally.
app_secret>
Remote config
Please visit:
https://www.dropbox.com/1/oauth2/authorize?client_id=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX&response_type=code
Enter the code: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_XXXXXXXXXX
--------------------
[remote]
app_key =
app_secret =
token = XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_XXXX_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

You can then use it like this,

List directories in top level of your dropbox

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your dropbox

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to a dropbox directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Dropbox for business

Rclone supports Dropbox for business and Team Folders.

When using Dropbox for business remote: and remote:path/to/file will refer to your personal folder.

If you wish to see Team Folders you must use a leading / in the path, so rclone lsd remote:/ will refer to the root and show you all Team Folders and your User Folder.

You can then use team folders like this remote:/TeamFolder and remote:/TeamFolder/path/to/file.

A leading / for a Dropbox personal account will do nothing, but it will take an extra HTTP transaction so it should be avoided.

Modified time and Hashes

Dropbox supports modified times, but the only way to set a modification time is to re-upload the file.

This means that if you uploaded your data with an older version of rclone which didn't support the v2 API and modified times, rclone will decide to upload all your old data to fix the modification times. If you don't want this to happen use --size-only or --checksum flag to stop it.

Dropbox supports its own hash type which is checked for all transfers.

Restricted filename characters

Character Value Replacement
NUL 0x00
/ 0x2F
DEL 0x7F
\ 0x5C

File names can also not end with the following characters. These only get replaced if they are the last character in the name:

Character Value Replacement
SP 0x20

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Batch mode uploads

Using batch mode uploads is very important for performance when using the Dropbox API. See the dropbox performance guide for more info.

There are 3 modes rclone can use for uploads.

--dropbox-batch-mode off

In this mode rclone will not use upload batching. This was the default before rclone v1.55. It has the disadvantage that it is very likely to encounter too_many_requests errors like this

NOTICE: too_many_requests/.: Too many requests or write operations. Trying again in 15 seconds.

When rclone receives these it has to wait for 15s or sometimes 300s before continuing which really slows down transfers.

This will happen especially if --transfers is large, so this mode isn't recommended except for compatibility or investigating problems.

--dropbox-batch-mode sync

In this mode rclone will batch up uploads to the size specified by --dropbox-batch-size and commit them together.

Using this mode means you can use a much higher --transfers parameter (32 or 64 works fine) without receiving too_many_requests errors.

This mode ensures full data integrity.

Note that there may be a pause when quitting rclone while rclone finishes up the last batch using this mode.

--dropbox-batch-mode async

In this mode rclone will batch up uploads to the size specified by --dropbox-batch-size and commit them together.

However it will not wait for the status of the batch to be returned to the caller. This means rclone can use a much bigger batch size (much bigger than --transfers), at the cost of not being able to check the status of the upload.

This provides the maximum possible upload speed especially with lots of small files, however rclone can't check the file got uploaded properly using this mode.

If you are using this mode then using "rclone check" after the transfer completes is recommended. Or you could do an initial transfer with --dropbox-batch-mode async then do a final transfer with --dropbox-batch-mode sync (the default).

Note that there may be a pause when quitting rclone while rclone finishes up the last batch using this mode.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to dropbox (Dropbox).

--dropbox-client-id

OAuth Client Id.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--dropbox-client-secret

OAuth Client Secret.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to dropbox (Dropbox).

--dropbox-token

OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob.

Properties:

--dropbox-auth-url

Auth server URL.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--dropbox-token-url

Token server url.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--dropbox-chunk-size

Upload chunk size (< 150Mi).

Any files larger than this will be uploaded in chunks of this size.

Note that chunks are buffered in memory (one at a time) so rclone can deal with retries. Setting this larger will increase the speed slightly (at most 10% for 128 MiB in tests) at the cost of using more memory. It can be set smaller if you are tight on memory.

Properties:

--dropbox-impersonate

Impersonate this user when using a business account.

Note that if you want to use impersonate, you should make sure this flag is set when running "rclone config" as this will cause rclone to request the "members.read" scope which it won't normally. This is needed to lookup a members email address into the internal ID that dropbox uses in the API.

Using the "members.read" scope will require a Dropbox Team Admin to approve during the OAuth flow.

You will have to use your own App (setting your own client_id and client_secret) to use this option as currently rclone's default set of permissions doesn't include "members.read". This can be added once v1.55 or later is in use everywhere.

Properties:

--dropbox-shared-files

Instructs rclone to work on individual shared files.

In this mode rclone's features are extremely limited - only list (ls, lsl, etc.) operations and read operations (e.g. downloading) are supported in this mode. All other operations will be disabled.

Properties:

--dropbox-shared-folders

Instructs rclone to work on shared folders.

When this flag is used with no path only the List operation is supported and all available shared folders will be listed. If you specify a path the first part will be interpreted as the name of shared folder. Rclone will then try to mount this shared to the root namespace. On success shared folder rclone proceeds normally. The shared folder is now pretty much a normal folder and all normal operations are supported.

Note that we don't unmount the shared folder afterwards so the --dropbox-shared-folders can be omitted after the first use of a particular shared folder.

Properties:

--dropbox-batch-mode

Upload file batching sync|async|off.

This sets the batch mode used by rclone.

For full info see the main docs

This has 3 possible values

Rclone will close any outstanding batches when it exits which may make a delay on quit.

Properties:

--dropbox-batch-size

Max number of files in upload batch.

This sets the batch size of files to upload. It has to be less than 1000.

By default this is 0 which means rclone which calculate the batch size depending on the setting of batch_mode.

Rclone will close any outstanding batches when it exits which may make a delay on quit.

Setting this is a great idea if you are uploading lots of small files as it will make them a lot quicker. You can use --transfers 32 to maximise throughput.

Properties:

--dropbox-batch-timeout

Max time to allow an idle upload batch before uploading.

If an upload batch is idle for more than this long then it will be uploaded.

The default for this is 0 which means rclone will choose a sensible default based on the batch_mode in use.

Properties:

--dropbox-batch-commit-timeout

Max time to wait for a batch to finish comitting

Properties:

--dropbox-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

Note that Dropbox is case insensitive so you can't have a file called "Hello.doc" and one called "hello.doc".

There are some file names such as thumbs.db which Dropbox can't store. There is a full list of them in the "Ignored Files" section of this document. Rclone will issue an error message File name disallowed - not uploading if it attempts to upload one of those file names, but the sync won't fail.

Some errors may occur if you try to sync copyright-protected files because Dropbox has its own copyright detector that prevents this sort of file being downloaded. This will return the error ERROR : /path/to/your/file: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: path/restricted_content/.

If you have more than 10,000 files in a directory then rclone purge dropbox:dir will return the error Failed to purge: There are too many files involved in this operation. As a work-around do an rclone delete dropbox:dir followed by an rclone rmdir dropbox:dir.

When using rclone link you'll need to set --expire if using a non-personal account otherwise the visibility may not be correct. (Note that --expire isn't supported on personal accounts). See the forum discussion and the dropbox SDK issue.

Get your own Dropbox App ID

When you use rclone with Dropbox in its default configuration you are using rclone's App ID. This is shared between all the rclone users.

Here is how to create your own Dropbox App ID for rclone:

  1. Log into the Dropbox App console with your Dropbox Account (It need not to be the same account as the Dropbox you want to access)

  2. Choose an API => Usually this should be Dropbox API

  3. Choose the type of access you want to use => Full Dropbox or App Folder

  4. Name your App. The app name is global, so you can't use rclone for example

  5. Click the button Create App

  6. Switch to the Permissions tab. Enable at least the following permissions: account_info.read, files.metadata.write, files.content.write, files.content.read, sharing.write. The files.metadata.read and sharing.read checkboxes will be marked too. Click Submit

  7. Switch to the Settings tab. Fill OAuth2 - Redirect URIs as http://localhost:53682/

  8. Find the App key and App secret values on the Settings tab. Use these values in rclone config to add a new remote or edit an existing remote. The App key setting corresponds to client_id in rclone config, the App secret corresponds to client_secret

Enterprise File Fabric

This backend supports Storage Made Easy's Enterprise File Fabric™ which provides a software solution to integrate and unify File and Object Storage accessible through a global file system.

Configuration

The initial setup for the Enterprise File Fabric backend involves getting a token from the the Enterprise File Fabric which you need to do in your browser. rclone config walks you through it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Enterprise File Fabric
   \ "filefabric"
[snip]
Storage> filefabric
** See help for filefabric backend at: https://rclone.org/filefabric/ **

URL of the Enterprise File Fabric to connect to
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Storage Made Easy US
   \ "https://storagemadeeasy.com"
 2 / Storage Made Easy EU
   \ "https://eu.storagemadeeasy.com"
 3 / Connect to your Enterprise File Fabric
   \ "https://yourfabric.smestorage.com"
url> https://yourfabric.smestorage.com/
ID of the root folder
Leave blank normally.

Fill in to make rclone start with directory of a given ID.

Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
root_folder_id> 
Permanent Authentication Token

A Permanent Authentication Token can be created in the Enterprise File
Fabric, on the users Dashboard under Security, there is an entry
you'll see called "My Authentication Tokens". Click the Manage button
to create one.

These tokens are normally valid for several years.

For more info see: https://docs.storagemadeeasy.com/organisationcloud/api-tokens

Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
permanent_token> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
type = filefabric
url = https://yourfabric.smestorage.com/
permanent_token = xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level of your Enterprise File Fabric

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your Enterprise File Fabric

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to an Enterprise File Fabric directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Modified time and hashes

The Enterprise File Fabric allows modification times to be set on files accurate to 1 second. These will be used to detect whether objects need syncing or not.

The Enterprise File Fabric does not support any data hashes at this time.

Restricted filename characters

The default restricted characters set will be replaced.

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Empty files

Empty files aren't supported by the Enterprise File Fabric. Rclone will therefore upload an empty file as a single space with a mime type of application/vnd.rclone.empty.file and files with that mime type are treated as empty.

Root folder ID

You can set the root_folder_id for rclone. This is the directory (identified by its Folder ID) that rclone considers to be the root of your Enterprise File Fabric.

Normally you will leave this blank and rclone will determine the correct root to use itself.

However you can set this to restrict rclone to a specific folder hierarchy.

In order to do this you will have to find the Folder ID of the directory you wish rclone to display. These aren't displayed in the web interface, but you can use rclone lsf to find them, for example

$ rclone lsf --dirs-only -Fip --csv filefabric:
120673758,Burnt PDFs/
120673759,My Quick Uploads/
120673755,My Syncs/
120673756,My backups/
120673757,My contacts/
120673761,S3 Storage/

The ID for "S3 Storage" would be 120673761.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to filefabric (Enterprise File Fabric).

--filefabric-url

URL of the Enterprise File Fabric to connect to.

Properties:

--filefabric-root-folder-id

ID of the root folder.

Leave blank normally.

Fill in to make rclone start with directory of a given ID.

Properties:

--filefabric-permanent-token

Permanent Authentication Token.

A Permanent Authentication Token can be created in the Enterprise File Fabric, on the users Dashboard under Security, there is an entry you'll see called "My Authentication Tokens". Click the Manage button to create one.

These tokens are normally valid for several years.

For more info see: https://docs.storagemadeeasy.com/organisationcloud/api-tokens

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to filefabric (Enterprise File Fabric).

--filefabric-token

Session Token.

This is a session token which rclone caches in the config file. It is usually valid for 1 hour.

Don't set this value - rclone will set it automatically.

Properties:

--filefabric-token-expiry

Token expiry time.

Don't set this value - rclone will set it automatically.

Properties:

--filefabric-version

Version read from the file fabric.

Don't set this value - rclone will set it automatically.

Properties:

--filefabric-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

FTP

FTP is the File Transfer Protocol. Rclone FTP support is provided using the github.com/jlaffaye/ftp package.

Limitations of Rclone's FTP backend

Paths are specified as remote:path. If the path does not begin with a / it is relative to the home directory of the user. An empty path remote: refers to the user's home directory.

Configuration

To create an FTP configuration named remote, run

rclone config

Rclone config guides you through an interactive setup process. A minimal rclone FTP remote definition only requires host, username and password. For an anonymous FTP server, use anonymous as username and your email address as password.

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/r/c/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / FTP Connection
   \ "ftp"
[snip]
Storage> ftp
** See help for ftp backend at: https://rclone.org/ftp/ **

FTP host to connect to
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Connect to ftp.example.com
   \ "ftp.example.com"
host> ftp.example.com
FTP username
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("$USER").
user> 
FTP port number
Enter a signed integer. Press Enter for the default (21).
port> 
FTP password
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
y/g> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
Use FTP over TLS (Implicit)
Enter a boolean value (true or false). Press Enter for the default ("false").
tls> 
Use FTP over TLS (Explicit)
Enter a boolean value (true or false). Press Enter for the default ("false").
explicit_tls> 
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
type = ftp
host = ftp.example.com
pass = *** ENCRYPTED ***
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

To see all directories in the home directory of remote

rclone lsd remote:

Make a new directory

rclone mkdir remote:path/to/directory

List the contents of a directory

rclone ls remote:path/to/directory

Sync /home/local/directory to the remote directory, deleting any excess files in the directory.

rclone sync -i /home/local/directory remote:directory

Example without a config file

rclone lsf :ftp: --ftp-host=speedtest.tele2.net --ftp-user=anonymous --ftp-pass=`rclone obscure dummy`

Implicit TLS

Rlone FTP supports implicit FTP over TLS servers (FTPS). This has to be enabled in the FTP backend config for the remote, or with --ftp-tls. The default FTPS port is 990, not 21 and can be set with --ftp-port.

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

File names cannot end with the following characters. Repacement is limited to the last character in a file name:

Character Value Replacement
SP 0x20

Not all FTP servers can have all characters in file names, for example:

FTP Server Forbidden characters
proftpd *
pureftpd \ [ ]

This backend's interactive configuration wizard provides a selection of sensible encoding settings for major FTP servers: ProFTPd, PureFTPd, VsFTPd. Just hit a selection number when prompted.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to ftp (FTP Connection).

--ftp-host

FTP host to connect to.

E.g. "ftp.example.com".

Properties:

--ftp-user

FTP username.

Properties:

--ftp-port

FTP port number.

Properties:

--ftp-pass

FTP password.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

--ftp-tls

Use Implicit FTPS (FTP over TLS).

When using implicit FTP over TLS the client connects using TLS right from the start which breaks compatibility with non-TLS-aware servers. This is usually served over port 990 rather than port 21. Cannot be used in combination with explicit FTP.

Properties:

--ftp-explicit-tls

Use Explicit FTPS (FTP over TLS).

When using explicit FTP over TLS the client explicitly requests security from the server in order to upgrade a plain text connection to an encrypted one. Cannot be used in combination with implicit FTP.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to ftp (FTP Connection).

--ftp-concurrency

Maximum number of FTP simultaneous connections, 0 for unlimited.

Properties:

--ftp-no-check-certificate

Do not verify the TLS certificate of the server.

Properties:

--ftp-disable-epsv

Disable using EPSV even if server advertises support.

Properties:

--ftp-disable-mlsd

Disable using MLSD even if server advertises support.

Properties:

--ftp-writing-mdtm

Use MDTM to set modification time (VsFtpd quirk)

Properties:

--ftp-idle-timeout

Max time before closing idle connections.

If no connections have been returned to the connection pool in the time given, rclone will empty the connection pool.

Set to 0 to keep connections indefinitely.

Properties:

--ftp-close-timeout

Maximum time to wait for a response to close.

Properties:

--ftp-tls-cache-size

Size of TLS session cache for all control and data connections.

TLS cache allows to resume TLS sessions and reuse PSK between connections. Increase if default size is not enough resulting in TLS resumption errors. Enabled by default. Use 0 to disable.

Properties:

--ftp-disable-tls13

Disable TLS 1.3 (workaround for FTP servers with buggy TLS)

Properties:

--ftp-shut-timeout

Maximum time to wait for data connection closing status.

Properties:

--ftp-ask-password

Allow asking for FTP password when needed.

If this is set and no password is supplied then rclone will ask for a password

Properties:

--ftp-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

FTP servers acting as rclone remotes must support passive mode. The mode cannot be configured as passive is the only supported one. Rclone's FTP implementation is not compatible with active mode as the library it uses doesn't support it. This will likely never be supported due to security concerns.

Rclone's FTP backend does not support any checksums but can compare file sizes.

rclone about is not supported by the FTP backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

The implementation of : --dump headers, --dump bodies, --dump auth for debugging isn't the same as for rclone HTTP based backends - it has less fine grained control.

--timeout isn't supported (but --contimeout is).

--bind isn't supported.

Rclone's FTP backend could support server-side move but does not at present.

The ftp_proxy environment variable is not currently supported.

Modified time

File modification time (timestamps) is supported to 1 second resolution for major FTP servers: ProFTPd, PureFTPd, VsFTPd, and FileZilla FTP server. The VsFTPd server has non-standard implementation of time related protocol commands and needs a special configuration setting: writing_mdtm = true.

Support for precise file time with other FTP servers varies depending on what protocol extensions they advertise. If all the MLSD, MDTM and MFTM extensions are present, rclone will use them together to provide precise time. Otherwise the times you see on the FTP server through rclone are those of the last file upload.

You can use the following command to check whether rclone can use precise time with your FTP server: rclone backend features your_ftp_remote: (the trailing colon is important). Look for the number in the line tagged by Precision designating the remote time precision expressed as nanoseconds. A value of 1000000000 means that file time precision of 1 second is available. A value of 3153600000000000000 (or another large number) means "unsupported".

Google Cloud Storage

Paths are specified as remote:bucket (or remote: for the lsd command.) You may put subdirectories in too, e.g. remote:bucket/path/to/dir.

Configuration

The initial setup for google cloud storage involves getting a token from Google Cloud Storage which you need to do in your browser. rclone config walks you through it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

n) New remote
d) Delete remote
q) Quit config
e/n/d/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Google Cloud Storage (this is not Google Drive)
   \ "google cloud storage"
[snip]
Storage> google cloud storage
Google Application Client Id - leave blank normally.
client_id>
Google Application Client Secret - leave blank normally.
client_secret>
Project number optional - needed only for list/create/delete buckets - see your developer console.
project_number> 12345678
Service Account Credentials JSON file path - needed only if you want use SA instead of interactive login.
service_account_file>
Access Control List for new objects.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Object owner gets OWNER access, and all Authenticated Users get READER access.
   \ "authenticatedRead"
 2 / Object owner gets OWNER access, and project team owners get OWNER access.
   \ "bucketOwnerFullControl"
 3 / Object owner gets OWNER access, and project team owners get READER access.
   \ "bucketOwnerRead"
 4 / Object owner gets OWNER access [default if left blank].
   \ "private"
 5 / Object owner gets OWNER access, and project team members get access according to their roles.
   \ "projectPrivate"
 6 / Object owner gets OWNER access, and all Users get READER access.
   \ "publicRead"
object_acl> 4
Access Control List for new buckets.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Project team owners get OWNER access, and all Authenticated Users get READER access.
   \ "authenticatedRead"
 2 / Project team owners get OWNER access [default if left blank].
   \ "private"
 3 / Project team members get access according to their roles.
   \ "projectPrivate"
 4 / Project team owners get OWNER access, and all Users get READER access.
   \ "publicRead"
 5 / Project team owners get OWNER access, and all Users get WRITER access.
   \ "publicReadWrite"
bucket_acl> 2
Location for the newly created buckets.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Empty for default location (US).
   \ ""
 2 / Multi-regional location for Asia.
   \ "asia"
 3 / Multi-regional location for Europe.
   \ "eu"
 4 / Multi-regional location for United States.
   \ "us"
 5 / Taiwan.
   \ "asia-east1"
 6 / Tokyo.
   \ "asia-northeast1"
 7 / Singapore.
   \ "asia-southeast1"
 8 / Sydney.
   \ "australia-southeast1"
 9 / Belgium.
   \ "europe-west1"
10 / London.
   \ "europe-west2"
11 / Iowa.
   \ "us-central1"
12 / South Carolina.
   \ "us-east1"
13 / Northern Virginia.
   \ "us-east4"
14 / Oregon.
   \ "us-west1"
location> 12
The storage class to use when storing objects in Google Cloud Storage.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Default
   \ ""
 2 / Multi-regional storage class
   \ "MULTI_REGIONAL"
 3 / Regional storage class
   \ "REGIONAL"
 4 / Nearline storage class
   \ "NEARLINE"
 5 / Coldline storage class
   \ "COLDLINE"
 6 / Durable reduced availability storage class
   \ "DURABLE_REDUCED_AVAILABILITY"
storage_class> 5
Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine or Y didn't work
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
--------------------
[remote]
type = google cloud storage
client_id =
client_secret =
token = {"AccessToken":"xxxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx","RefreshToken":"x/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_xxxxxxxxx","Expiry":"2014-07-17T20:49:14.929208288+01:00","Extra":null}
project_number = 12345678
object_acl = private
bucket_acl = private
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect the token as returned from Google if you use auto config mode. This only runs from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get back the verification code. This is on http://127.0.0.1:53682/ and this it may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a host firewall, or use manual mode.

This remote is called remote and can now be used like this

See all the buckets in your project

rclone lsd remote:

Make a new bucket

rclone mkdir remote:bucket

List the contents of a bucket

rclone ls remote:bucket

Sync /home/local/directory to the remote bucket, deleting any excess files in the bucket.

rclone sync -i /home/local/directory remote:bucket

Service Account support

You can set up rclone with Google Cloud Storage in an unattended mode, i.e. not tied to a specific end-user Google account. This is useful when you want to synchronise files onto machines that don't have actively logged-in users, for example build machines.

To get credentials for Google Cloud Platform IAM Service Accounts, please head to the Service Account section of the Google Developer Console. Service Accounts behave just like normal User permissions in Google Cloud Storage ACLs, so you can limit their access (e.g. make them read only). After creating an account, a JSON file containing the Service Account's credentials will be downloaded onto your machines. These credentials are what rclone will use for authentication.

To use a Service Account instead of OAuth2 token flow, enter the path to your Service Account credentials at the service_account_file prompt and rclone won't use the browser based authentication flow. If you'd rather stuff the contents of the credentials file into the rclone config file, you can set service_account_credentials with the actual contents of the file instead, or set the equivalent environment variable.

Anonymous Access

For downloads of objects that permit public access you can configure rclone to use anonymous access by setting anonymous to true. With unauthorized access you can't write or create files but only read or list those buckets and objects that have public read access.

Application Default Credentials

If no other source of credentials is provided, rclone will fall back to Application Default Credentials this is useful both when you already have configured authentication for your developer account, or in production when running on a google compute host. Note that if running in docker, you may need to run additional commands on your google compute machine - see this page.

Note that in the case application default credentials are used, there is no need to explicitly configure a project number.

--fast-list

This remote supports --fast-list which allows you to use fewer transactions in exchange for more memory. See the rclone docs for more details.

Custom upload headers

You can set custom upload headers with the --header-upload flag. Google Cloud Storage supports the headers as described in the working with metadata documentation

Eg --header-upload "Content-Type text/potato"

Note that the last of these is for setting custom metadata in the form --header-upload "x-goog-meta-key: value"

Modification time

Google Cloud Storage stores md5sum natively. Google's gsutil tool stores modification time with one-second precision as goog-reserved-file-mtime in file metadata.

To ensure compatibility with gsutil, rclone stores modification time in 2 separate metadata entries. mtime uses RFC3339 format with one-nanosecond precision. goog-reserved-file-mtime uses Unix timestamp format with one-second precision. To get modification time from object metadata, rclone reads the metadata in the following order: mtime, goog-reserved-file-mtime, object updated time.

Note that rclone's default modify window is 1ns. Files uploaded by gsutil only contain timestamps with one-second precision. If you use rclone to sync files previously uploaded by gsutil, rclone will attempt to update modification time for all these files. To avoid these possibly unnecessary updates, use --modify-window 1s.

Restricted filename characters

Character Value Replacement
NUL 0x00
LF 0x0A
CR 0x0D
/ 0x2F

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to google cloud storage (Google Cloud Storage (this is not Google Drive)).

--gcs-client-id

OAuth Client Id.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--gcs-client-secret

OAuth Client Secret.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--gcs-project-number

Project number.

Optional - needed only for list/create/delete buckets - see your developer console.

Properties:

--gcs-service-account-file

Service Account Credentials JSON file path.

Leave blank normally. Needed only if you want use SA instead of interactive login.

Leading ~ will be expanded in the file name as will environment variables such as ${RCLONE_CONFIG_DIR}.

Properties:

--gcs-service-account-credentials

Service Account Credentials JSON blob.

Leave blank normally. Needed only if you want use SA instead of interactive login.

Properties:

--gcs-anonymous

Access public buckets and objects without credentials.

Set to 'true' if you just want to download files and don't configure credentials.

Properties:

--gcs-object-acl

Access Control List for new objects.

Properties:

--gcs-bucket-acl

Access Control List for new buckets.

Properties:

--gcs-bucket-policy-only

Access checks should use bucket-level IAM policies.

If you want to upload objects to a bucket with Bucket Policy Only set then you will need to set this.

When it is set, rclone:

Docs: https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/bucket-policy-only

Properties:

--gcs-location

Location for the newly created buckets.

Properties:

--gcs-storage-class

The storage class to use when storing objects in Google Cloud Storage.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to google cloud storage (Google Cloud Storage (this is not Google Drive)).

--gcs-token

OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob.

Properties:

--gcs-auth-url

Auth server URL.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--gcs-token-url

Token server url.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--gcs-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

rclone about is not supported by the Google Cloud Storage backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

Google Drive

Paths are specified as drive:path

Drive paths may be as deep as required, e.g. drive:directory/subdirectory.

Configuration

The initial setup for drive involves getting a token from Google drive which you need to do in your browser. rclone config walks you through it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/r/c/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Google Drive
   \ "drive"
[snip]
Storage> drive
Google Application Client Id - leave blank normally.
client_id>
Google Application Client Secret - leave blank normally.
client_secret>
Scope that rclone should use when requesting access from drive.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Full access all files, excluding Application Data Folder.
   \ "drive"
 2 / Read-only access to file metadata and file contents.
   \ "drive.readonly"
   / Access to files created by rclone only.
 3 | These are visible in the drive website.
   | File authorization is revoked when the user deauthorizes the app.
   \ "drive.file"
   / Allows read and write access to the Application Data folder.
 4 | This is not visible in the drive website.
   \ "drive.appfolder"
   / Allows read-only access to file metadata but
 5 | does not allow any access to read or download file content.
   \ "drive.metadata.readonly"
scope> 1
ID of the root folder - leave blank normally.  Fill in to access "Computers" folders. (see docs).
root_folder_id> 
Service Account Credentials JSON file path - needed only if you want use SA instead of interactive login.
service_account_file>
Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine or Y didn't work
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
Configure this as a Shared Drive (Team Drive)?
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> n
--------------------
[remote]
client_id = 
client_secret = 
scope = drive
root_folder_id = 
service_account_file =
token = {"access_token":"XXX","token_type":"Bearer","refresh_token":"XXX","expiry":"2014-03-16T13:57:58.955387075Z"}
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect the token as returned from Google if you use auto config mode. This only runs from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get back the verification code. This is on http://127.0.0.1:53682/ and it may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a host firewall, or use manual mode.

You can then use it like this,

List directories in top level of your drive

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your drive

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to a drive directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Scopes

Rclone allows you to select which scope you would like for rclone to use. This changes what type of token is granted to rclone. The scopes are defined here.

The scope are

drive

This is the default scope and allows full access to all files, except for the Application Data Folder (see below).

Choose this one if you aren't sure.

drive.readonly

This allows read only access to all files. Files may be listed and downloaded but not uploaded, renamed or deleted.

drive.file

With this scope rclone can read/view/modify only those files and folders it creates.

So if you uploaded files to drive via the web interface (or any other means) they will not be visible to rclone.

This can be useful if you are using rclone to backup data and you want to be sure confidential data on your drive is not visible to rclone.

Files created with this scope are visible in the web interface.

drive.appfolder

This gives rclone its own private area to store files. Rclone will not be able to see any other files on your drive and you won't be able to see rclone's files from the web interface either.

drive.metadata.readonly

This allows read only access to file names only. It does not allow rclone to download or upload data, or rename or delete files or directories.

Root folder ID

You can set the root_folder_id for rclone. This is the directory (identified by its Folder ID) that rclone considers to be the root of your drive.

Normally you will leave this blank and rclone will determine the correct root to use itself.

However you can set this to restrict rclone to a specific folder hierarchy or to access data within the "Computers" tab on the drive web interface (where files from Google's Backup and Sync desktop program go).

In order to do this you will have to find the Folder ID of the directory you wish rclone to display. This will be the last segment of the URL when you open the relevant folder in the drive web interface.

So if the folder you want rclone to use has a URL which looks like https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XyfxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxKHCh in the browser, then you use 1XyfxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxKHCh as the root_folder_id in the config.

NB folders under the "Computers" tab seem to be read only (drive gives a 500 error) when using rclone.

There doesn't appear to be an API to discover the folder IDs of the "Computers" tab - please contact us if you know otherwise!

Note also that rclone can't access any data under the "Backups" tab on the google drive web interface yet.

Service Account support

You can set up rclone with Google Drive in an unattended mode, i.e. not tied to a specific end-user Google account. This is useful when you want to synchronise files onto machines that don't have actively logged-in users, for example build machines.

To use a Service Account instead of OAuth2 token flow, enter the path to your Service Account credentials at the service_account_file prompt during rclone config and rclone won't use the browser based authentication flow. If you'd rather stuff the contents of the credentials file into the rclone config file, you can set service_account_credentials with the actual contents of the file instead, or set the equivalent environment variable.

Use case - Google Apps/G-suite account and individual Drive

Let's say that you are the administrator of a Google Apps (old) or G-suite account. The goal is to store data on an individual's Drive account, who IS a member of the domain. We'll call the domain example.com, and the user foo@example.com.

There's a few steps we need to go through to accomplish this:

1. Create a service account for example.com
2. Allowing API access to example.com Google Drive
3. Configure rclone, assuming a new install
rclone config

n/s/q> n         # New
name>gdrive      # Gdrive is an example name
Storage>         # Select the number shown for Google Drive
client_id>       # Can be left blank
client_secret>   # Can be left blank
scope>           # Select your scope, 1 for example
root_folder_id>  # Can be left blank
service_account_file> /home/foo/myJSONfile.json # This is where the JSON file goes!
y/n>             # Auto config, n
4. Verify that it's working

Note: in case you configured a specific root folder on gdrive and rclone is unable to access the contents of that folder when using --drive-impersonate, do this instead: - in the gdrive web interface, share your root folder with the user/email of the new Service Account you created/selected at step #1 - use rclone without specifying the --drive-impersonate option, like this: rclone -v lsf gdrive:backup

Shared drives (team drives)

If you want to configure the remote to point to a Google Shared Drive (previously known as Team Drives) then answer y to the question Configure this as a Shared Drive (Team Drive)?.

This will fetch the list of Shared Drives from google and allow you to configure which one you want to use. You can also type in a Shared Drive ID if you prefer.

For example:

Configure this as a Shared Drive (Team Drive)?
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
Fetching Shared Drive list...
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Rclone Test
   \ "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
 2 / Rclone Test 2
   \ "yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"
 3 / Rclone Test 3
   \ "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"
Enter a Shared Drive ID> 1
--------------------
[remote]
client_id =
client_secret =
token = {"AccessToken":"xxxx.x.xxxxx_xxxxxxxxxxx_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx","RefreshToken":"1/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx","Expiry":"2014-03-16T13:57:58.955387075Z","Extra":null}
team_drive = xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

--fast-list

This remote supports --fast-list which allows you to use fewer transactions in exchange for more memory. See the rclone docs for more details.

It does this by combining multiple list calls into a single API request.

This works by combining many '%s' in parents filters into one expression. To list the contents of directories a, b and c, the following requests will be send by the regular List function:

trashed=false and 'a' in parents
trashed=false and 'b' in parents
trashed=false and 'c' in parents

These can now be combined into a single request:

trashed=false and ('a' in parents or 'b' in parents or 'c' in parents)

The implementation of ListR will put up to 50 parents filters into one request. It will use the --checkers value to specify the number of requests to run in parallel.

In tests, these batch requests were up to 20x faster than the regular method. Running the following command against different sized folders gives:

rclone lsjson -vv -R --checkers=6 gdrive:folder

small folder (220 directories, 700 files):

large folder (10600 directories, 39000 files):

Modified time

Google drive stores modification times accurate to 1 ms.

Restricted filename characters

Only Invalid UTF-8 bytes will be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

In contrast to other backends, / can also be used in names and . or .. are valid names.

Revisions

Google drive stores revisions of files. When you upload a change to an existing file to google drive using rclone it will create a new revision of that file.

Revisions follow the standard google policy which at time of writing was

Deleting files

By default rclone will send all files to the trash when deleting files. If deleting them permanently is required then use the --drive-use-trash=false flag, or set the equivalent environment variable.

Shortcuts

In March 2020 Google introduced a new feature in Google Drive called drive shortcuts (API). These will (by September 2020) replace the ability for files or folders to be in multiple folders at once.

Shortcuts are files that link to other files on Google Drive somewhat like a symlink in unix, except they point to the underlying file data (e.g. the inode in unix terms) so they don't break if the source is renamed or moved about.

Be default rclone treats these as follows.

For shortcuts pointing to files:

For shortcuts pointing to folders:

The rclone backend command can be used to create shortcuts.

Shortcuts can be completely ignored with the --drive-skip-shortcuts flag or the corresponding skip_shortcuts configuration setting.

Emptying trash

If you wish to empty your trash you can use the rclone cleanup remote: command which will permanently delete all your trashed files. This command does not take any path arguments.

Note that Google Drive takes some time (minutes to days) to empty the trash even though the command returns within a few seconds. No output is echoed, so there will be no confirmation even using -v or -vv.

Quota information

To view your current quota you can use the rclone about remote: command which will display your usage limit (quota), the usage in Google Drive, the size of all files in the Trash and the space used by other Google services such as Gmail. This command does not take any path arguments.

Import/Export of google documents

Google documents can be exported from and uploaded to Google Drive.

When rclone downloads a Google doc it chooses a format to download depending upon the --drive-export-formats setting. By default the export formats are docx,xlsx,pptx,svg which are a sensible default for an editable document.

When choosing a format, rclone runs down the list provided in order and chooses the first file format the doc can be exported as from the list. If the file can't be exported to a format on the formats list, then rclone will choose a format from the default list.

If you prefer an archive copy then you might use --drive-export-formats pdf, or if you prefer openoffice/libreoffice formats you might use --drive-export-formats ods,odt,odp.

Note that rclone adds the extension to the google doc, so if it is called My Spreadsheet on google docs, it will be exported as My Spreadsheet.xlsx or My Spreadsheet.pdf etc.

When importing files into Google Drive, rclone will convert all files with an extension in --drive-import-formats to their associated document type. rclone will not convert any files by default, since the conversion is lossy process.

The conversion must result in a file with the same extension when the --drive-export-formats rules are applied to the uploaded document.

Here are some examples for allowed and prohibited conversions.

export-formats import-formats Upload Ext Document Ext Allowed
odt odt odt odt Yes
odt docx,odt odt odt Yes
docx docx docx Yes
odt odt docx No
odt,docx docx,odt docx odt No
docx,odt docx,odt docx docx Yes
docx,odt docx,odt odt docx No

This limitation can be disabled by specifying --drive-allow-import-name-change. When using this flag, rclone can convert multiple files types resulting in the same document type at once, e.g. with --drive-import-formats docx,odt,txt, all files having these extension would result in a document represented as a docx file. This brings the additional risk of overwriting a document, if multiple files have the same stem. Many rclone operations will not handle this name change in any way. They assume an equal name when copying files and might copy the file again or delete them when the name changes.

Here are the possible export extensions with their corresponding mime types. Most of these can also be used for importing, but there more that are not listed here. Some of these additional ones might only be available when the operating system provides the correct MIME type entries.

This list can be changed by Google Drive at any time and might not represent the currently available conversions.

Extension Mime Type Description
csv text/csv Standard CSV format for Spreadsheets
docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document Microsoft Office Document
epub application/epub+zip E-book format
html text/html An HTML Document
jpg image/jpeg A JPEG Image File
json application/vnd.google-apps.script+json JSON Text Format
odp application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation Openoffice Presentation
ods application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet Openoffice Spreadsheet
ods application/x-vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet Openoffice Spreadsheet
odt application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text Openoffice Document
pdf application/pdf Adobe PDF Format
png image/png PNG Image Format
pptx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation Microsoft Office Powerpoint
rtf application/rtf Rich Text Format
svg image/svg+xml Scalable Vector Graphics Format
tsv text/tab-separated-values Standard TSV format for spreadsheets
txt text/plain Plain Text
xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet Microsoft Office Spreadsheet
zip application/zip A ZIP file of HTML, Images CSS

Google documents can also be exported as link files. These files will open a browser window for the Google Docs website of that document when opened. The link file extension has to be specified as a --drive-export-formats parameter. They will match all available Google Documents.

Extension Description OS Support
desktop freedesktop.org specified desktop entry Linux
link.html An HTML Document with a redirect All
url INI style link file macOS, Windows
webloc macOS specific XML format macOS

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to drive (Google Drive).

--drive-client-id

Google Application Client Id Setting your own is recommended. See https://rclone.org/drive/#making-your-own-client-id for how to create your own. If you leave this blank, it will use an internal key which is low performance.

Properties:

--drive-client-secret

OAuth Client Secret.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--drive-scope

Scope that rclone should use when requesting access from drive.

Properties:

--drive-root-folder-id

ID of the root folder. Leave blank normally.

Fill in to access "Computers" folders (see docs), or for rclone to use a non root folder as its starting point.

Properties:

--drive-service-account-file

Service Account Credentials JSON file path.

Leave blank normally. Needed only if you want use SA instead of interactive login.

Leading ~ will be expanded in the file name as will environment variables such as ${RCLONE_CONFIG_DIR}.

Properties:

--drive-alternate-export

Deprecated: No longer needed.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to drive (Google Drive).

--drive-token

OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob.

Properties:

--drive-auth-url

Auth server URL.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--drive-token-url

Token server url.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--drive-service-account-credentials

Service Account Credentials JSON blob.

Leave blank normally. Needed only if you want use SA instead of interactive login.

Properties:

--drive-team-drive

ID of the Shared Drive (Team Drive).

Properties:

--drive-auth-owner-only

Only consider files owned by the authenticated user.

Properties:

--drive-use-trash

Send files to the trash instead of deleting permanently.

Defaults to true, namely sending files to the trash. Use --drive-use-trash=false to delete files permanently instead.

Properties:

--drive-copy-shortcut-content

Server side copy contents of shortcuts instead of the shortcut.

When doing server side copies, normally rclone will copy shortcuts as shortcuts.

If this flag is used then rclone will copy the contents of shortcuts rather than shortcuts themselves when doing server side copies.

Properties:

--drive-skip-gdocs

Skip google documents in all listings.

If given, gdocs practically become invisible to rclone.

Properties:

--drive-skip-checksum-gphotos

Skip MD5 checksum on Google photos and videos only.

Use this if you get checksum errors when transferring Google photos or videos.

Setting this flag will cause Google photos and videos to return a blank MD5 checksum.

Google photos are identified by being in the "photos" space.

Corrupted checksums are caused by Google modifying the image/video but not updating the checksum.

Properties:

--drive-shared-with-me

Only show files that are shared with me.

Instructs rclone to operate on your "Shared with me" folder (where Google Drive lets you access the files and folders others have shared with you).

This works both with the "list" (lsd, lsl, etc.) and the "copy" commands (copy, sync, etc.), and with all other commands too.

Properties:

--drive-trashed-only

Only show files that are in the trash.

This will show trashed files in their original directory structure.

Properties:

--drive-starred-only

Only show files that are starred.

Properties:

--drive-formats

Deprecated: See export_formats.

Properties:

--drive-export-formats

Comma separated list of preferred formats for downloading Google docs.

Properties:

--drive-import-formats

Comma separated list of preferred formats for uploading Google docs.

Properties:

--drive-allow-import-name-change

Allow the filetype to change when uploading Google docs.

E.g. file.doc to file.docx. This will confuse sync and reupload every time.

Properties:

--drive-use-created-date

Use file created date instead of modified date.

Useful when downloading data and you want the creation date used in place of the last modified date.

WARNING: This flag may have some unexpected consequences.

When uploading to your drive all files will be overwritten unless they haven't been modified since their creation. And the inverse will occur while downloading. This side effect can be avoided by using the "--checksum" flag.

This feature was implemented to retain photos capture date as recorded by google photos. You will first need to check the "Create a Google Photos folder" option in your google drive settings. You can then copy or move the photos locally and use the date the image was taken (created) set as the modification date.

Properties:

--drive-use-shared-date

Use date file was shared instead of modified date.

Note that, as with "--drive-use-created-date", this flag may have unexpected consequences when uploading/downloading files.

If both this flag and "--drive-use-created-date" are set, the created date is used.

Properties:

--drive-list-chunk

Size of listing chunk 100-1000, 0 to disable.

Properties:

--drive-impersonate

Impersonate this user when using a service account.

Properties:

--drive-upload-cutoff

Cutoff for switching to chunked upload.

Properties:

--drive-chunk-size

Upload chunk size.

Must a power of 2 >= 256k.

Making this larger will improve performance, but note that each chunk is buffered in memory one per transfer.

Reducing this will reduce memory usage but decrease performance.

Properties:

--drive-acknowledge-abuse

Set to allow files which return cannotDownloadAbusiveFile to be downloaded.

If downloading a file returns the error "This file has been identified as malware or spam and cannot be downloaded" with the error code "cannotDownloadAbusiveFile" then supply this flag to rclone to indicate you acknowledge the risks of downloading the file and rclone will download it anyway.

Properties:

--drive-keep-revision-forever

Keep new head revision of each file forever.

Properties:

--drive-size-as-quota

Show sizes as storage quota usage, not actual size.

Show the size of a file as the storage quota used. This is the current version plus any older versions that have been set to keep forever.

WARNING: This flag may have some unexpected consequences.

It is not recommended to set this flag in your config - the recommended usage is using the flag form --drive-size-as-quota when doing rclone ls/lsl/lsf/lsjson/etc only.

If you do use this flag for syncing (not recommended) then you will need to use --ignore size also.

Properties:

--drive-v2-download-min-size

If Object's are greater, use drive v2 API to download.

Properties:

--drive-pacer-min-sleep

Minimum time to sleep between API calls.

Properties:

--drive-pacer-burst

Number of API calls to allow without sleeping.

Properties:

--drive-server-side-across-configs

Allow server-side operations (e.g. copy) to work across different drive configs.

This can be useful if you wish to do a server-side copy between two different Google drives. Note that this isn't enabled by default because it isn't easy to tell if it will work between any two configurations.

Properties:

--drive-disable-http2

Disable drive using http2.

There is currently an unsolved issue with the google drive backend and HTTP/2. HTTP/2 is therefore disabled by default for the drive backend but can be re-enabled here. When the issue is solved this flag will be removed.

See: https://github.com/rclone/rclone/issues/3631

Properties:

--drive-stop-on-upload-limit

Make upload limit errors be fatal.

At the time of writing it is only possible to upload 750 GiB of data to Google Drive a day (this is an undocumented limit). When this limit is reached Google Drive produces a slightly different error message. When this flag is set it causes these errors to be fatal. These will stop the in-progress sync.

Note that this detection is relying on error message strings which Google don't document so it may break in the future.

See: https://github.com/rclone/rclone/issues/3857

Properties:

--drive-stop-on-download-limit

Make download limit errors be fatal.

At the time of writing it is only possible to download 10 TiB of data from Google Drive a day (this is an undocumented limit). When this limit is reached Google Drive produces a slightly different error message. When this flag is set it causes these errors to be fatal. These will stop the in-progress sync.

Note that this detection is relying on error message strings which Google don't document so it may break in the future.

Properties:

--drive-skip-shortcuts

If set skip shortcut files.

Normally rclone dereferences shortcut files making them appear as if they are the original file (see the shortcuts section). If this flag is set then rclone will ignore shortcut files completely.

Properties:

--drive-skip-dangling-shortcuts

If set skip dangling shortcut files.

If this is set then rclone will not show any dangling shortcuts in listings.

Properties:

--drive-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Backend commands

Here are the commands specific to the drive backend.

Run them with

rclone backend COMMAND remote:

The help below will explain what arguments each command takes.

See the "rclone backend" command for more info on how to pass options and arguments.

These can be run on a running backend using the rc command backend/command.

get

Get command for fetching the drive config parameters

rclone backend get remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

This is a get command which will be used to fetch the various drive config parameters

Usage Examples:

rclone backend get drive: [-o service_account_file] [-o chunk_size]
rclone rc backend/command command=get fs=drive: [-o service_account_file] [-o chunk_size]

Options:

set

Set command for updating the drive config parameters

rclone backend set remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

This is a set command which will be used to update the various drive config parameters

Usage Examples:

rclone backend set drive: [-o service_account_file=sa.json] [-o chunk_size=67108864]
rclone rc backend/command command=set fs=drive: [-o service_account_file=sa.json] [-o chunk_size=67108864]

Options:

shortcut

Create shortcuts from files or directories

rclone backend shortcut remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

This command creates shortcuts from files or directories.

Usage:

rclone backend shortcut drive: source_item destination_shortcut
rclone backend shortcut drive: source_item -o target=drive2: destination_shortcut

In the first example this creates a shortcut from the "source_item" which can be a file or a directory to the "destination_shortcut". The "source_item" and the "destination_shortcut" should be relative paths from "drive:"

In the second example this creates a shortcut from the "source_item" relative to "drive:" to the "destination_shortcut" relative to "drive2:". This may fail with a permission error if the user authenticated with "drive2:" can't read files from "drive:".

Options:

drives

List the Shared Drives available to this account

rclone backend drives remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

This command lists the Shared Drives (Team Drives) available to this account.

Usage:

rclone backend [-o config] drives drive:

This will return a JSON list of objects like this

[
    {
        "id": "0ABCDEF-01234567890",
        "kind": "drive#teamDrive",
        "name": "My Drive"
    },
    {
        "id": "0ABCDEFabcdefghijkl",
        "kind": "drive#teamDrive",
        "name": "Test Drive"
    }
]

With the -o config parameter it will output the list in a format suitable for adding to a config file to make aliases for all the drives found.

[My Drive]
type = alias
remote = drive,team_drive=0ABCDEF-01234567890,root_folder_id=:

[Test Drive]
type = alias
remote = drive,team_drive=0ABCDEFabcdefghijkl,root_folder_id=:

Adding this to the rclone config file will cause those team drives to be accessible with the aliases shown. This may require manual editing of the names.

untrash

Untrash files and directories

rclone backend untrash remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

This command untrashes all the files and directories in the directory passed in recursively.

Usage:

This takes an optional directory to trash which make this easier to use via the API.

rclone backend untrash drive:directory
rclone backend -i untrash drive:directory subdir

Use the -i flag to see what would be restored before restoring it.

Result:

{
    "Untrashed": 17,
    "Errors": 0
}

copyid

Copy files by ID

rclone backend copyid remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

This command copies files by ID

Usage:

rclone backend copyid drive: ID path
rclone backend copyid drive: ID1 path1 ID2 path2

It copies the drive file with ID given to the path (an rclone path which will be passed internally to rclone copyto). The ID and path pairs can be repeated.

The path should end with a / to indicate copy the file as named to this directory. If it doesn't end with a / then the last path component will be used as the file name.

If the destination is a drive backend then server-side copying will be attempted if possible.

Use the -i flag to see what would be copied before copying.

Limitations

Drive has quite a lot of rate limiting. This causes rclone to be limited to transferring about 2 files per second only. Individual files may be transferred much faster at 100s of MiB/s but lots of small files can take a long time.

Server side copies are also subject to a separate rate limit. If you see User rate limit exceeded errors, wait at least 24 hours and retry. You can disable server-side copies with --disable copy to download and upload the files if you prefer.

Limitations of Google Docs

Google docs will appear as size -1 in rclone ls and as size 0 in anything which uses the VFS layer, e.g. rclone mount, rclone serve.

This is because rclone can't find out the size of the Google docs without downloading them.

Google docs will transfer correctly with rclone sync, rclone copy etc as rclone knows to ignore the size when doing the transfer.

However an unfortunate consequence of this is that you may not be able to download Google docs using rclone mount. If it doesn't work you will get a 0 sized file. If you try again the doc may gain its correct size and be downloadable. Whether it will work on not depends on the application accessing the mount and the OS you are running - experiment to find out if it does work for you!

Duplicated files

Sometimes, for no reason I've been able to track down, drive will duplicate a file that rclone uploads. Drive unlike all the other remotes can have duplicated files.

Duplicated files cause problems with the syncing and you will see messages in the log about duplicates.

Use rclone dedupe to fix duplicated files.

Note that this isn't just a problem with rclone, even Google Photos on Android duplicates files on drive sometimes.

Rclone appears to be re-copying files it shouldn't

The most likely cause of this is the duplicated file issue above - run rclone dedupe and check your logs for duplicate object or directory messages.

This can also be caused by a delay/caching on google drive's end when comparing directory listings. Specifically with team drives used in combination with --fast-list. Files that were uploaded recently may not appear on the directory list sent to rclone when using --fast-list.

Waiting a moderate period of time between attempts (estimated to be approximately 1 hour) and/or not using --fast-list both seem to be effective in preventing the problem.

Making your own client_id

When you use rclone with Google drive in its default configuration you are using rclone's client_id. This is shared between all the rclone users. There is a global rate limit on the number of queries per second that each client_id can do set by Google. rclone already has a high quota and I will continue to make sure it is high enough by contacting Google.

It is strongly recommended to use your own client ID as the default rclone ID is heavily used. If you have multiple services running, it is recommended to use an API key for each service. The default Google quota is 10 transactions per second so it is recommended to stay under that number as if you use more than that, it will cause rclone to rate limit and make things slower.

Here is how to create your own Google Drive client ID for rclone:

  1. Log into the Google API Console with your Google account. It doesn't matter what Google account you use. (It need not be the same account as the Google Drive you want to access)

  2. Select a project or create a new project.

  3. Under "ENABLE APIS AND SERVICES" search for "Drive", and enable the "Google Drive API".

  4. Click "Credentials" in the left-side panel (not "Create credentials", which opens the wizard), then "Create credentials"

  5. If you already configured an "Oauth Consent Screen", then skip to the next step; if not, click on "CONFIGURE CONSENT SCREEN" button (near the top right corner of the right panel), then select "External" and click on "CREATE"; on the next screen, enter an "Application name" ("rclone" is OK); enter "User Support Email" (your own email is OK); enter "Developer Contact Email" (your own email is OK); then click on "Save" (all other data is optional). Click again on "Credentials" on the left panel to go back to the "Credentials" screen.

(PS: if you are a GSuite user, you could also select "Internal" instead of "External" above, but this has not been tested/documented so far).

  1. Click on the "+ CREATE CREDENTIALS" button at the top of the screen, then select "OAuth client ID".

  2. Choose an application type of "Desktop app" and click "Create". (the default name is fine)

  3. It will show you a client ID and client secret. Make a note of these.

  4. Go to "Oauth consent screen" and press "Publish App"

  5. Provide the noted client ID and client secret to rclone.

  6. Click "OAuth consent screen", then click "PUBLISH APP" button and confirm, or add your account under "Test users".

Be aware that, due to the "enhanced security" recently introduced by Google, you are theoretically expected to "submit your app for verification" and then wait a few weeks(!) for their response; in practice, you can go right ahead and use the client ID and client secret with rclone, the only issue will be a very scary confirmation screen shown when you connect via your browser for rclone to be able to get its token-id (but as this only happens during the remote configuration, it's not such a big deal).

(Thanks to @balazer on github for these instructions.)

Sometimes, creation of an OAuth consent in Google API Console fails due to an error message “The request failed because changes to one of the field of the resource is not supported”. As a convenient workaround, the necessary Google Drive API key can be created on the Python Quickstart page. Just push the Enable the Drive API button to receive the Client ID and Secret. Note that it will automatically create a new project in the API Console.

Google Photos

The rclone backend for Google Photos is a specialized backend for transferring photos and videos to and from Google Photos.

NB The Google Photos API which rclone uses has quite a few limitations, so please read the limitations section carefully to make sure it is suitable for your use.

Configuration

The initial setup for google cloud storage involves getting a token from Google Photos which you need to do in your browser. rclone config walks you through it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Google Photos
   \ "google photos"
[snip]
Storage> google photos
** See help for google photos backend at: https://rclone.org/googlephotos/ **

Google Application Client Id
Leave blank normally.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
client_id> 
Google Application Client Secret
Leave blank normally.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
client_secret> 
Set to make the Google Photos backend read only.

If you choose read only then rclone will only request read only access
to your photos, otherwise rclone will request full access.
Enter a boolean value (true or false). Press Enter for the default ("false").
read_only> 
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> n
Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code

*** IMPORTANT: All media items uploaded to Google Photos with rclone
*** are stored in full resolution at original quality.  These uploads
*** will count towards storage in your Google Account.

--------------------
[remote]
type = google photos
token = {"access_token":"XXX","token_type":"Bearer","refresh_token":"XXX","expiry":"2019-06-28T17:38:04.644930156+01:00"}
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect the token as returned from Google if you use auto config mode. This only runs from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get back the verification code. This is on http://127.0.0.1:53682/ and this may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a host firewall, or use manual mode.

This remote is called remote and can now be used like this

See all the albums in your photos

rclone lsd remote:album

Make a new album

rclone mkdir remote:album/newAlbum

List the contents of an album

rclone ls remote:album/newAlbum

Sync /home/local/images to the Google Photos, removing any excess files in the album.

rclone sync -i /home/local/image remote:album/newAlbum

Layout

As Google Photos is not a general purpose cloud storage system the backend is laid out to help you navigate it.

The directories under media show different ways of categorizing the media. Each file will appear multiple times. So if you want to make a backup of your google photos you might choose to backup remote:media/by-month. (NB remote:media/by-day is rather slow at the moment so avoid for syncing.)

Note that all your photos and videos will appear somewhere under media, but they may not appear under album unless you've put them into albums.

/
- upload
    - file1.jpg
    - file2.jpg
    - ...
- media
    - all
        - file1.jpg
        - file2.jpg
        - ...
    - by-year
        - 2000
            - file1.jpg
            - ...
        - 2001
            - file2.jpg
            - ...
        - ...
    - by-month
        - 2000
            - 2000-01
                - file1.jpg
                - ...
            - 2000-02
                - file2.jpg
                - ...
        - ...
    - by-day
        - 2000
            - 2000-01-01
                - file1.jpg
                - ...
            - 2000-01-02
                - file2.jpg
                - ...
        - ...
- album
    - album name
    - album name/sub
- shared-album
    - album name
    - album name/sub
- feature
    - favorites
        - file1.jpg
        - file2.jpg

There are two writable parts of the tree, the upload directory and sub directories of the album directory.

The upload directory is for uploading files you don't want to put into albums. This will be empty to start with and will contain the files you've uploaded for one rclone session only, becoming empty again when you restart rclone. The use case for this would be if you have a load of files you just want to once off dump into Google Photos. For repeated syncing, uploading to album will work better.

Directories within the album directory are also writeable and you may create new directories (albums) under album. If you copy files with a directory hierarchy in there then rclone will create albums with the / character in them. For example if you do

rclone copy /path/to/images remote:album/images

and the images directory contains

images
    - file1.jpg
    dir
        file2.jpg
    dir2
        dir3
            file3.jpg

Then rclone will create the following albums with the following files in

This means that you can use the album path pretty much like a normal filesystem and it is a good target for repeated syncing.

The shared-album directory shows albums shared with you or by you. This is similar to the Sharing tab in the Google Photos web interface.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to google photos (Google Photos).

--gphotos-client-id

OAuth Client Id.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--gphotos-client-secret

OAuth Client Secret.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--gphotos-read-only

Set to make the Google Photos backend read only.

If you choose read only then rclone will only request read only access to your photos, otherwise rclone will request full access.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to google photos (Google Photos).

--gphotos-token

OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob.

Properties:

--gphotos-auth-url

Auth server URL.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--gphotos-token-url

Token server url.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--gphotos-read-size

Set to read the size of media items.

Normally rclone does not read the size of media items since this takes another transaction. This isn't necessary for syncing. However rclone mount needs to know the size of files in advance of reading them, so setting this flag when using rclone mount is recommended if you want to read the media.

Properties:

--gphotos-start-year

Year limits the photos to be downloaded to those which are uploaded after the given year.

Properties:

--gphotos-include-archived

Also view and download archived media.

By default, rclone does not request archived media. Thus, when syncing, archived media is not visible in directory listings or transferred.

Note that media in albums is always visible and synced, no matter their archive status.

With this flag, archived media are always visible in directory listings and transferred.

Without this flag, archived media will not be visible in directory listings and won't be transferred.

Properties:

--gphotos-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

Only images and videos can be uploaded. If you attempt to upload non videos or images or formats that Google Photos doesn't understand, rclone will upload the file, then Google Photos will give an error when it is put turned into a media item.

Note that all media items uploaded to Google Photos through the API are stored in full resolution at "original quality" and will count towards your storage quota in your Google Account. The API does not offer a way to upload in "high quality" mode..

rclone about is not supported by the Google Photos backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

Downloading Images

When Images are downloaded this strips EXIF location (according to the docs and my tests). This is a limitation of the Google Photos API and is covered by bug #112096115.

The current google API does not allow photos to be downloaded at original resolution. This is very important if you are, for example, relying on "Google Photos" as a backup of your photos. You will not be able to use rclone to redownload original images. You could use 'google takeout' to recover the original photos as a last resort

Downloading Videos

When videos are downloaded they are downloaded in a really compressed version of the video compared to downloading it via the Google Photos web interface. This is covered by bug #113672044.

Duplicates

If a file name is duplicated in a directory then rclone will add the file ID into its name. So two files called file.jpg would then appear as file {123456}.jpg and file {ABCDEF}.jpg (the actual IDs are a lot longer alas!).

If you upload the same image (with the same binary data) twice then Google Photos will deduplicate it. However it will retain the filename from the first upload which may confuse rclone. For example if you uploaded an image to upload then uploaded the same image to album/my_album the filename of the image in album/my_album will be what it was uploaded with initially, not what you uploaded it with to album. In practise this shouldn't cause too many problems.

Modified time

The date shown of media in Google Photos is the creation date as determined by the EXIF information, or the upload date if that is not known.

This is not changeable by rclone and is not the modification date of the media on local disk. This means that rclone cannot use the dates from Google Photos for syncing purposes.

Size

The Google Photos API does not return the size of media. This means that when syncing to Google Photos, rclone can only do a file existence check.

It is possible to read the size of the media, but this needs an extra HTTP HEAD request per media item so is very slow and uses up a lot of transactions. This can be enabled with the --gphotos-read-size option or the read_size = true config parameter.

If you want to use the backend with rclone mount you may need to enable this flag (depending on your OS and application using the photos) otherwise you may not be able to read media off the mount. You'll need to experiment to see if it works for you without the flag.

Albums

Rclone can only upload files to albums it created. This is a limitation of the Google Photos API.

Rclone can remove files it uploaded from albums it created only.

Deleting files

Rclone can remove files from albums it created, but note that the Google Photos API does not allow media to be deleted permanently so this media will still remain. See bug #109759781.

Rclone cannot delete files anywhere except under album.

Deleting albums

The Google Photos API does not support deleting albums - see bug #135714733.

Hasher (EXPERIMENTAL)

Hasher is a special overlay backend to create remotes which handle checksums for other remotes. It's main functions include: - Emulate hash types unimplemented by backends - Cache checksums to help with slow hashing of large local or (S)FTP files - Warm up checksum cache from external SUM files

Getting started

To use Hasher, first set up the underlying remote following the configuration instructions for that remote. You can also use a local pathname instead of a remote. Check that your base remote is working.

Let's call the base remote myRemote:path here. Note that anything inside myRemote:path will be handled by hasher and anything outside won't. This means that if you are using a bucket based remote (S3, B2, Swift) then you should put the bucket in the remote s3:bucket.

Now proceed to interactive or manual configuration.

Interactive configuration

Run rclone config:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> Hasher1
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Handle checksums for other remotes
   \ "hasher"
[snip]
Storage> hasher
Remote to cache checksums for, like myremote:mypath.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
remote> myRemote:path
Comma separated list of supported checksum types.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("md5,sha1").
hashsums> md5
Maximum time to keep checksums in cache. 0 = no cache, off = cache forever.
max_age> off
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> n
Remote config
--------------------
[Hasher1]
type = hasher
remote = myRemote:path
hashsums = md5
max_age = off
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Manual configuration

Run rclone config path to see the path of current active config file, usually YOURHOME/.config/rclone/rclone.conf. Open it in your favorite text editor, find section for the base remote and create new section for hasher like in the following examples:

[Hasher1]
type = hasher
remote = myRemote:path
hashes = md5
max_age = off

[Hasher2]
type = hasher
remote = /local/path
hashes = dropbox,sha1
max_age = 24h

Hasher takes basically the following parameters: - remote is required, - hashes is a comma separated list of supported checksums (by default md5,sha1), - max_age - maximum time to keep a checksum value in the cache, 0 will disable caching completely, off will cache "forever" (that is until the files get changed).

Make sure the remote has : (colon) in. If you specify the remote without a colon then rclone will use a local directory of that name. So if you use a remote of /local/path then rclone will handle hashes for that directory. If you use remote = name literally then rclone will put files in a directory called name located under current directory.

Usage

Basic operations

Now you can use it as Hasher2:subdir/file instead of base remote. Hasher will transparently update cache with new checksums when a file is fully read or overwritten, like:

rclone copy External:path/file Hasher:dest/path

rclone cat Hasher:path/to/file > /dev/null

The way to refresh all cached checksums (even unsupported by the base backend) for a subtree is to re-download all files in the subtree. For example, use hashsum --download using any supported hashsum on the command line (we just care to re-read):

rclone hashsum MD5 --download Hasher:path/to/subtree > /dev/null

rclone backend dump Hasher:path/to/subtree

You can print or drop hashsum cache using custom backend commands:

rclone backend dump Hasher:dir/subdir

rclone backend drop Hasher:

Pre-Seed from a SUM File

Hasher supports two backend commands: generic SUM file import and faster but less consistent stickyimport.

rclone backend import Hasher:dir/subdir SHA1 /path/to/SHA1SUM [--checkers 4]

Instead of SHA1 it can be any hash supported by the remote. The last argument can point to either a local or an other-remote:path text file in SUM format. The command will parse the SUM file, then walk down the path given by the first argument, snapshot current fingerprints and fill in the cache entries correspondingly. - Paths in the SUM file are treated as relative to hasher:dir/subdir. - The command will not check that supplied values are correct. You must know what you are doing. - This is a one-time action. The SUM file will not get "attached" to the remote. Cache entries can still be overwritten later, should the object's fingerprint change. - The tree walk can take long depending on the tree size. You can increase --checkers to make it faster. Or use stickyimport if you don't care about fingerprints and consistency.

rclone backend stickyimport hasher:path/to/data sha1 remote:/path/to/sum.sha1

stickyimport is similar to import but works much faster because it does not need to stat existing files and skips initial tree walk. Instead of binding cache entries to file fingerprints it creates sticky entries bound to the file name alone ignoring size, modification time etc. Such hash entries can be replaced only by purge, delete, backend drop or by full re-read/re-write of the files.

Configuration reference

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to hasher (Better checksums for other remotes).

--hasher-remote

Remote to cache checksums for (e.g. myRemote:path).

Properties:

--hasher-hashes

Comma separated list of supported checksum types.

Properties:

--hasher-max-age

Maximum time to keep checksums in cache (0 = no cache, off = cache forever).

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to hasher (Better checksums for other remotes).

--hasher-auto-size

Auto-update checksum for files smaller than this size (disabled by default).

Properties:

Backend commands

Here are the commands specific to the hasher backend.

Run them with

rclone backend COMMAND remote:

The help below will explain what arguments each command takes.

See the "rclone backend" command for more info on how to pass options and arguments.

These can be run on a running backend using the rc command backend/command.

drop

Drop cache

rclone backend drop remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

Completely drop checksum cache. Usage Example: rclone backend drop hasher:

dump

Dump the database

rclone backend dump remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

Dump cache records covered by the current remote

fulldump

Full dump of the database

rclone backend fulldump remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

Dump all cache records in the database

import

Import a SUM file

rclone backend import remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

Amend hash cache from a SUM file and bind checksums to files by size/time. Usage Example: rclone backend import hasher:subdir md5 /path/to/sum.md5

stickyimport

Perform fast import of a SUM file

rclone backend stickyimport remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

Fill hash cache from a SUM file without verifying file fingerprints. Usage Example: rclone backend stickyimport hasher:subdir md5 remote:path/to/sum.md5

Implementation details (advanced)

This section explains how various rclone operations work on a hasher remote.

Disclaimer. This section describes current implementation which can change in future rclone versions!.

Hashsum command

The rclone hashsum (or md5sum or sha1sum) command will:

  1. if requested hash is supported by lower level, just pass it.
  2. if object size is below auto_size then download object and calculate requested hashes on the fly.
  3. if unsupported and the size is big enough, build object fingerprint (including size, modtime if supported, first-found other hash if any).
  4. if the strict match is found in cache for the requested remote, return the stored hash.
  5. if remote found but fingerprint mismatched, then purge the entry and proceed to step 6.
  6. if remote not found or had no requested hash type or after step 5: download object, calculate all supported hashes on the fly and store in cache; return requested hash.

Other operations

Note that setting max_age = 0 will disable checksum caching completely.

If you set max_age = off, checksums in cache will never age, unless you fully rewrite or delete the file.

Cache storage

Cached checksums are stored as bolt database files under rclone cache directory, usually ~/.cache/rclone/kv/. Databases are maintained one per base backend, named like BaseRemote~hasher.bolt. Checksums for multiple alias-es into a single base backend will be stored in the single database. All local paths are treated as aliases into the local backend (unless crypted or chunked) and stored in ~/.cache/rclone/kv/local~hasher.bolt. Databases can be shared between multiple rclone processes.

HDFS

HDFS is a distributed file-system, part of the Apache Hadoop framework.

Paths are specified as remote: or remote:path/to/dir.

Configuration

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[skip]
XX / Hadoop distributed file system
   \ "hdfs"
[skip]
Storage> hdfs
** See help for hdfs backend at: https://rclone.org/hdfs/ **

hadoop name node and port
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Connect to host namenode at port 8020
   \ "namenode:8020"
namenode> namenode.hadoop:8020
hadoop user name
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Connect to hdfs as root
   \ "root"
username> root
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
type = hdfs
namenode = namenode.hadoop:8020
username = root
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y
Current remotes:

Name                 Type
====                 ====
hadoop               hdfs

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q> q

This remote is called remote and can now be used like this

See all the top level directories

rclone lsd remote:

List the contents of a directory

rclone ls remote:directory

Sync the remote directory to /home/local/directory, deleting any excess files.

rclone sync -i remote:directory /home/local/directory

Setting up your own HDFS instance for testing

You may start with a manual setup or use the docker image from the tests:

If you want to build the docker image

git clone https://github.com/rclone/rclone.git
cd rclone/fstest/testserver/images/test-hdfs
docker build --rm -t rclone/test-hdfs .

Or you can just use the latest one pushed

docker run --rm --name "rclone-hdfs" -p 127.0.0.1:9866:9866 -p 127.0.0.1:8020:8020 --hostname "rclone-hdfs" rclone/test-hdfs

NB it need few seconds to startup.

For this docker image the remote needs to be configured like this:

[remote]
type = hdfs
namenode = 127.0.0.1:8020
username = root

You can stop this image with docker kill rclone-hdfs (NB it does not use volumes, so all data uploaded will be lost.)

Modified time

Time accurate to 1 second is stored.

Checksum

No checksums are implemented.

Usage information

You can use the rclone about remote: command which will display filesystem size and current usage.

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
: 0x3A

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to hdfs (Hadoop distributed file system).

--hdfs-namenode

Hadoop name node and port.

E.g. "namenode:8020" to connect to host namenode at port 8020.

Properties:

--hdfs-username

Hadoop user name.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to hdfs (Hadoop distributed file system).

--hdfs-service-principal-name

Kerberos service principal name for the namenode.

Enables KERBEROS authentication. Specifies the Service Principal Name (SERVICE/FQDN) for the namenode. E.g. "hdfs/namenode.hadoop.docker" for namenode running as service 'hdfs' with FQDN 'namenode.hadoop.docker'.

Properties:

--hdfs-data-transfer-protection

Kerberos data transfer protection: authentication|integrity|privacy.

Specifies whether or not authentication, data signature integrity checks, and wire encryption is required when communicating the the datanodes. Possible values are 'authentication', 'integrity' and 'privacy'. Used only with KERBEROS enabled.

Properties:

--hdfs-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

HTTP

The HTTP remote is a read only remote for reading files of a webserver. The webserver should provide file listings which rclone will read and turn into a remote. This has been tested with common webservers such as Apache/Nginx/Caddy and will likely work with file listings from most web servers. (If it doesn't then please file an issue, or send a pull request!)

Paths are specified as remote: or remote:path.

The remote: represents the configured url, and any path following it will be resolved relative to this url, according to the URL standard. This means with remote url https://beta.rclone.org/branch and path fix, the resolved URL will be https://beta.rclone.org/branch/fix, while with path /fix the resolved URL will be https://beta.rclone.org/fix as the absolute path is resolved from the root of the domain.

If the path following the remote: ends with / it will be assumed to point to a directory. If the path does not end with /, then a HEAD request is sent and the response used to decide if it it is treated as a file or a directory (run with -vv to see details). When --http-no-head is specified, a path without ending / is always assumed to be a file. If rclone incorrectly assumes the path is a file, the solution is to specify the path with ending /. When you know the path is a directory, ending it with / is always better as it avoids the initial HEAD request.

To just download a single file it is easier to use copyurl.

Configuration

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / http Connection
   \ "http"
[snip]
Storage> http
URL of http host to connect to
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Connect to example.com
   \ "https://example.com"
url> https://beta.rclone.org
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
url = https://beta.rclone.org
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y
Current remotes:

Name                 Type
====                 ====
remote               http

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q> q

This remote is called remote and can now be used like this

See all the top level directories

rclone lsd remote:

List the contents of a directory

rclone ls remote:directory

Sync the remote directory to /home/local/directory, deleting any excess files.

rclone sync -i remote:directory /home/local/directory

Read only

This remote is read only - you can't upload files to an HTTP server.

Modified time

Most HTTP servers store time accurate to 1 second.

Checksum

No checksums are stored.

Usage without a config file

Since the http remote only has one config parameter it is easy to use without a config file:

rclone lsd --http-url https://beta.rclone.org :http:

or:

rclone lsd :http,url='https://beta.rclone.org':

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to http (http Connection).

--http-url

URL of http host to connect to.

E.g. "https://example.com", or "https://user:pass@example.com" to use a username and password.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to http (http Connection).

--http-headers

Set HTTP headers for all transactions.

Use this to set additional HTTP headers for all transactions.

The input format is comma separated list of key,value pairs. Standard CSV encoding may be used.

For example, to set a Cookie use 'Cookie,name=value', or '"Cookie","name=value"'.

You can set multiple headers, e.g. '"Cookie","name=value","Authorization","xxx"'.

Properties:

--http-no-slash

Set this if the site doesn't end directories with /.

Use this if your target website does not use / on the end of directories.

A / on the end of a path is how rclone normally tells the difference between files and directories. If this flag is set, then rclone will treat all files with Content-Type: text/html as directories and read URLs from them rather than downloading them.

Note that this may cause rclone to confuse genuine HTML files with directories.

Properties:

--http-no-head

Don't use HEAD requests.

HEAD requests are mainly used to find file sizes in dir listing. If your site is being very slow to load then you can try this option. Normally rclone does a HEAD request for each potential file in a directory listing to:

If you set this option, rclone will not do the HEAD request. This will mean that directory listings are much quicker, but rclone won't have the times or sizes of any files, and some files that don't exist may be in the listing.

Properties:

Limitations

rclone about is not supported by the HTTP backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

Hubic

Paths are specified as remote:path

Paths are specified as remote:container (or remote: for the lsd command.) You may put subdirectories in too, e.g. remote:container/path/to/dir.

Configuration

The initial setup for Hubic involves getting a token from Hubic which you need to do in your browser. rclone config walks you through it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
n/s> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Hubic
   \ "hubic"
[snip]
Storage> hubic
Hubic Client Id - leave blank normally.
client_id>
Hubic Client Secret - leave blank normally.
client_secret>
Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
--------------------
[remote]
client_id =
client_secret =
token = {"access_token":"XXXXXX"}
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

See the remote setup docs for how to set it up on a machine with no Internet browser available.

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect the token as returned from Hubic. This only runs from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get back the verification code. This is on http://127.0.0.1:53682/ and this it may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a host firewall.

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List containers in the top level of your Hubic

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your Hubic

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to an Hubic directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

If you want the directory to be visible in the official Hubic browser, you need to copy your files to the default directory

rclone copy /home/source remote:default/backup

--fast-list

This remote supports --fast-list which allows you to use fewer transactions in exchange for more memory. See the rclone docs for more details.

Modified time

The modified time is stored as metadata on the object as X-Object-Meta-Mtime as floating point since the epoch accurate to 1 ns.

This is a de facto standard (used in the official python-swiftclient amongst others) for storing the modification time for an object.

Note that Hubic wraps the Swift backend, so most of the properties of are the same.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to hubic (Hubic).

--hubic-client-id

OAuth Client Id.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--hubic-client-secret

OAuth Client Secret.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to hubic (Hubic).

--hubic-token

OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob.

Properties:

--hubic-auth-url

Auth server URL.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--hubic-token-url

Token server url.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--hubic-chunk-size

Above this size files will be chunked into a _segments container.

Above this size files will be chunked into a _segments container. The default for this is 5 GiB which is its maximum value.

Properties:

--hubic-no-chunk

Don't chunk files during streaming upload.

When doing streaming uploads (e.g. using rcat or mount) setting this flag will cause the swift backend to not upload chunked files.

This will limit the maximum upload size to 5 GiB. However non chunked files are easier to deal with and have an MD5SUM.

Rclone will still chunk files bigger than chunk_size when doing normal copy operations.

Properties:

--hubic-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

This uses the normal OpenStack Swift mechanism to refresh the Swift API credentials and ignores the expires field returned by the Hubic API.

The Swift API doesn't return a correct MD5SUM for segmented files (Dynamic or Static Large Objects) so rclone won't check or use the MD5SUM for these.

Jottacloud

Jottacloud is a cloud storage service provider from a Norwegian company, using its own datacenters in Norway. In addition to the official service at jottacloud.com, it also provides white-label solutions to different companies, such as: * Telia * Telia Cloud (cloud.telia.se) * Telia Sky (sky.telia.no) * Tele2 * Tele2 Cloud (mittcloud.tele2.se) * Elkjøp (with subsidiaries): * Elkjøp Cloud (cloud.elkjop.no) * Elgiganten Sweden (cloud.elgiganten.se) * Elgiganten Denmark (cloud.elgiganten.dk) * Giganti Cloud (cloud.gigantti.fi) * ELKO Clouud (cloud.elko.is)

Most of the white-label versions are supported by this backend, although may require different authentication setup - described below.

Paths are specified as remote:path

Paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Authentication types

Some of the whitelabel versions uses a different authentication method than the official service, and you have to choose the correct one when setting up the remote.

Standard authentication

To configure Jottacloud you will need to generate a personal security token in the Jottacloud web interface. You will the option to do in your account security settings (for whitelabel version you need to find this page in its web interface). Note that the web interface may refer to this token as a JottaCli token.

Legacy authentication

If you are using one of the whitelabel versions (e.g. from Elkjøp) you may not have the option to generate a CLI token. In this case you'll have to use the legacy authentication. To do this select yes when the setup asks for legacy authentication and enter your username and password. The rest of the setup is identical to the default setup.

Telia Cloud authentication

Similar to other whitelabel versions Telia Cloud doesn't offer the option of creating a CLI token, and additionally uses a separate authentication flow where the username is generated internally. To setup rclone to use Telia Cloud, choose Telia Cloud authentication in the setup. The rest of the setup is identical to the default setup.

Tele2 Cloud authentication

As Tele2-Com Hem merger was completed this authentication can be used for former Com Hem Cloud and Tele2 Cloud customers as no support for creating a CLI token exists, and additionally uses a separate authentication flow where the username is generated internally. To setup rclone to use Tele2 Cloud, choose Tele2 Cloud authentication in the setup. The rest of the setup is identical to the default setup.

Configuration

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote with the default setup. First run:

rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Jottacloud
   \ "jottacloud"
[snip]
Storage> jottacloud
** See help for jottacloud backend at: https://rclone.org/jottacloud/ **

Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> n
Remote config
Use legacy authentication?.
This is only required for certain whitelabel versions of Jottacloud and not recommended for normal users.
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n

Generate a personal login token here: https://www.jottacloud.com/web/secure
Login Token> <your token here>

Do you want to use a non standard device/mountpoint e.g. for accessing files uploaded using the official Jottacloud client?

y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
Please select the device to use. Normally this will be Jotta
Choose a number from below, or type in an existing value
 1 > DESKTOP-3H31129
 2 > Jotta
Devices> 2
Please select the mountpoint to user. Normally this will be Archive
Choose a number from below, or type in an existing value
 1 > Archive
 2 > Links
 3 > Sync

Mountpoints> 1
--------------------
[jotta]
type = jottacloud
token = {........}
device = Jotta
mountpoint = Archive
configVersion = 1
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level of your Jottacloud

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your Jottacloud

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to an Jottacloud directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Devices and Mountpoints

The official Jottacloud client registers a device for each computer you install it on, and then creates a mountpoint for each folder you select for Backup. The web interface uses a special device called Jotta for the Archive and Sync mountpoints.

With rclone you'll want to use the Jotta/Archive device/mountpoint in most cases, however if you want to access files uploaded by any of the official clients rclone provides the option to select other devices and mountpoints during config. Note that uploading files is currently not supported to other devices than Jotta.

The built-in Jotta device may also contain several other mountpoints, such as: Latest, Links, Shared and Trash. These are special mountpoints with a different internal representation than the "regular" mountpoints. Rclone will only to a very limited degree support them. Generally you should avoid these, unless you know what you are doing.

--fast-list

This remote supports --fast-list which allows you to use fewer transactions in exchange for more memory. See the rclone docs for more details.

Note that the implementation in Jottacloud always uses only a single API request to get the entire list, so for large folders this could lead to long wait time before the first results are shown.

Note also that with rclone version 1.58 and newer information about MIME types are not available when using --fast-list.

Modified time and hashes

Jottacloud allows modification times to be set on objects accurate to 1 second. These will be used to detect whether objects need syncing or not.

Jottacloud supports MD5 type hashes, so you can use the --checksum flag.

Note that Jottacloud requires the MD5 hash before upload so if the source does not have an MD5 checksum then the file will be cached temporarily on disk (in location given by --temp-dir) before it is uploaded. Small files will be cached in memory - see the --jottacloud-md5-memory-limit flag. When uploading from local disk the source checksum is always available, so this does not apply. Starting with rclone version 1.52 the same is true for crypted remotes (in older versions the crypt backend would not calculate hashes for uploads from local disk, so the Jottacloud backend had to do it as described above).

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
" 0x22
* 0x2A
: 0x3A
< 0x3C
> 0x3E
? 0x3F
| 0x7C

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in XML strings.

Deleting files

By default, rclone will send all files to the trash when deleting files. They will be permanently deleted automatically after 30 days. You may bypass the trash and permanently delete files immediately by using the --jottacloud-hard-delete flag, or set the equivalent environment variable. Emptying the trash is supported by the cleanup command.

Versions

Jottacloud supports file versioning. When rclone uploads a new version of a file it creates a new version of it. Currently rclone only supports retrieving the current version but older versions can be accessed via the Jottacloud Website.

Versioning can be disabled by --jottacloud-no-versions option. This is achieved by deleting the remote file prior to uploading a new version. If the upload the fails no version of the file will be available in the remote.

Quota information

To view your current quota you can use the rclone about remote: command which will display your usage limit (unless it is unlimited) and the current usage.

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to jottacloud (Jottacloud).

--jottacloud-md5-memory-limit

Files bigger than this will be cached on disk to calculate the MD5 if required.

Properties:

--jottacloud-trashed-only

Only show files that are in the trash.

This will show trashed files in their original directory structure.

Properties:

--jottacloud-hard-delete

Delete files permanently rather than putting them into the trash.

Properties:

--jottacloud-upload-resume-limit

Files bigger than this can be resumed if the upload fail's.

Properties:

--jottacloud-no-versions

Avoid server side versioning by deleting files and recreating files instead of overwriting them.

Properties:

--jottacloud-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

Note that Jottacloud is case insensitive so you can't have a file called "Hello.doc" and one called "hello.doc".

There are quite a few characters that can't be in Jottacloud file names. Rclone will map these names to and from an identical looking unicode equivalent. For example if a file has a ? in it will be mapped to ? instead.

Jottacloud only supports filenames up to 255 characters in length.

Troubleshooting

Jottacloud exhibits some inconsistent behaviours regarding deleted files and folders which may cause Copy, Move and DirMove operations to previously deleted paths to fail. Emptying the trash should help in such cases.

Koofr

Paths are specified as remote:path

Paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Configuration

The initial setup for Koofr involves creating an application password for rclone. You can do that by opening the Koofr web application, giving the password a nice name like rclone and clicking on generate.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called koofr. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> koofr
Option Storage.
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
[snip]
22 / Koofr, Digi Storage and other Koofr-compatible storage providers
   \ (koofr)
[snip]
Storage> koofr
Option provider.
Choose your storage provider.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
Press Enter to leave empty.
 1 / Koofr, https://app.koofr.net/
   \ (koofr)
 2 / Digi Storage, https://storage.rcs-rds.ro/
   \ (digistorage)
 3 / Any other Koofr API compatible storage service
   \ (other)
provider> 1    
Option user.
Your user name.
Enter a value.
user> USERNAME
Option password.
Your password for rclone (generate one at https://app.koofr.net/app/admin/preferences/password).
Choose an alternative below.
y) Yes, type in my own password
g) Generate random password
y/g> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
Edit advanced config?
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n
Remote config
--------------------
[koofr]
type = koofr
provider = koofr
user = USERNAME
password = *** ENCRYPTED ***
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

You can choose to edit advanced config in order to enter your own service URL if you use an on-premise or white label Koofr instance, or choose an alternative mount instead of your primary storage.

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level of your Koofr

rclone lsd koofr:

List all the files in your Koofr

rclone ls koofr:

To copy a local directory to an Koofr directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source koofr:backup

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
\ 0x5C

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in XML strings.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to koofr (Koofr, Digi Storage and other Koofr-compatible storage providers).

--koofr-provider

Choose your storage provider.

Properties:

--koofr-endpoint

The Koofr API endpoint to use.

Properties:

--koofr-user

Your user name.

Properties:

--koofr-password

Your password for rclone (generate one at https://app.koofr.net/app/admin/preferences/password).

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

--koofr-password

Your password for rclone (generate one at https://storage.rcs-rds.ro/app/admin/preferences/password).

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

--koofr-password

Your password for rclone (generate one at your service's settings page).

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to koofr (Koofr, Digi Storage and other Koofr-compatible storage providers).

--koofr-mountid

Mount ID of the mount to use.

If omitted, the primary mount is used.

Properties:

--koofr-setmtime

Does the backend support setting modification time.

Set this to false if you use a mount ID that points to a Dropbox or Amazon Drive backend.

Properties:

--koofr-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

Note that Koofr is case insensitive so you can't have a file called "Hello.doc" and one called "hello.doc".

Providers

Koofr

This is the original Koofr storage provider used as main example and described in the configuration section above.

Digi Storage

Digi Storage is a cloud storage service run by Digi.ro that provides a Koofr API.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called ds. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> ds
Option Storage.
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
[snip]
22 / Koofr, Digi Storage and other Koofr-compatible storage providers
   \ (koofr)
[snip]
Storage> koofr
Option provider.
Choose your storage provider.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
Press Enter to leave empty.
 1 / Koofr, https://app.koofr.net/
   \ (koofr)
 2 / Digi Storage, https://storage.rcs-rds.ro/
   \ (digistorage)
 3 / Any other Koofr API compatible storage service
   \ (other)
provider> 2
Option user.
Your user name.
Enter a value.
user> USERNAME
Option password.
Your password for rclone (generate one at https://storage.rcs-rds.ro/app/admin/preferences/password).
Choose an alternative below.
y) Yes, type in my own password
g) Generate random password
y/g> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
Edit advanced config?
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n
--------------------
[ds]
type = koofr
provider = digistorage
user = USERNAME
password = *** ENCRYPTED ***
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Other

You may also want to use another, public or private storage provider that runs a Koofr API compatible service, by simply providing the base URL to connect to.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called other. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> other
Option Storage.
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
[snip]
22 / Koofr, Digi Storage and other Koofr-compatible storage providers
   \ (koofr)
[snip]
Storage> koofr
Option provider.
Choose your storage provider.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
Press Enter to leave empty.
 1 / Koofr, https://app.koofr.net/
   \ (koofr)
 2 / Digi Storage, https://storage.rcs-rds.ro/
   \ (digistorage)
 3 / Any other Koofr API compatible storage service
   \ (other)
provider> 3
Option endpoint.
The Koofr API endpoint to use.
Enter a value.
endpoint> https://koofr.other.org
Option user.
Your user name.
Enter a value.
user> USERNAME
Option password.
Your password for rclone (generate one at your service's settings page).
Choose an alternative below.
y) Yes, type in my own password
g) Generate random password
y/g> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
Edit advanced config?
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n
--------------------
[other]
type = koofr
provider = other
endpoint = https://koofr.other.org
user = USERNAME
password = *** ENCRYPTED ***
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Mail.ru Cloud

Mail.ru Cloud is a cloud storage provided by a Russian internet company Mail.Ru Group. The official desktop client is Disk-O:, available on Windows and Mac OS.

Currently it is recommended to disable 2FA on Mail.ru accounts intended for rclone until it gets eventually implemented.

Features highlights

Configuration

Here is an example of making a mailru configuration. First create a Mail.ru Cloud account and choose a tariff, then run

rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Mail.ru Cloud
   \ "mailru"
[snip]
Storage> mailru
User name (usually email)
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
user> username@mail.ru
Password
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
y/g> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
Skip full upload if there is another file with same data hash.
This feature is called "speedup" or "put by hash". It is especially efficient
in case of generally available files like popular books, video or audio clips
[snip]
Enter a boolean value (true or false). Press Enter for the default ("true").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Enable
   \ "true"
 2 / Disable
   \ "false"
speedup_enable> 1
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> n
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
type = mailru
user = username@mail.ru
pass = *** ENCRYPTED ***
speedup_enable = true
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Configuration of this backend does not require a local web browser. You can use the configured backend as shown below:

See top level directories

rclone lsd remote:

Make a new directory

rclone mkdir remote:directory

List the contents of a directory

rclone ls remote:directory

Sync /home/local/directory to the remote path, deleting any excess files in the path.

rclone sync -i /home/local/directory remote:directory

Modified time

Files support a modification time attribute with up to 1 second precision. Directories do not have a modification time, which is shown as "Jan 1 1970".

Hash checksums

Hash sums use a custom Mail.ru algorithm based on SHA1. If file size is less than or equal to the SHA1 block size (20 bytes), its hash is simply its data right-padded with zero bytes. Hash sum of a larger file is computed as a SHA1 sum of the file data bytes concatenated with a decimal representation of the data length.

Emptying Trash

Removing a file or directory actually moves it to the trash, which is not visible to rclone but can be seen in a web browser. The trashed file still occupies part of total quota. If you wish to empty your trash and free some quota, you can use the rclone cleanup remote: command, which will permanently delete all your trashed files. This command does not take any path arguments.

Quota information

To view your current quota you can use the rclone about remote: command which will display your usage limit (quota) and the current usage.

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
" 0x22
* 0x2A
: 0x3A
< 0x3C
> 0x3E
? 0x3F
\ 0x5C
| 0x7C

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to mailru (Mail.ru Cloud).

--mailru-user

User name (usually email).

Properties:

--mailru-pass

Password.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

--mailru-speedup-enable

Skip full upload if there is another file with same data hash.

This feature is called "speedup" or "put by hash". It is especially efficient in case of generally available files like popular books, video or audio clips, because files are searched by hash in all accounts of all mailru users. It is meaningless and ineffective if source file is unique or encrypted. Please note that rclone may need local memory and disk space to calculate content hash in advance and decide whether full upload is required. Also, if rclone does not know file size in advance (e.g. in case of streaming or partial uploads), it will not even try this optimization.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to mailru (Mail.ru Cloud).

--mailru-speedup-file-patterns

Comma separated list of file name patterns eligible for speedup (put by hash).

Patterns are case insensitive and can contain '*' or '?' meta characters.

Properties:

--mailru-speedup-max-disk

This option allows you to disable speedup (put by hash) for large files.

Reason is that preliminary hashing can exhaust your RAM or disk space.

Properties:

--mailru-speedup-max-memory

Files larger than the size given below will always be hashed on disk.

Properties:

--mailru-check-hash

What should copy do if file checksum is mismatched or invalid.

Properties:

--mailru-user-agent

HTTP user agent used internally by client.

Defaults to "rclone/VERSION" or "--user-agent" provided on command line.

Properties:

--mailru-quirks

Comma separated list of internal maintenance flags.

This option must not be used by an ordinary user. It is intended only to facilitate remote troubleshooting of backend issues. Strict meaning of flags is not documented and not guaranteed to persist between releases. Quirks will be removed when the backend grows stable. Supported quirks: atomicmkdir binlist unknowndirs

Properties:

--mailru-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

File size limits depend on your account. A single file size is limited by 2G for a free account and unlimited for paid tariffs. Please refer to the Mail.ru site for the total uploaded size limits.

Note that Mailru is case insensitive so you can't have a file called "Hello.doc" and one called "hello.doc".

Mega

Mega is a cloud storage and file hosting service known for its security feature where all files are encrypted locally before they are uploaded. This prevents anyone (including employees of Mega) from accessing the files without knowledge of the key used for encryption.

This is an rclone backend for Mega which supports the file transfer features of Mega using the same client side encryption.

Paths are specified as remote:path

Paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Configuration

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Mega
   \ "mega"
[snip]
Storage> mega
User name
user> you@example.com
Password.
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
n) No leave this optional password blank
y/g/n> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
type = mega
user = you@example.com
pass = *** ENCRYPTED ***
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

NOTE: The encryption keys need to have been already generated after a regular login via the browser, otherwise attempting to use the credentials in rclone will fail.

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level of your Mega

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your Mega

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to an Mega directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Modified time and hashes

Mega does not support modification times or hashes yet.

Restricted filename characters

Character Value Replacement
NUL 0x00
/ 0x2F

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Duplicated files

Mega can have two files with exactly the same name and path (unlike a normal file system).

Duplicated files cause problems with the syncing and you will see messages in the log about duplicates.

Use rclone dedupe to fix duplicated files.

Failure to log-in

Mega remotes seem to get blocked (reject logins) under "heavy use". We haven't worked out the exact blocking rules but it seems to be related to fast paced, successive rclone commands.

For example, executing this command 90 times in a row rclone link remote:file will cause the remote to become "blocked". This is not an abnormal situation, for example if you wish to get the public links of a directory with hundred of files... After more or less a week, the remote will remote accept rclone logins normally again.

You can mitigate this issue by mounting the remote it with rclone mount. This will log-in when mounting and a log-out when unmounting only. You can also run rclone rcd and then use rclone rc to run the commands over the API to avoid logging in each time.

Rclone does not currently close mega sessions (you can see them in the web interface), however closing the sessions does not solve the issue.

If you space rclone commands by 3 seconds it will avoid blocking the remote. We haven't identified the exact blocking rules, so perhaps one could execute the command 80 times without waiting and avoid blocking by waiting 3 seconds, then continuing...

Note that this has been observed by trial and error and might not be set in stone.

Other tools seem not to produce this blocking effect, as they use a different working approach (state-based, using sessionIDs instead of log-in) which isn't compatible with the current stateless rclone approach.

Note that once blocked, the use of other tools (such as megacmd) is not a sure workaround: following megacmd login times have been observed in succession for blocked remote: 7 minutes, 20 min, 30min, 30 min, 30min. Web access looks unaffected though.

Investigation is continuing in relation to workarounds based on timeouts, pacers, retrials and tpslimits - if you discover something relevant, please post on the forum.

So, if rclone was working nicely and suddenly you are unable to log-in and you are sure the user and the password are correct, likely you have got the remote blocked for a while.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to mega (Mega).

--mega-user

User name.

Properties:

--mega-pass

Password.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to mega (Mega).

--mega-debug

Output more debug from Mega.

If this flag is set (along with -vv) it will print further debugging information from the mega backend.

Properties:

--mega-hard-delete

Delete files permanently rather than putting them into the trash.

Normally the mega backend will put all deletions into the trash rather than permanently deleting them. If you specify this then rclone will permanently delete objects instead.

Properties:

--mega-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

This backend uses the go-mega go library which is an opensource go library implementing the Mega API. There doesn't appear to be any documentation for the mega protocol beyond the mega C++ SDK source code so there are likely quite a few errors still remaining in this library.

Mega allows duplicate files which may confuse rclone.

Memory

The memory backend is an in RAM backend. It does not persist its data - use the local backend for that.

The memory backend behaves like a bucket-based remote (e.g. like s3). Because it has no parameters you can just use it with the :memory: remote name.

Configuration

You can configure it as a remote like this with rclone config too if you want to:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Memory
   \ "memory"
[snip]
Storage> memory
** See help for memory backend at: https://rclone.org/memory/ **

Remote config

--------------------
[remote]
type = memory
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Because the memory backend isn't persistent it is most useful for testing or with an rclone server or rclone mount, e.g.

rclone mount :memory: /mnt/tmp
rclone serve webdav :memory:
rclone serve sftp :memory:

Modified time and hashes

The memory backend supports MD5 hashes and modification times accurate to 1 nS.

Restricted filename characters

The memory backend replaces the default restricted characters set.

Akamai NetStorage

Paths are specified as remote: You may put subdirectories in too, e.g. remote:/path/to/dir. If you have a CP code you can use that as the folder after the domain such as <domain>/<cpcode>/<internal directories within cpcode>.

For example, this is commonly configured with or without a CP code: * With a CP code. [your-domain-prefix]-nsu.akamaihd.net/123456/subdirectory/ * Without a CP code. [your-domain-prefix]-nsu.akamaihd.net

See all buckets rclone lsd remote: The initial setup for Netstorage involves getting an account and secret. Use rclone config to walk you through the setup process.

Here's an example of how to make a remote called ns1.

  1. To begin the interactive configuration process, enter this command:
rclone config
  1. Type n to create a new remote.
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
q) Quit config
e/n/d/q> n
  1. For this example, enter ns1 when you reach the name> prompt.
name> ns1
  1. Enter netstorage as the type of storage to configure.
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
XX / NetStorage
   \ "netstorage"
Storage> netstorage
  1. Select between the HTTP or HTTPS protocol. Most users should choose HTTPS, which is the default. HTTP is provided primarily for debugging purposes.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / HTTP protocol
   \ "http"
 2 / HTTPS protocol
   \ "https"
protocol> 1
  1. Specify your NetStorage host, CP code, and any necessary content paths using this format: <domain>/<cpcode>/<content>/
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
host> baseball-nsu.akamaihd.net/123456/content/
  1. Set the netstorage account name
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
account> username
  1. Set the Netstorage account secret/G2O key which will be used for authentication purposes. Select the y option to set your own password then enter your secret. Note: The secret is stored in the rclone.conf file with hex-encoded encryption.
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
y/g> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
  1. View the summary and confirm your remote configuration.
[ns1]
type = netstorage
protocol = http
host = baseball-nsu.akamaihd.net/123456/content/
account = username
secret = *** ENCRYPTED ***
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

This remote is called ns1 and can now be used.

Example operations

Get started with rclone and NetStorage with these examples. For additional rclone commands, visit https://rclone.org/commands/.

See contents of a directory in your project
rclone lsd ns1:/974012/testing/
Sync the contents local with remote
rclone sync . ns1:/974012/testing/
Upload local content to remote
rclone copy notes.txt ns1:/974012/testing/
Delete content on remote
rclone delete ns1:/974012/testing/notes.txt
Move or copy content between CP codes.

Your credentials must have access to two CP codes on the same remote. You can't perform operations between different remotes.

rclone move ns1:/974012/testing/notes.txt ns1:/974450/testing2/

The Netstorage backend changes the rclone --links, -l behavior. When uploading, instead of creating the .rclonelink file, use the "symlink" API in order to create the corresponding symlink on the remote. The .rclonelink file will not be created, the upload will be intercepted and only the symlink file that matches the source file name with no suffix will be created on the remote.

This will effectively allow commands like copy/copyto, move/moveto and sync to upload from local to remote and download from remote to local directories with symlinks. Due to internal rclone limitations, it is not possible to upload an individual symlink file to any remote backend. You can always use the "backend symlink" command to create a symlink on the NetStorage server, refer to "symlink" section below.

Individual symlink files on the remote can be used with the commands like "cat" to print the destination name, or "delete" to delete symlink, or copy, copy/to and move/moveto to download from the remote to local. Note: individual symlink files on the remote should be specified including the suffix .rclonelink.

Note: No file with the suffix .rclonelink should ever exist on the server since it is not possible to actually upload/create a file with .rclonelink suffix with rclone, it can only exist if it is manually created through a non-rclone method on the remote.

Implicit vs. Explicit Directories

With NetStorage, directories can exist in one of two forms:

  1. Explicit Directory. This is an actual, physical directory that you have created in a storage group.
  2. Implicit Directory. This refers to a directory within a path that has not been physically created. For example, during upload of a file, non-existent subdirectories can be specified in the target path. NetStorage creates these as "implicit." While the directories aren't physically created, they exist implicitly and the noted path is connected with the uploaded file.

Rclone will intercept all file uploads and mkdir commands for the NetStorage remote and will explicitly issue the mkdir command for each directory in the uploading path. This will help with the interoperability with the other Akamai services such as SFTP and the Content Management Shell (CMShell). Rclone will not guarantee correctness of operations with implicit directories which might have been created as a result of using an upload API directly.

ListR Feature

NetStorage remote supports the ListR feature by using the "list" NetStorage API action to return a lexicographical list of all objects within the specified CP code, recursing into subdirectories as they're encountered.

There are pros and cons of using the ListR method, refer to rclone documentation. In general, the sync command over an existing deep tree on the remote will run faster with the "--fast-list" flag but with extra memory usage as a side effect. It might also result in higher CPU utilization but the whole task can be completed faster.

Note: There is a known limitation that "lsf -R" will display number of files in the directory and directory size as -1 when ListR method is used. The workaround is to pass "--disable listR" flag if these numbers are important in the output.

Purge Feature

NetStorage remote supports the purge feature by using the "quick-delete" NetStorage API action. The quick-delete action is disabled by default for security reasons and can be enabled for the account through the Akamai portal. Rclone will first try to use quick-delete action for the purge command and if this functionality is disabled then will fall back to a standard delete method.

Note: Read the NetStorage Usage API for considerations when using "quick-delete". In general, using quick-delete method will not delete the tree immediately and objects targeted for quick-delete may still be accessible.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to netstorage (Akamai NetStorage).

--netstorage-host

Domain+path of NetStorage host to connect to.

Format should be <domain>/<internal folders>

Properties:

--netstorage-account

Set the NetStorage account name

Properties:

--netstorage-secret

Set the NetStorage account secret/G2O key for authentication.

Please choose the 'y' option to set your own password then enter your secret.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to netstorage (Akamai NetStorage).

--netstorage-protocol

Select between HTTP or HTTPS protocol.

Most users should choose HTTPS, which is the default. HTTP is provided primarily for debugging purposes.

Properties:

Backend commands

Here are the commands specific to the netstorage backend.

Run them with

rclone backend COMMAND remote:

The help below will explain what arguments each command takes.

See the "rclone backend" command for more info on how to pass options and arguments.

These can be run on a running backend using the rc command backend/command.

du

Return disk usage information for a specified directory

rclone backend du remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

The usage information returned, includes the targeted directory as well as all files stored in any sub-directories that may exist.

You can create a symbolic link in ObjectStore with the symlink action.

rclone backend symlink remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

The desired path location (including applicable sub-directories) ending in the object that will be the target of the symlink (for example, /links/mylink). Include the file extension for the object, if applicable. rclone backend symlink <src> <path>

Microsoft Azure Blob Storage

Paths are specified as remote:container (or remote: for the lsd command.) You may put subdirectories in too, e.g. remote:container/path/to/dir.

Configuration

Here is an example of making a Microsoft Azure Blob Storage configuration. For a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Microsoft Azure Blob Storage
   \ "azureblob"
[snip]
Storage> azureblob
Storage Account Name
account> account_name
Storage Account Key
key> base64encodedkey==
Endpoint for the service - leave blank normally.
endpoint> 
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
account = account_name
key = base64encodedkey==
endpoint = 
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

See all containers

rclone lsd remote:

Make a new container

rclone mkdir remote:container

List the contents of a container

rclone ls remote:container

Sync /home/local/directory to the remote container, deleting any excess files in the container.

rclone sync -i /home/local/directory remote:container

--fast-list

This remote supports --fast-list which allows you to use fewer transactions in exchange for more memory. See the rclone docs for more details.

Modified time

The modified time is stored as metadata on the object with the mtime key. It is stored using RFC3339 Format time with nanosecond precision. The metadata is supplied during directory listings so there is no overhead to using it.

Performance

When uploading large files, increasing the value of --azureblob-upload-concurrency will increase performance at the cost of using more memory. The default of 16 is set quite conservatively to use less memory. It maybe be necessary raise it to 64 or higher to fully utilize a 1 GBit/s link with a single file transfer.

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
/ 0x2F
\ 0x5C

File names can also not end with the following characters. These only get replaced if they are the last character in the name:

Character Value Replacement
. 0x2E

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Hashes

MD5 hashes are stored with blobs. However blobs that were uploaded in chunks only have an MD5 if the source remote was capable of MD5 hashes, e.g. the local disk.

Authenticating with Azure Blob Storage

Rclone has 3 ways of authenticating with Azure Blob Storage:

Account and Key

This is the most straight forward and least flexible way. Just fill in the account and key lines and leave the rest blank.

SAS URL

This can be an account level SAS URL or container level SAS URL.

To use it leave account, key blank and fill in sas_url.

An account level SAS URL or container level SAS URL can be obtained from the Azure portal or the Azure Storage Explorer. To get a container level SAS URL right click on a container in the Azure Blob explorer in the Azure portal.

If you use a container level SAS URL, rclone operations are permitted only on a particular container, e.g.

rclone ls azureblob:container

You can also list the single container from the root. This will only show the container specified by the SAS URL.

$ rclone lsd azureblob:
container/

Note that you can't see or access any other containers - this will fail

rclone ls azureblob:othercontainer

Container level SAS URLs are useful for temporarily allowing third parties access to a single container or putting credentials into an untrusted environment such as a CI build server.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to azureblob (Microsoft Azure Blob Storage).

--azureblob-account

Storage Account Name.

Leave blank to use SAS URL or Emulator.

Properties:

--azureblob-service-principal-file

Path to file containing credentials for use with a service principal.

Leave blank normally. Needed only if you want to use a service principal instead of interactive login.

$ az ad sp create-for-rbac --name "<name>" \
  --role "Storage Blob Data Owner" \
  --scopes "/subscriptions/<subscription>/resourceGroups/<resource-group>/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/<storage-account>/blobServices/default/containers/<container>" \
  > azure-principal.json

See "Create an Azure service principal" and "Assign an Azure role for access to blob data" pages for more details.

Properties:

--azureblob-key

Storage Account Key.

Leave blank to use SAS URL or Emulator.

Properties:

--azureblob-sas-url

SAS URL for container level access only.

Leave blank if using account/key or Emulator.

Properties:

--azureblob-use-msi

Use a managed service identity to authenticate (only works in Azure).

When true, use a managed service identity to authenticate to Azure Storage instead of a SAS token or account key.

If the VM(SS) on which this program is running has a system-assigned identity, it will be used by default. If the resource has no system-assigned but exactly one user-assigned identity, the user-assigned identity will be used by default. If the resource has multiple user-assigned identities, the identity to use must be explicitly specified using exactly one of the msi_object_id, msi_client_id, or msi_mi_res_id parameters.

Properties:

--azureblob-use-emulator

Uses local storage emulator if provided as 'true'.

Leave blank if using real azure storage endpoint.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to azureblob (Microsoft Azure Blob Storage).

--azureblob-msi-object-id

Object ID of the user-assigned MSI to use, if any.

Leave blank if msi_client_id or msi_mi_res_id specified.

Properties:

--azureblob-msi-client-id

Object ID of the user-assigned MSI to use, if any.

Leave blank if msi_object_id or msi_mi_res_id specified.

Properties:

--azureblob-msi-mi-res-id

Azure resource ID of the user-assigned MSI to use, if any.

Leave blank if msi_client_id or msi_object_id specified.

Properties:

--azureblob-endpoint

Endpoint for the service.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--azureblob-upload-cutoff

Cutoff for switching to chunked upload (<= 256 MiB) (deprecated).

Properties:

--azureblob-chunk-size

Upload chunk size.

Note that this is stored in memory and there may be up to "--transfers" * "--azureblob-upload-concurrency" chunks stored at once in memory.

Properties:

--azureblob-upload-concurrency

Concurrency for multipart uploads.

This is the number of chunks of the same file that are uploaded concurrently.

If you are uploading small numbers of large files over high-speed links and these uploads do not fully utilize your bandwidth, then increasing this may help to speed up the transfers.

In tests, upload speed increases almost linearly with upload concurrency. For example to fill a gigabit pipe it may be necessary to raise this to 64. Note that this will use more memory.

Note that chunks are stored in memory and there may be up to "--transfers" * "--azureblob-upload-concurrency" chunks stored at once in memory.

Properties:

--azureblob-list-chunk

Size of blob list.

This sets the number of blobs requested in each listing chunk. Default is the maximum, 5000. "List blobs" requests are permitted 2 minutes per megabyte to complete. If an operation is taking longer than 2 minutes per megabyte on average, it will time out ( source ). This can be used to limit the number of blobs items to return, to avoid the time out.

Properties:

--azureblob-access-tier

Access tier of blob: hot, cool or archive.

Archived blobs can be restored by setting access tier to hot or cool. Leave blank if you intend to use default access tier, which is set at account level

If there is no "access tier" specified, rclone doesn't apply any tier. rclone performs "Set Tier" operation on blobs while uploading, if objects are not modified, specifying "access tier" to new one will have no effect. If blobs are in "archive tier" at remote, trying to perform data transfer operations from remote will not be allowed. User should first restore by tiering blob to "Hot" or "Cool".

Properties:

--azureblob-archive-tier-delete

Delete archive tier blobs before overwriting.

Archive tier blobs cannot be updated. So without this flag, if you attempt to update an archive tier blob, then rclone will produce the error:

can't update archive tier blob without --azureblob-archive-tier-delete

With this flag set then before rclone attempts to overwrite an archive tier blob, it will delete the existing blob before uploading its replacement. This has the potential for data loss if the upload fails (unlike updating a normal blob) and also may cost more since deleting archive tier blobs early may be chargable.

Properties:

--azureblob-disable-checksum

Don't store MD5 checksum with object metadata.

Normally rclone will calculate the MD5 checksum of the input before uploading it so it can add it to metadata on the object. This is great for data integrity checking but can cause long delays for large files to start uploading.

Properties:

--azureblob-memory-pool-flush-time

How often internal memory buffer pools will be flushed.

Uploads which requires additional buffers (f.e multipart) will use memory pool for allocations. This option controls how often unused buffers will be removed from the pool.

Properties:

--azureblob-memory-pool-use-mmap

Whether to use mmap buffers in internal memory pool.

Properties:

--azureblob-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

--azureblob-public-access

Public access level of a container: blob or container.

Properties:

--azureblob-no-head-object

If set, do not do HEAD before GET when getting objects.

Properties:

Limitations

MD5 sums are only uploaded with chunked files if the source has an MD5 sum. This will always be the case for a local to azure copy.

rclone about is not supported by the Microsoft Azure Blob storage backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

Azure Storage Emulator Support

You can test rclone with storage emulator locally, to do this make sure azure storage emulator installed locally and set up a new remote with rclone config follow instructions described in introduction, set use_emulator config as true, you do not need to provide default account name or key if using emulator.

Microsoft OneDrive

Paths are specified as remote:path

Paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Configuration

The initial setup for OneDrive involves getting a token from Microsoft which you need to do in your browser. rclone config walks you through it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Microsoft OneDrive
   \ "onedrive"
[snip]
Storage> onedrive
Microsoft App Client Id
Leave blank normally.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
client_id>
Microsoft App Client Secret
Leave blank normally.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
client_secret>
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> n
Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
Choose a number from below, or type in an existing value
 1 / OneDrive Personal or Business
   \ "onedrive"
 2 / Sharepoint site
   \ "sharepoint"
 3 / Type in driveID
   \ "driveid"
 4 / Type in SiteID
   \ "siteid"
 5 / Search a Sharepoint site
   \ "search"
Your choice> 1
Found 1 drives, please select the one you want to use:
0: OneDrive (business) id=b!Eqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm-7mnbvcxzlkjhgfdsapoiuytrewqk
Chose drive to use:> 0
Found drive 'root' of type 'business', URL: https://org-my.sharepoint.com/personal/you/Documents
Is that okay?
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
--------------------
[remote]
type = onedrive
token = {"access_token":"youraccesstoken","token_type":"Bearer","refresh_token":"yourrefreshtoken","expiry":"2018-08-26T22:39:52.486512262+08:00"}
drive_id = b!Eqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm-7mnbvcxzlkjhgfdsapoiuytrewqk
drive_type = business
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

See the remote setup docs for how to set it up on a machine with no Internet browser available.

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect the token as returned from Microsoft. This only runs from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get back the verification code. This is on http://127.0.0.1:53682/ and this it may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a host firewall.

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level of your OneDrive

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your OneDrive

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to an OneDrive directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Getting your own Client ID and Key

You can use your own Client ID if the default (client_id left blank) one doesn't work for you or you see lots of throttling. The default Client ID and Key is shared by all rclone users when performing requests.

If you are having problems with them (E.g., seeing a lot of throttling), you can get your own Client ID and Key by following the steps below:

  1. Open https://portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_AAD_RegisteredApps/ApplicationsListBlade and then click New registration.
  2. Enter a name for your app, choose account type Accounts in any organizational directory (Any Azure AD directory - Multitenant) and personal Microsoft accounts (e.g. Skype, Xbox), select Web in Redirect URI, then type (do not copy and paste) http://localhost:53682/ and click Register. Copy and keep the Application (client) ID under the app name for later use.
  3. Under manage select Certificates & secrets, click New client secret. Enter a description (can be anything) and set Expires to 24 months. Copy and keep that secret Value for later use (you won't be able to see this value afterwards).
  4. Under manage select API permissions, click Add a permission and select Microsoft Graph then select delegated permissions.
  5. Search and select the following permissions: Files.Read, Files.ReadWrite, Files.Read.All, Files.ReadWrite.All, offline_access, User.Read, and optionally Sites.Read.All (see below). Once selected click Add permissions at the bottom.

Now the application is complete. Run rclone config to create or edit a OneDrive remote. Supply the app ID and password as Client ID and Secret, respectively. rclone will walk you through the remaining steps.

The Sites.Read.All permission is required if you need to search SharePoint sites when configuring the remote. However, if that permission is not assigned, you need to set disable_site_permission option to true in the advanced options.

Modification time and hashes

OneDrive allows modification times to be set on objects accurate to 1 second. These will be used to detect whether objects need syncing or not.

OneDrive personal supports SHA1 type hashes. OneDrive for business and Sharepoint Server support QuickXorHash.

For all types of OneDrive you can use the --checksum flag.

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
" 0x22
* 0x2A
: 0x3A
< 0x3C
> 0x3E
? 0x3F
\ 0x5C
| 0x7C

File names can also not end with the following characters. These only get replaced if they are the last character in the name:

Character Value Replacement
SP 0x20
. 0x2E

File names can also not begin with the following characters. These only get replaced if they are the first character in the name:

Character Value Replacement
SP 0x20
~ 0x7E

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Deleting files

Any files you delete with rclone will end up in the trash. Microsoft doesn't provide an API to permanently delete files, nor to empty the trash, so you will have to do that with one of Microsoft's apps or via the OneDrive website.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to onedrive (Microsoft OneDrive).

--onedrive-client-id

OAuth Client Id.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--onedrive-client-secret

OAuth Client Secret.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--onedrive-region

Choose national cloud region for OneDrive.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to onedrive (Microsoft OneDrive).

--onedrive-token

OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob.

Properties:

--onedrive-auth-url

Auth server URL.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--onedrive-token-url

Token server url.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--onedrive-chunk-size

Chunk size to upload files with - must be multiple of 320k (327,680 bytes).

Above this size files will be chunked - must be multiple of 320k (327,680 bytes) and should not exceed 250M (262,144,000 bytes) else you may encounter "Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.InvalidClientQueryException: The request message is too big." Note that the chunks will be buffered into memory.

Properties:

--onedrive-drive-id

The ID of the drive to use.

Properties:

--onedrive-drive-type

The type of the drive (personal | business | documentLibrary).

Properties:

--onedrive-root-folder-id

ID of the root folder.

This isn't normally needed, but in special circumstances you might know the folder ID that you wish to access but not be able to get there through a path traversal.

Properties:

--onedrive-disable-site-permission

Disable the request for Sites.Read.All permission.

If set to true, you will no longer be able to search for a SharePoint site when configuring drive ID, because rclone will not request Sites.Read.All permission. Set it to true if your organization didn't assign Sites.Read.All permission to the application, and your organization disallows users to consent app permission request on their own.

Properties:

--onedrive-expose-onenote-files

Set to make OneNote files show up in directory listings.

By default, rclone will hide OneNote files in directory listings because operations like "Open" and "Update" won't work on them. But this behaviour may also prevent you from deleting them. If you want to delete OneNote files or otherwise want them to show up in directory listing, set this option.

Properties:

--onedrive-server-side-across-configs

Allow server-side operations (e.g. copy) to work across different onedrive configs.

This will only work if you are copying between two OneDrive Personal drives AND the files to copy are already shared between them. In other cases, rclone will fall back to normal copy (which will be slightly slower).

Properties:

--onedrive-list-chunk

Size of listing chunk.

Properties:

--onedrive-no-versions

Remove all versions on modifying operations.

Onedrive for business creates versions when rclone uploads new files overwriting an existing one and when it sets the modification time.

These versions take up space out of the quota.

This flag checks for versions after file upload and setting modification time and removes all but the last version.

NB Onedrive personal can't currently delete versions so don't use this flag there.

Properties:

Set the scope of the links created by the link command.

Properties:

Set the type of the links created by the link command.

Properties:

Set the password for links created by the link command.

At the time of writing this only works with OneDrive personal paid accounts.

Properties:

--onedrive-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

If you don't use rclone for 90 days the refresh token will expire. This will result in authorization problems. This is easy to fix by running the rclone config reconnect remote: command to get a new token and refresh token.

Naming

Note that OneDrive is case insensitive so you can't have a file called "Hello.doc" and one called "hello.doc".

There are quite a few characters that can't be in OneDrive file names. These can't occur on Windows platforms, but on non-Windows platforms they are common. Rclone will map these names to and from an identical looking unicode equivalent. For example if a file has a ? in it will be mapped to instead.

File sizes

The largest allowed file size is 250 GiB for both OneDrive Personal and OneDrive for Business (Updated 13 Jan 2021).

Path length

The entire path, including the file name, must contain fewer than 400 characters for OneDrive, OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online. If you are encrypting file and folder names with rclone, you may want to pay attention to this limitation because the encrypted names are typically longer than the original ones.

Number of files

OneDrive seems to be OK with at least 50,000 files in a folder, but at 100,000 rclone will get errors listing the directory like couldn’t list files: UnknownError:. See #2707 for more info.

An official document about the limitations for different types of OneDrive can be found here.

Versions

Every change in a file OneDrive causes the service to create a new version of the the file. This counts against a users quota. For example changing the modification time of a file creates a second version, so the file apparently uses twice the space.

For example the copy command is affected by this as rclone copies the file and then afterwards sets the modification time to match the source file which uses another version.

You can use the rclone cleanup command (see below) to remove all old versions.

Or you can set the no_versions parameter to true and rclone will remove versions after operations which create new versions. This takes extra transactions so only enable it if you need it.

Note At the time of writing Onedrive Personal creates versions (but not for setting the modification time) but the API for removing them returns "API not found" so cleanup and no_versions should not be used on Onedrive Personal.

Disabling versioning

Starting October 2018, users will no longer be able to disable versioning by default. This is because Microsoft has brought an update to the mechanism. To change this new default setting, a PowerShell command is required to be run by a SharePoint admin. If you are an admin, you can run these commands in PowerShell to change that setting:

  1. Install-Module -Name Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell (in case you haven't installed this already)
  2. Import-Module Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell -DisableNameChecking
  3. Connect-SPOService -Url https://YOURSITE-admin.sharepoint.com -Credential YOU@YOURSITE.COM (replacing YOURSITE, YOU, YOURSITE.COM with the actual values; this will prompt for your credentials)
  4. Set-SPOTenant -EnableMinimumVersionRequirement $False
  5. Disconnect-SPOService (to disconnect from the server)

Below are the steps for normal users to disable versioning. If you don't see the "No Versioning" option, make sure the above requirements are met.

User Weropol has found a method to disable versioning on OneDrive

  1. Open the settings menu by clicking on the gear symbol at the top of the OneDrive Business page.
  2. Click Site settings.
  3. Once on the Site settings page, navigate to Site Administration > Site libraries and lists.
  4. Click Customize "Documents".
  5. Click General Settings > Versioning Settings.
  6. Under Document Version History select the option No versioning. Note: This will disable the creation of new file versions, but will not remove any previous versions. Your documents are safe.
  7. Apply the changes by clicking OK.
  8. Use rclone to upload or modify files. (I also use the --no-update-modtime flag)
  9. Restore the versioning settings after using rclone. (Optional)

Cleanup

OneDrive supports rclone cleanup which causes rclone to look through every file under the path supplied and delete all version but the current version. Because this involves traversing all the files, then querying each file for versions it can be quite slow. Rclone does --checkers tests in parallel. The command also supports -i which is a great way to see what it would do.

rclone cleanup -i remote:path/subdir # interactively remove all old version for path/subdir
rclone cleanup remote:path/subdir    # unconditionally remove all old version for path/subdir

NB Onedrive personal can't currently delete versions

Troubleshooting

Excessive throttling or blocked on SharePoint

If you experience excessive throttling or is being blocked on SharePoint then it may help to set the user agent explicitly with a flag like this: --user-agent "ISV|rclone.org|rclone/v1.55.1"

The specific details can be found in the Microsoft document: Avoid getting throttled or blocked in SharePoint Online

Unexpected file size/hash differences on Sharepoint

It is a known issue that Sharepoint (not OneDrive or OneDrive for Business) silently modifies uploaded files, mainly Office files (.docx, .xlsx, etc.), causing file size and hash checks to fail. There are also other situations that will cause OneDrive to report inconsistent file sizes. To use rclone with such affected files on Sharepoint, you may disable these checks with the following command line arguments:

--ignore-checksum --ignore-size

Alternatively, if you have write access to the OneDrive files, it may be possible to fix this problem for certain files, by attempting the steps below. Open the web interface for OneDrive and find the affected files (which will be in the error messages/log for rclone). Simply click on each of these files, causing OneDrive to open them on the web. This will cause each file to be converted in place to a format that is functionally equivalent but which will no longer trigger the size discrepancy. Once all problematic files are converted you will no longer need the ignore options above.

Replacing/deleting existing files on Sharepoint gets "item not found"

It is a known issue that Sharepoint (not OneDrive or OneDrive for Business) may return "item not found" errors when users try to replace or delete uploaded files; this seems to mainly affect Office files (.docx, .xlsx, etc.). As a workaround, you may use the --backup-dir <BACKUP_DIR> command line argument so rclone moves the files to be replaced/deleted into a given backup directory (instead of directly replacing/deleting them). For example, to instruct rclone to move the files into the directory rclone-backup-dir on backend mysharepoint, you may use:

--backup-dir mysharepoint:rclone-backup-dir

access_denied (AADSTS65005)

Error: access_denied
Code: AADSTS65005
Description: Using application 'rclone' is currently not supported for your organization [YOUR_ORGANIZATION] because it is in an unmanaged state. An administrator needs to claim ownership of the company by DNS validation of [YOUR_ORGANIZATION] before the application rclone can be provisioned.

This means that rclone can't use the OneDrive for Business API with your account. You can't do much about it, maybe write an email to your admins.

However, there are other ways to interact with your OneDrive account. Have a look at the webdav backend: https://rclone.org/webdav/#sharepoint

invalid_grant (AADSTS50076)

Error: invalid_grant
Code: AADSTS50076
Description: Due to a configuration change made by your administrator, or because you moved to a new location, you must use multi-factor authentication to access '...'.

If you see the error above after enabling multi-factor authentication for your account, you can fix it by refreshing your OAuth refresh token. To do that, run rclone config, and choose to edit your OneDrive backend. Then, you don't need to actually make any changes until you reach this question: Already have a token - refresh?. For this question, answer y and go through the process to refresh your token, just like the first time the backend is configured. After this, rclone should work again for this backend.

On Sharepoint and OneDrive for Business, rclone link may return an "Invalid request" error. A possible cause is that the organisation admin didn't allow public links to be made for the organisation/sharepoint library. To fix the permissions as an admin, take a look at the docs: 1, 2.

OpenDrive

Paths are specified as remote:path

Paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Configuration

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

n) New remote
d) Delete remote
q) Quit config
e/n/d/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / OpenDrive
   \ "opendrive"
[snip]
Storage> opendrive
Username
username>
Password
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
y/g> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
--------------------
[remote]
username =
password = *** ENCRYPTED ***
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

List directories in top level of your OpenDrive

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your OpenDrive

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to an OpenDrive directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Modified time and MD5SUMs

OpenDrive allows modification times to be set on objects accurate to 1 second. These will be used to detect whether objects need syncing or not.

Restricted filename characters

Character Value Replacement
NUL 0x00
/ 0x2F
" 0x22
* 0x2A
: 0x3A
< 0x3C
> 0x3E
? 0x3F
\ 0x5C
| 0x7C

File names can also not begin or end with the following characters. These only get replaced if they are the first or last character in the name:

Character Value Replacement
SP 0x20
HT 0x09
LF 0x0A
VT 0x0B
CR 0x0D

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to opendrive (OpenDrive).

--opendrive-username

Username.

Properties:

--opendrive-password

Password.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to opendrive (OpenDrive).

--opendrive-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

--opendrive-chunk-size

Files will be uploaded in chunks this size.

Note that these chunks are buffered in memory so increasing them will increase memory use.

Properties:

Limitations

Note that OpenDrive is case insensitive so you can't have a file called "Hello.doc" and one called "hello.doc".

There are quite a few characters that can't be in OpenDrive file names. These can't occur on Windows platforms, but on non-Windows platforms they are common. Rclone will map these names to and from an identical looking unicode equivalent. For example if a file has a ? in it will be mapped to instead.

rclone about is not supported by the OpenDrive backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

QingStor

Paths are specified as remote:bucket (or remote: for the lsd command.) You may put subdirectories in too, e.g. remote:bucket/path/to/dir.

Configuration

Here is an example of making an QingStor configuration. First run

rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process.

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/r/c/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / QingStor Object Storage
   \ "qingstor"
[snip]
Storage> qingstor
Get QingStor credentials from runtime. Only applies if access_key_id and secret_access_key is blank.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Enter QingStor credentials in the next step
   \ "false"
 2 / Get QingStor credentials from the environment (env vars or IAM)
   \ "true"
env_auth> 1
QingStor Access Key ID - leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
access_key_id> access_key
QingStor Secret Access Key (password) - leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.
secret_access_key> secret_key
Enter an endpoint URL to connection QingStor API.
Leave blank will use the default value "https://qingstor.com:443"
endpoint>
Zone connect to. Default is "pek3a".
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
   / The Beijing (China) Three Zone
 1 | Needs location constraint pek3a.
   \ "pek3a"
   / The Shanghai (China) First Zone
 2 | Needs location constraint sh1a.
   \ "sh1a"
zone> 1
Number of connection retry.
Leave blank will use the default value "3".
connection_retries>
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
env_auth = false
access_key_id = access_key
secret_access_key = secret_key
endpoint =
zone = pek3a
connection_retries =
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

This remote is called remote and can now be used like this

See all buckets

rclone lsd remote:

Make a new bucket

rclone mkdir remote:bucket

List the contents of a bucket

rclone ls remote:bucket

Sync /home/local/directory to the remote bucket, deleting any excess files in the bucket.

rclone sync -i /home/local/directory remote:bucket

--fast-list

This remote supports --fast-list which allows you to use fewer transactions in exchange for more memory. See the rclone docs for more details.

Multipart uploads

rclone supports multipart uploads with QingStor which means that it can upload files bigger than 5 GiB. Note that files uploaded with multipart upload don't have an MD5SUM.

Note that incomplete multipart uploads older than 24 hours can be removed with rclone cleanup remote:bucket just for one bucket rclone cleanup remote: for all buckets. QingStor does not ever remove incomplete multipart uploads so it may be necessary to run this from time to time.

Buckets and Zone

With QingStor you can list buckets (rclone lsd) using any zone, but you can only access the content of a bucket from the zone it was created in. If you attempt to access a bucket from the wrong zone, you will get an error, incorrect zone, the bucket is not in 'XXX' zone.

Authentication

There are two ways to supply rclone with a set of QingStor credentials. In order of precedence:

Restricted filename characters

The control characters 0x00-0x1F and / are replaced as in the default restricted characters set. Note that 0x7F is not replaced.

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to qingstor (QingCloud Object Storage).

--qingstor-env-auth

Get QingStor credentials from runtime.

Only applies if access_key_id and secret_access_key is blank.

Properties:

--qingstor-access-key-id

QingStor Access Key ID.

Leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.

Properties:

--qingstor-secret-access-key

QingStor Secret Access Key (password).

Leave blank for anonymous access or runtime credentials.

Properties:

--qingstor-endpoint

Enter an endpoint URL to connection QingStor API.

Leave blank will use the default value "https://qingstor.com:443".

Properties:

--qingstor-zone

Zone to connect to.

Default is "pek3a".

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to qingstor (QingCloud Object Storage).

--qingstor-connection-retries

Number of connection retries.

Properties:

--qingstor-upload-cutoff

Cutoff for switching to chunked upload.

Any files larger than this will be uploaded in chunks of chunk_size. The minimum is 0 and the maximum is 5 GiB.

Properties:

--qingstor-chunk-size

Chunk size to use for uploading.

When uploading files larger than upload_cutoff they will be uploaded as multipart uploads using this chunk size.

Note that "--qingstor-upload-concurrency" chunks of this size are buffered in memory per transfer.

If you are transferring large files over high-speed links and you have enough memory, then increasing this will speed up the transfers.

Properties:

--qingstor-upload-concurrency

Concurrency for multipart uploads.

This is the number of chunks of the same file that are uploaded concurrently.

NB if you set this to > 1 then the checksums of multipart uploads become corrupted (the uploads themselves are not corrupted though).

If you are uploading small numbers of large files over high-speed links and these uploads do not fully utilize your bandwidth, then increasing this may help to speed up the transfers.

Properties:

--qingstor-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

rclone about is not supported by the qingstor backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

Sia

Sia (sia.tech) is a decentralized cloud storage platform based on the blockchain technology. With rclone you can use it like any other remote filesystem or mount Sia folders locally. The technology behind it involves a number of new concepts such as Siacoins and Wallet, Blockchain and Consensus, Renting and Hosting, and so on. If you are new to it, you'd better first familiarize yourself using their excellent support documentation.

Introduction

Before you can use rclone with Sia, you will need to have a running copy of Sia-UI or siad (the Sia daemon) locally on your computer or on local network (e.g. a NAS). Please follow the Get started guide and install one.

rclone interacts with Sia network by talking to the Sia daemon via HTTP API which is usually available on port 9980. By default you will run the daemon locally on the same computer so it's safe to leave the API password blank (the API URL will be http://127.0.0.1:9980 making external access impossible).

However, if you want to access Sia daemon running on another node, for example due to memory constraints or because you want to share single daemon between several rclone and Sia-UI instances, you'll need to make a few more provisions: - Ensure you have Sia daemon installed directly or in a docker container because Sia-UI does not support this mode natively. - Run it on externally accessible port, for example provide --api-addr :9980 and --disable-api-security arguments on the daemon command line. - Enforce API password for the siad daemon via environment variable SIA_API_PASSWORD or text file named apipassword in the daemon directory. - Set rclone backend option api_password taking it from above locations.

Notes: 1. If your wallet is locked, rclone cannot unlock it automatically. You should either unlock it in advance by using Sia-UI or via command line siac wallet unlock. Alternatively you can make siad unlock your wallet automatically upon startup by running it with environment variable SIA_WALLET_PASSWORD. 2. If siad cannot find the SIA_API_PASSWORD variable or the apipassword file in the SIA_DIR directory, it will generate a random password and store in the text file named apipassword under YOUR_HOME/.sia/ directory on Unix or C:\Users\YOUR_HOME\AppData\Local\Sia\apipassword on Windows. Remember this when you configure password in rclone. 3. The only way to use siad without API password is to run it on localhost with command line argument --authorize-api=false, but this is insecure and strongly discouraged.

Configuration

Here is an example of how to make a sia remote called mySia. First, run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> mySia
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
...
29 / Sia Decentralized Cloud
   \ "sia"
...
Storage> sia
Sia daemon API URL, like http://sia.daemon.host:9980.
Note that siad must run with --disable-api-security to open API port for other hosts (not recommended).
Keep default if Sia daemon runs on localhost.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("http://127.0.0.1:9980").
api_url> http://127.0.0.1:9980
Sia Daemon API Password.
Can be found in the apipassword file located in HOME/.sia/ or in the daemon directory.
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
n) No leave this optional password blank (default)
y/g/n> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
Edit advanced config?
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n
--------------------
[mySia]
type = sia
api_url = http://127.0.0.1:9980
api_password = *** ENCRYPTED ***
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Once configured, you can then use rclone like this:

rclone lsd mySia:
rclone ls mySia:
rclone copy /home/source mySia:backup

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to sia (Sia Decentralized Cloud).

--sia-api-url

Sia daemon API URL, like http://sia.daemon.host:9980.

Note that siad must run with --disable-api-security to open API port for other hosts (not recommended). Keep default if Sia daemon runs on localhost.

Properties:

--sia-api-password

Sia Daemon API Password.

Can be found in the apipassword file located in HOME/.sia/ or in the daemon directory.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to sia (Sia Decentralized Cloud).

--sia-user-agent

Siad User Agent

Sia daemon requires the 'Sia-Agent' user agent by default for security

Properties:

--sia-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

Swift

Swift refers to OpenStack Object Storage. Commercial implementations of that being:

Paths are specified as remote:container (or remote: for the lsd command.) You may put subdirectories in too, e.g. remote:container/path/to/dir.

Configuration

Here is an example of making a swift configuration. First run

rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process.

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / OpenStack Swift (Rackspace Cloud Files, Memset Memstore, OVH)
   \ "swift"
[snip]
Storage> swift
Get swift credentials from environment variables in standard OpenStack form.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Enter swift credentials in the next step
   \ "false"
 2 / Get swift credentials from environment vars. Leave other fields blank if using this.
   \ "true"
env_auth> true
User name to log in (OS_USERNAME).
user> 
API key or password (OS_PASSWORD).
key> 
Authentication URL for server (OS_AUTH_URL).
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Rackspace US
   \ "https://auth.api.rackspacecloud.com/v1.0"
 2 / Rackspace UK
   \ "https://lon.auth.api.rackspacecloud.com/v1.0"
 3 / Rackspace v2
   \ "https://identity.api.rackspacecloud.com/v2.0"
 4 / Memset Memstore UK
   \ "https://auth.storage.memset.com/v1.0"
 5 / Memset Memstore UK v2
   \ "https://auth.storage.memset.com/v2.0"
 6 / OVH
   \ "https://auth.cloud.ovh.net/v3"
auth> 
User ID to log in - optional - most swift systems use user and leave this blank (v3 auth) (OS_USER_ID).
user_id> 
User domain - optional (v3 auth) (OS_USER_DOMAIN_NAME)
domain> 
Tenant name - optional for v1 auth, this or tenant_id required otherwise (OS_TENANT_NAME or OS_PROJECT_NAME)
tenant> 
Tenant ID - optional for v1 auth, this or tenant required otherwise (OS_TENANT_ID)
tenant_id> 
Tenant domain - optional (v3 auth) (OS_PROJECT_DOMAIN_NAME)
tenant_domain> 
Region name - optional (OS_REGION_NAME)
region> 
Storage URL - optional (OS_STORAGE_URL)
storage_url> 
Auth Token from alternate authentication - optional (OS_AUTH_TOKEN)
auth_token> 
AuthVersion - optional - set to (1,2,3) if your auth URL has no version (ST_AUTH_VERSION)
auth_version> 
Endpoint type to choose from the service catalogue (OS_ENDPOINT_TYPE)
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Public (default, choose this if not sure)
   \ "public"
 2 / Internal (use internal service net)
   \ "internal"
 3 / Admin
   \ "admin"
endpoint_type> 
Remote config
--------------------
[test]
env_auth = true
user = 
key = 
auth = 
user_id = 
domain = 
tenant = 
tenant_id = 
tenant_domain = 
region = 
storage_url = 
auth_token = 
auth_version = 
endpoint_type = 
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

This remote is called remote and can now be used like this

See all containers

rclone lsd remote:

Make a new container

rclone mkdir remote:container

List the contents of a container

rclone ls remote:container

Sync /home/local/directory to the remote container, deleting any excess files in the container.

rclone sync -i /home/local/directory remote:container

Configuration from an OpenStack credentials file

An OpenStack credentials file typically looks something something like this (without the comments)

export OS_AUTH_URL=https://a.provider.net/v2.0
export OS_TENANT_ID=ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
export OS_TENANT_NAME="1234567890123456"
export OS_USERNAME="123abc567xy"
echo "Please enter your OpenStack Password: "
read -sr OS_PASSWORD_INPUT
export OS_PASSWORD=$OS_PASSWORD_INPUT
export OS_REGION_NAME="SBG1"
if [ -z "$OS_REGION_NAME" ]; then unset OS_REGION_NAME; fi

The config file needs to look something like this where $OS_USERNAME represents the value of the OS_USERNAME variable - 123abc567xy in the example above.

[remote]
type = swift
user = $OS_USERNAME
key = $OS_PASSWORD
auth = $OS_AUTH_URL
tenant = $OS_TENANT_NAME

Note that you may (or may not) need to set region too - try without first.

Configuration from the environment

If you prefer you can configure rclone to use swift using a standard set of OpenStack environment variables.

When you run through the config, make sure you choose true for env_auth and leave everything else blank.

rclone will then set any empty config parameters from the environment using standard OpenStack environment variables. There is a list of the variables in the docs for the swift library.

Using an alternate authentication method

If your OpenStack installation uses a non-standard authentication method that might not be yet supported by rclone or the underlying swift library, you can authenticate externally (e.g. calling manually the openstack commands to get a token). Then, you just need to pass the two configuration variables auth_token and storage_url. If they are both provided, the other variables are ignored. rclone will not try to authenticate but instead assume it is already authenticated and use these two variables to access the OpenStack installation.

Using rclone without a config file

You can use rclone with swift without a config file, if desired, like this:

source openstack-credentials-file
export RCLONE_CONFIG_MYREMOTE_TYPE=swift
export RCLONE_CONFIG_MYREMOTE_ENV_AUTH=true
rclone lsd myremote:

--fast-list

This remote supports --fast-list which allows you to use fewer transactions in exchange for more memory. See the rclone docs for more details.

--update and --use-server-modtime

As noted below, the modified time is stored on metadata on the object. It is used by default for all operations that require checking the time a file was last updated. It allows rclone to treat the remote more like a true filesystem, but it is inefficient because it requires an extra API call to retrieve the metadata.

For many operations, the time the object was last uploaded to the remote is sufficient to determine if it is "dirty". By using --update along with --use-server-modtime, you can avoid the extra API call and simply upload files whose local modtime is newer than the time it was last uploaded.

Modified time

The modified time is stored as metadata on the object as X-Object-Meta-Mtime as floating point since the epoch accurate to 1 ns.

This is a de facto standard (used in the official python-swiftclient amongst others) for storing the modification time for an object.

Restricted filename characters

Character Value Replacement
NUL 0x00
/ 0x2F

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to swift (OpenStack Swift (Rackspace Cloud Files, Memset Memstore, OVH)).

--swift-env-auth

Get swift credentials from environment variables in standard OpenStack form.

Properties:

--swift-user

User name to log in (OS_USERNAME).

Properties:

--swift-key

API key or password (OS_PASSWORD).

Properties:

--swift-auth

Authentication URL for server (OS_AUTH_URL).

Properties:

--swift-user-id

User ID to log in - optional - most swift systems use user and leave this blank (v3 auth) (OS_USER_ID).

Properties:

--swift-domain

User domain - optional (v3 auth) (OS_USER_DOMAIN_NAME)

Properties:

--swift-tenant

Tenant name - optional for v1 auth, this or tenant_id required otherwise (OS_TENANT_NAME or OS_PROJECT_NAME).

Properties:

--swift-tenant-id

Tenant ID - optional for v1 auth, this or tenant required otherwise (OS_TENANT_ID).

Properties:

--swift-tenant-domain

Tenant domain - optional (v3 auth) (OS_PROJECT_DOMAIN_NAME).

Properties:

--swift-region

Region name - optional (OS_REGION_NAME).

Properties:

--swift-storage-url

Storage URL - optional (OS_STORAGE_URL).

Properties:

--swift-auth-token

Auth Token from alternate authentication - optional (OS_AUTH_TOKEN).

Properties:

--swift-application-credential-id

Application Credential ID (OS_APPLICATION_CREDENTIAL_ID).

Properties:

--swift-application-credential-name

Application Credential Name (OS_APPLICATION_CREDENTIAL_NAME).

Properties:

--swift-application-credential-secret

Application Credential Secret (OS_APPLICATION_CREDENTIAL_SECRET).

Properties:

--swift-auth-version

AuthVersion - optional - set to (1,2,3) if your auth URL has no version (ST_AUTH_VERSION).

Properties:

--swift-endpoint-type

Endpoint type to choose from the service catalogue (OS_ENDPOINT_TYPE).

Properties:

--swift-storage-policy

The storage policy to use when creating a new container.

This applies the specified storage policy when creating a new container. The policy cannot be changed afterwards. The allowed configuration values and their meaning depend on your Swift storage provider.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to swift (OpenStack Swift (Rackspace Cloud Files, Memset Memstore, OVH)).

--swift-leave-parts-on-error

If true avoid calling abort upload on a failure.

It should be set to true for resuming uploads across different sessions.

Properties:

--swift-chunk-size

Above this size files will be chunked into a _segments container.

Above this size files will be chunked into a _segments container. The default for this is 5 GiB which is its maximum value.

Properties:

--swift-no-chunk

Don't chunk files during streaming upload.

When doing streaming uploads (e.g. using rcat or mount) setting this flag will cause the swift backend to not upload chunked files.

This will limit the maximum upload size to 5 GiB. However non chunked files are easier to deal with and have an MD5SUM.

Rclone will still chunk files bigger than chunk_size when doing normal copy operations.

Properties:

--swift-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

The Swift API doesn't return a correct MD5SUM for segmented files (Dynamic or Static Large Objects) so rclone won't check or use the MD5SUM for these.

Troubleshooting

Rclone gives Failed to create file system for "remote:": Bad Request

Due to an oddity of the underlying swift library, it gives a "Bad Request" error rather than a more sensible error when the authentication fails for Swift.

So this most likely means your username / password is wrong. You can investigate further with the --dump-bodies flag.

This may also be caused by specifying the region when you shouldn't have (e.g. OVH).

Rclone gives Failed to create file system: Response didn't have storage url and auth token

This is most likely caused by forgetting to specify your tenant when setting up a swift remote.

OVH Cloud Archive

To use rclone with OVH cloud archive, first use rclone config to set up a swift backend with OVH, choosing pca as the storage_policy.

Uploading Objects

Uploading objects to OVH cloud archive is no different to object storage, you just simply run the command you like (move, copy or sync) to upload the objects. Once uploaded the objects will show in a "Frozen" state within the OVH control panel.

Retrieving Objects

To retrieve objects use rclone copy as normal. If the objects are in a frozen state then rclone will ask for them all to be unfrozen and it will wait at the end of the output with a message like the following:

2019/03/23 13:06:33 NOTICE: Received retry after error - sleeping until 2019-03-23T13:16:33.481657164+01:00 (9m59.99985121s)

Rclone will wait for the time specified then retry the copy.

pCloud

Paths are specified as remote:path

Paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Configuration

The initial setup for pCloud involves getting a token from pCloud which you need to do in your browser. rclone config walks you through it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Pcloud
   \ "pcloud"
[snip]
Storage> pcloud
Pcloud App Client Id - leave blank normally.
client_id> 
Pcloud App Client Secret - leave blank normally.
client_secret> 
Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
--------------------
[remote]
client_id = 
client_secret = 
token = {"access_token":"XXX","token_type":"bearer","expiry":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"}
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

See the remote setup docs for how to set it up on a machine with no Internet browser available.

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect the token as returned from pCloud. This only runs from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get back the verification code. This is on http://127.0.0.1:53682/ and this it may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a host firewall.

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level of your pCloud

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your pCloud

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to a pCloud directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Modified time and hashes

pCloud allows modification times to be set on objects accurate to 1 second. These will be used to detect whether objects need syncing or not. In order to set a Modification time pCloud requires the object be re-uploaded.

pCloud supports MD5 and SHA1 hashes in the US region, and SHA1 and SHA256 hashes in the EU region, so you can use the --checksum flag.

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
\ 0x5C

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Deleting files

Deleted files will be moved to the trash. Your subscription level will determine how long items stay in the trash. rclone cleanup can be used to empty the trash.

Root folder ID

You can set the root_folder_id for rclone. This is the directory (identified by its Folder ID) that rclone considers to be the root of your pCloud drive.

Normally you will leave this blank and rclone will determine the correct root to use itself.

However you can set this to restrict rclone to a specific folder hierarchy.

In order to do this you will have to find the Folder ID of the directory you wish rclone to display. This will be the folder field of the URL when you open the relevant folder in the pCloud web interface.

So if the folder you want rclone to use has a URL which looks like https://my.pcloud.com/#page=filemanager&folder=5xxxxxxxx8&tpl=foldergrid in the browser, then you use 5xxxxxxxx8 as the root_folder_id in the config.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to pcloud (Pcloud).

--pcloud-client-id

OAuth Client Id.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--pcloud-client-secret

OAuth Client Secret.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to pcloud (Pcloud).

--pcloud-token

OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob.

Properties:

--pcloud-auth-url

Auth server URL.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--pcloud-token-url

Token server url.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--pcloud-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

--pcloud-root-folder-id

Fill in for rclone to use a non root folder as its starting point.

Properties:

--pcloud-hostname

Hostname to connect to.

This is normally set when rclone initially does the oauth connection, however you will need to set it by hand if you are using remote config with rclone authorize.

Properties:

premiumize.me

Paths are specified as remote:path

Paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Configuration

The initial setup for premiumize.me involves getting a token from premiumize.me which you need to do in your browser. rclone config walks you through it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / premiumize.me
   \ "premiumizeme"
[snip]
Storage> premiumizeme
** See help for premiumizeme backend at: https://rclone.org/premiumizeme/ **

Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
--------------------
[remote]
type = premiumizeme
token = {"access_token":"XXX","token_type":"Bearer","refresh_token":"XXX","expiry":"2029-08-07T18:44:15.548915378+01:00"}
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> 

See the remote setup docs for how to set it up on a machine with no Internet browser available.

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect the token as returned from premiumize.me. This only runs from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get back the verification code. This is on http://127.0.0.1:53682/ and this it may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a host firewall.

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level of your premiumize.me

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your premiumize.me

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to an premiumize.me directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Modified time and hashes

premiumize.me does not support modification times or hashes, therefore syncing will default to --size-only checking. Note that using --update will work.

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
\ 0x5C
" 0x22

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to premiumizeme (premiumize.me).

--premiumizeme-api-key

API Key.

This is not normally used - use oauth instead.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to premiumizeme (premiumize.me).

--premiumizeme-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

Note that premiumize.me is case insensitive so you can't have a file called "Hello.doc" and one called "hello.doc".

premiumize.me file names can't have the \ or " characters in. rclone maps these to and from an identical looking unicode equivalents and

premiumize.me only supports filenames up to 255 characters in length.

put.io

Paths are specified as remote:path

put.io paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Configuration

The initial setup for put.io involves getting a token from put.io which you need to do in your browser. rclone config walks you through it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> putio
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Put.io
   \ "putio"
[snip]
Storage> putio
** See help for putio backend at: https://rclone.org/putio/ **

Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
--------------------
[putio]
type = putio
token = {"access_token":"XXXXXXXX","expiry":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"}
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y
Current remotes:

Name                 Type
====                 ====
putio                putio

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q> q

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect the token as returned from Google if you use auto config mode. This only runs from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get back the verification code. This is on http://127.0.0.1:53682/ and this it may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a host firewall, or use manual mode.

You can then use it like this,

List directories in top level of your put.io

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your put.io

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to a put.io directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
\ 0x5C

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to putio (Put.io).

--putio-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Seafile

This is a backend for the Seafile storage service: - It works with both the free community edition or the professional edition. - Seafile versions 6.x and 7.x are all supported. - Encrypted libraries are also supported. - It supports 2FA enabled users

Configuration

There are two distinct modes you can setup your remote: - you point your remote to the root of the server, meaning you don't specify a library during the configuration: Paths are specified as remote:library. You may put subdirectories in too, e.g. remote:library/path/to/dir. - you point your remote to a specific library during the configuration: Paths are specified as remote:path/to/dir. This is the recommended mode when using encrypted libraries. (This mode is possibly slightly faster than the root mode)

Configuration in root mode

Here is an example of making a seafile configuration for a user with no two-factor authentication. First run

rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process. To authenticate you will need the URL of your server, your email (or username) and your password.

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> seafile
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Seafile
   \ "seafile"
[snip]
Storage> seafile
** See help for seafile backend at: https://rclone.org/seafile/ **

URL of seafile host to connect to
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Connect to cloud.seafile.com
   \ "https://cloud.seafile.com/"
url> http://my.seafile.server/
User name (usually email address)
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
user> me@example.com
Password
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
n) No leave this optional password blank (default)
y/g> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
Two-factor authentication ('true' if the account has 2FA enabled)
Enter a boolean value (true or false). Press Enter for the default ("false").
2fa> false
Name of the library. Leave blank to access all non-encrypted libraries.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
library>
Library password (for encrypted libraries only). Leave blank if you pass it through the command line.
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
n) No leave this optional password blank (default)
y/g/n> n
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n
Remote config
Two-factor authentication is not enabled on this account.
--------------------
[seafile]
type = seafile
url = http://my.seafile.server/
user = me@example.com
pass = *** ENCRYPTED ***
2fa = false
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

This remote is called seafile. It's pointing to the root of your seafile server and can now be used like this:

See all libraries

rclone lsd seafile:

Create a new library

rclone mkdir seafile:library

List the contents of a library

rclone ls seafile:library

Sync /home/local/directory to the remote library, deleting any excess files in the library.

rclone sync -i /home/local/directory seafile:library

Configuration in library mode

Here's an example of a configuration in library mode with a user that has the two-factor authentication enabled. Your 2FA code will be asked at the end of the configuration, and will attempt to authenticate you:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> seafile
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Seafile
   \ "seafile"
[snip]
Storage> seafile
** See help for seafile backend at: https://rclone.org/seafile/ **

URL of seafile host to connect to
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Connect to cloud.seafile.com
   \ "https://cloud.seafile.com/"
url> http://my.seafile.server/
User name (usually email address)
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
user> me@example.com
Password
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
n) No leave this optional password blank (default)
y/g> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
Two-factor authentication ('true' if the account has 2FA enabled)
Enter a boolean value (true or false). Press Enter for the default ("false").
2fa> true
Name of the library. Leave blank to access all non-encrypted libraries.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
library> My Library
Library password (for encrypted libraries only). Leave blank if you pass it through the command line.
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
n) No leave this optional password blank (default)
y/g/n> n
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n
Remote config
Two-factor authentication: please enter your 2FA code
2fa code> 123456
Authenticating...
Success!
--------------------
[seafile]
type = seafile
url = http://my.seafile.server/
user = me@example.com
pass = 
2fa = true
library = My Library
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

You'll notice your password is blank in the configuration. It's because we only need the password to authenticate you once.

You specified My Library during the configuration. The root of the remote is pointing at the root of the library My Library:

See all files in the library:

rclone lsd seafile:

Create a new directory inside the library

rclone mkdir seafile:directory

List the contents of a directory

rclone ls seafile:directory

Sync /home/local/directory to the remote library, deleting any excess files in the library.

rclone sync -i /home/local/directory seafile:

--fast-list

Seafile version 7+ supports --fast-list which allows you to use fewer transactions in exchange for more memory. See the rclone docs for more details. Please note this is not supported on seafile server version 6.x

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
/ 0x2F
" 0x22
\ 0x5C

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Rclone supports generating share links for non-encrypted libraries only. They can either be for a file or a directory:

rclone link seafile:seafile-tutorial.doc
http://my.seafile.server/f/fdcd8a2f93f84b8b90f4/

or if run on a directory you will get:

rclone link seafile:dir
http://my.seafile.server/d/9ea2455f6f55478bbb0d/

Please note a share link is unique for each file or directory. If you run a link command on a file/dir that has already been shared, you will get the exact same link.

Compatibility

It has been actively tested using the seafile docker image of these versions: - 6.3.4 community edition - 7.0.5 community edition - 7.1.3 community edition

Versions below 6.0 are not supported. Versions between 6.0 and 6.3 haven't been tested and might not work properly.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to seafile (seafile).

--seafile-url

URL of seafile host to connect to.

Properties:

--seafile-user

User name (usually email address).

Properties:

--seafile-pass

Password.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

--seafile-2fa

Two-factor authentication ('true' if the account has 2FA enabled).

Properties:

--seafile-library

Name of the library.

Leave blank to access all non-encrypted libraries.

Properties:

--seafile-library-key

Library password (for encrypted libraries only).

Leave blank if you pass it through the command line.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

--seafile-auth-token

Authentication token.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to seafile (seafile).

--seafile-create-library

Should rclone create a library if it doesn't exist.

Properties:

--seafile-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

SFTP

SFTP is the Secure (or SSH) File Transfer Protocol.

The SFTP backend can be used with a number of different providers:

SFTP runs over SSH v2 and is installed as standard with most modern SSH installations.

Paths are specified as remote:path. If the path does not begin with a / it is relative to the home directory of the user. An empty path remote: refers to the user's home directory. For example, rclone lsd remote: would list the home directory of the user cofigured in the rclone remote config (i.e /home/sftpuser). However, rclone lsd remote:/ would list the root directory for remote machine (i.e. /)

Note that some SFTP servers will need the leading / - Synology is a good example of this. rsync.net, on the other hand, requires users to OMIT the leading /.

Configuration

Here is an example of making an SFTP configuration. First run

rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process.

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / SSH/SFTP Connection
   \ "sftp"
[snip]
Storage> sftp
SSH host to connect to
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Connect to example.com
   \ "example.com"
host> example.com
SSH username
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("$USER").
user> sftpuser
SSH port number
Enter a signed integer. Press Enter for the default (22).
port>
SSH password, leave blank to use ssh-agent.
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
n) No leave this optional password blank
y/g/n> n
Path to unencrypted PEM-encoded private key file, leave blank to use ssh-agent.
key_file>
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
host = example.com
user = sftpuser
port =
pass =
key_file =
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

This remote is called remote and can now be used like this:

See all directories in the home directory

rclone lsd remote:

See all directories in the root directory

rclone lsd remote:/

Make a new directory

rclone mkdir remote:path/to/directory

List the contents of a directory

rclone ls remote:path/to/directory

Sync /home/local/directory to the remote directory, deleting any excess files in the directory.

rclone sync -i /home/local/directory remote:directory

Mount the remote path /srv/www-data/ to the local path /mnt/www-data

rclone mount remote:/srv/www-data/ /mnt/www-data

SSH Authentication

The SFTP remote supports three authentication methods:

Key files should be PEM-encoded private key files. For instance /home/$USER/.ssh/id_rsa. Only unencrypted OpenSSH or PEM encrypted files are supported.

The key file can be specified in either an external file (key_file) or contained within the rclone config file (key_pem). If using key_pem in the config file, the entry should be on a single line with new line ('' or '') separating lines. i.e.

key_pem = -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----\nMaMbaIXtE\n0gAMbMbaSsd\nMbaass\n-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

This will generate it correctly for key_pem for use in the config:

awk '{printf "%s\\n", $0}' < ~/.ssh/id_rsa

If you don't specify pass, key_file, or key_pem or ask_password then rclone will attempt to contact an ssh-agent. You can also specify key_use_agent to force the usage of an ssh-agent. In this case key_file or key_pem can also be specified to force the usage of a specific key in the ssh-agent.

Using an ssh-agent is the only way to load encrypted OpenSSH keys at the moment.

If you set the ask_password option, rclone will prompt for a password when needed and no password has been configured.

Certificate-signed keys

With traditional key-based authentication, you configure your private key only, and the public key built into it will be used during the authentication process.

If you have a certificate you may use it to sign your public key, creating a separate SSH user certificate that should be used instead of the plain public key extracted from the private key. Then you must provide the path to the user certificate public key file in pubkey_file.

Note: This is not the traditional public key paired with your private key, typically saved as /home/$USER/.ssh/id_rsa.pub. Setting this path in pubkey_file will not work.

Example:

[remote]
type = sftp
host = example.com
user = sftpuser
key_file = ~/id_rsa
pubkey_file = ~/id_rsa-cert.pub

If you concatenate a cert with a private key then you can specify the merged file in both places.

Note: the cert must come first in the file. e.g.

cat id_rsa-cert.pub id_rsa > merged_key

Host key validation

By default rclone will not check the server's host key for validation. This can allow an attacker to replace a server with their own and if you use password authentication then this can lead to that password being exposed.

Host key matching, using standard known_hosts files can be turned on by enabling the known_hosts_file option. This can point to the file maintained by OpenSSH or can point to a unique file.

e.g. using the OpenSSH known_hosts file:

[remote]
type = sftp
host = example.com
user = sftpuser
pass = 
known_hosts_file = ~/.ssh/known_hosts

Alternatively you can create your own known hosts file like this:

ssh-keyscan -t dsa,rsa,ecdsa,ed25519 example.com >> known_hosts

There are some limitations:

If the host key provided by the server does not match the one in the file (or is missing) then the connection will be aborted and an error returned such as

NewFs: couldn't connect SSH: ssh: handshake failed: knownhosts: key mismatch

or

NewFs: couldn't connect SSH: ssh: handshake failed: knownhosts: key is unknown

If you see an error such as

NewFs: couldn't connect SSH: ssh: handshake failed: ssh: no authorities for hostname: example.com:22

then it is likely the server has presented a CA signed host certificate and you will need to add the appropriate @cert-authority entry.

The known_hosts_file setting can be set during rclone config as an advanced option.

ssh-agent on macOS

Note that there seem to be various problems with using an ssh-agent on macOS due to recent changes in the OS. The most effective work-around seems to be to start an ssh-agent in each session, e.g.

eval `ssh-agent -s` && ssh-add -A

And then at the end of the session

eval `ssh-agent -k`

These commands can be used in scripts of course.

Modified time

Modified times are stored on the server to 1 second precision.

Modified times are used in syncing and are fully supported.

Some SFTP servers disable setting/modifying the file modification time after upload (for example, certain configurations of ProFTPd with mod_sftp). If you are using one of these servers, you can set the option set_modtime = false in your RClone backend configuration to disable this behaviour.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to sftp (SSH/SFTP Connection).

--sftp-host

SSH host to connect to.

E.g. "example.com".

Properties:

--sftp-user

SSH username.

Properties:

--sftp-port

SSH port number.

Properties:

--sftp-pass

SSH password, leave blank to use ssh-agent.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

--sftp-key-pem

Raw PEM-encoded private key.

If specified, will override key_file parameter.

Properties:

--sftp-key-file

Path to PEM-encoded private key file.

Leave blank or set key-use-agent to use ssh-agent.

Leading ~ will be expanded in the file name as will environment variables such as ${RCLONE_CONFIG_DIR}.

Properties:

--sftp-key-file-pass

The passphrase to decrypt the PEM-encoded private key file.

Only PEM encrypted key files (old OpenSSH format) are supported. Encrypted keys in the new OpenSSH format can't be used.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

--sftp-pubkey-file

Optional path to public key file.

Set this if you have a signed certificate you want to use for authentication.

Leading ~ will be expanded in the file name as will environment variables such as ${RCLONE_CONFIG_DIR}.

Properties:

--sftp-key-use-agent

When set forces the usage of the ssh-agent.

When key-file is also set, the ".pub" file of the specified key-file is read and only the associated key is requested from the ssh-agent. This allows to avoid Too many authentication failures for *username* errors when the ssh-agent contains many keys.

Properties:

--sftp-use-insecure-cipher

Enable the use of insecure ciphers and key exchange methods.

This enables the use of the following insecure ciphers and key exchange methods:

Those algorithms are insecure and may allow plaintext data to be recovered by an attacker.

Properties:

--sftp-disable-hashcheck

Disable the execution of SSH commands to determine if remote file hashing is available.

Leave blank or set to false to enable hashing (recommended), set to true to disable hashing.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to sftp (SSH/SFTP Connection).

--sftp-known-hosts-file

Optional path to known_hosts file.

Set this value to enable server host key validation.

Leading ~ will be expanded in the file name as will environment variables such as ${RCLONE_CONFIG_DIR}.

Properties:

--sftp-ask-password

Allow asking for SFTP password when needed.

If this is set and no password is supplied then rclone will: - ask for a password - not contact the ssh agent

Properties:

--sftp-path-override

Override path used by SSH connection.

This allows checksum calculation when SFTP and SSH paths are different. This issue affects among others Synology NAS boxes.

Shared folders can be found in directories representing volumes

rclone sync /home/local/directory remote:/directory --sftp-path-override /volume2/directory

Home directory can be found in a shared folder called "home"

rclone sync /home/local/directory remote:/home/directory --sftp-path-override /volume1/homes/USER/directory

Properties:

--sftp-set-modtime

Set the modified time on the remote if set.

Properties:

--sftp-md5sum-command

The command used to read md5 hashes.

Leave blank for autodetect.

Properties:

--sftp-sha1sum-command

The command used to read sha1 hashes.

Leave blank for autodetect.

Properties:

Set to skip any symlinks and any other non regular files.

Properties:

--sftp-subsystem

Specifies the SSH2 subsystem on the remote host.

Properties:

--sftp-server-command

Specifies the path or command to run a sftp server on the remote host.

The subsystem option is ignored when server_command is defined.

Properties:

--sftp-use-fstat

If set use fstat instead of stat.

Some servers limit the amount of open files and calling Stat after opening the file will throw an error from the server. Setting this flag will call Fstat instead of Stat which is called on an already open file handle.

It has been found that this helps with IBM Sterling SFTP servers which have "extractability" level set to 1 which means only 1 file can be opened at any given time.

Properties:

--sftp-disable-concurrent-reads

If set don't use concurrent reads.

Normally concurrent reads are safe to use and not using them will degrade performance, so this option is disabled by default.

Some servers limit the amount number of times a file can be downloaded. Using concurrent reads can trigger this limit, so if you have a server which returns

Failed to copy: file does not exist

Then you may need to enable this flag.

If concurrent reads are disabled, the use_fstat option is ignored.

Properties:

--sftp-disable-concurrent-writes

If set don't use concurrent writes.

Normally rclone uses concurrent writes to upload files. This improves the performance greatly, especially for distant servers.

This option disables concurrent writes should that be necessary.

Properties:

--sftp-idle-timeout

Max time before closing idle connections.

If no connections have been returned to the connection pool in the time given, rclone will empty the connection pool.

Set to 0 to keep connections indefinitely.

Properties:

Limitations

SFTP supports checksums if the same login has shell access and md5sum or sha1sum as well as echo are in the remote's PATH. This remote checksumming (file hashing) is recommended and enabled by default. Disabling the checksumming may be required if you are connecting to SFTP servers which are not under your control, and to which the execution of remote commands is prohibited. Set the configuration option disable_hashcheck to true to disable checksumming.

SFTP also supports about if the same login has shell access and df are in the remote's PATH. about will return the total space, free space, and used space on the remote for the disk of the specified path on the remote or, if not set, the disk of the root on the remote. about will fail if it does not have shell access or if df is not in the remote's PATH.

Note that some SFTP servers (e.g. Synology) the paths are different for SSH and SFTP so the hashes can't be calculated properly. For them using disable_hashcheck is a good idea.

The only ssh agent supported under Windows is Putty's pageant.

The Go SSH library disables the use of the aes128-cbc cipher by default, due to security concerns. This can be re-enabled on a per-connection basis by setting the use_insecure_cipher setting in the configuration file to true. Further details on the insecurity of this cipher can be found in this paper.

SFTP isn't supported under plan9 until this issue is fixed.

Note that since SFTP isn't HTTP based the following flags don't work with it: --dump-headers, --dump-bodies, --dump-auth

Note that --timeout and --contimeout are both supported.

C14

C14 is supported through the SFTP backend.

See C14's documentation

rsync.net

rsync.net is supported through the SFTP backend.

See rsync.net's documentation of rclone examples.

Storj

Storj is an encrypted, secure, and cost-effective object storage service that enables you to store, back up, and archive large amounts of data in a decentralized manner.

Backend options

Storj can be used both with this native backend and with the s3 backend using the Storj S3 compatible gateway (shared or private).

Use this backend to take advantage of client-side encryption as well as to achieve the best possible download performance. Uploads will be erasure-coded locally, thus a 1gb upload will result in 2.68gb of data being uploaded to storage nodes across the network.

Use the s3 backend and one of the S3 compatible Hosted Gateways to increase upload performance and reduce the load on your systems and network. Uploads will be encrypted and erasure-coded server-side, thus a 1GB upload will result in only in 1GB of data being uploaded to storage nodes across the network.

Side by side comparison with more details:

Configuration

To make a new Storj configuration you need one of the following: * Access Grant that someone else shared with you. * API Key of a Storj project you are a member of.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

Setup with access grant

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Storj Decentralized Cloud Storage
   \ "storj"
[snip]
Storage> storj
** See help for storj backend at: https://rclone.org/storj/ **

Choose an authentication method.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("existing").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Use an existing access grant.
   \ "existing"
 2 / Create a new access grant from satellite address, API key, and passphrase.
   \ "new"
provider> existing
Access Grant.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
access_grant> your-access-grant-received-by-someone-else
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
type = storj
access_grant = your-access-grant-received-by-someone-else
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Setup with API key and passphrase

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Storj Decentralized Cloud Storage
   \ "storj"
[snip]
Storage> storj
** See help for storj backend at: https://rclone.org/storj/ **

Choose an authentication method.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("existing").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Use an existing access grant.
   \ "existing"
 2 / Create a new access grant from satellite address, API key, and passphrase.
   \ "new"
provider> new
Satellite Address. Custom satellite address should match the format: `<nodeid>@<address>:<port>`.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("us-central-1.storj.io").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / US Central 1
   \ "us-central-1.storj.io"
 2 / Europe West 1
   \ "europe-west-1.storj.io"
 3 / Asia East 1
   \ "asia-east-1.storj.io"
satellite_address> 1
API Key.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
api_key> your-api-key-for-your-storj-project
Encryption Passphrase. To access existing objects enter passphrase used for uploading.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
passphrase> your-human-readable-encryption-passphrase
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
type = storj
satellite_address = 12EayRS2V1kEsWESU9QMRseFhdxYxKicsiFmxrsLZHeLUtdps3S@us-central-1.tardigrade.io:7777
api_key = your-api-key-for-your-storj-project
passphrase = your-human-readable-encryption-passphrase
access_grant = the-access-grant-generated-from-the-api-key-and-passphrase
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to storj (Storj Decentralized Cloud Storage).

--storj-provider

Choose an authentication method.

Properties:

--storj-access-grant

Access grant.

Properties:

--storj-satellite-address

Satellite address.

Custom satellite address should match the format: <nodeid>@<address>:<port>.

Properties:

--storj-api-key

API key.

Properties:

--storj-passphrase

Encryption passphrase.

To access existing objects enter passphrase used for uploading.

Properties:

Usage

Paths are specified as remote:bucket (or remote: for the lsf command.) You may put subdirectories in too, e.g. remote:bucket/path/to/dir.

Once configured you can then use rclone like this.

Create a new bucket

Use the mkdir command to create new bucket, e.g. bucket.

rclone mkdir remote:bucket

List all buckets

Use the lsf command to list all buckets.

rclone lsf remote:

Note the colon (:) character at the end of the command line.

Delete a bucket

Use the rmdir command to delete an empty bucket.

rclone rmdir remote:bucket

Use the purge command to delete a non-empty bucket with all its content.

rclone purge remote:bucket

Upload objects

Use the copy command to upload an object.

rclone copy --progress /home/local/directory/file.ext remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

The --progress flag is for displaying progress information. Remove it if you don't need this information.

Use a folder in the local path to upload all its objects.

rclone copy --progress /home/local/directory/ remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

Only modified files will be copied.

List objects

Use the ls command to list recursively all objects in a bucket.

rclone ls remote:bucket

Add the folder to the remote path to list recursively all objects in this folder.

rclone ls remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

Use the lsf command to list non-recursively all objects in a bucket or a folder.

rclone lsf remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

Download objects

Use the copy command to download an object.

rclone copy --progress remote:bucket/path/to/dir/file.ext /home/local/directory/

The --progress flag is for displaying progress information. Remove it if you don't need this information.

Use a folder in the remote path to download all its objects.

rclone copy --progress remote:bucket/path/to/dir/ /home/local/directory/

Delete objects

Use the deletefile command to delete a single object.

rclone deletefile remote:bucket/path/to/dir/file.ext

Use the delete command to delete all object in a folder.

rclone delete remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

Use the size command to print the total size of objects in a bucket or a folder.

rclone size remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

Sync two Locations

Use the sync command to sync the source to the destination, changing the destination only, deleting any excess files.

rclone sync -i --progress /home/local/directory/ remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

The --progress flag is for displaying progress information. Remove it if you don't need this information.

Since this can cause data loss, test first with the --dry-run flag to see exactly what would be copied and deleted.

The sync can be done also from Storj to the local file system.

rclone sync -i --progress remote:bucket/path/to/dir/ /home/local/directory/

Or between two Storj buckets.

rclone sync -i --progress remote-us:bucket/path/to/dir/ remote-europe:bucket/path/to/dir/

Or even between another cloud storage and Storj.

rclone sync -i --progress s3:bucket/path/to/dir/ storj:bucket/path/to/dir/

Limitations

rclone about is not supported by the rclone Storj backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

Known issues

If you get errors like too many open files this usually happens when the default ulimit for system max open files is exceeded. Native Storj protocol opens a large number of TCP connections (each of which is counted as an open file). For a single upload stream you can expect 110 TCP connections to be opened. For a single download stream you can expect 35. This batch of connections will be opened for every 64 MiB segment and you should also expect TCP connections to be reused. If you do many transfers you eventually open a connection to most storage nodes (thousands of nodes).

To fix these, please raise your system limits. You can do this issuing a ulimit -n 65536 just before you run rclone. To change the limits more permanently you can add this to your shell startup script, e.g. $HOME/.bashrc, or change the system-wide configuration, usually /etc/sysctl.conf and/or /etc/security/limits.conf, but please refer to your operating system manual.

SugarSync

SugarSync is a cloud service that enables active synchronization of files across computers and other devices for file backup, access, syncing, and sharing.

Configuration

The initial setup for SugarSync involves getting a token from SugarSync which you can do with rclone. rclone config walks you through it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Sugarsync
   \ "sugarsync"
[snip]
Storage> sugarsync
** See help for sugarsync backend at: https://rclone.org/sugarsync/ **

Sugarsync App ID.
Leave blank to use rclone's.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
app_id> 
Sugarsync Access Key ID.
Leave blank to use rclone's.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
access_key_id> 
Sugarsync Private Access Key
Leave blank to use rclone's.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
private_access_key> 
Permanently delete files if true
otherwise put them in the deleted files.
Enter a boolean value (true or false). Press Enter for the default ("false").
hard_delete> 
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n
Remote config
Username (email address)> nick@craig-wood.com
Your Sugarsync password is only required during setup and will not be stored.
password:
--------------------
[remote]
type = sugarsync
refresh_token = https://api.sugarsync.com/app-authorization/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Note that the config asks for your email and password but doesn't store them, it only uses them to get the initial token.

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories (sync folders) in top level of your SugarSync

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your SugarSync folder "Test"

rclone ls remote:Test

To copy a local directory to an SugarSync folder called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Paths are specified as remote:path

Paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

NB you can't create files in the top level folder you have to create a folder, which rclone will create as a "Sync Folder" with SugarSync.

Modified time and hashes

SugarSync does not support modification times or hashes, therefore syncing will default to --size-only checking. Note that using --update will work as rclone can read the time files were uploaded.

Restricted filename characters

SugarSync replaces the default restricted characters set except for DEL.

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in XML strings.

Deleting files

Deleted files will be moved to the "Deleted items" folder by default.

However you can supply the flag --sugarsync-hard-delete or set the config parameter hard_delete = true if you would like files to be deleted straight away.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to sugarsync (Sugarsync).

--sugarsync-app-id

Sugarsync App ID.

Leave blank to use rclone's.

Properties:

--sugarsync-access-key-id

Sugarsync Access Key ID.

Leave blank to use rclone's.

Properties:

--sugarsync-private-access-key

Sugarsync Private Access Key.

Leave blank to use rclone's.

Properties:

--sugarsync-hard-delete

Permanently delete files if true otherwise put them in the deleted files.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to sugarsync (Sugarsync).

--sugarsync-refresh-token

Sugarsync refresh token.

Leave blank normally, will be auto configured by rclone.

Properties:

--sugarsync-authorization

Sugarsync authorization.

Leave blank normally, will be auto configured by rclone.

Properties:

--sugarsync-authorization-expiry

Sugarsync authorization expiry.

Leave blank normally, will be auto configured by rclone.

Properties:

--sugarsync-user

Sugarsync user.

Leave blank normally, will be auto configured by rclone.

Properties:

--sugarsync-root-id

Sugarsync root id.

Leave blank normally, will be auto configured by rclone.

Properties:

--sugarsync-deleted-id

Sugarsync deleted folder id.

Leave blank normally, will be auto configured by rclone.

Properties:

--sugarsync-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

rclone about is not supported by the SugarSync backend. Backends without this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or use policy mfs (most free space) as a member of an rclone union remote.

See List of backends that do not support rclone about See rclone about

Tardigrade

The Tardigrade backend has been renamed to be the Storj backend. Old configuration files will continue to work.

Uptobox

This is a Backend for Uptobox file storage service. Uptobox is closer to a one-click hoster than a traditional cloud storage provider and therefore not suitable for long term storage.

Paths are specified as remote:path

Paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Configuration

To configure an Uptobox backend you'll need your personal api token. You'll find it in your account settings

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote with the default setup. First run:

rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

Current remotes:

Name                 Type
====                 ====
TestUptobox          uptobox

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q> n
name> uptobox
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[...]
37 / Uptobox
   \ "uptobox"
[...]
Storage> uptobox
** See help for uptobox backend at: https://rclone.org/uptobox/ **

Your API Key, get it from https://uptobox.com/my_account
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
api_key> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n
Remote config
--------------------
[uptobox]
type = uptobox
api_key = xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> 

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level of your Uptobox

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your Uptobox

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to an Uptobox directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Modified time and hashes

Uptobox supports neither modified times nor checksums.

Restricted filename characters

In addition to the default restricted characters set the following characters are also replaced:

Character Value Replacement
" 0x22
` 0x41

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in XML strings.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to uptobox (Uptobox).

--uptobox-access-token

Your access token.

Get it from https://uptobox.com/my_account.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to uptobox (Uptobox).

--uptobox-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

Uptobox will delete inactive files that have not been accessed in 60 days.

rclone about is not supported by this backend an overview of used space can however been seen in the uptobox web interface.

Union

The union remote provides a unification similar to UnionFS using other remotes.

Paths may be as deep as required or a local path, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory or /directory/subdirectory.

During the initial setup with rclone config you will specify the upstream remotes as a space separated list. The upstream remotes can either be a local paths or other remotes.

Attribute :ro and :nc can be attach to the end of path to tag the remote as read only or no create, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory:ro or remote:directory/subdirectory:nc.

Subfolders can be used in upstream remotes. Assume a union remote named backup with the remotes mydrive:private/backup. Invoking rclone mkdir backup:desktop is exactly the same as invoking rclone mkdir mydrive:private/backup/desktop.

There will be no special handling of paths containing .. segments. Invoking rclone mkdir backup:../desktop is exactly the same as invoking rclone mkdir mydrive:private/backup/../desktop.

Configuration

Here is an example of how to make a union called remote for local folders. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Union merges the contents of several remotes
   \ "union"
[snip]
Storage> union
List of space separated upstreams.
Can be 'upstreama:test/dir upstreamb:', '\"upstreama:test/space:ro dir\" upstreamb:', etc.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
upstreams> remote1:dir1 remote2:dir2 remote3:dir3
Policy to choose upstream on ACTION class.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("epall").
action_policy>
Policy to choose upstream on CREATE class.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("epmfs").
create_policy>
Policy to choose upstream on SEARCH class.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("ff").
search_policy>
Cache time of usage and free space (in seconds). This option is only useful when a path preserving policy is used.
Enter a signed integer. Press Enter for the default ("120").
cache_time>
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
type = union
upstreams = remote1:dir1 remote2:dir2 remote3:dir3
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y
Current remotes:

Name                 Type
====                 ====
remote               union

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q> q

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level in remote1:dir1, remote2:dir2 and remote3:dir3

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in remote1:dir1, remote2:dir2 and remote3:dir3

rclone ls remote:

Copy another local directory to the union directory called source, which will be placed into remote3:dir3

rclone copy C:\source remote:source

Behavior / Policies

The behavior of union backend is inspired by trapexit/mergerfs. All functions are grouped into 3 categories: action, create and search. These functions and categories can be assigned a policy which dictates what file or directory is chosen when performing that behavior. Any policy can be assigned to a function or category though some may not be very useful in practice. For instance: rand (random) may be useful for file creation (create) but could lead to very odd behavior if used for delete if there were more than one copy of the file.

Function / Category classifications

Category Description Functions
action Writing Existing file move, rmdir, rmdirs, delete, purge and copy, sync (as destination when file exist)
create Create non-existing file copy, sync (as destination when file not exist)
search Reading and listing file ls, lsd, lsl, cat, md5sum, sha1sum and copy, sync (as source)
N/A size, about

Path Preservation

Policies, as described below, are of two basic types. path preserving and non-path preserving.

All policies which start with ep (epff, eplfs, eplus, epmfs, eprand) are path preserving. ep stands for existing path.

A path preserving policy will only consider upstreams where the relative path being accessed already exists.

When using non-path preserving policies paths will be created in target upstreams as necessary.

Quota Relevant Policies

Some policies rely on quota information. These policies should be used only if your upstreams support the respective quota fields.

Policy Required Field
lfs, eplfs Free
mfs, epmfs Free
lus, eplus Used
lno, eplno Objects

To check if your upstream supports the field, run rclone about remote: [flags] and see if the required field exists.

Filters

Policies basically search upstream remotes and create a list of files / paths for functions to work on. The policy is responsible for filtering and sorting. The policy type defines the sorting but filtering is mostly uniform as described below.

If all remotes are filtered an error will be returned.

Policy descriptions

The policies definition are inspired by trapexit/mergerfs but not exactly the same. Some policy definition could be different due to the much larger latency of remote file systems.

Policy Description
all Search category: same as epall. Action category: same as epall. Create category: act on all upstreams.
epall (existing path, all) Search category: Given this order configured, act on the first one found where the relative path exists. Action category: apply to all found. Create category: act on all upstreams where the relative path exists.
epff (existing path, first found) Act on the first one found, by the time upstreams reply, where the relative path exists.
eplfs (existing path, least free space) Of all the upstreams on which the relative path exists choose the one with the least free space.
eplus (existing path, least used space) Of all the upstreams on which the relative path exists choose the one with the least used space.
eplno (existing path, least number of objects) Of all the upstreams on which the relative path exists choose the one with the least number of objects.
epmfs (existing path, most free space) Of all the upstreams on which the relative path exists choose the one with the most free space.
eprand (existing path, random) Calls epall and then randomizes. Returns only one upstream.
ff (first found) Search category: same as epff. Action category: same as epff. Create category: Act on the first one found by the time upstreams reply.
lfs (least free space) Search category: same as eplfs. Action category: same as eplfs. Create category: Pick the upstream with the least available free space.
lus (least used space) Search category: same as eplus. Action category: same as eplus. Create category: Pick the upstream with the least used space.
lno (least number of objects) Search category: same as eplno. Action category: same as eplno. Create category: Pick the upstream with the least number of objects.
mfs (most free space) Search category: same as epmfs. Action category: same as epmfs. Create category: Pick the upstream with the most available free space.
newest Pick the file / directory with the largest mtime.
rand (random) Calls all and then randomizes. Returns only one upstream.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to union (Union merges the contents of several upstream fs).

--union-upstreams

List of space separated upstreams.

Can be 'upstreama:test/dir upstreamb:', '"upstreama:test/space:ro dir" upstreamb:', etc.

Properties:

--union-action-policy

Policy to choose upstream on ACTION category.

Properties:

--union-create-policy

Policy to choose upstream on CREATE category.

Properties:

--union-search-policy

Policy to choose upstream on SEARCH category.

Properties:

--union-cache-time

Cache time of usage and free space (in seconds).

This option is only useful when a path preserving policy is used.

Properties:

WebDAV

Paths are specified as remote:path

Paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Configuration

To configure the WebDAV remote you will need to have a URL for it, and a username and password. If you know what kind of system you are connecting to then rclone can enable extra features.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

 rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Webdav
   \ "webdav"
[snip]
Storage> webdav
URL of http host to connect to
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Connect to example.com
   \ "https://example.com"
url> https://example.com/remote.php/webdav/
Name of the Webdav site/service/software you are using
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Nextcloud
   \ "nextcloud"
 2 / Owncloud
   \ "owncloud"
 3 / Sharepoint Online, authenticated by Microsoft account.
   \ "sharepoint"
 4 / Sharepoint with NTLM authentication. Usually self-hosted or on-premises.
   \ "sharepoint-ntlm"
 5 / Other site/service or software
   \ "other"
vendor> 1
User name
user> user
Password.
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
n) No leave this optional password blank
y/g/n> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
Bearer token instead of user/pass (e.g. a Macaroon)
bearer_token>
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
type = webdav
url = https://example.com/remote.php/webdav/
vendor = nextcloud
user = user
pass = *** ENCRYPTED ***
bearer_token =
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

List directories in top level of your WebDAV

rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your WebDAV

rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to an WebDAV directory called backup

rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

Modified time and hashes

Plain WebDAV does not support modified times. However when used with Owncloud or Nextcloud rclone will support modified times.

Likewise plain WebDAV does not support hashes, however when used with Owncloud or Nextcloud rclone will support SHA1 and MD5 hashes. Depending on the exact version of Owncloud or Nextcloud hashes may appear on all objects, or only on objects which had a hash uploaded with them.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to webdav (Webdav).

--webdav-url

URL of http host to connect to.

E.g. https://example.com.

Properties:

--webdav-vendor

Name of the Webdav site/service/software you are using.

Properties:

--webdav-user

User name.

In case NTLM authentication is used, the username should be in the format 'Domain'.

Properties:

--webdav-pass

Password.

NB Input to this must be obscured - see rclone obscure.

Properties:

--webdav-bearer-token

Bearer token instead of user/pass (e.g. a Macaroon).

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to webdav (Webdav).

--webdav-bearer-token-command

Command to run to get a bearer token.

Properties:

--webdav-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Default encoding is Slash,LtGt,DoubleQuote,Colon,Question,Asterisk,Pipe,Hash,Percent,BackSlash,Del,Ctl,LeftSpace,LeftTilde,RightSpace,RightPeriod,InvalidUtf8 for sharepoint-ntlm or identity otherwise.

Properties:

--webdav-headers

Set HTTP headers for all transactions.

Use this to set additional HTTP headers for all transactions

The input format is comma separated list of key,value pairs. Standard CSV encoding may be used.

For example, to set a Cookie use 'Cookie,name=value', or '"Cookie","name=value"'.

You can set multiple headers, e.g. '"Cookie","name=value","Authorization","xxx"'.

Properties:

Provider notes

See below for notes on specific providers.

Owncloud

Click on the settings cog in the bottom right of the page and this will show the WebDAV URL that rclone needs in the config step. It will look something like https://example.com/remote.php/webdav/.

Owncloud supports modified times using the X-OC-Mtime header.

Nextcloud

This is configured in an identical way to Owncloud. Note that Nextcloud initially did not support streaming of files (rcat) whereas Owncloud did, but this seems to be fixed as of 2020-11-27 (tested with rclone v1.53.1 and Nextcloud Server v19).

Sharepoint Online

Rclone can be used with Sharepoint provided by OneDrive for Business or Office365 Education Accounts. This feature is only needed for a few of these Accounts, mostly Office365 Education ones. These accounts are sometimes not verified by the domain owner github#1975

This means that these accounts can't be added using the official API (other Accounts should work with the "onedrive" option). However, it is possible to access them using webdav.

To use a sharepoint remote with rclone, add it like this: First, you need to get your remote's URL:

You'll only need this URL up to the email address. After that, you'll most likely want to add "/Documents". That subdirectory contains the actual data stored on your OneDrive.

Add the remote to rclone like this: Configure the url as https://[YOUR-DOMAIN]-my.sharepoint.com/personal/[YOUR-EMAIL]/Documents and use your normal account email and password for user and pass. If you have 2FA enabled, you have to generate an app password. Set the vendor to sharepoint.

Your config file should look like this:

[sharepoint]
type = webdav
url = https://[YOUR-DOMAIN]-my.sharepoint.com/personal/[YOUR-EMAIL]/Documents
vendor = sharepoint
user = YourEmailAddress
pass = encryptedpassword

Sharepoint with NTLM Authentication

Use this option in case your (hosted) Sharepoint is not tied to OneDrive accounts and uses NTLM authentication.

To get the url configuration, similarly to the above, first navigate to the desired directory in your browser to get the URL, then strip everything after the name of the opened directory.

Example: If the URL is: https://example.sharepoint.com/sites/12345/Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx

The configuration to use would be: https://example.sharepoint.com/sites/12345/Documents

Set the vendor to sharepoint-ntlm.

NTLM uses domain and user name combination for authentication, set user to DOMAIN\username.

Your config file should look like this:

[sharepoint]
type = webdav
url = https://[YOUR-DOMAIN]/some-path-to/Documents
vendor = sharepoint-ntlm
user = DOMAIN\user
pass = encryptedpassword

Required Flags for SharePoint

As SharePoint does some special things with uploaded documents, you won't be able to use the documents size or the documents hash to compare if a file has been changed since the upload / which file is newer.

For Rclone calls copying files (especially Office files such as .docx, .xlsx, etc.) from/to SharePoint (like copy, sync, etc.), you should append these flags to ensure Rclone uses the "Last Modified" datetime property to compare your documents:

--ignore-size --ignore-checksum --update

dCache

dCache is a storage system that supports many protocols and authentication/authorisation schemes. For WebDAV clients, it allows users to authenticate with username and password (BASIC), X.509, Kerberos, and various bearer tokens, including Macaroons and OpenID-Connect access tokens.

Configure as normal using the other type. Don't enter a username or password, instead enter your Macaroon as the bearer_token.

The config will end up looking something like this.

[dcache]
type = webdav
url = https://dcache...
vendor = other
user =
pass =
bearer_token = your-macaroon

There is a script that obtains a Macaroon from a dCache WebDAV endpoint, and creates an rclone config file.

Macaroons may also be obtained from the dCacheView web-browser/JavaScript client that comes with dCache.

OpenID-Connect

dCache also supports authenticating with OpenID-Connect access tokens. OpenID-Connect is a protocol (based on OAuth 2.0) that allows services to identify users who have authenticated with some central service.

Support for OpenID-Connect in rclone is currently achieved using another software package called oidc-agent. This is a command-line tool that facilitates obtaining an access token. Once installed and configured, an access token is obtained by running the oidc-token command. The following example shows a (shortened) access token obtained from the XDC OIDC Provider.

paul@celebrimbor:~$ oidc-token XDC
eyJraWQ[...]QFXDt0
paul@celebrimbor:~$

Note Before the oidc-token command will work, the refresh token must be loaded into the oidc agent. This is done with the oidc-add command (e.g., oidc-add XDC). This is typically done once per login session. Full details on this and how to register oidc-agent with your OIDC Provider are provided in the oidc-agent documentation.

The rclone bearer_token_command configuration option is used to fetch the access token from oidc-agent.

Configure as a normal WebDAV endpoint, using the 'other' vendor, leaving the username and password empty. When prompted, choose to edit the advanced config and enter the command to get a bearer token (e.g., oidc-agent XDC).

The following example config shows a WebDAV endpoint that uses oidc-agent to supply an access token from the XDC OIDC Provider.

[dcache]
type = webdav
url = https://dcache.example.org/
vendor = other
bearer_token_command = oidc-token XDC

Yandex Disk

Yandex Disk is a cloud storage solution created by Yandex.

Configuration

Here is an example of making a yandex configuration. First run

rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
n/s> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Yandex Disk
   \ "yandex"
[snip]
Storage> yandex
Yandex Client Id - leave blank normally.
client_id>
Yandex Client Secret - leave blank normally.
client_secret>
Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
--------------------
[remote]
client_id =
client_secret =
token = {"access_token":"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx","token_type":"OAuth","expiry":"2016-12-29T12:27:11.362788025Z"}
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

See the remote setup docs for how to set it up on a machine with no Internet browser available.

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect the token as returned from Yandex Disk. This only runs from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get back the verification code. This is on http://127.0.0.1:53682/ and this it may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a host firewall.

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

See top level directories

rclone lsd remote:

Make a new directory

rclone mkdir remote:directory

List the contents of a directory

rclone ls remote:directory

Sync /home/local/directory to the remote path, deleting any excess files in the path.

rclone sync -i /home/local/directory remote:directory

Yandex paths may be as deep as required, e.g. remote:directory/subdirectory.

Modified time

Modified times are supported and are stored accurate to 1 ns in custom metadata called rclone_modified in RFC3339 with nanoseconds format.

MD5 checksums

MD5 checksums are natively supported by Yandex Disk.

Emptying Trash

If you wish to empty your trash you can use the rclone cleanup remote: command which will permanently delete all your trashed files. This command does not take any path arguments.

Quota information

To view your current quota you can use the rclone about remote: command which will display your usage limit (quota) and the current usage.

Restricted filename characters

The default restricted characters set are replaced.

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be used in JSON strings.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to yandex (Yandex Disk).

--yandex-client-id

OAuth Client Id.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--yandex-client-secret

OAuth Client Secret.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to yandex (Yandex Disk).

--yandex-token

OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob.

Properties:

--yandex-auth-url

Auth server URL.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--yandex-token-url

Token server url.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--yandex-hard-delete

Delete files permanently rather than putting them into the trash.

Properties:

--yandex-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Limitations

When uploading very large files (bigger than about 5 GiB) you will need to increase the --timeout parameter. This is because Yandex pauses (perhaps to calculate the MD5SUM for the entire file) before returning confirmation that the file has been uploaded. The default handling of timeouts in rclone is to assume a 5 minute pause is an error and close the connection - you'll see net/http: timeout awaiting response headers errors in the logs if this is happening. Setting the timeout to twice the max size of file in GiB should be enough, so if you want to upload a 30 GiB file set a timeout of 2 * 30 = 60m, that is --timeout 60m.

Having a Yandex Mail account is mandatory to use the Yandex.Disk subscription. Token generation will work without a mail account, but Rclone won't be able to complete any actions.

[403 - DiskUnsupportedUserAccountTypeError] User account type is not supported.

Zoho Workdrive

Zoho WorkDrive is a cloud storage solution created by Zoho.

Configuration

Here is an example of making a zoho configuration. First run

rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
n/s> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Zoho
   \ "zoho"
[snip]
Storage> zoho
** See help for zoho backend at: https://rclone.org/zoho/ **

OAuth Client Id
Leave blank normally.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
client_id> 
OAuth Client Secret
Leave blank normally.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
client_secret> 
Edit advanced config? (y/n)
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n
Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine
y) Yes (default)
n) No
y/n> 
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth?state=LVn0IHzxej1ZkmQw31d0wQ
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / MyTeam
   \ "4u28602177065ff22426787a6745dba8954eb"
Enter a Team ID> 1
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / General
   \ "4u2869d2aa6fca04f4f2f896b6539243b85b1"
Enter a Workspace ID> 1
--------------------
[remote]
type = zoho
token = {"access_token":"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx","token_type":"Zoho-oauthtoken","refresh_token":"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx","expiry":"2020-10-12T00:54:52.370275223+02:00"}
root_folder_id = xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> 

See the remote setup docs for how to set it up on a machine with no Internet browser available.

Rclone runs a webserver on your local computer to collect the authorization token from Zoho Workdrive. This is only from the moment your browser is opened until the token is returned. The webserver runs on http://127.0.0.1:53682/. If local port 53682 is protected by a firewall you may need to temporarily unblock the firewall to complete authorization.

Once configured you can then use rclone like this,

See top level directories

rclone lsd remote:

Make a new directory

rclone mkdir remote:directory

List the contents of a directory

rclone ls remote:directory

Sync /home/local/directory to the remote path, deleting any excess files in the path.

rclone sync -i /home/local/directory remote:directory

Zoho paths may be as deep as required, eg remote:directory/subdirectory.

Modified time

Modified times are currently not supported for Zoho Workdrive

Checksums

No checksums are supported.

Usage information

To view your current quota you can use the rclone about remote: command which will display your current usage.

Restricted filename characters

Only control characters and invalid UTF-8 are replaced. In addition most Unicode full-width characters are not supported at all and will be removed from filenames during upload.

Standard options

Here are the standard options specific to zoho (Zoho).

--zoho-client-id

OAuth Client Id.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--zoho-client-secret

OAuth Client Secret.

Leave blank normally.

Properties:

--zoho-region

Zoho region to connect to.

You'll have to use the region your organization is registered in. If not sure use the same top level domain as you connect to in your browser.

Properties:

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to zoho (Zoho).

--zoho-token

OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob.

Properties:

--zoho-auth-url

Auth server URL.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--zoho-token-url

Token server url.

Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

Properties:

--zoho-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Local Filesystem

Local paths are specified as normal filesystem paths, e.g. /path/to/wherever, so

rclone sync -i /home/source /tmp/destination

Will sync /home/source to /tmp/destination.

Configuration

For consistencies sake one can also configure a remote of type local in the config file, and access the local filesystem using rclone remote paths, e.g. remote:path/to/wherever, but it is probably easier not to.

Modified time

Rclone reads and writes the modified time using an accuracy determined by the OS. Typically this is 1ns on Linux, 10 ns on Windows and 1 Second on OS X.

Filenames

Filenames should be encoded in UTF-8 on disk. This is the normal case for Windows and OS X.

There is a bit more uncertainty in the Linux world, but new distributions will have UTF-8 encoded files names. If you are using an old Linux filesystem with non UTF-8 file names (e.g. latin1) then you can use the convmv tool to convert the filesystem to UTF-8. This tool is available in most distributions' package managers.

If an invalid (non-UTF8) filename is read, the invalid characters will be replaced with a quoted representation of the invalid bytes. The name gro\xdf will be transferred as gro‛DF. rclone will emit a debug message in this case (use -v to see), e.g.

Local file system at .: Replacing invalid UTF-8 characters in "gro\xdf"

Restricted characters

With the local backend, restrictions on the characters that are usable in file or directory names depend on the operating system. To check what rclone will replace by default on your system, run rclone help flags local-encoding.

On non Windows platforms the following characters are replaced when handling file names.

Character Value Replacement
NUL 0x00
/ 0x2F

When running on Windows the following characters are replaced. This list is based on the Windows file naming conventions.

Character Value Replacement
NUL 0x00
SOH 0x01
STX 0x02
ETX 0x03
EOT 0x04
ENQ 0x05
ACK 0x06
BEL 0x07
BS 0x08
HT 0x09
LF 0x0A
VT 0x0B
FF 0x0C
CR 0x0D
SO 0x0E
SI 0x0F
DLE 0x10
DC1 0x11
DC2 0x12
DC3 0x13
DC4 0x14
NAK 0x15
SYN 0x16
ETB 0x17
CAN 0x18
EM 0x19
SUB 0x1A
ESC 0x1B
FS 0x1C
GS 0x1D
RS 0x1E
US 0x1F
/ 0x2F
" 0x22
* 0x2A
: 0x3A
< 0x3C
> 0x3E
? 0x3F
\ 0x5C
| 0x7C

File names on Windows can also not end with the following characters. These only get replaced if they are the last character in the name:

Character Value Replacement
SP 0x20
. 0x2E

Invalid UTF-8 bytes will also be replaced, as they can't be converted to UTF-16.

Paths on Windows

On Windows there are many ways of specifying a path to a file system resource. Local paths can be absolute, like C:\path\to\wherever, or relative, like ..\wherever. Network paths in UNC format, \\server\share, are also supported. Path separator can be either \ (as in C:\path\to\wherever) or / (as in C:/path/to/wherever). Length of these paths are limited to 259 characters for files and 247 characters for directories, but there is an alternative extended-length path format increasing the limit to (approximately) 32,767 characters. This format requires absolute paths and the use of prefix \\?\, e.g. \\?\D:\some\very\long\path. For convenience rclone will automatically convert regular paths into the corresponding extended-length paths, so in most cases you do not have to worry about this (read more below).

Note that Windows supports using the same prefix \\?\ to specify path to volumes identified by their GUID, e.g. \\?\Volume{b75e2c83-0000-0000-0000-602f00000000}\some\path. This is not supported in rclone, due to an issue in go.

Long paths

Rclone handles long paths automatically, by converting all paths to extended-length path format, which allows paths up to 32,767 characters.

This conversion will ensure paths are absolute and prefix them with the \\?\. This is why you will see that your paths, for instance .\files is shown as path \\?\C:\files in the output, and \\server\share as \\?\UNC\server\share.

However, in rare cases this may cause problems with buggy file system drivers like EncFS. To disable UNC conversion globally, add this to your .rclone.conf file:

[local]
nounc = true

If you want to selectively disable UNC, you can add it to a separate entry like this:

[nounc]
type = local
nounc = true

And use rclone like this:

rclone copy c:\src nounc:z:\dst

This will use UNC paths on c:\src but not on z:\dst. Of course this will cause problems if the absolute path length of a file exceeds 259 characters on z, so only use this option if you have to.

Normally rclone will ignore symlinks or junction points (which behave like symlinks under Windows).

If you supply --copy-links or -L then rclone will follow the symlink and copy the pointed to file or directory. Note that this flag is incompatible with --links / -l.

This flag applies to all commands.

For example, supposing you have a directory structure like this

$ tree /tmp/a
/tmp/a
├── b -> ../b
├── expected -> ../expected
├── one
└── two
    └── three

Then you can see the difference with and without the flag like this

$ rclone ls /tmp/a
        6 one
        6 two/three

and

$ rclone -L ls /tmp/a
     4174 expected
        6 one
        6 two/three
        6 b/two
        6 b/one

Normally rclone will ignore symlinks or junction points (which behave like symlinks under Windows).

If you supply this flag then rclone will copy symbolic links from the local storage, and store them as text files, with a '.rclonelink' suffix in the remote storage.

The text file will contain the target of the symbolic link (see example).

This flag applies to all commands.

For example, supposing you have a directory structure like this

$ tree /tmp/a
/tmp/a
├── file1 -> ./file4
└── file2 -> /home/user/file3

Copying the entire directory with '-l'

$ rclone copyto -l /tmp/a/file1 remote:/tmp/a/

The remote files are created with a '.rclonelink' suffix

$ rclone ls remote:/tmp/a
       5 file1.rclonelink
      14 file2.rclonelink

The remote files will contain the target of the symbolic links

$ rclone cat remote:/tmp/a/file1.rclonelink
./file4

$ rclone cat remote:/tmp/a/file2.rclonelink
/home/user/file3

Copying them back with '-l'

$ rclone copyto -l remote:/tmp/a/ /tmp/b/

$ tree /tmp/b
/tmp/b
├── file1 -> ./file4
└── file2 -> /home/user/file3

However, if copied back without '-l'

$ rclone copyto remote:/tmp/a/ /tmp/b/

$ tree /tmp/b
/tmp/b
├── file1.rclonelink
└── file2.rclonelink

Note that this flag is incompatible with -copy-links / -L.

Restricting filesystems with --one-file-system

Normally rclone will recurse through filesystems as mounted.

However if you set --one-file-system or -x this tells rclone to stay in the filesystem specified by the root and not to recurse into different file systems.

For example if you have a directory hierarchy like this

root
├── disk1     - disk1 mounted on the root
│   └── file3 - stored on disk1
├── disk2     - disk2 mounted on the root
│   └── file4 - stored on disk12
├── file1     - stored on the root disk
└── file2     - stored on the root disk

Using rclone --one-file-system copy root remote: will only copy file1 and file2. Eg

$ rclone -q --one-file-system ls root
        0 file1
        0 file2
$ rclone -q ls root
        0 disk1/file3
        0 disk2/file4
        0 file1
        0 file2

NB Rclone (like most unix tools such as du, rsync and tar) treats a bind mount to the same device as being on the same filesystem.

NB This flag is only available on Unix based systems. On systems where it isn't supported (e.g. Windows) it will be ignored.

Advanced options

Here are the advanced options specific to local (Local Disk).

--local-nounc

Disable UNC (long path names) conversion on Windows.

Properties:

Follow symlinks and copy the pointed to item.

Properties:

Translate symlinks to/from regular files with a '.rclonelink' extension.

Properties:

Don't warn about skipped symlinks.

This flag disables warning messages on skipped symlinks or junction points, as you explicitly acknowledge that they should be skipped.

Properties:

Assume the Stat size of links is zero (and read them instead) (deprecated).

Rclone used to use the Stat size of links as the link size, but this fails in quite a few places:

So rclone now always reads the link.

Properties:

--local-unicode-normalization

Apply unicode NFC normalization to paths and filenames.

This flag can be used to normalize file names into unicode NFC form that are read from the local filesystem.

Rclone does not normally touch the encoding of file names it reads from the file system.

This can be useful when using macOS as it normally provides decomposed (NFD) unicode which in some language (eg Korean) doesn't display properly on some OSes.

Note that rclone compares filenames with unicode normalization in the sync routine so this flag shouldn't normally be used.

Properties:

--local-no-check-updated

Don't check to see if the files change during upload.

Normally rclone checks the size and modification time of files as they are being uploaded and aborts with a message which starts "can't copy - source file is being updated" if the file changes during upload.

However on some file systems this modification time check may fail (e.g. Glusterfs #2206) so this check can be disabled with this flag.

If this flag is set, rclone will use its best efforts to transfer a file which is being updated. If the file is only having things appended to it (e.g. a log) then rclone will transfer the log file with the size it had the first time rclone saw it.

If the file is being modified throughout (not just appended to) then the transfer may fail with a hash check failure.

In detail, once the file has had stat() called on it for the first time we:

Properties:

--one-file-system / -x

Don't cross filesystem boundaries (unix/macOS only).

Properties:

--local-case-sensitive

Force the filesystem to report itself as case sensitive.

Normally the local backend declares itself as case insensitive on Windows/macOS and case sensitive for everything else. Use this flag to override the default choice.

Properties:

--local-case-insensitive

Force the filesystem to report itself as case insensitive.

Normally the local backend declares itself as case insensitive on Windows/macOS and case sensitive for everything else. Use this flag to override the default choice.

Properties:

--local-no-preallocate

Disable preallocation of disk space for transferred files.

Preallocation of disk space helps prevent filesystem fragmentation. However, some virtual filesystem layers (such as Google Drive File Stream) may incorrectly set the actual file size equal to the preallocated space, causing checksum and file size checks to fail. Use this flag to disable preallocation.

Properties:

--local-no-sparse

Disable sparse files for multi-thread downloads.

On Windows platforms rclone will make sparse files when doing multi-thread downloads. This avoids long pauses on large files where the OS zeros the file. However sparse files may be undesirable as they cause disk fragmentation and can be slow to work with.

Properties:

--local-no-set-modtime

Disable setting modtime.

Normally rclone updates modification time of files after they are done uploading. This can cause permissions issues on Linux platforms when the user rclone is running as does not own the file uploaded, such as when copying to a CIFS mount owned by another user. If this option is enabled, rclone will no longer update the modtime after copying a file.

Properties:

--local-encoding

The encoding for the backend.

See the encoding section in the overview for more info.

Properties:

Backend commands

Here are the commands specific to the local backend.

Run them with

rclone backend COMMAND remote:

The help below will explain what arguments each command takes.

See the "rclone backend" command for more info on how to pass options and arguments.

These can be run on a running backend using the rc command backend/command.

noop

A null operation for testing backend commands

rclone backend noop remote: [options] [<arguments>+]

This is a test command which has some options you can try to change the output.

Options:

Changelog

v1.58.0 - 2022-03-18

See commits

v1.57.0 - 2021-11-01

See commits

v1.56.2 - 2021-10-01

See commits

v1.56.1 - 2021-09-19

See commits

v1.56.0 - 2021-07-20

See commits

v1.55.1 - 2021-04-26

See commits

v1.55.0 - 2021-03-31

See commits

v1.54.1 - 2021-03-08

See commits

v1.54.0 - 2021-02-02

See commits

v1.53.4 - 2021-01-20

See commits

v1.53.3 - 2020-11-19

See commits

v1.53.2 - 2020-10-26

See commits

v1.53.1 - 2020-09-13

See commits

v1.53.0 - 2020-09-02

See commits

v1.52.3 - 2020-08-07

See commits

v1.52.2 - 2020-06-24

See commits

v1.52.1 - 2020-06-10

See commits

v1.52.0 - 2020-05-27

Special thanks to Martin Michlmayr for proof reading and correcting all the docs and Edward Barker for helping re-write the front page.

See commits

v1.51.0 - 2020-02-01

v1.50.2 - 2019-11-19

v1.50.1 - 2019-11-02

v1.50.0 - 2019-10-26

v1.49.5 - 2019-10-05

v1.49.4 - 2019-09-29

v1.49.3 - 2019-09-15

v1.49.2 - 2019-09-08

v1.49.1 - 2019-08-28

v1.49.0 - 2019-08-26

v1.48.0 - 2019-06-15

v1.47.0 - 2019-04-13

v1.46 - 2019-02-09

v1.45 - 2018-11-24

v1.44 - 2018-10-15

v1.43.1 - 2018-09-07

Point release to fix hubic and azureblob backends.

v1.43 - 2018-09-01

v1.42 - 2018-06-16

v1.41 - 2018-04-28

v1.40 - 2018-03-19

v1.39 - 2017-12-23

v1.38 - 2017-09-30

v1.37 - 2017-07-22

v1.36 - 2017-03-18

v1.35 - 2017-01-02

v1.34 - 2016-11-06

v1.33 - 2016-08-24

v1.32 - 2016-07-13

v1.31 - 2016-07-13

v1.30 - 2016-06-18

v1.29 - 2016-04-18

v1.28 - 2016-03-01

v1.27 - 2016-01-31

v1.26 - 2016-01-02

v1.25 - 2015-11-14

v1.24 - 2015-11-07

v1.23 - 2015-10-03

v1.22 - 2015-09-28

v1.21 - 2015-09-22

v1.20 - 2015-09-15

v1.19 - 2015-08-28

v1.18 - 2015-08-17

v1.17 - 2015-06-14

v1.16 - 2015-06-09

v1.15 - 2015-06-06

v1.14 - 2015-05-21

v1.13 - 2015-05-10

v1.12 - 2015-03-15

v1.11 - 2015-03-04

v1.10 - 2015-02-12

v1.09 - 2015-02-07

v1.08 - 2015-02-04

v1.07 - 2014-12-23

v1.06 - 2014-12-12

v1.05 - 2014-08-09

v1.04 - 2014-07-21

v1.03 - 2014-07-20

v1.02 - 2014-07-19

v1.01 - 2014-07-04

v1.00 - 2014-07-03

v0.99 - 2014-06-26

v0.98 - 2014-05-30

v0.97 - 2014-05-05

v0.96 - 2014-04-24

v0.95 - 2014-03-28

v0.94 - 2014-03-27

v0.93 - 2014-03-16

v0.92 - 2014-03-15

v0.91 - 2014-03-15

v0.90 - 2013-06-27

v0.00 - 2012-11-18

Bugs and Limitations

Limitations

Directory timestamps aren't preserved

Rclone doesn't currently preserve the timestamps of directories. This is because rclone only really considers objects when syncing.

Rclone struggles with millions of files in a directory/bucket

Currently rclone loads each directory/bucket entirely into memory before using it. Since each rclone object takes 0.5k-1k of memory this can take a very long time and use a large amount of memory.

Millions of files in a directory tends to occur on bucket-based remotes (e.g. S3 buckets) since those remotes do not segregate subdirectories within the bucket.

Bucket-based remotes and folders

Bucket-based remotes (e.g. S3/GCS/Swift/B2) do not have a concept of directories. Rclone therefore cannot create directories in them which means that empty directories on a bucket-based remote will tend to disappear.

Some software creates empty keys ending in / as directory markers. Rclone doesn't do this as it potentially creates more objects and costs more. This ability may be added in the future (probably via a flag/option).

Bugs

Bugs are stored in rclone's GitHub project:

Frequently Asked Questions

Do all cloud storage systems support all rclone commands

Yes they do. All the rclone commands (e.g. sync, copy, etc.) will work on all the remote storage systems.

Can I copy the config from one machine to another

Sure! Rclone stores all of its config in a single file. If you want to find this file, run rclone config file which will tell you where it is.

See the remote setup docs for more info.

How do I configure rclone on a remote / headless box with no browser?

This has now been documented in its own remote setup page.

Can rclone sync directly from drive to s3

Rclone can sync between two remote cloud storage systems just fine.

Note that it effectively downloads the file and uploads it again, so the node running rclone would need to have lots of bandwidth.

The syncs would be incremental (on a file by file basis).

Eg

rclone sync -i drive:Folder s3:bucket

Using rclone from multiple locations at the same time

You can use rclone from multiple places at the same time if you choose different subdirectory for the output, e.g.

Server A> rclone sync -i /tmp/whatever remote:ServerA
Server B> rclone sync -i /tmp/whatever remote:ServerB

If you sync to the same directory then you should use rclone copy otherwise the two instances of rclone may delete each other's files, e.g.

Server A> rclone copy /tmp/whatever remote:Backup
Server B> rclone copy /tmp/whatever remote:Backup

The file names you upload from Server A and Server B should be different in this case, otherwise some file systems (e.g. Drive) may make duplicates.

Why doesn't rclone support partial transfers / binary diffs like rsync?

Rclone stores each file you transfer as a native object on the remote cloud storage system. This means that you can see the files you upload as expected using alternative access methods (e.g. using the Google Drive web interface). There is a 1:1 mapping between files on your hard disk and objects created in the cloud storage system.

Cloud storage systems (at least none I've come across yet) don't support partially uploading an object. You can't take an existing object, and change some bytes in the middle of it.

It would be possible to make a sync system which stored binary diffs instead of whole objects like rclone does, but that would break the 1:1 mapping of files on your hard disk to objects in the remote cloud storage system.

All the cloud storage systems support partial downloads of content, so it would be possible to make partial downloads work. However to make this work efficiently this would require storing a significant amount of metadata, which breaks the desired 1:1 mapping of files to objects.

Can rclone do bi-directional sync?

No, not at present. rclone only does uni-directional sync from A -> B. It may do in the future though since it has all the primitives - it just requires writing the algorithm to do it.

Can I use rclone with an HTTP proxy?

Yes. rclone will follow the standard environment variables for proxies, similar to cURL and other programs.

In general the variables are called http_proxy (for services reached over http) and https_proxy (for services reached over https). Most public services will be using https, but you may wish to set both.

The content of the variable is protocol://server:port. The protocol value is the one used to talk to the proxy server, itself, and is commonly either http or socks5.

Slightly annoyingly, there is no standard for the name; some applications may use http_proxy but another one HTTP_PROXY. The Go libraries used by rclone will try both variations, but you may wish to set all possibilities. So, on Linux, you may end up with code similar to

export http_proxy=http://proxyserver:12345
export https_proxy=$http_proxy
export HTTP_PROXY=$http_proxy
export HTTPS_PROXY=$http_proxy

The NO_PROXY allows you to disable the proxy for specific hosts. Hosts must be comma separated, and can contain domains or parts. For instance "foo.com" also matches "bar.foo.com".

e.g.

export no_proxy=localhost,127.0.0.0/8,my.host.name
export NO_PROXY=$no_proxy

Note that the ftp backend does not support ftp_proxy yet.

Rclone gives x509: failed to load system roots and no roots provided error

This means that rclone can't find the SSL root certificates. Likely you are running rclone on a NAS with a cut-down Linux OS, or possibly on Solaris.

Rclone (via the Go runtime) tries to load the root certificates from these places on Linux.

"/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt", // Debian/Ubuntu/Gentoo etc.
"/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt",   // Fedora/RHEL
"/etc/ssl/ca-bundle.pem",             // OpenSUSE
"/etc/pki/tls/cacert.pem",            // OpenELEC

So doing something like this should fix the problem. It also sets the time which is important for SSL to work properly.

mkdir -p /etc/ssl/certs/
curl -o /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bagder/ca-bundle/master/ca-bundle.crt
ntpclient -s -h pool.ntp.org

The two environment variables SSL_CERT_FILE and SSL_CERT_DIR, mentioned in the x509 package, provide an additional way to provide the SSL root certificates.

Note that you may need to add the --insecure option to the curl command line if it doesn't work without.

curl --insecure -o /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bagder/ca-bundle/master/ca-bundle.crt

Rclone gives Failed to load config file: function not implemented error

Likely this means that you are running rclone on Linux version not supported by the go runtime, ie earlier than version 2.6.23.

See the system requirements section in the go install docs for full details.

All my uploaded docx/xlsx/pptx files appear as archive/zip

This is caused by uploading these files from a Windows computer which hasn't got the Microsoft Office suite installed. The easiest way to fix is to install the Word viewer and the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 and later versions' file formats

tcp lookup some.domain.com no such host

This happens when rclone cannot resolve a domain. Please check that your DNS setup is generally working, e.g.

# both should print a long list of possible IP addresses
dig www.googleapis.com          # resolve using your default DNS
dig www.googleapis.com @8.8.8.8 # resolve with Google's DNS server

If you are using systemd-resolved (default on Arch Linux), ensure it is at version 233 or higher. Previous releases contain a bug which causes not all domains to be resolved properly.

Additionally with the GODEBUG=netdns= environment variable the Go resolver decision can be influenced. This also allows to resolve certain issues with DNS resolution. See the name resolution section in the go docs.

The total size reported in the stats for a sync is wrong and keeps changing

It is likely you have more than 10,000 files that need to be synced. By default, rclone only gets 10,000 files ahead in a sync so as not to use up too much memory. You can change this default with the --max-backlog flag.

Rclone is using too much memory or appears to have a memory leak

Rclone is written in Go which uses a garbage collector. The default settings for the garbage collector mean that it runs when the heap size has doubled.

However it is possible to tune the garbage collector to use less memory by setting GOGC to a lower value, say export GOGC=20. This will make the garbage collector work harder, reducing memory size at the expense of CPU usage.

The most common cause of rclone using lots of memory is a single directory with thousands or millions of files in. Rclone has to load this entirely into memory as rclone objects. Each rclone object takes 0.5k-1k of memory.

Rclone changes fullwidth Unicode punctuation marks in file names

For example: On a Windows system, you have a file with name Test:1.jpg, where is the Unicode fullwidth colon symbol. When using rclone to copy this to your Google Drive, you will notice that the file gets renamed to Test:1.jpg, where : is the regular (halfwidth) colon.

The reason for such renames is the way rclone handles different restricted filenames on different cloud storage systems. It tries to avoid ambiguous file names as much and allow moving files between many cloud storage systems transparently, by replacing invalid characters with similar looking Unicode characters when transferring to one storage system, and replacing back again when transferring to a different storage system where the original characters are supported. When the same Unicode characters are intentionally used in file names, this replacement strategy leads to unwanted renames. Read more here.

License

This is free software under the terms of the MIT license (check the COPYING file included with the source code).

Copyright (C) 2019 by Nick Craig-Wood https://www.craig-wood.com/nick/

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
THE SOFTWARE.

Authors and contributors

Authors

Contributors

{{< rem email addresses removed from here need to be addeed to bin/.ignore-emails to make sure update-authors.py doesn't immediately put them back in again. >}}

Contact the rclone project

Forum

Forum for questions and general discussion:

GitHub repository

The project's repository is located at:

There you can file bug reports or contribute with pull requests.

Twitter

You can also follow me on twitter for rclone announcements:

Email

Or if all else fails or you want to ask something private or confidential email Nick Craig-Wood. Please don't email me requests for help - those are better directed to the forum. Thanks!