rsync over ssh as non-root user

[fkarimou]

Hi,
Here's my problem :
I'm setting up a script on a Server that use rsync over ssh like
....
rsync -avzSH --delete --perms -e ssh $SOURCE $USER@$DEST_HOST:$DEST
....

$USER in the rsync command is a non-root user, I want to preserve ownership and permissions of the $SOURCE directory to $DEST

I notice when I use root instead of $USER the --perms parameter just work fine, but when I use my-normal $USER, all $DEST files and subdirectories get the $USER perms.

Did some know how to work this out without having to use root user for this Job.


NOTE : the user $USER have full perms in $DEST folder.

Thanks 4 help.

[Legolasz]

use the -p option,

i.e rsync -avzp

that should preserve permissions.

[fkarimou]

Thanks Legolasz, but the -p do the same thing "--perms" did in my exemple.

I think I found where the problem is : to preserve permissions (-p or --perms) rsync work just like chown in the remote host, that mean I have to execute my script as root, otherwise permissions can't be preserved.

I still don't figure out a good solution coz I have no choice but using a non-root user for my task.

The only solution I found is setting the SUID in /usr/bin/rsync ; but I'm not gonna use this one because I have to face a security whole that way.

[Legolasz]

Whoa I missed --perms. Sorry.

[fkarimou]

If this can help someone, I found a better solution than making the suid on rsync :

Give the user ($USER) that will run rsync a sudo access to /usr/bin/rsync in the remote host and use the --rsync-path "sudo rsync" in your local script.