Upgrading with rsync

  • The standard instructions tell you to use ftp to install and upgrade. I find rsync a lot quicker.

    What I do is:

    1) backup and turn off plugins.
    2) download and unzip wordpress
    3) open a terminal, change directory to one level above the wordpress directory.
    4) type something like:

    rsync -avz wordpress/ [email protected]:/httpdocs/wordpress

    5) run upgrade.php and turn plugins back on.

    This is a lot faster than using FTP. rsync will upgrade the files that have changed and leave everything else alone.

    Linux and MacOS usually have rsync installed, and it is a free download for Windows.

    It does require a host that allows SSH access, but even the restricted ssh logins are enough – e.g. if SFTP works, then this should.

    Is there anything wrong with this? As far as I can see it is much easier, safer and faster than FTP. The codex currently makes no mention of rsync except a passing mention in a draft article about security. Is there a reason for the omission or should I (or someone) add instructions?

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