FastSync

FastSync is a high-performance file synchronization tool designed to become a drop-in replacement for common rsync workflows. It keeps the familiar source/destination model and rsync-style options while adding optional multithreading, streaming zstd compression, chunking, zero-copy TCP transfers, and native TCP/TLS transports.

The compatibility target is straightforward:

• Existing rsync commands should keep the same meaning.
• FastSync-only performance options should be additive and optional.
• A normal compatibility-mode transfer should prioritize rsync filesystem semantics over maximum throughput.

FastSync currently speaks its own protocol to fastsync-server. SSH mode starts that server remotely; it does not yet interoperate with an unmodified rsync client or rsync daemon. See Compatibility Status for the current boundary.

Why FastSync

FastSync uses a producer-consumer transfer pipeline and can combine several optimizations for large or high-latency transfers:

• Multithreaded scanning, loading, and sending.
• Streaming zstd compression with levels 1 through 22.
• Configurable file chunking and compact chunk serialization.
• sendfile() zero-copy transfers over TCP.
• Batched incremental checks to reduce round trips.
• Optional block-level delta transfer for FastSync peers.
• Bandwidth limiting, progress reporting, statistics, and backups.
• TCP, SSH, and TLS transports.
• Atomic temporary-file writes by default.

These optimizations are disabled or selected independently. Users can start with rsync-style commands and add FastSync options when they are useful.

Compatibility Status

FastSync is currently an rsync-compatible CLI in progress, not a complete replacement for every rsync feature or protocol mode.

Working today

• Recursive directory scanning.
• Rsync-style source and destination arguments.
• SSH transport using user@host:destination paths below the remote authorized root.
• TCP client/server transfers.
• Dry runs, excludes, includes, size filters, backups, statistics, and bandwidth limiting.
• Incremental size/mtime checks and optional xxHash64 content checks.
• FastSync-native delta transfer for changed files.
• Optional mode and timestamp preservation.
• Delete manifests with server-side delete authorization.
• Temporary-file writes with atomic rename by default.
• Path traversal checks and destination-root confinement.

Not yet equivalent to rsync

• The FastSync wire protocol is not the rsync wire protocol.
• SSH mode requires fastsync-server on the remote host.
• Archive mode does not yet provide all of rsync's -rlptgoD behavior.
• Symlink transfer is incomplete; link targets are not yet recreated in all modes.
• Owner/group, ACL, xattr, hard-link, device, and special-file handling is incomplete or unavailable.
• Sparse-file handling does not yet preserve all holes correctly.
• --partial, --partial-dir, --append, and --append-verify are not yet full rsync-style resumable transfers.
• Several rsync short options currently have FastSync-specific meanings. Do not assume every short option is interchangeable yet.

The detailed flag matrix is maintained in RSYNC_COMPAT.md. It distinguishes implemented, partial, alternate, and planned behavior.

Quick Start

Build

Requirements: C11 compiler, CMake 3.22 or newer, xxHash, zstd, OpenSSL, pthreads, and an SSH client for SSH transport. The first CMake configure fetches xxHash from GitHub, so network access is required unless the dependency is already cached.

cmake -B build -S .
cmake --build build -j$(nproc)

With Nix:

nix-shell
cmake -B build -S .
cmake --build build -j$(nproc)

SSH transfer

The remote host must have fastsync-server available in PATH, or use --fastsync-server-path. SSH starts fastsync-server --stdio in its remote working directory, so use a destination below that directory unless the remote server is otherwise configured with a matching authorized root.

ssh user@host 'mkdir -p destination'
./build/client /path/to/source user@host:destination

TCP transfer

Start the FastSync server:

./build/server --destination-root /path/to -p 8080

Then run the client:

./build/client --server-host 127.0.0.1 --server-port 8080 \
  --source-dir /path/to/source --dest-dir /path/to/destination \
  --save-to-disk

TLS transfer

./build/server --destination-root /path/to --tls --cert server.pem --key server-key.pem -p 8443
./build/client --tls --cert client.pem --key client-key.pem --ca ca.pem \
  --server-host example.com --server-port 8443 \
  --source-dir /path/to/source --dest-dir /path/to/destination \
  --save-to-disk

Common Workflows

These examples show the intended rsync-style workflow. Options marked as FastSync-native are optional performance or transport extensions.

# Basic synchronization
./build/client /source/ /destination/

# Archive-style synchronization (current FastSync archive behavior)
./build/client -a /source/ user@host:destination/

# Preview a transfer without changing the destination
./build/client -n /source/ /destination/

# Exclude temporary and object files
./build/client --exclude '*.tmp' --exclude '*.o' \
  /source/ user@host:destination/

# Remove destination entries not present in the source
./build/client --delete /source/ user@host:destination/

# Skip unchanged files using size and modification time
./build/client --incremental /source/ user@host:destination/

# Verify content when size and time are not sufficient
./build/client --incremental --checksum /source/ user@host:destination/

# Preserve supported mode and timestamp metadata
./build/client -M /source/ user@host:destination/

# Keep backups of overwritten destination files
./build/client --backup --backup-dir backups \
  /source/ user@host:destination/

FastSync Extensions

FastSync-native options are intended to add performance or operational features without changing the meaning of ordinary compatibility options.

Option	Purpose
-m	Enable the multithreaded scanner/loader/sender pipeline.
-c [level], -z [level]	Enable streaming zstd compression, levels 1-22.
--compress-level <n>	Set the zstd compression level.
--chunk-size <bytes>	Set the transfer chunk size.
-s	Enable FastSync chunk serialization.
-f, --sendfile	Use TCP sendfile() zero-copy transfer. Incompatible with compression and chunk serialization.
--delta	Use FastSync-native block delta transfer. Requires --incremental.
--delta-block <bytes>	Set the FastSync delta block size.
--delta-max <bytes>	Limit files eligible for FastSync delta transfer.
--server-host <host>	Select the TCP server host.
--server-port <port>	Select the TCP server port.
--tls	Enable TLS for TCP transport.
--bwlimit <KB/s>	Apply token-bucket bandwidth limiting.
--progress	Show transfer progress and throughput.
--stats	Print transfer statistics.
--timeout <seconds>	Set I/O timeout.
--contimeout <seconds>	Set connection timeout.

Current short-option conflicts are tracked as compatibility work. In particular, FastSync currently uses -p for SSH port, -s for chunk serialization, and -S for sparse handling. These meanings must be reconciled before FastSync can claim full rsync CLI compatibility.

Client Options

Selection and transfer

Option	Description
-a, --archive	Enable current archive preset. Full rsync archive semantics are planned.
-n, --dry-run	Scan and report without writing files.
--delete	Request removal of destination entries absent from the source. The server must allow deletion.
--exclude <pattern>	Exclude matching paths. Repeatable.
--include <pattern>	Include matching paths. Repeatable.
--exclude-from <file>	Read exclude patterns from a file.
--include-from <file>	Read include patterns from a file.
--max-size <bytes>	Skip files larger than the limit.
--min-size <bytes>	Skip files smaller than the limit.
--max-depth <n>	Limit recursive scanning depth; zero means unlimited.
--incremental	Skip files matching destination size and mtime.
--checksum	Include xxHash64 content checks in incremental comparisons.
--backup	Back up overwritten files.
--backup-dir <dir>	Store backups under a separate directory.
--suffix <suffix>	Set the backup filename suffix.
--partial	Select partial-transfer handling. With --partial-dir, completed files are written there; resumable transfers are not implemented.
--partial-dir <dir>	Set a relative partial-transfer directory below the server destination root; use with --partial.
--inplace	Write directly to the destination instead of using a temporary file.

Metadata and links

Option	Description
-M, --preserve	Preserve supported file metadata, currently mode and modification time.
-l, --links	Request symlink preservation; link-target transfer remains incomplete.
--copy-links	Copy symlink referents.
--safe-links	Skip symlinks that point outside the transfer tree.
--copy-unsafe-links	Copy unsafe symlink referents.
-S, --sparse	Request sparse-file handling; full hole preservation is planned.

Output and logging

Option	Description
-v, --verbose	Enable debug logging.
--progress	Show live transfer progress.
--stats	Print transfer statistics.
--log-file <path>	Write log output to a file.
-V, --version	Print the FastSync protocol version.
--help	Print command usage.

Paths and transport

Option	Description
-p <port>	SSH port in the current CLI. This conflicts with rsync's -p permissions option and is planned for correction.
--fastsync-server-path <path>	Remote FastSync server path for SSH mode.
--source-dir <path>	Set the source directory explicitly.
--dest-dir <path>	Set the destination directory explicitly.
--save-to-disk	Enable server-side disk persistence.
--server-host <host>	TCP server address.
--server-port <port>	TCP server port.
--tls	Enable TLS. Requires --cert and --key.
--cert <path>	TLS certificate file.
--key <path>	TLS private key file.
--ca <path>	CA file for peer verification.

Server Options

Option	Description
--stdio	Serve one SSH connection over standard input/output.
-p <port>	TCP listen port.
--tls	Enable TLS.
--cert <path>	TLS certificate file.
--key <path>	TLS private key file.
--ca <path>	CA file for peer verification.
--destination-root <path>	Confine received files to this server-side root; defaults to the current directory.
--allow-delete	Permit client delete manifests. Deletion is refused by default.
-v, --verbose	Enable debug logging.
--help	Print server usage.

Architecture

Client

• Recursively scans the source tree with include, exclude, size, and depth filters.
• Sends individual files or serialized chunks.
• Performs incremental checks and optional content checksums.
• Uses a multithreaded producer-consumer pipeline when requested.
• Sends over TCP, TLS-wrapped TCP, or an SSH subprocess.
• Supports progress, statistics, backups, timeouts, and bandwidth limiting.

Server

• Runs as a TCP listener or one-shot SSH --stdio server.
• Receives and reassembles files and decompresses streaming zstd data.
• Applies supported metadata and writes files through a confined destination root.
• Uses temporary files and atomic rename by default.
• Handles delete manifests only when explicitly authorized.
• Enforces connection, message-size, and path-safety limits.

Protocol and Security

FastSync protocol version 2.2.0 is shared by the client and server. The current protocol is sender-driven and includes configuration negotiation, incremental checks, checksums, manifests, keep-alives, abort handling, and FastSync-native delta messages. Client and server versions must currently match exactly.

TLS provides encrypted TCP transport. Supplying --ca enables certificate verification; without it, traffic is encrypted but peer identity is not verified. Use certificate verification for deployments where authentication matters. The default TCP transport is not encrypted.

The receiver protects its destination root with path validation, openat() directory traversal, O_NOFOLLOW, temporary files, and atomic renames. Delete operations require the server's explicit --allow-delete policy.

Compatibility Roadmap

The project will reach the drop-in replacement goal in stages:

1. Correct rsync option meanings, including short options, combined options, and --option=value syntax.
2. Add differential tests that compare FastSync and rsync contents, metadata, links, deletes, filters, dry runs, and exit codes.
3. Make -a implement the expected recursive, links, permissions, times, owner/group, and supported special-file behavior.
4. Complete symlink, sparse-file, metadata, delete-policy, and resumable-write semantics.
5. Add rsync remote-shell and daemon protocol interoperability.
6. Keep FastSync performance options as negotiated, optional extensions.

The exhaustive implementation matrix and compatibility notes are in RSYNC_COMPAT.md.

Testing

Run the unit test binary:

./build/tests

Run the Python integration suite:

python3 -m pytest tests/

For stricter local validation:

cmake -B build-strict -S . -DSTRICT_WARNINGS=ON
cmake --build build-strict -j$(nproc)
cmake -B build-asan -S . -DSANITIZER=address
cmake --build build-asan -j$(nproc)

The benchmark tool compares FastSync configurations with rsync under controlled local and network conditions:

python3 benchmark/bench.py --help

Benchmark results measure transfer performance only. They do not establish rsync protocol or filesystem-semantic compatibility.

Performance Guidance

• Use -m for workloads with many files or enough CPU parallelism.
• Use -c or -z when network bandwidth is more constrained than CPU.
• Tune --chunk-size for file sizes, memory limits, and network latency.
• Use -f for large uncompressed TCP transfers where zero-copy I/O helps.
• Use --incremental to avoid retransmitting unchanged files.
• Use --delta for changed files when both endpoints are FastSync peers.
• Use --bwlimit when sharing a link with other traffic.

Always validate the compatibility behavior required by a deployment before replacing an existing rsync job.