rsync transferring multiple files issue

Hi,

I want to specify multiple remote directories but want to transfer them in a single command with one connection with remote server. This avoids entering passwords repeatedly and is also efficient.

e.g.

rsync -vrt --size-only --delete user@host:/home/user1/dir1 user@host:/home/user1/dir2 user@host:/home/user1/dir3 .... local_dir/

I want to transfer dir1, dir2 and dir3 using the same connection. The above command will establish 3 connections. Is there way to achieve this?

rsync -vrt --size-only --delete user@host:/home/user1/dir1,/home/user1/dir2,/home/user1/dir3  local_dir/

thanks,
Sam

Why not rsync on the home directory directly?

rsync -vrt --size-only --delete user@host:/home/user1

because I need to sync specific directories dir1, dir2.. under user1/.

why dont you prefer scp command !

---------- Post updated at 06:05 AM ---------- Previous update was at 06:02 AM ----------

Asking for that sake of curiosity , is there any special reason for choosing rsync , please
tell me that if any!

If you push the files from remote server, you just need one connection

ssh remote server

I'm not sure if the --delete option will work in this case

rsync has significant advantages over scp. What if each directory is 5 GB and the changes since last time you updated were only 1 KB ?

---------- Post updated at 03:34 PM ---------- Previous update was at 03:34 PM ----------

No I don't want to ssh to remote server. This will not work.

Thanks for your explanation Sardare

So i guess there is no solution to this problem. Have to do it in separate commands and multiple connections and multiple password entries. This SUCKS!

Looks like this is something that should be added to rsync functionality..

should be possible with

--exclude-from=FILE1
--include-from=FILE2

perhaps

specify the whole home directory to be synced

then exclude /home, and include /home/dir1, /home/dir2, /home/dir2

never tried this, but might work

Try this:

rsync -vrt --size-only --delete user@host:/home/user1/{dir1,dir2,dir3} local_dir/

Worked in my case...