How to Compile and Use rsync for ARM Boards: A Step‑by‑Step Guide

What is rsync?

rsync

(remote sync) is a file‑synchronization utility that transfers only changed parts of files, using size or modification time to detect differences. It works between local directories or between a local host and a remote host.

Cross‑compiling rsync for an ARM development board

Both the host PC and the target board must have rsync. The board lacks a binary, so we build it from source.

Download and extract source

wget https://download.samba.org/pub/rsync/rsync-3.2.3.tar.gz
tar -xvf rsync-3.2.3.tar.gz
cd rsync-3.2.3
mkdir tmp

Configure the build

Run ./configure with a prefix pointing to the temporary directory and the appropriate cross‑compiler host. If SIMD support causes errors, disable it. Additional optional features (OpenSSL, xxhash, zstd, lz4) may also need to be disabled.

# Basic configure
./configure --prefix=$PWD/tmp --host=arm-linux-gnueabihf CC=arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc

# Disable SIMD if required
./configure --prefix=$PWD/tmp --disable-simd --host=arm-linux-gnueabihf CC=arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc

# Full disable list for a minimal build
./configure --prefix=$PWD/tmp \
  --disable-simd --disable-openssl --disable-xxhash \
  --disable-zstd --disable-lz4 \
  --host=arm-linux-gnueabihf CC=arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc

Successful configuration ends with “rsync 3.2.3 configuration successful”.

Build and install

make
make install

The compiled binary is placed in tmp/usr/local/bin/rsync (or tmp/bin depending on --prefix). Transfer it to the board:

scp rsync root@<em>BOARD_IP</em>:/usr/bin/

Basic rsync usage

Synchronize a directory from the board to the PC:

rsync -avzu --progress root@<em>BOARD_IP</em>:/root/test .

Option meanings: -a: archive mode (preserves timestamps, permissions, owners, etc.) -v: verbose output -z: compress data during transfer -u: skip files that are newer on the destination --progress: display transfer progress

After the first run, creating additional files on the board and re‑executing the same command transfers only the new files, demonstrating rsync’s incremental behavior.

Summary

The procedure shows how to obtain the rsync source, configure it for an ARM target, build and install the binary, and use common options to efficiently synchronize files between a development board and a host PC.