cli

CLI Reference

The CLI tool uses the desync library and makes most features available in a consistent fashion. It does not match upstream casync's syntax exactly, but tries to be similar.

A page per command, generated from the commands themselves, starting at desync. Those carry the full flag list with defaults; the tables below cover the options that need more explanation than their help text gives.

The generated pages are not edited by hand. Run desync gendocs docs/cli after changing a command or its flags, or CI will fail with the diff.

Commands

Chunking and Extraction

Command	Description
make	Split a blob into chunks and create an index file
extract	Build a blob from an index file, optionally using seed indexes+blobs
verify-index	Verify that an index file matches a given blob
mount-index	FUSE mount a blob index as a single file
cat	Stream a blob to stdout or a file
chunk	Chunk input file and print chunk boundaries plus chunk IDs

Archives

Command	Description
tar	Pack a catar file, optionally chunk and create an index
untar	Unpack a catar file or index referencing a catar
mtree	Print the content of a catar, caidx, or local directory in mtree format

Servers

Command	Description
chunk-server	Start an HTTP(S) chunk server/store
index-server	Start an HTTP(S) index server/store
pull	Serve chunks using the casync protocol over stdin/stdout

Inspection

Command	Description
info	Show information about an index file
inspect-chunks	Show detailed information about chunks in an index and optional local store
list-chunks	List all chunk IDs in an index file

Maintenance

Command	Description
verify	Verify the integrity of a local store
cache	Populate a cache from index files without extracting
chop	Split a blob according to an existing index and store chunks
prune	Remove unreferenced chunks from a store (use with caution)

Utility

Command	Description
config	Show or write the config file
version	Show the version, commit and build details. --version prints just the version
manpage	Generate manpages for desync

Common Options

Not all options apply to all commands.

Global options:

Option	Description
--config <file>	Path to config file. Default: $HOME/.config/desync/config.json.
--digest <algorithm>	Digest algorithm: sha512-256 (default) or sha256.
--verbose	Enable verbose/debug logging.
--version	Print the version and exit. See the version command for build details.

Store options:

Option	Description
-s <store>	Location of the chunk store, can be local directory or a URL like ssh://hostname/path/to/store. Multiple stores can be specified, they'll be queried in order. The chop, make, tar and prune commands support updating chunk stores in S3, while verify only operates on a local store.
-c <store>	Location of a chunk store to be used as cache. Needs to be writable.
-n <int>	Number of concurrent goroutines. Default: 10.
-t	Trust all certificates presented by HTTPS stores. Allows the use of self-signed certs.
--ca-cert <file>	Trust authorities in this file instead of the OS trust store.
--client-cert <file>	Client certificate for mutual TLS authentication.
--client-key <file>	Client key for mutual TLS authentication.
-e / --error-retry <int>	Number of times to retry on network error.
-b / --error-retry-base-interval <duration>	Initial retry delay; attempt N waits N times this interval.

Extract options:

Option	Description
--seed <indexfile>	Specifies a seed file and index for the extract command. The tool expects the matching file to have the same name as the index file, without the .caibx extension.
--seed-dir <dir>	Specifies a directory containing seed files and their indexes for extract. Each index file (*.caibx) needs a matching blob without the extension.
-k / --in-place	Keep partially assembled files in place when extract fails or is interrupted. Also use this option to write to block devices.
--print-stats	Print extraction statistics (extract) or chunking statistics (make) to stderr.
--skip-invalid-seeds	Skip seeds with invalid chunks instead of failing.
--regenerate-invalid-seeds	Regenerate seed indexes when invalid chunks are found.

Chunking and archive options:

Option	Description
-m	Specify the min/avg/max chunk sizes in KB. Only applicable to make. Defaults to 16:64:256. For best results: min = avg/4, max = 4*avg.
-i	When packing/unpacking an archive, don't create/read an archive file but instead use an index file (caidx). Only applicable to tar and untar.
--input-format <format>	Input format for tar: disk (default) or tar.
--output-format <format>	Output format for untar: disk (default) or gnu-tar.
--ignore <indexfile>	Index file(s) whose chunks should be skipped. Applies to chop and cache.

Server options:

Option	Description
-l <address>	Listening address for the HTTP chunk server. Can be used multiple times for more than one interface or port.
-w / --writable	Enable write support. Applies to chunk-server and index-server.
-u / --uncompressed	Serve uncompressed chunks. Applies to chunk-server.
--store-file <file>	Read store arguments from a JSON file; supports SIGHUP reload. Applies to chunk-server and mount-index.
--key <file>	Key file in PEM format for HTTPS chunk-server and index-server. Requires --cert.
--cert <file>	Certificate file in PEM format for HTTPS chunk-server and index-server. Requires --key.
--mutual-tls	Require a valid client certificate, verified against --client-ca (which is mandatory when this is set). Applies to chunk-server and index-server.
--client-ca <file>	Acceptable client certificate or CA for mutual TLS. Required when --mutual-tls is set; otherwise client certs would be verified against the system trust store.
--authorization <value>	Expected value of the Authorization header in client requests.
--log <file>	Request log file, or - for STDOUT. Applies to chunk-server and index-server.

Other options:

Option	Description
-r	Repair a local store by removing invalid chunks. Only valid for verify.
-y	Answer with yes when asked for confirmation. Only supported by prune.
-f / --format <format>	Output format for info: json (default) or plain.

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
CASYNC_SSH_PATH	Overrides the default ssh command when connecting to remote SSH or SFTP chunk stores.
CASYNC_REMOTE_PATH	Defines the command to run on the chunk store when using SSH. Default: casync.
S3_ACCESS_KEY, S3_SECRET_KEY, S3_SESSION_TOKEN, S3_REGION	S3 store credentials when using a single store. If S3_ACCESS_KEY and S3_SECRET_KEY are not defined, AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_SESSION_TOKEN are also considered. These take precedence over config file values.
DESYNC_OCI_USERNAME, DESYNC_OCI_PASSWORD	OCI registry store credentials. These take precedence over config file values and the Docker credential store.
DESYNC_PROGRESSBAR_ENABLED	Enables the progress bar if set to any non-empty value. By default, the progress bar is only shown when STDERR is a terminal.
DESYNC_ENABLE_PARSABLE_PROGRESS	Prints operation name, completion percentage, and estimated remaining time to STDERR. Similar to the default progress bar but without the visual bar.
DESYNC_HTTP_AUTH	Sets the expected Authorization header value from clients when using chunk-server or index-server. Needs the full string including type and encoding, e.g. "Basic dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZAo=". Command-line values take precedence.
DESYNC_ENCRYPTION_KEY	Hex-encoded 256-bit chunk encryption key. Used for stores that have encryption enabled but no encryption-key configured, and by chunk-server when encryption is enabled with --encryption but no --encryption-key is given. The variable alone never enables encryption.