rsync - Jul 2005 - Need help with the rsync library and the communication protocol

Hey,
I'm currently adding rsync to pacman (http://archlinux.org/pacman).  A
static
version of the program is used for rescue operations. Because of this it
is impossible to use the rsync client programm via an execve call and we
need a version implemented in C. 

So I started implementing it. But the rsync source isn't beautiful or
structured
- it's just a big hunk of code. I spent nearly 4 hours in reading it.

Ok, first you transmit your version, e.g. "@RSYNCD: 29"; then you
select
the module, e.g. "ftp", or list the modules via "#list". But
how to select
the directory in the module? And how to download a file/produce the xdelta.
Is there maybe a paper or something similar describing this protocol?

My other Problem is librsync -- the header file is unreadable. Is there maybe
a doucmentation about this?

Thanks for any help
Matthias-Christian Ott

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On Thu, Jul 28, 2005 at 02:09:31AM +0200, matthias.christian@tiscali.de
wrote:
> But the rsync source isn't beautiful or structured - it's just a
big
> hunk of code.
Right -- it's a utility, not a library (though someone is working on
making it a library).  I'd recommend looking into the librsync project
instead, which implements the rsync algorithm in a way that can be used
by any program:

    http://librsync.sourceforge.net/

This will not allow you to build something that is wire-compatible with
rsync, though.

For an example file-transfer program that uses librsync, see the rZync
link on the above page (and keep in mind that was merely a test-bed, so
it's mainly useful for seeing how someone integrated librsync into an
rsync-like program).

..wayne..