---
name: "ftpsync-cron"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "ftpsync"
version: "20180513+nmu1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ftpsync-cron"
---

# ftpsync-cron(1)

Wrapper around ftpsync for use in cron(8)

## NAME

ftpsync-cron - Wrapper around ftpsync for use in [cron(8)](/cron/8.md)

## SYNOPSIS

**ftpsync-cron** \[*ARCHIVE*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**ftpsync-cron** is part of the ftpsync suite for mirroring Debian and Debian-like repositories of packages. As there are way too many mirrors of Debian to populate them all from the machine that generates the archive (“ftp-master”), mirrors are organized in a tree-shaped hierarchy. Thus, every mirror has exactly one upstream from which it syncs, and each mirror can have any number of downstreams which in turn sync from it.

**ftpsync-cron** is a wrapper around **ftpsync** itself, intended to be run out of cron at regular, frequent intervals, such as hourly. When started, it reads the corresponding **ftpsync.conf** configuration file for the archive in question and determines this mirror’s upstream. It then fetches the upstream’s trace file via HTTP and compares it to the version on disk from the last mirror run, thus learning whether the upstream mirror has updated. If it has, **ftpsync** is triggered.

## EXAMPLE

Example use in a user crontab:

SHELL=/bin/bash 31 \* \* \* \* sleep $(( RANDOM %% 1800 )) && ./bin/ftpsync-cron

## SEE ALSO

[**ftpsync**(1)](/ftpsync/1.md) +

## AUTHORS

Debian mirror team.