Bisync documentation misses --track-renames description (shows v1.58 on the top right)

xodarap · February 18, 2026, 11:34pm

Both pages to bisync don’t have the option --track-renames listed.

See rclone bisync and Bisync
In the top right corner of both pages is a label that indicates that these pages are for version 1.58.

However, under Limitations \https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_bisync/ and in the Changelog \https://rclone.org/bisync/#v1-66 the option is mentioned.

The option seems to have been added in 1.66 so it should be listed under \https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_bisync/#options and \https://rclone.org/bisync/#command-line-syntax

Actually, i am a little confused why it’s showing up in the docs at all if they are for v1.58.

PS: i corrupted the links because 'new users can only put 2 links in a post'.

xodarap · February 18, 2026, 11:37pm

And if the pages are updated, maybe also directly add a note to this issue: Bisync `--max-delete` behavior with `--track-renames` enabled · Issue #8685 · rclone/rclone · GitHub

It is very counter intuitive.

asdffdsa · February 19, 2026, 1:45pm

welcome to the forum,

the author of bisync, @nielash has last posted five months ago and last visited the forum two months ago.
i hope he/she/it is well and will visit the forum soon.

rclone is open source, you are welcome to goto github document page, click on the pencil and propose an updated document for bisync.

nielash · February 19, 2026, 7:52pm

Hi there!

You are right. It looks like the docs show the "Copy Options" but not the "Sync Options". --track-renames is the latter because it works with sync (and bisync) but not copy.

It's a pretty simple doc fix -- would you like to take a stab at it? Here's the relevant line:

github.com/rclone/rclone

cmd/bisync/cmd.go

9601dbce8


      
          	_ = cmdFlags.MarkHidden("localtime")
          }
          
          // bisync command definition
          var commandDefinition = &cobra.Command{
          	Use:   "bisync remote1:path1 remote2:path2",
          	Short: shortHelp,
          	Long:  longHelp,
          	Annotations: map[string]string{
          		"versionIntroduced": "v1.58",
          		"groups":            "Filter,Copy,Important",
          	},
          	RunE: func(command *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
          		// NOTE: avoid putting too much handling here, as it won't apply to the rc.
          		// Generally it's best to put init-type stuff in Bisync() (operations.go)
          		cmd.CheckArgs(2, 2, command, args)
          		fs1, file1, fs2, file2 := cmd.NewFsSrcDstFiles(args)
          		if file1 != "" || file2 != "" {
          			return errors.New("paths must be existing directories")
          		}

What this is showing is that bisync as a feature was introduced in v1.58, not that the docs are for v1.58 (they should be fully up to date). I agree the way it's displayed is a little confusing. Any suggestions to improve it?

asdffdsa · February 19, 2026, 9:10pm

welcome back to the forum!

xodarap · February 20, 2026, 12:09am

hi @nielash

so nice of you to dig up the exact line that is relevant.

Although I initially didn't want to make an effort myself I've given it a shot. See NOT READY: add missing options to bisync --help and docs by TabError · Pull Request #9193 · rclone/rclone · GitHub

I tried to add Sync to the list, but that doesn't seem to work. I looked at the configs of all other commands and didn't find any option that looks sync-ish:

grep

cmd/tree/tree.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing",
cmd/touch/touch.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing,Important",
cmd/move/move.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing,Important,Copy",
cmd/copyto/copyto.go:		"groups":            "Copy,Filter,Listing,Important",
cmd/delete/delete.go:		"groups":            "Important,Filter,Listing",
cmd/mountlib/mount.go:			"groups":            "Filter",
cmd/hashsum/hashsum.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing",
cmd/about/about.go:		// "groups":            "",
cmd/dedupe/dedupe.go:		"groups":            "Important",
cmd/sha1sum/sha1sum.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing",
cmd/cryptcheck/cryptcheck.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing,Check",
cmd/copy/copy.go:		"groups": "Copy,Filter,Listing,Important",
cmd/copyurl/copyurl.go:		"groups":            "Important",
cmd/rmdirs/rmdirs.go:		"groups":            "Important",
cmd/sync/sync.go:		"groups": "Sync,Copy,Filter,Listing,Important",
cmd/serve/webdav/webdav.go:		"groups":            "Filter",
cmd/rmdir/rmdir.go:		"groups": "Important",
cmd/size/size.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing",
cmd/mkdir/mkdir.go:		"groups": "Important",
cmd/deletefile/deletefile.go:		"groups":            "Important",
cmd/lsf/lsf.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing",
cmd/md5sum/md5sum.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing",
cmd/rcd/rcd.go:		"groups":            "RC",
cmd/lsd/lsd.go:		"groups": "Filter,Listing",
cmd/lsl/lsl.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing",
cmd/rcat/rcat.go:		"groups":            "Important",
cmd/check/check.go:		"groups": "Filter,Listing,Check",
cmd/lsjson/lsjson.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing",
cmd/cat/cat.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing",
cmd/ls/ls.go:		"groups": "Filter,Listing",
cmd/backend/backend.go:		"groups":            "Important",
cmd/purge/purge.go:		"groups": "Important",
cmd/serve/sftp/sftp.go:		"groups":            "Filter",
cmd/bisync/cmd.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Copy,Important,Sync",
cmd/convmv/convmv.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing,Important,Copy",
cmd/ncdu/ncdu.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing",
cmd/moveto/moveto.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing,Important,Copy",
cmd/serve/s3/s3.go:		"groups":            "Filter",
cmd/cleanup/cleanup.go:		"groups":            "Important",
cmd/checksum/checksum.go:		"groups":            "Filter,Listing",
cmd/serve/nfs/nfs.go:		"groups":            "Filter",
fs/accounting/stats_groups_test.go:			"groups": []string{
fs/accounting/stats_groups.go:	"groups":  an array of group names:
cmd/serve/http/http.go:		"groups":            "Filter",
cmd/serve/ftp/ftp.go:		"groups":            "Filter",
cmd/serve/docker/docker.go:		"groups":            "Filter",
cmd/serve/dlna/dlna.go:		"groups":            "Filter",
MANUAL.txt:        "groups":  an array of group names:
docs/content/rc.md:	"groups":  an array of group names:
MANUAL.md:	"groups":  an array of group names:

So what is the group that should be added?

Also, I couldn't find how to get a preview of the changes. E.g. i removed the groups line entirely and then ran make and make serve the resulting docs still show the options of copy and filter etc. I exprected them to be gone if the groups line is not present any more. How can I get changes to cmd/bisync/cmd.go affect the local docs instance served by hugo?

Last but not least: as seen in the grep output all other subcommands follow the naming scheme: cmd/<sub>/<sub>.go but bisync uses cmd/<sub>/cmd.go. It's not visible to the user but an inconsistency in the repo.

(I also found other inconsistencies in the docs ... but it's probably not worth pointing all them out. maybe i do a PR for this as well.)

Regarding the version a feature was introduced i also made a PR: added text to the label showing .Params.versionIntroduced by TabError · Pull Request #9192 · rclone/rclone · GitHub

nielash · February 20, 2026, 12:09am

@asdffdsa it was your tag that prompted it, so thank you

nielash · February 20, 2026, 12:18am

Thanks! I see you marked it "not ready" but let me know when it's ready for review and I'll take a look.

I do see it here:

You probably need run gendocs first: rclone gendocs

You're right, it's inconsistent. Probably harmless, but in theory we should probably make it consistent at some point!

nielash · February 20, 2026, 12:24am

(There is also make commanddocs which automates this)

xodarap · February 20, 2026, 12:58am

Thanks for the tips. Sadly it does not seem to work for me ...

> make rclone
fatal: No names found, cannot describe anything.
go build -v --ldflags "-s -X github.com/rclone/rclone/fs.Version=v1.74.0-beta.9476.999955781.bisync-sync-options-missing"  
mkdir -p `go env GOPATH`/bin/
cp -av rclone`go env GOEXE` `go env GOPATH`/bin/rclone`go env GOEXE`.new
'rclone' -> '/home/jp/go/bin/rclone.new'
mv -v `go env GOPATH`/bin/rclone`go env GOEXE`.new `go env GOPATH`/bin/rclone`go env GOEXE`
renamed '/home/jp/go/bin/rclone.new' -> '/home/jp/go/bin/rclone'
> ./rclone version
rclone v1.74.0-beta.9476.999955781.bisync-sync-options-missing
- os/version: fedora 43 (64 bit)
- os/kernel: 6.18.8-200.fc43.x86_64 (x86_64)
- os/type: linux
- os/arch: amd64
- go/version: go1.25.7 X:nodwarf5
- go/linking: dynamic
- go/tags: none
> ./rclone bisync --help | rg track
      --track-renames                   When synchronizing, track file renames and do a server-side move if possible
      --track-renames-strategy string   Strategies to use when synchronizing using track-renames hash|modtime|leaf (default "hash")

as you can see here the options now show up in the --help section. But i cannot see them in my local docs ...

I try it with make commanddocs serve and then click the link provided ... but it looks exactly the same on http://localhost:1313/commands/rclone_bisync/

nielash · February 20, 2026, 3:01am

Is it possible that you are running gendocs through the standard rclone installed on your system, and not your local dev branch? I think the makefile assumes those are one and the same...

See if

rclone version

and

./rclone version

give you different results.

If so, maybe try

./rclone gendocs docs/content/

xodarap · February 20, 2026, 3:26am

Yes, that's it. This should be clarified in the contributor docs as well ...

xodarap · February 20, 2026, 4:18am

Soo, i finalised the PRs. They are now 4 in total.

So they are now ready to be reviewed. Also i think more discussion can now take place in the issues themselves.

Thanks again for the help