Hi there, Whole (macOS) system is crashing when transferring a large number of files from Mac to NAS via rsync. Running the below command on a directory with thousands of images (~5MB each) the transfer speed eventually slows down, the system gets choppy, freezes and then eventually the entire computer reboots. rsync -va --update --info=progress2 /Volumes/Source/folder /Volumes/Destination/folder I found this reported here as well: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/421007/rsync-3-2-3-keeps-crashing-on-mac-mini-m1# I experienced this on a M1 Mac mini running macOS Monterey. The stackexchange post is running Big Sur. rsync 3.2.3 was installed via homebrew (brew install rsync) so it may be possible this is a homebrew distribution/compile problem. The only solution for me was to downgrade back to use the included rsync in macOS (rsync version 2.6.9 protocol version 29)
This is probably the same kernel memory leak I documented here: https://bombich.com/kb/ccc6/macos-monterey-known-issues#smb_panics You can confirm whether it's the same issue by looking for zone_map_exhaustion in the system log. e.g.: - Start your rsync task - Run `log --stream | grep zone_map_exhaustion` in a Terminal window - Run `sudo zprint -d kext.kalloc.32768` in another Terminal window Also watch memory pressure in Activity Monitor. I saw a gradual and steady increase, although it never got to a "warning" level before memoryd started killing things. If that's what you're seeing, it's not an rsync bug, it's a bug in macOS. Mike > On Jan 27, 2022, at 11:26AM, just subscribed for rsync-qa from bugzilla via rsync <rsync@lists.samba.org> wrote: > > https://bugzilla.samba.org/show_bug.cgi?id=14962 > > Bug ID: 14962 > Summary: Crash/restart using rsync 3.2.3 on M1 Mac > Product: rsync > Version: 3.2.0 > Hardware: All > OS: All > Status: NEW > Severity: normal > Priority: P5 > Component: core > Assignee: wayne@opencoder.net > Reporter: arjunmeht@gmail.com > QA Contact: rsync-qa@samba.org > Target Milestone: --- > > Hi there, > > Whole (macOS) system is crashing when transferring a large number of files from > Mac to NAS via rsync. > > Running the below command on a directory with thousands of images (~5MB each) > the transfer speed eventually slows down, the system gets choppy, freezes and > then eventually the entire computer reboots. > > rsync -va --update --info=progress2 /Volumes/Source/folder > /Volumes/Destination/folder > > I found this reported here as well: > https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/421007/rsync-3-2-3-keeps-crashing-on-mac-mini-m1# > > I experienced this on a M1 Mac mini running macOS Monterey. The stackexchange > post is running Big Sur. > > rsync 3.2.3 was installed via homebrew (brew install rsync) so it may be > possible this is a homebrew distribution/compile problem. > > The only solution for me was to downgrade back to use the included rsync in > macOS (rsync version 2.6.9 protocol version 29) > > -- > You are receiving this mail because: > You are the QA Contact for the bug. > -- > Please use reply-all for most replies to avoid omitting the mailing list. > To unsubscribe or change options: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/rsync > Before posting, read: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html >
@Arjun Mehta, could you please retry with rsync 3.4.1 from homebrew , so we know if this issue still exists? i'm backing up macos system for a long time and have no problems. system being at sonoma, though - but had no problems either, when it was on big sur or monterey
Unfortunately I’m unable to test again as I no longer have the same machine (M1 Mac Mini, 1TB, 16GB, 10GbE) To reproduce I would connect a USB SSD drive directly to the USB-A port and sync a number of small and large files. My use case was syncing my Lightroom library along with thousands of garage RAW photos and videos. The transfer would start okay but eventually slow down and after a few minutes lead to a pink screen and reboot. Hope someone can help test to confirm against older versions. Sorry I can’t be much more help! > On Apr 24, 2026, at 04:30, samba-bugs@samba.org wrote: > > https://bugzilla.samba.org/show_bug.cgi?id=14962 > > --- Comment #2 from roland <devzero@web.de> --- > @Arjun Mehta, could you please retry with rsync 3.4.1 from homebrew , so we > know if this issue still exists? > > i'm backing up macos system for a long time and have no problems. system being > at sonoma, though - but had no problems either, when it was on big sur or > monterey > > -- > You are receiving this mail because: > You reported the bug.
this is most likely not an rsync issue, as rsync is a userspace application and those should not be able to crash a whole operating systen. what CAN happen is, that large file transfer may trigger kernel or driver bugs, so if this issue happens with 3.2.3 it will most likely happen with newer versions, too. but it may then also happen with other file transfer utilities, depending on their write-pattern / syscall usage.