I use rsync command to take backup of files from one of my ubuntu server to another ubuntu machine. Backup server trigger a script that use rysnc command. Here is the command I use rsync -rltvh --partial --stats --exclude=.beagle/ --exclude=.* --delete-after root@live_server:/home/ /home/live_server_backup/home /tmp/logfile.log 2&1 live_server is ssh-able without password. So it works. Now problem is with --delete-after option After all file synced .At the end I can see deletion procedure skipped.logfile error is like IO error encountered -- skipping file deletion When i tried to find log there were some error while file sync rsync: send_files failed to open "/home/xyz/Desktop/PPT_session_1_context.pdf": Permission denied (13) So my understanding is as rsync could not read all the files from target for safety reason it is skipping the file deletion. Is there any way to make --delete-after work even if there is some permission error? I do not want to use force deletion as it will be dangerous in some situation.