address does not work in [global] module

[malyn]

I am using NixOS to run the rsync daemon, which requires that all parameters be specified in a module context (including global parameters). This means that I have to use a config like the following in order to bind to a specific address:

[global]
address = 127.0.0.1

This does not work, as rsync seems to ignore the address parameter when specified in the [global] section. The following does work, just to illustrate the issue:

address = 127.0.0.1

My assumption, based on following paragraph in the GLOBAL PARAMETERS section in the man page, was that the two config files above were equivalent:

The first parameters in the file (before a [module] header) are the global parameters.
Rsync also allows for the use of a "[global]" module name to indicate the start of one
or more global-parameter sections (the name must be lower case).

I could also interpret this to mean that the [global] module is only used to override the defaults for other modules and that non-module parameters (such as address) need to be specified before any module sections (including [global]).

I can submit a patch to the NixOS module if everything here is working as designed (non-module globals are not allowed in the [global] section), but I thought I should check first to see what as intended on the rsync side of things.

Initially discovered in rsync 3.2.5, verified still present in rsync 3.2.7.

[WayneD]

When the daemon is starting up, it stops scanning the config file at the first module line, not even checking if it is a [global] section. Thus, the only way to affect something like address is to place it at the top of the file without using [global]. The docs should get updated to mention that [global] cannot be used to set daemon parameters.

[malyn]

Thanks for the clarification! (and for updating the docs so quickly) I will submit a patch to NixOS to allow non-module globals to appear before the [global] section.