[PLUG] Need some advice on how to mirror & synchronize folders across multiple Linux, Windows machines

Paul Mullen pm at nellump.net
Fri Mar 21 17:32:00 UTC 2014


On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 11:29:03PM -0700, Keith Lofstrom wrote:
> I'm considering Unison (www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/) for
> this same job (more machines, though!).  But I haven't had time to
> study it or set it up.  If somebody here has Unison working, let us
> know, and consider presenting what you know at a PLUG meeting.

I use Unison to keep my systems in sync, and like it a lot.  It's
ability to keep file systems in sync when both sides are changing is
its best feature (by design).  Not having to worry about whether you
made changes on both machines between syncs makes life a lot easier.

Unison has a lot of configuration knobs, but the documentation is
well-written, and once you spend some time with it, it all makes
sense.  I'm not sure I would have enough to say about it to merit an
entire presentation.
 
> One issue for me is propagating error.  If I make a musstayk working on
> a file, I don't want it writing over all the good copies.  So a copy of 
> each good file must get backed up before the mirroring.  Now all we need
> to do is define "good", which looks like an AI problem.

That sounds like a job for a version control system (git, etc.).


-- 
Paul Mullen
pm at nellump.net
www.nellump.net



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