Old OtheRSync Page


OtheRSync has been depreciated, I suggest you use [Unison]

NOTE: Do not move files within the dirs that are rsynced while OtheRSync is running (copying is no problem). I also strongly suggest that you upgrade to v0.6

OtheRSync v0.6

OtheRSync is a perl program for the automatic, efficient, and safe synchronization of two (Linux / Unix) machines over a network.

Features:
  • efficient (compressing and incremental changes)
  • safe (uses ssh, fail-safe and backups are made of deleted files)
  • parallel processing (at least partly)
  • feedback in the command-line prompt (now also reports clashes)
  • also syncs file permissions (won't detect changes in file permissions that have happened while the syncing was in progress, and it won't report permission changes as clashes)
  • no tail biting (the same config won't start again if it is still running)

I myself use it for automatic nightly synchronizing of my home-dir's on two machines (one at the house of my parents and the other in my room in the city where I study).

It is built on top of the [rsync program]. This program has an efficient transfer algorithm (the data that is sent over the network is compressed and only the changes are sent if a previous version of a file existed) and it is available as a prebuilt package in all major Linux distributions.

Rsync is also used for the automatic installation of a part of OtheRSync (FilesFileMaker) on the slave machine (the computer that will be set as the second one). The two FilesFileMakers will find out what files there are on the two machines simultaneously, thereby saving time. Besides that the output of the FilesFileMaker on the slave is moved to the master using Rsync so it also doesn't take up much bandwidth.

Why one could need OtheRSync if there's rsync already ?

Because rsync doesn't keep state. If I work on the two systems simultaneausly (through ssh or on different times of the day) deleting and adding different files on both machines then rsync (if I run it as a nightly cron-job on both machines, or manually on the whole home-dirs) will happily restore what I've just intentionally deleted on one of the
machines. Also rsync will without notice overwrite a file that was modified after the last time rsync was run by a file that was modified just a little later on the other machine.

So if you run rsync 2-ways as a cron-job you always end up with the union (if you use --delete it can become a left or a right join) and not with what I wanted; namely an intelligently determined common-sense intersection that allows me to stop thinking about what to rsync when and from and to where.

Extra features of OtheRSync

New or changed files are synchronized and files that have been deleted on one machine are deleted on the other machine. It can resume without becoming broken or dangerous after an interruption or an error. Besides that is safe in that it allows for automatic backupping of old and deleted files.

Another nice feature is that it can set the command line prompt to contain an "-Syncing-" warning-message on both machines if the syncing is in progress.

Have a look at the included README.txt file for more info on the possibillities of OtheRSync. OtheRSync is OpenSource, so it comes for free, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.

You can [download the OtheRSync package here]

Note that clashes (files changed on both ends) are only reported in the prompt (if enabled), in the logs, and in the output (if you only want to see clashes run with verbose at 1 (the option -v1)). The user isn't asked what should happen with clashes. Simply the newest one overwrites the older one. However the default setting of OtheRSync is to backup all changes, so you will be able to restore the situation if you note that a clash was handled wrongly. Another point to note is that OtheRSync also reports files that have changed between the time that the previous run of OtheRSync started, and the time that they were actually rsynced in that previous run, as being clashes in the current (this is bound to happen with things like IRC logs for example).

Changes between v0.5 and v0.6

  • A nasty bug that caused moved files to be added to the delete-list was fixed (it still happens when the files are mv'd while OtheRSync is running).
  • File permissions are now also synced (not if they occured while OtheRSync was running).
  • The tailbite-prevention was added (tailbiting was harmless, but not neat)
  • Clash warnings remain in the prompt as of now, even if the run has finished.
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