Syncing files on a home network

[Cedric]

On Sunday 10 June 2007, Cliff Hall wrote:
> I'm a newbie and somewhat command-line impaired.  I have a windows home
> network that consists of my laptop, another few family members' computers,
> an old laptop we use as a music server (it plugs into the stereo preamp),
> and a linksys network storage device to which two hard disk drives are
> attached (we use it for backups).  I would like to be able to sync my music
> directory with the music directory on the music server and with the music
> directory on the backup disk.  I can copy and move files around without any
> trouble.  Is there any way to sync the directories across my network?
>
> I tried grsync, but couldn't figure out a way to get it to see the network
> folders.  I don't think it supports syncing over networks.  Is there a way
> to do it?

Hi Cliff,

I am facing the same problem. I've tried rsync, but there's a situation where 
you loose data. Somebody at PC A creates a file, and rsync's it to the other 
PC's. Then somebody at PC B edits the file, and a person at PC A also edits 
the file. Now the one that does the rsync last wins, the edit made by the one 
that rsyncs first is lost. As far as i know rsync has no solution for this.

I've also tried subversion. It can handle the situaiton outlined above, but 
you have to tell it manually if there's a new file, directory, or if 
something has moved. See also my (unfinished) article about it here:
http://home.tiscali.nl/cedric/Linux/Software/Distributions/Kubuntu/Subversion_homedirectory/subversion_homedirectory.html

I have not tried unison yet. I'll take a look, and report back.

Regards,
Cedric
-- 
The only stupid question is the one you don't ask