[clue-tech] Document synchronization

[Jeff Schroeder]

Angelo asked:

> Ever since I got spoiled using IMAP and being able to have the same
> mail everywhere, I've started to want to be able to do the same thing
> with all my other documents, code, software,  etc.  I wish there was
> some way to create a document repository that worked seamlessly with
> my computers.

I find rsync (http://rsync.samba.org) to be absolutely invaluable for 
this sort of thing.  There might be some fantastic software solution 
out there that I don't know about, but rsync has always been able to do 
what I need.

In a nutshell, it's a program that synchronizes two directories with 
each other, only copying the changes.  Thus, if you have 50GB of data 
(as I do) that you need replicated in several places, you make changes 
while working in, say, your office... then go home and synchronize your 
home copy from the office server.  You might have changed a hundred 
files, but they only total a few megabytes of differences.  You don't 
need to re-copy all 50GB.

Rsync can tunnel over SSH, which means it's not only secure but can take 
advantage of public-key (password-less) logins... making 
synchronization a snap.  I wrote a couple of shell scripts to do it all 
for me, and it's as simple as typing, e.g., "filesync office".  The 
script knows the IP address of the office, the directories, yada 
yada... it just runs rsync and in a minute or two my local copy is 
up-to-date.

Some people might suggest CVS for this, but I think that's a tool (a 
very good one, mind you) for a different sort of problem.  Nonetheless, 
it would be a possibility you might consider.  It depends on the sort 
of files you're synchronizing.

HTH,
Jeff

P.S. Rsync is also very useful for remote backups. :)