Directory synchronization packages

[John A. Sullivan III]

Hello, all. We are looking for a Lenny/Squeeze package to synchronize
directories between our physical desktops and our X2Go (www.x2go.org) /
Trinity (KDE3 - trinity.pearsoncomputing.net) based virtual desktops via
sshfs and have had difficulty finding an acceptable package that is
friendly for all levels of users to use within a GUI. Any suggestions?

We noticed that there is a package for unison-gtk but have some
reservations. As powerful as unison is, it is no longer maintained.
The GUI seemed intuitive to a developer but not to an average office
user. There was no way to browse hidden directories other than entering
them by hand. So our search began especially for something that would
work well on KDE3/Trinity.

We looked at Krusader and were very impressed but it appears to be a
simple copy rather than an rsync style differential block
synchronization.

We look at Komparator but it is KDE4 based, has a UI that seems
overwhelming to an average office user, and seems more oriented toward
search and compare than sync.

We had great hopes for FreeFileSync but it seemed feature poor and the
user interface was unusable. We may have mangled the setup since there
is no Debian package and we had to pull in boost and wxwidgets to get it
to compile and work at all.

We are considering DirSyncPro. Again, there is no Debian package. It
is Java based which concerns us regarding memory and CPU consumption
when we are trying to squeeze as many virtual desktops onto a host as
possible. It does seem to be fairly full featured and actively
developed. Our packet traces show it does appear to do block level
synchronization.

Right now our front runner is DirSyncPro followed by crafting Konqueror
service menus based upon unison. We like the ease of use of the latter
idea but think it will be too "dumb" and brings us back to unison being
unmaintained.

Have we missed any options? I should mention that the synchronization is
usually bi-directional so a simple rsync front end is not a good option.
Thanks - John

[John A. Sullivan III]

Post by John A. Sullivan III
Hello, all. We are looking for a Lenny/Squeeze package to synchronize
directories between our physical desktops and our X2Go (www.x2go.org) /
Trinity (KDE3 - trinity.pearsoncomputing.net) based virtual desktops via
sshfs and have had difficulty finding an acceptable package that is
friendly for all levels of users to use within a GUI. Any suggestions?
We noticed that there is a package for unison-gtk but have some
reservations. As powerful as unison is, it is no longer maintained.
The GUI seemed intuitive to a developer but not to an average office
user. There was no way to browse hidden directories other than entering
them by hand. So our search began especially for something that would
work well on KDE3/Trinity.
We looked at Krusader and were very impressed but it appears to be a
simple copy rather than an rsync style differential block
synchronization.
We look at Komparator but it is KDE4 based, has a UI that seems
overwhelming to an average office user, and seems more oriented toward
search and compare than sync.
We had great hopes for FreeFileSync but it seemed feature poor and the
user interface was unusable. We may have mangled the setup since there
is no Debian package and we had to pull in boost and wxwidgets to get it
to compile and work at all.
We are considering DirSyncPro. Again, there is no Debian package. It
is Java based which concerns us regarding memory and CPU consumption
when we are trying to squeeze as many virtual desktops onto a host as
possible. It does seem to be fairly full featured and actively
developed. Our packet traces show it does appear to do block level
synchronization.
Right now our front runner is DirSyncPro followed by crafting Konqueror
service menus based upon unison. We like the ease of use of the latter
idea but think it will be too "dumb" and brings us back to unison being
unmaintained.
Have we missed any options? I should mention that the synchronization is
usually bi-directional so a simple rsync front end is not a good option.
Thanks - John

I should mention that DirSyncPro does not have a way of displaying
hidden directories either - John

[Gilbert Sullivan]

Post by John A. Sullivan III

Post by John A. Sullivan III
Hello, all. We are looking for a Lenny/Squeeze package to synchronize
directories between our physical desktops and our X2Go (www.x2go.org) /
Trinity (KDE3 - trinity.pearsoncomputing.net) based virtual desktops via
sshfs and have had difficulty finding an acceptable package that is
friendly for all levels of users to use within a GUI. Any suggestions?
We noticed that there is a package for unison-gtk but have some
reservations. As powerful as unison is, it is no longer maintained.
The GUI seemed intuitive to a developer but not to an average office
user. There was no way to browse hidden directories other than entering
them by hand. So our search began especially for something that would
work well on KDE3/Trinity.

Finding software to synchronize desktops that is powerful enough and
flexible enough to get synchronization done exactly the way you need it
while still allowing non-techies to use it is a real challenge.
Unison-gtk is the only (nearly) satisfactory FOSS solution I've found so
far. It has required considerable effort to train some of my more
hapless users to keep it from becoming a weapon of mass data destruction
in their hands.

As I understand it, unison-gtk is still being maintained but isn't being
developed. I think its maintainers still act on critical bugs and
security issues (if any are being reported) or it wouldn't still be in
the Squeeze repos.

But you're right -- the writing is on the wall. I writing this response
more to commiserate with you than to provide information that could be
useful.

Sorry about that.

Post by John A. Sullivan III

Post by John A. Sullivan III
We looked at Krusader and were very impressed but it appears to be a
simple copy rather than an rsync style differential block
synchronization.
We look at Komparator but it is KDE4 based, has a UI that seems
overwhelming to an average office user, and seems more oriented toward
search and compare than sync.

Yeah, no KDE here (all Xfce), so I'm unfamiliar with these options.

...

Post by John A. Sullivan III

Post by John A. Sullivan III
We are considering DirSyncPro. Again, there is no Debian package. It
is Java based which concerns us regarding memory and CPU consumption
when we are trying to squeeze as many virtual desktops onto a host as
possible. It does seem to be fairly full featured and actively
developed. Our packet traces show it does appear to do block level
synchronization.

I'm glad you reported this. I'm going to start looking at it as my
alternative. I wonder if there will be any effort to get it into the
Debian repos. I'm trying to stick exclusively with the office
repositories these days.

...

Post by John A. Sullivan III

Post by John A. Sullivan III
Have we missed any options? I should mention that the synchronization is
usually bi-directional so a simple rsync front end is not a good option.
Thanks - John

I should mention that DirSyncPro does not have a way of displaying
hidden directories either - John

Hmmm. Missed options? Well...I am very familiar with an absolutely
outstanding piece of software that would definitely fulfill the
functions for you. I used to use it under Windows. I even used it as my
desktop synchronizer and for assistance in version maintenance for
various projects when I first switched from Windows to Debian. (There is
a version of it that runs under Linux.)

It's called Beyond Compare. As closed source software companies go,
Scooter Software (the vendor) is really the cat's pajamas. When I last
dealt with them (about a year ago when I decided to go totally FOSS and
switched to unison-gtk) they were still very responsive to, and
accommodating with, their customers. It's the only recent closed source
software that I actually miss using.

The "pro" version of the software is very powerful, extraordinarily
flexible, and can have its behavior customized to within a gnat's
eyelash. Were it not closed source I'm certain that it would be the
perfect solution for you. If it's any help, they have very flexible
licensing practices, too.

If unison-gtk gets dropped from the repos, and if I'm unable to get
DirSync Pro (or some other alternative) to function to suit my needs,
I'll probably be going back to Beyond Compare -- despite my intense
desire to be FOSS-only. In the end, functionality is key. And, at least,
using a file manager of this sort doesn't mean that I'll be storing any
of my data in a proprietary format.

http://www.scootersoftware.com/

I look forward to seeing if you're able to find any alternatives from
within the repos. My search-foo in aptitude isn't coming up with
anything at all that seems useful.

[John A. Sullivan III]

Post by Gilbert Sullivan

Post by John A. Sullivan III
Hello, all. We are looking for a Lenny/Squeeze package to synchronize
directories between our physical desktops and our X2Go (www.x2go.org) /
Trinity (KDE3 - trinity.pearsoncomputing.net) based virtual desktops via
sshfs and have had difficulty finding an acceptable package that is
friendly for all levels of users to use within a GUI. Any suggestions?
We noticed that there is a package for unison-gtk but have some
reservations. As powerful as unison is, it is no longer maintained.
The GUI seemed intuitive to a developer but not to an average office
user. There was no way to browse hidden directories other than entering
them by hand. So our search began especially for something that would
work well on KDE3/Trinity.

Finding software to synchronize desktops that is powerful enough and
flexible enough to get synchronization done exactly the way you need it
while still allowing non-techies to use it is a real challenge.
Unison-gtk is the only (nearly) satisfactory FOSS solution I've found so
far. It has required considerable effort to train some of my more
hapless users to keep it from becoming a weapon of mass data destruction
in their hands.

LOL

Post by Gilbert Sullivan
As I understand it, unison-gtk is still being maintained but isn't being
developed. I think its maintainers still act on critical bugs and
security issues (if any are being reported) or it wouldn't still be in
the Squeeze repos.

Yes - I should have been more specific. That is correct.

Post by Gilbert Sullivan
<snip>>> We looked at Krusader and were very impressed but it appears to be a

Post by John A. Sullivan III
simple copy rather than an rsync style differential block
synchronization.

I took another look at Krusader. It is SO impressive but, we traced the
packets during synchronization just hoping against hope and it is indeed
a straight file transfer - no differentials. Really disappointed
although I could see Krusader being overwhelming to some users.

Post by Gilbert Sullivan

Post by John A. Sullivan III
We look at Komparator but it is KDE4 based, has a UI that seems
overwhelming to an average office user, and seems more oriented toward
search and compare than sync.

<snip>>>

Post by John A. Sullivan III
We are considering DirSyncPro. Again, there is no Debian package. It
is Java based which concerns us regarding memory and CPU consumption
when we are trying to squeeze as many virtual desktops onto a host as
possible. It does seem to be fairly full featured and actively
developed. Our packet traces show it does appear to do block level
synchronization.

I'm glad you reported this. I'm going to start looking at it as my
alternative. I wonder if there will be any effort to get it into the
Debian repos. I'm trying to stick exclusively with the office
repositories these days.

Same with us. We've got it set up now and released for testing. We'll
see what the feedback is.
<snip>

Post by Gilbert Sullivan
http://www.scootersoftware.com/

Thanks for the pointer.
<snip>

[Gilbert Sullivan]

Post by John A. Sullivan III

Post by Gilbert Sullivan
I'm glad you reported this. I'm going to start looking at it as my
alternative. I wonder if there will be any effort to get it into the
Debian repos. I'm trying to stick exclusively with the office
repositories these days.

Same with us. We've got it set up now and released for testing. We'll
see what the feedback is.

I would be interested to read how this goes for you. I'd also bet that
there would be others on this list who might be concerned about
development having been dropped on unison.

<sigh> I dread trying to get my artistic-not-technical types acquainted
with yet another synchronization package and processes. </sigh>

Post by John A. Sullivan III

Post by Gilbert Sullivan
http://www.scootersoftware.com/

Thanks for the pointer.

You're welcome. They're a really first-class member of the "enemy camp".
And I won't waste more than a few tears before returning to their
embrace if that's what it's going to take to get the job done. I guess I
can live with one piece of proprietary software on these rigs.

Good luck!

[John A. Sullivan III]

Post by John A. Sullivan III

Post by Gilbert Sullivan

Post by John A. Sullivan III
Hello, all. We are looking for a Lenny/Squeeze package to synchronize
directories between our physical desktops and our X2Go (www.x2go.org) /
Trinity (KDE3 - trinity.pearsoncomputing.net) based virtual desktops via
sshfs and have had difficulty finding an acceptable package that is
friendly for all levels of users to use within a GUI. Any suggestions?
We noticed that there is a package for unison-gtk but have some
reservations. As powerful as unison is, it is no longer maintained.
The GUI seemed intuitive to a developer but not to an average office
user. There was no way to browse hidden directories other than entering
them by hand. So our search began especially for something that would
work well on KDE3/Trinity.

Finding software to synchronize desktops that is powerful enough and
flexible enough to get synchronization done exactly the way you need it
while still allowing non-techies to use it is a real challenge.
Unison-gtk is the only (nearly) satisfactory FOSS solution I've found so
far. It has required considerable effort to train some of my more
hapless users to keep it from becoming a weapon of mass data destruction
in their hands.

LOL

Post by Gilbert Sullivan
As I understand it, unison-gtk is still being maintained but isn't being
developed. I think its maintainers still act on critical bugs and
security issues (if any are being reported) or it wouldn't still be in
the Squeeze repos.

Yes - I should have been more specific. That is correct.

Post by Gilbert Sullivan
<snip>>> We looked at Krusader and were very impressed but it appears to be a

Post by John A. Sullivan III
simple copy rather than an rsync style differential block
synchronization.

I took another look at Krusader. It is SO impressive but, we traced the
packets during synchronization just hoping against hope and it is indeed
a straight file transfer - no differentials. Really disappointed
although I could see Krusader being overwhelming to some users.

Post by Gilbert Sullivan

Post by John A. Sullivan III
We look at Komparator but it is KDE4 based, has a UI that seems
overwhelming to an average office user, and seems more oriented toward
search and compare than sync.

<snip>>>

Post by John A. Sullivan III
We are considering DirSyncPro. Again, there is no Debian package. It
is Java based which concerns us regarding memory and CPU consumption
when we are trying to squeeze as many virtual desktops onto a host as
possible. It does seem to be fairly full featured and actively
developed. Our packet traces show it does appear to do block level
synchronization.

I'm glad you reported this. I'm going to start looking at it as my
alternative. I wonder if there will be any effort to get it into the
Debian repos. I'm trying to stick exclusively with the office
repositories these days.

Same with us. We've got it set up now and released for testing. We'll
see what the feedback is.
<snip>

We've hit some serious bugs with DirSyncPro. We've reported them to
their bug tracker. We reported several minor ones early on and the
developer was extremely responsive; they were all fixed in short order.
The last two serious ones (major features almost completely broken) have
drawn stunning silence. Of course, it could be someone had the nerve to
go on vacation or something :)

However, in case those bugs are not fixed quickly, has anyone had any
luck finding an alternative to Unison or at least a more user friendly
front end? Thanks - John

[John A. Sullivan III]

Post by John A. Sullivan III

Post by John A. Sullivan III

Post by Gilbert Sullivan

Post by John A. Sullivan III
Hello, all. We are looking for a Lenny/Squeeze package to synchronize
directories between our physical desktops and our X2Go (www.x2go.org) /
Trinity (KDE3 - trinity.pearsoncomputing.net) based virtual desktops via
sshfs and have had difficulty finding an acceptable package that is
friendly for all levels of users to use within a GUI. Any suggestions?
We noticed that there is a package for unison-gtk but have some
reservations. As powerful as unison is, it is no longer maintained.
The GUI seemed intuitive to a developer but not to an average office
user. There was no way to browse hidden directories other than entering
them by hand. So our search began especially for something that would
work well on KDE3/Trinity.

Finding software to synchronize desktops that is powerful enough and
flexible enough to get synchronization done exactly the way you need it
while still allowing non-techies to use it is a real challenge.
Unison-gtk is the only (nearly) satisfactory FOSS solution I've found so
far. It has required considerable effort to train some of my more
hapless users to keep it from becoming a weapon of mass data destruction
in their hands.

LOL

Post by Gilbert Sullivan
As I understand it, unison-gtk is still being maintained but isn't being
developed. I think its maintainers still act on critical bugs and
security issues (if any are being reported) or it wouldn't still be in
the Squeeze repos.

Yes - I should have been more specific. That is correct.

Post by Gilbert Sullivan
<snip>>> We looked at Krusader and were very impressed but it appears to be a

Post by John A. Sullivan III
simple copy rather than an rsync style differential block
synchronization.

I took another look at Krusader. It is SO impressive but, we traced the
packets during synchronization just hoping against hope and it is indeed
a straight file transfer - no differentials. Really disappointed
although I could see Krusader being overwhelming to some users.

Post by Gilbert Sullivan

Post by John A. Sullivan III
We look at Komparator but it is KDE4 based, has a UI that seems
overwhelming to an average office user, and seems more oriented toward
search and compare than sync.

<snip>>>

Post by John A. Sullivan III
We are considering DirSyncPro. Again, there is no Debian package. It
is Java based which concerns us regarding memory and CPU consumption
when we are trying to squeeze as many virtual desktops onto a host as
possible. It does seem to be fairly full featured and actively
developed. Our packet traces show it does appear to do block level
synchronization.

I'm glad you reported this. I'm going to start looking at it as my
alternative. I wonder if there will be any effort to get it into the
Debian repos. I'm trying to stick exclusively with the office
repositories these days.

Same with us. We've got it set up now and released for testing. We'll
see what the feedback is.
<snip>

We've hit some serious bugs with DirSyncPro. We've reported them to
their bug tracker. We reported several minor ones early on and the
developer was extremely responsive; they were all fixed in short order.
The last two serious ones (major features almost completely broken) have
drawn stunning silence. Of course, it could be someone had the nerve to
go on vacation or something :)
However, in case those bugs are not fixed quickly, has anyone had any
luck finding an alternative to Unison or at least a more user friendly
front end? Thanks - John

I scoured the Internet again without a lot of success. There is csync
but it seems young and does not seem to use rsync like differentials.
Thee is git-sync but it is a command line script and setting up a
complete git repository seems a little overkill for our user needs.

Persy looked rather interesting although it also uses git. However, the
directories need to be empty when one first synchronizes. Again, great
for developers synching branches but not really end user friendly.

It looks like drsync (http://hacks.dlux.hu/drsync/) is what we'd want
but it is still a command line tool. Does anyone know of a GUI front
end to drsync? Thanks - John

[John A. Sullivan III]

Post by John A. Sullivan III

Post by John A. Sullivan III

Post by John A. Sullivan III

Post by Gilbert Sullivan

Post by John A. Sullivan III
Hello, all. We are looking for a Lenny/Squeeze package to synchronize
directories between our physical desktops and our X2Go (www.x2go.org) /
Trinity (KDE3 - trinity.pearsoncomputing.net) based virtual desktops via
sshfs and have had difficulty finding an acceptable package that is
friendly for all levels of users to use within a GUI. Any suggestions?
We noticed that there is a package for unison-gtk but have some
reservations. As powerful as unison is, it is no longer maintained.
The GUI seemed intuitive to a developer but not to an average office
user. There was no way to browse hidden directories other than entering
them by hand. So our search began especially for something that would
work well on KDE3/Trinity.

Finding software to synchronize desktops that is powerful enough and
flexible enough to get synchronization done exactly the way you need it
while still allowing non-techies to use it is a real challenge.
Unison-gtk is the only (nearly) satisfactory FOSS solution I've found so
far. It has required considerable effort to train some of my more
hapless users to keep it from becoming a weapon of mass data destruction
in their hands.

LOL

Post by Gilbert Sullivan
As I understand it, unison-gtk is still being maintained but isn't being
developed. I think its maintainers still act on critical bugs and
security issues (if any are being reported) or it wouldn't still be in
the Squeeze repos.

Yes - I should have been more specific. That is correct.

Post by Gilbert Sullivan
<snip>>> We looked at Krusader and were very impressed but it appears to be a

Post by John A. Sullivan III
simple copy rather than an rsync style differential block
synchronization.

I took another look at Krusader. It is SO impressive but, we traced the
packets during synchronization just hoping against hope and it is indeed
a straight file transfer - no differentials. Really disappointed
although I could see Krusader being overwhelming to some users.

Post by Gilbert Sullivan

Post by John A. Sullivan III
We look at Komparator but it is KDE4 based, has a UI that seems
overwhelming to an average office user, and seems more oriented toward
search and compare than sync.

<snip>>>

Post by John A. Sullivan III
We are considering DirSyncPro. Again, there is no Debian package. It
is Java based which concerns us regarding memory and CPU consumption
when we are trying to squeeze as many virtual desktops onto a host as
possible. It does seem to be fairly full featured and actively
developed. Our packet traces show it does appear to do block level
synchronization.

I'm glad you reported this. I'm going to start looking at it as my
alternative. I wonder if there will be any effort to get it into the
Debian repos. I'm trying to stick exclusively with the office
repositories these days.

Same with us. We've got it set up now and released for testing. We'll
see what the feedback is.
<snip>

We've hit some serious bugs with DirSyncPro. We've reported them to
their bug tracker. We reported several minor ones early on and the
developer was extremely responsive; they were all fixed in short order.
The last two serious ones (major features almost completely broken) have
drawn stunning silence. Of course, it could be someone had the nerve to
go on vacation or something :)
However, in case those bugs are not fixed quickly, has anyone had any
luck finding an alternative to Unison or at least a more user friendly
front end? Thanks - John

I scoured the Internet again without a lot of success. There is csync
but it seems young and does not seem to use rsync like differentials.
Thee is git-sync but it is a command line script and setting up a
complete git repository seems a little overkill for our user needs.
Persy looked rather interesting although it also uses git. However, the
directories need to be empty when one first synchronizes. Again, great
for developers synching branches but not really end user friendly.
It looks like drsync (http://hacks.dlux.hu/drsync/) is what we'd want
but it is still a command line tool. Does anyone know of a GUI front
end to drsync? Thanks - John

I should mention that the DirSyncPro dev has started responding with his
usual quick attention. I've sent a pile of logs and test results and
hope to have good news soon - John

[Gilbert Sullivan]

Post by John A. Sullivan III
I should mention that the DirSyncPro dev has started responding with his
usual quick attention. I've sent a pile of logs and test results and
hope to have good news soon - John

That's good news. I haven't had a chance to look at DirSyncPro yet. I've
been up to my *ss in alligators on a production project and haven't even
been able to read the documentation.

Thank you for posting this information.

[John A. Sullivan III]

Post by Gilbert Sullivan

Post by John A. Sullivan III
I should mention that the DirSyncPro dev has started responding with his
usual quick attention. I've sent a pile of logs and test results and
hope to have good news soon - John

That's good news. I haven't had a chance to look at DirSyncPro yet. I've
been up to my *ss in alligators on a production project and haven't even
been able to read the documentation.
Thank you for posting this information.

Problem solved! It turned out it was something rather unique to our
environment. We use X2Go based virtual desktops (www.x2go.org) for VDI
running on Linux-VServer (www.linux-vserver.org) guests. We are
synchronizing user directories on their physical machine which are
mounted into their virtual desktops via sshfs. To prevent all users on
shared systems from receiving popup notifications whenever removable
media is inserted, these mounts are made in /tmp and a symbolic link is
made back to ~/media. Because it is really a symbolic link, we had to
change our synchronization job from skip symbolic links to copy them as
files. Once we did that, all seemed to work.

[Gilbert Sullivan]

Post by John A. Sullivan III

Post by Gilbert Sullivan

Post by John A. Sullivan III
I should mention that the DirSyncPro dev has started responding with his
usual quick attention. I've sent a pile of logs and test results and
hope to have good news soon - John

That's good news. I haven't had a chance to look at DirSyncPro yet. I've
been up to my *ss in alligators on a production project and haven't even
been able to read the documentation.
Thank you for posting this information.

Problem solved! It turned out it was something rather unique to our
environment. We use X2Go based virtual desktops (www.x2go.org) for VDI
running on Linux-VServer (www.linux-vserver.org) guests. We are
synchronizing user directories on their physical machine which are
mounted into their virtual desktops via sshfs. To prevent all users on
shared systems from receiving popup notifications whenever removable
media is inserted, these mounts are made in /tmp and a symbolic link is
made back to ~/media. Because it is really a symbolic link, we had to
change our synchronization job from skip symbolic links to copy them as
files. Once we did that, all seemed to work.

I'm glad to see that you got your issues with dirsync pro resolved. I'm
still sticking with unison-gtk for the time being, but I really should
get off my duff and investigate dirsync pro for the eventuality of
unison being dropped from the repositories and / or dirsync pro being
added to them.

[Celejar]

On Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:37:29 -0500
"John A. Sullivan III" <***@opensourcedevel.com> wrote:

...

Post by John A. Sullivan III
We noticed that there is a package for unison-gtk but have some
reservations. As powerful as unison is, it is no longer maintained.

It seems that it actually *is* still being *maintained*, just not
actively developed:

"Unison is no longer under active development as a research project.
(Our research efforts in this area are now focused on a follow-on
project called Harmony—more details are available on the Harmony home
page.) At this point, there is no one whose job it is to maintain
Unison, fix bugs, or answer questions.

However, the original developers are all still using Unison daily. It
will continue to be maintained and supported for the foreseeable
future, and we will occasionally release new versions with bug fixes,
improvements (sometimes large ones), and contributed patches."

http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/status.html

Celejar
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