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jak0b

@ jak0b @lemmy.ml

Posts
8
Comments
42
Joined
6 mo. ago

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • Thanks for the kind words! To be fair, Syncthing itself is still actively maintained (they just released 2.0), it was the official Android app that got discontinued due to Google Play issues. Community forks still exist on F-Droid though.

    But yeah, Syncthing and Synchi have different workflow. Syncthing needs daemons on all devices and can't sync to a mounted drive, NAS path, or local folders on the same machine. Synchi is on-demand and doesn't care where the two roots are. This is also why I started working on it. I used syncthing for a few years before that.

  • Two-way file sync, no remote agent needed

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  • Totally fair, Unison is solid and I was inspired by it a lot, but its also the reason why I started working on my own version. I was frustrated with it because on Synology/SMB filesystems it kept seeing changed timestamps as modified files, so I'd constantly get fake changes and transfers. Synchi only treats a file as changed if the content hash actually differs.

    Also, I once managed to delete my entire home folder because I tried syncing it with Unison to a server and it synced the empty remote folder back to my home, wiping everything. That's exactly the kind of human error Synchi tries to prevent by being very explicit and verbose about what it's about to do.

    Thank you for keeping an eye on it!

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • Thanks! I've done some testing, nothing scientific, but I can tell you it transfers at about the same speed as other tools I tested, usually limited by network speed. I spent quite some time optimizing how small files are packaged together for transfer, so there's no slowdown even with many small files compared to a single file of the same total size. Android APK idea is not bad though! I've published 2 Android apps before so will definitely look into it. Current Termux terminal approach is definitely not very user friendly.

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • Nothing wrong with that at all! You can set up a cron job to run Synchi every 5 minutes and it would work just fine. The only minor downside is some wasted compute since it rescans and hashes everything each run, even if nothing changed. For most files like text it's negligible though.

    In the future I might look into a lightweight daemon that uses Linux filesystem notifications (inotify) to trigger a sync when something changes.

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • Haven't tried iroh-ssh but since Synchi just uses standard SSH under the hood, it should work transparently with any ProxyCommand setup. Cool project, though!

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • Thanks! If you just need backup, with Synchi you set the 'force=root_a' in config, otherwise its bidirectional sync. If you need pure backups, rsync or similar might still be the better fit as they have some backup specific features.

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • I used Syncthing for years, it's great (if you use it and you are happy, then you dont need to switch), but they are quite different. Syncthing requires daemons on all devices and can't sync two local folders on the same machine. Synchi is on-demand, runs only on one side, and doesn't care where the two root folders are.

    I wrote a more detailed comparison here: https://jakobkreft.github.io/synchi/why.html

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • You are correct! no sub-file sync / binary diffing at the moment. It was my deliberate choice to keep complexity down. In practice, text files where diffing helps are tiny and transfer instantly anyway, and large files like images and videos almost never change partially. The main case where it would matter is something like large database files or VM images. That said, it's not off the table for the future!

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • iOS is tricky since there's no easy way to set up SSH access to the filesystem like you can on Android with Termux. So unfortunately not really supported at the moment. If you have a jailbroken device it might be possible, but that's not something I've tested.

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • This is exactly how I use Synchi! Same idea but I use Logseq instead of Obsidian (very similar open-source alternative, worth checking out). Works great for syncing markdown notes between computers and my phone on demand. Of course I need to remember to sync before switching devices, but I prefer this then constant running in the background.

    Haven't thought about an Obsidian/Logseq plugin but honestly that sounds like a great idea... For now it's CLI only, but I can definitely see the value.

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • I'm not too familiar with Steam Deck, but that sounds like it would work! As long as you can point Synchi at both save directories, it would keep them in sync and save you the manual copy-paste.

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • Great question! Let me sum it up here for others:

    rsync is one-way only and has no memory between runs, every execution starts from scratch. Synchi is two-way, stateful (knows what changed since last sync), and content-aware (uses hashes, so no false positives from timestamp changes). It also handles conflicts explicitly instead of silently overwriting.

    That said, rsync is still the better tool for backups and one-way mirroring. Synchi is for when you need true bidirectional sync.

    Here is also a comparison with unison and syncthing: https://jakobkreft.github.io/synchi/why.html

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • Yes, you do need SSH set up on your phone. I'm using the same setup (Linux + Android). I wrote a short tutorial for it here: https://jakobkreft.github.io/synchi/termux.html

    Also I use it with Tailscale so I can sync from anywhere not just local network.

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • Many sync tools like rsync are actually one-way (yes, only a mirror/backup). Two-way means changes on either side get synced to the other (Synchi helps you resolve conflicts). That said, Synchi can also do one-way mirroring if you set force=root_a in the config.

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • If you wish to sync between computer and Android, you don't even need to install it on your phone. All you need is setup ssh connection and storage permission inside Termux terminal. I have written a short tutorial here: https://jakobkreft.github.io/synchi/termux.html if you wish still wish to run Synchi directly from Android, to sync between two android devices for example you can install it from source like this inside Termux terminal:

    pkg install rust git

    cargo install --git https://github.com/jakobkreft/synchi

    Then add cargo bin to your PATH:

    echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/data/data/com.termux/files/home/.cargo/bin"' >> ~/.bashrc

    source ~/.bashrc

    After that you can just run synchi.

  • Synchi - Two-way file sync

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  • Yes! On android with Termux terminal.

    (note: If you sync between computer and phone you don't need to install it on your phone. One side only is enough.)

  • Rust Programming @lemmy.ml
    jak0b @lemmy.ml

    Synchi - Two-way file sync

    jakobkreft.github.io /synchi/
  • Linux @lemmy.ml
    jak0b @lemmy.ml

    Synchi - Two-way file sync

    jakobkreft.github.io /synchi/

  • Two-way file sync, no remote agent needed

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  • It doesn't work that way. Conflicts are resolved before any transfer starts. The flow is:

    Scan both sides and compare (compute file hashes or just compare mtime, no data transferred)

    Show conflicts if any → you resolve them

    Show copy/delete summary → you approve

    Only then does the actual transfer begin. So you never come back to find it halted mid-transfer. All decisions happen upfront while it's just reading metadata, which is fast even for large trees.

  • Two-way file sync, no remote agent needed

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  • It compares everything first (scan, diff, hash), then halts before any changes are made. You see a full summary of what will happen, and approve each category separately (copies, deletes). It's designed to be very transparent. Every change must be approved before anything is written.

    Conflicts get their own interactive screen where you pick per-file: keep A, keep B, or skip. Nothing is written until you've resolved all of them.

    If you want to skip the prompts, --yes flag auto-approves, but conflicts still halt for user input. Flags --force root_a or --force root_b are used for mirrors one way here conflicts are not possible.

  • Thousands of people are selling their identities to train AI – but at what cost?

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  • "Billions of people are getting robbed of their personal data, but what for?"

  • Apple Announces New Mac Sales Record Following MacBook Neo Launch

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  • I'm still not convinced why buy Neo instead of M1 or M2 macbook air? Same story as with smartphones, old flagships are always better than new budget ones imo. And on top, laptops age 10 times better than phones do.

  • Open Source @lemmy.ml
    jak0b @lemmy.ml

    Two-way file sync, no remote agent needed

    jakobkreft.github.io /synchi/
  • ADHD @lemmy.world
    jak0b @lemmy.ml

    Cake Timer: productivity tool

    jakobkreft.github.io /CakeTimer
  • Studying @lemmy.ml
    jak0b @lemmy.ml

    24H CAKE TIMER for Deep Work

    jakobkreft.github.io /CakeTimer/
  • Open Source @lemmy.ml
    jak0b @lemmy.ml

    24H CAKE TIMER for Deep Work

    jakobkreft.github.io /CakeTimer/
  • Linux @lemmy.ml
    jak0b @lemmy.ml

    autoredshift: Automatically adjust screen temperature

    github.com /jakobkreft/autoredshift
  • Free and Open Source Software @beehaw.org
    jak0b @lemmy.ml

    Foss - OnTime: Presentation timer app for speakers at live events

    github.com /jakobkreft/OnTime