Unison 2.13.16 Lin/Win File Synchronizer

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vtpup
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Unison 2.13.16 Lin/Win File Synchronizer

#1 Post by vtpup »

I've just created a new dot pet for Unison 2.13.16.

Description from the developer website:
Unison is a file-synchronization tool for Unix and Windows. It allows two replicas of a collection of files and directories to be stored on different hosts (or different disks on the same host), modified separately, and then brought up to date by propagating the changes in each replica to the other.

Unison shares a number of features with tools such as configuration management packages (CVS, PRCS, Subversion, BitKeeper, etc.), distributed filesystems (Coda, etc.), uni-directional mirroring utilities (rsync, etc.), and other synchronizers (Intellisync, Reconcile, etc). However, there are several points where it differs:

* Unison runs on both Windows and many flavors of Unix (Solaris, Linux, OS X, etc.) systems. Moreover, Unison works across platforms, allowing you to synchronize a Windows laptop with a Unix server, for example.
* Unlike simple mirroring or backup utilities, Unison can deal with updates to both replicas of a distributed directory structure. Updates that do not conflict are propagated automatically. Conflicting updates are detected and displayed.
* Unlike a distributed filesystem, Unison is a user-level program: there is no need to modify the kernel or to have superuser privileges on either host.
* Unison works between any pair of machines connected to the internet, communicating over either a direct socket link or tunneling over an encrypted ssh connection. It is careful with network bandwidth, and runs well over slow links such as PPP connections. Transfers of small updates to large files are optimized using a compression protocol similar to rsync.
* Unison is resilient to failure. It is careful to leave the replicas and its own private structures in a sensible state at all times, even in case of abnormal termination or communication failures.
* Unison has a clear and precise specification.
* Unison is free; full source code is available under the GNU Public License.
This version was chosen for compatibility with older systems.

There is a newer stable release (2.27.57), but I didn't make a pet of that one because it is less compatible with older Unison releases, and apparently some newer versions of Ubuntu Unison as well..

This version works wonderfully with every OS I've tried it on.

The unison-2.13.16.pet can be downloaded here:

http://dotpups.de/puppy4/dotpups/System ... .13.16.pet

Note: after installing Unison, navigate to usr/X11R7/lib/x11/fonts/misc/ Then right click in the directory, Window>Terminal Here (opens a terminal in that directory) and enter:

Code: Select all

mkfontdir
Then re-start X (or reboot). This registers a font that is essential to Unison. And it resolves the error message reported further down in this thread.


For more information, the Unison website is here:
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/
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mikeb
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#2 Post by mikeb »

Hi tried it out on puppy 4.12 and get this error with the gtk version
Happen to get the same on 2.12.
Any ideas...

mike
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#3 Post by vtpup »

Hmmm, no Mike. I actually created and used it on 412.

I'll try to look at what I have for gtk installed.

Oh, okay, I get it -- you're not using the .pet I made up, but are going to the Unison website to try to load one of their binaries.

Did you try the .pet I made, Mike?

If for some reason you need something from the Unison site instead of the .pet above ...... as I recall there was a big problem for me in creating that .pet that took some fanagling to figure out and solve. The problem was that Unison required a weird font that I had to locate by trial and error in a big package of fonts by the same name.

If you take my .pet and open it in xarchive, you can probably find that font and install it manually.

That's just a guess, MikeB. My memory isn't great for this stuff once I get something working!

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#4 Post by mikeb »

No ... definately used yer pet and made sure that odd font is in place. Perhaps it is related to the font and it needs adding to X in some way...I will persevere as it is a very useful binary in spite of this hiccup. I did find some google references to it but no obvious solution.

mike

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#5 Post by vtpup »

That's odd, Mike, out of curiosity, I just added to this 4.3.1 I'm testing, and it worked fine.

At what stage do you get the error message? Is it right off the bat, or do you get into the program a ways?

Sometimes fonts don't register properly. Did you re-boot? Maybe check permissions on the font, and look for it in your directory. Let's see, what are some other causes of fonts not being picked up .....

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#6 Post by mikeb »

hmm fonts cache perhaps......odd as you chose this version as pretty universal..and when you made this pet 4.12 was the current version I believe....I will play with it again soon and sort the stubborn little darling...no worries...could be something silly at this end

mike

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#7 Post by vtpup »

not so fast.....it might be my bad....

You should have:

usr/X11R7/lib/x11/fonts/misc/clR6x13.bdf

ahh, wait.........it looks like it belongs to a user named 800 instead of root if I look at the pet in xarchive..... could that be the problem?

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#8 Post by mikeb »

Hmm root commands all but could be a clue....after all that font is about the only external difference from the cli so yer never know...will test later :)

mike

bummer...chowne to root but same error :(

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#9 Post by vtpup »

Got it Mike!

Open a terminal in usr/X11R7/lib/x11/fonts/misc/ and type:

Code: Select all

mkfontdir
Then re-start x

Otherwise the new font isn't registered/recognized, even though it's in place.

Now to test: try a new profile in unison with two test directories Test1 and Test2 in /root. put a few files in one and then sync them.

Tip:
after you try a few things, you'll find it easier to alter profiles by editing them in geany -- they're located in /root/.unison

Took me awhile to be able to duplicate your error message -- had to do a new install. I was fooled into thinking everything worked okay because I assumed you were crashing after trying to open Unison, and I was able to open it -- but I hadn't tried going further and testing a local sync -- that's when your error message must have come up.

Anyway, I'm editing the original instructions to include the fix.

Mike you must be the first person to have tried this .pet --- or else everybody else has been suffering in silence!

Thanks for the feedback!

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#10 Post by mikeb »

Ooops no mail notification....
Mike you must be the first person to have tried this .pet --- or else everybody else has been suffering in silence!
I never suffer in silence and nor should anyone else :D

well so simple once yer know how...a bit like running depmod for module.
Running nicely now...off to test. :)
I noticed it says it has to be running on both machines when used over a network but I use NFS so I will test if it's ok running one sided.
Using rox or gftp for synchronising just doesn't quite do it does it plus I need something under my belt for small businesses.

Thanks for the help

mike

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#11 Post by vtpup »

No, mike, I don't have to run it on both machines -- I don't believe.

I use ssh, and that takes care of it, I think.

For instance, I might just start it up from the menu on my laptop, and as long as the desktop is up I can just initiate a sync from the laptop.

I don't remember that Unison itself runs as a server app on the desktop. But then I really haven't looked at the docs in awhile. Once things are running well I tend to forget about how they worked! I'm testing dpup beta4 now and it won't let me scroll down the Unison Help file on this laptop for some reason I get one screenfull and that's it. So I can't read up on it at the moment.

I think my Unison setup just uses the ssh app. The only reason I'd start Unison on the desktop is if I wanted to initiate it from that one. Which is rare, when using the laptop.

Of course it doesn't matter which one initiates it, you can always control the direction of any particular sync for any particular file or directory..It's Just a matter of convenience where you initiate from.

The biggest boon to this would be if someone wrote a script to merge mailfiles which were out of sync and had both been updated separately. I once found someone who had done this for Unison using Ruby code. But I never could get his program to successfully merge my mailfiles.

Obviously, since a mailfile is a single file, if you force a sync, you will only get one file clobbering the other, not a merged set of contents of the two files. If mail files were composed of separate document files in a folder, it would be easier.

The workaround for mail files is to, say, sync lap and desktops before a trip, then go on a trip with your laptop, receive your mail on it, and when returning home, immediately sync them. Then only use your desktop for mail until your next trip, then sync the laptop, etc.. In other words, only download mail on one machine until you sync them. Don't use both in parallel.

But it should would be nice to have a mail file merge program to resolve conflicts. Then we'd really have true independence for the machines.

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#12 Post by mikeb »

ssh is used to run the remote copy I believe.
I was able to sync one sidedly (this is english?) via NFS and also to our website using curlftpfs...neat. First scan is slow but after that is slick and efficient :)

I tested with the gui launched with folders in the command line which avoids a profile being created each time whilst testing or for one off syncs. Neat software

As for mail syncing.....hmmm...my setup is only the main machine uses pop and has local folders for archives. Everything else uses imap or if not available pop but leaving files on the server.

regards

mike

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#13 Post by vtpup »

Yup, I think it's a great program, and as you say, fast after the initial sync.

The last thing I remember that worked like it was Lotus Notes' "replication" capability. The ability to deal with save conflicts on different machines is the really important part. With that capability you can create good collaborative groupware.

I once worked in the ISO 9000 quality system software field where this ability was an important component of real time qs operation. Notes was a central piece. Maybe Unison could be combined with a database app and a mailer to make something similar.

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Re: Unison 2.13.16 Lin/Win File Synchronizer

#14 Post by sub13 »

vtpup wrote: The unison-2.13.16.pet can be downloaded here, but you will need to enter a username and password to get it (u is puppy p is linux).

http://puppylinux.asia/members/Mediapup ... .13.16.pet

For more information, the Unison website is here:
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/
I don't find the unison pet file the link is not good (excuse for my english i'm french)

thank you

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#15 Post by vtpup »

Hmmm, my mediapup directory seems to have disappeared (or maybe it was moved..... will have to check on it.
Last edited by vtpup on Sat 23 Oct 2010, 01:31, edited 1 time in total.

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#16 Post by vtpup »

Okay, I've updated the link in the first post. (Thanks MU!)


http://dotpups.de/puppy4/dotpups/System ... .13.16.pet

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