fluxcoil.net

My notes for file syncing. Wishlist:

• should allow syncing of directories between linux systems and android
• should be completely own hosted, no dependency on google drive etc.

• unison
  • pro: long time around
  • pro: can work ontop of ssh
• syncthing
  • pro: free
  • con: opens an own listener
  • con: does authentication and encryption by itself
• FolderSync
  • approach: can sync via ssh/sftp to android
  • https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dk.tacit.android.foldersync.full
  • setup: straightforward. Instead of password-auth, keyauth can be used. When keypairs are generated using “ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096” then they are accepted. A passphrase should be used to protect the private key.
  • con: payware
  • pro: uncomplicated to setup
  • pro: works directly in both directions
• android-rsync
  • approach: frontend for ssh/rsync binaries
  • setup:
    • had to extend sshd_config on server to “KexAlgorithms diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256,diffie-hellman-group1-sha1”
    • dsa private/pubkey get generated, pubkey gets used for authentication
    • configured /storage/sdcard0/sync as syncdir
    • looks like nice setup. For my usecase I created 2 profiles, one for sending and one for receiving. After fiddling a bit with pathes in both profiles, I can run both profiles and have the files synced.
    • By default, also newer files on the remote site will be overwritten. To work around this, you have to add “-u” in both profiles to the rsync command which is used.
  • pros:
    • free
    • uses established ssh/rsync protocols
  • cons:
    • takes a bit time to setup
    • keyphrase for authentication can not be passphrase protected
    • 2 profiles have to be run for the full sync
    • syncing with additional systems required additional thinking (i.e. to keep the directory synced between 3 or more systems)
• owncloud
  • cons: heavy for my usecase, PHP