yarsync 0.1.1

Yet Another Rsync is a file synchronization and backup tool

Yet Another Rsync is a file synchronization and backup tool. It can be used to synchronize data between different hosts or locally (for example, to a backup drive). It provides a familiar git command interface while working with files.

Design and features

yarsync can be used to manage hierarchies of unchanging files, such as music, books, articles, photographs, etc. Its final goal is to have the same state of files across different computers. It also allows to store backup copies of data and easily copy, update or recover that. yarsync is

distributed

There is no central host or repository for yarsync. If different replicas diverge, the program assists the user to merge the repositories manually.

efficient

The program is run only on user demand, and does not consume system resources constantly. Already transferred files will never be transmitted again. This allows the user to rename or move files or whole directories without any costs, driving constant improvements on the repository.

non-intrusive

yarsync does nothing to user data. It has no complicated packing or unpacking. All user data and program configuration are stored as usual files in the file system. If one decides to stop using yarsync, they can simply remove the configuration directory at any time.

simple

yarsync does not implement complicated file transfer algorithms, but uses an existing, widely accepted and tested tool for that. User configuration is stored in simple text files, and repository snapshots are usual directories, which can be modified, copied or browsed from a file manager. All standard command line tools can be used in the repository, to assist its recovery or to allow any non-standard operations (for the users who understand what they do). Read the yarsync documentation to understand its (simple) design.

safe

yarsync does its best to preserve user data. It always allows one to see what will be done before any actual modifications (–dry-run). Removed files are stored in older commits (until the user explicitly removes those). If a file gets corrupt, it will not be transferred by default, but when the user chooses to pull –backup, any diverged files will be visible (with their different versions preserved).

Commands

checkout
clone
commit
diff
init
log
pull
push
remote
show
status

See yarsync --help for full command descriptions and options.

Requirements and limitations

yarsync is a Python wrapper around rsync and requires a file system with hard links. Since these are very common tools, this means that it can easily run on any UNIX-like system. Moreover, yarsync is not required to be installed on the remote host: it is sufficient for rsync to be installed there.

In particular, rsync can be found:

• installed on most GNU/Linux distributions,

• installed on Mac OS,

• can be installed on Windows.

yarsync runs successfully on Linux. Please report to us if you have problems (or success) running it on your system.

Safety

yarsync has been used by the author for several years without problems and is tested. However, any data synchronization may lead to data loss, and it is recommended to have several data copies and always do a –dry-run (-n) first before the actual transfer.